Best Books of 2021Like this list

100 items

• Act Your Age, Eve Brown

  a Novel

  Hibbert, Talia,

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  In this final installment of her Brown Sisters trilogy, Hibbert turns the focus on youngest sister, Eve. Unlike her older sisters, Eve hasn't yet found her path in life. But it's certainly not for lack of trying. She's tried a lot.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Acts of Desperation

  Nolan, Megan,

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  A young Irish woman falls for a beautiful guy and gradually gives up most of her social life (and her considerable love of the drink) to be with him. Aside from his occasional grumpiness, fussiness and tendency towards control, the main…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Afterparties

  Stories

  So, Anthony Veasna, 1992-2020

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  Each story in this debut collection of short stories from Anthony Veasna So is like a song that effortlessly shifts from major to minor keys, expressing both the melancholy of generational trauma and immigrant life as well as richly…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All That She Carried

  the Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

  Miles, Tiya, 1970-

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  Tiya Miles's All That She Carried is a magical book. This National Book Award-winning family history concerns the survival of a sack that was used to carry grains during slavery. The sack, though only an object, an artifact, was passed…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• American Made

  What Happens to People When Work Disappears

  Stockman, Farah,

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  In this investigation which began as a series of long-form articles for the New York Times, Pulitzer winner Stockman follows three American steelworkers after the Indianapolis ball bearing factory they worked at moved its operations to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Anthropocene Reviewed

  Essays on a Human-centered Planet

  Green, John, 1977-

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  Living on our human-centered planet can be stressful, beautiful, devastating, and wonderful all at once, especially while you're living through a pandemic. John Green manages to capture all those complex, intertwined emotions in this…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Beautiful Country

  a Memoir

  Wang, Qian Julie, 1987-

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  Qian, a Yale-graduated attorney, introduces herself as a young girl along with her family who lived in New York during the 1990s as undocumented immigrants in her memoir. If you are unfamiliar with the lives of immigrants or the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Beautiful World, Where Are You

  Rooney, Sally,

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  After moving to the west of Ireland, Alice meets a warehouse worker named Simon on a dating app. They hit it off, but Simon's behavior becomes somewhat strange after he learns she's a highly successful novelist. In Dublin, Alice's friend…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bewilderment

  a Novel

  Powers, Richard, 1957-

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  In the latest novel from Powers (after the Pulitzer-winning The Overstory), an astrophysicist named Theo is grieving the loss of his wife Aly while struggling as a single parent to raise his son Robin, who is also struggling with the loss.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Black Church

  This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song

  Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.,

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  Henry Louis Gates, the literary scholar, historian, filmmaker, and New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road, provides a recollection of how the Black church has molded and transformed the African American experience from slavery…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bombshell

  MacLean, Sarah,

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  Lady Sesily Talbot has always been the most scandalous of her sisters. And while they've all settled down with husbands and children, Sesily knows that is not the path for her. So, when given the opportunity to join a group of fellow…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Chasing Me to My Grave

  An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South

  Rembert, Winfred,

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  American painter Winfred Rembert (who passed away in 2021) relates his life story in this stunningly beautiful book. Told in short chapters and written in relatable prose, the book relates the experience of growing up in the segregated…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Chasing the Boogeyman

  a Novel

  Chizmar, Richard, 1965-

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  Author Richard Chizmar (co-author with Stephen King of Gwendy's Button Box) plays with the boundaries between fiction and true crime in his new novel. In this seemingly nonfiction account complete with black and white photos throughout,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Children of Chicago

  Pelayo, Cynthia,

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  Something is lurking in Chicago, something primal and evil. It stalks children by night, sowing confusion and fear wherever it goes. Chicago Police Detective Lauren Medina has seen many terrible things in her life, both on the force and in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Chosen and the Beautiful

  Vo, Nghi,

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  The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (The Empress of Salt and Fortune) finds all the little crevices in The Great Gatsby where imagination can run wild and fills them with lore, mysteriousness, and enchantment through the perspective of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Clark and Division

  Hirahara, Naomi, 1962-

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  Rose and Aki are daughters of Japanese immigrant parents who settled in Los Angeles County and lead a mostly happy, fortunate life until they are forced into the Manzanar internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Rose is first to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cloud Cuckoo Land

  a Novel

  Doerr, Anthony, 1973-

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  Doerr's first novel since 2014's beloved All the Light We Cannot See is an epic, page-turning suite of stories that span from ancient history into the future. Where Doerr's previous novel had a child protagonist, his latest offers several.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crying in H Mart

  a Memoir

  Zauner, Michelle,

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  Musician, director, and author Michelle Zauner has taken the literary year by storm and rightfully so. Crying in Hmart opens up with Zauner doing just that- crying in an Hmart food court as she connects with the memories of her mother…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Damnation Spring

  a Novel

  Davidson, Ash,

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  In this richly detailed historical fiction debut, Davidson tells the story of the Gundersen family, living in the redwood-abundant Pacific Northwest of the 1970s. Rich and Colleen and their son Chub are deeply embedded in logging culture,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

  Stories

  Enriquez, Mariana,

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  Set in modern-day Argentina, Mariana Enriquez's horror-driven short story collection is not for the faint of heart and may even be triggering for some readers. In this newly translated collection (but written prior to Things We Lost in the…Read moreRead more of this annotation