5 Best Books of 2021 from My Read List
Reading this year has been more of a way to cope and keep my mind away from solving problems or creating something of nothing. Audiobooks were my white noise to escape from the work I had to do physically, but mentally I could meander. In turn, as I look back on the 29 books read this year, they are mostly fiction. It wasn’t a year of non-fiction, self improvement reads, but a time to use reading as a way to unwind, relax, and slow down. Here are the five that stood out from the rest.
We Need to Talk About Kevin — Lionel Shriver
When it comes to fiction, I tend to be drawn to those that are rich and deep. Long, descriptive, romantic and grotesque — ones that ponder reality in a way that is believable yet unbelievable at the same time. My excitement for these types of books started in school — books like Crime and Punishment, As I Lay Dying, or The Metamorphosis. As an adult now, I got sucked in to The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Her writing and its intricacy stuck with me and changed me from the moment the covered closed. Since then, stumbling upon writing of that texture always felt like a gift.
We Need to Talk About Kevin felt like a nod to that texture — Lionel Shriver voices a female main character recollecting her decisions and life prior to children, all the way to the present day where her child becomes a school shooter. The conflicting thoughts and actions, the fear and love, all entwine into a complicated, relatable, yet remarkable story of the mother’s perspective on bringing children into the world and living with the consequences.
The Night Always Comes — Willy Vlautin
It’s always special to read with another, and this year I was fortunate enough tot share a few reads with my mother as she started expanding what types of books she read. One thing I learned from this experience is how important it is to read across genres and beyond recommendations, for if you often read with the same people with the same preferences, you all end up only knowing about or referring to the same ideas as each other. It’s much more exciting to have diversity and come together to find the commonality. It was fun to do this with my mom as we explored new titles together and separately.
We broke from the “top 10” lists and our friend’s hot reads and decided on this dark novel. It’s style was in line with the literary expertise I experienced with We Need To Talk About Kevin, and had a main character that was stuck in her own way and never really escaped it. It was sad, it was slow, and to be honest a bit depressing. It stuck in the heart. Books like this are important because things aren’t always avenged.
Cannery Row & Sweet Thursday — John Steinbeck
I decided to spend some time with John Steinbeck this year — starting with the classic Of Mice and Men while backpacking through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. For me, his writing has humor and irony paired with sad circumstances, and in the end things end up as they should be. Not necessarily how the characters wish them to be, the happy endings or redemption. And while often rather depressing, for some reason I would find myself smiling softly at the end of each book, assured. Things work out as they will.
No better proof of that is Cannery Row, where the characters and community was so lovable that you wanted to stay in their city a little longer. Thankfully Steinbeck gave that to us and wrote Sweet Thursday so we could revisit the harbor for a little bit longer.
Is This Anything? — Jerry Seinfeld
Amidst the deep and heavy fiction novels, I read Jerry Seinfeld’s Is This Anything? A creative inspiration to continue your work, every day. Allowing your mind to whirl in its own wonder, put it out into the world, and enjoy the process. This is a book I could listen to the audio version of on repeat, laughing each time at a new bit, and getting excited about what I can create someday, too.
