Year-End Book Wrapup 2021

My goal this year was to read 80 books* and to complete the Read Harder Challenge. Achieved! I read 83 books and you can see all my Challenge books on last year’s wrapup post.  

*I said the goal was 80 here and 75 elsewhere. Luckily I read 83 books this year so it’s a moo point.

Normally I note the breakdown of books by men and women, but about halfway through the year I realized that wouldn’t work anymore; I’ve been reading more trans and nonbinary authors and didn’t keep track of every author’s pronoun as I read.  Plus I was just reinforcing the gender binary.  I think we can take it as read that my list was not skewed towards cis white men, and not worry about this going forward.

Top five books of the year:

1. There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

I have been loving Japanese literature lately (Breasts and Eggs was another favorite this year) and this one was so quirky, specific, funny, strange, and interesting.

2. Crying in H Mart

A wonderful memoir that was also extremely critically acclaimed, about the author’s relationship with her mother and grief after her mother is gone, told through the lens of her Korean-American culture and food.

3. Subdivision

So weird and such a puzzle, I loved this. I’m excited to discuss this more and figure out more of its secrets in the upcoming Tournament of Books.

4. Fugitive Telemetry

Murderbot! This is a fun murder mystery standalone novella, and as always I love spending time with Murderbot. Martha Wells recently won Best Series at the Hugos for the Murderbot Diaries; very well deserved.

5. The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest

I found myself talking to people about this book all year! A nonfiction account of an ascent of the North Face of Everest, paired with a mystery about Mallory and Irvine and whether they really summited in 1924. The best Everest book since Into Thin Air and a really compelling adventure.

Honorable mentions: No One Is Talking About This, Perfect on Paper; Breasts and Eggs; Interior Chinatown; Cool for the Summer; Nobody, Somebody, Anybody; Shit, Actually; Project Hail Mary

Bottom three books:

I know I DNF a bunch of books again this year but can’t remember any of them. Here are the three that stuck out to me as my least favorite reads of the year.

1. Detransition, Baby

Read this for the summer Tournament of Books. I found it unconvincing and I hated the characters. (There is no way Katrina would make the choices she does in this book, whatsoever.) Not for me.

2. Felix Ever After

Speaking of hating the characters, I really did not like or root for Felix. I hate to have two books on my lowlights list with trans protagonists, but so it goes, at least this year.

3. Written in the Stars  

A romance, which is a bit of a harder sell for me anyway, in which the plot and writing didn’t quite land. It was supposed to be a fake relationship trope but it never happened (kind of like in Single All the Way, the Netflix masterpiece that I enjoyed anyway because my standards are lower for Netflix holiday films apparently).  

For this year I’ll aim for 75 books, which feels like a nice number and is what I thought I was aiming for this year anyway. And as usual, I will track my Read Harder Challenge books here throughout the year and tag them with 2022 rhc. The 2022 categories are:   

Total: 24/24

[X] Read a biography of an author you admire: Jane Austen at Home
[X] Read a book set in a bookstore: The Sentence
[X] Read any book from the Women’s Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list: Sorrow and Bliss
[X] Read a book in any genre by a POC that’s about joy and not trauma: The Princess Trap
[X] Read an anthology featuring diverse voices: Love After the End
[X] Read a nonfiction YA comic: Honor Girl
[X] Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40: Wrong Number, Right Woman
[X] Read a classic written by a POC: A Raisin in the Sun
[X] Read the book that’s been on your TBR the longest: Pachinko
[X] Read a political thriller by a marginalized author (BIPOC, or LGBTQIA+): A Study in Honor
[X] Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character: Loveless
[X] Read an entire poetry collection: Finna
[X] Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author: The Unlikely Thru-Hiker
[X] Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book): Ghost World
[X] Read a new-to-you literary magazine (print or digital). Rattle
[X] Read a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes: Mistborn: The Final Empire
[X] Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary: This One Looks Like a Boy
[X] Read a “Best _ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice: Best Travel Writing 2021
[X] Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author: The Trees
[X] Read an award-winning book from the year you were born: The Killer Angels
[X] Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth: Cinderella Is Dead
[X] Read a history about a period you know little about: A Short History of Russia
[X] Read a book by a disabled author: Golem Girl
[X] Pick a challenge from any of the previous years’ challenges to repeat! (from 2015: A self-improvement book: Just Eat It

Great categories this year I think; looking forward to it!