booklist 2021

 Well, once again that was a year. But the worse the years get, the more books I read, so here's what I read in 2021. 56 new books all up, almost back to pre-kid reading levels! 

Longest book Caliban's War by James A. Corey part of an epic sci-fi series ('The Expanse' series). My friend recommended these and ended up buying me the first one so that I would read it- they are a lot of fun! And occasionally irritating. But mostly very fun. Shortest book And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Ironically I think this took me longer to read- I'm pretty sure I started it in 2020. But it's a poetry collection so I dipped in and out. I'm glad to have read it. Iconic.

Oldest Book this is also And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (1978). I read mostly pretty recent books this year. Newest book I think this goes to The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik, September 2021. The cliffhangers in this series are intense, it's a must read as soon as it comes out!

Reading themes I went through a big YA phase at some point in the year- when we were in lockdown and I ran out of physical books and the YA titles were the ones that kept jumping out at me on the library app. eBooks from the library are a real godsend in the middle of a pandemic. So I read Girls in Boys Cars, The True Colour of a Little White Lie and Loner pretty much one after another. And those are just the Australian ones! Looking back, there are plenty of YA novels scattered all through this year. But my favourite Australian YA novel of the year I read earlier on, Can't Say it Went to Plan by Gabrielle Tozer. It follows three different characters on schoolies, dealing with friendship and relationships and what they're doing with their lives and who they want to be. I saw it on social media and it lived up to exactly what I wanted from it- these are kids dealing with a range of different things but there's a sense of joy and optimism which feels just right. 

Reading resolutions I didn't read that much mystery this year, and I kind of want to get into some more murder mysteries next year. Of those that I did read, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman was the most fun. The Expanse series also whet my appetite for more sci-fi- I have my eye on Becky Chambers' books and Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. And of course the third of Naomi Novik's Scholomance books is a must when it comes out.

Last year I resolved to read more books in translation, but I'd call that one a failure since I only read one in 2021- The President's Hat.

Alright, without further ado, the full list of books read for the first time in 2021. Asterisk next to my favourites:

Ha'penny - Jo Walton    Suspenseful alternative history with Nazis

Death in Daylesford - Kerry Greenwood     Phryne Fisher mysteries are always fun

The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 

Jack - Marilynne Robinson

The Bookshop of Yesterdays - Amy Meyerson

This Has Been Absolutely Lovely - Jessica Dettman

*All Our Shimmering Skies - Trent Dalton

The Masked City - Genevieve Cogman   Such a fun and frantic series about a multidimensional universe kept in balance by an invisible library and its skilled librarian operatives. With elves and dragons.

Stormsong - C.L. Polk

The Sacred Combe - Thomas Maloney    Lovely and meditative book about a mysterious place also with a significant library, but I felt the ending let it down

The Museum of Words: A Memoir of Language, Writing and Mortality - Georgia Blain

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado     Experimental memoir of domestic violence

Circe - Madeleine Miller

Jacakaby - William Ritter

And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

Cold Earth - Sarah Moss      A thriller involving a remote archaeological dig, a global pandemic and a possible haunting

Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell    YA romance

Beastly Bones - William Ritter

Giant Days vol. 13 - John Allison     My favourite comic writer. Giant Days is a series about a group of friends at uni in the UK and a lot of weirdness

Giant Days vol. 14 - John Allison

The Burning Page - Genevieve Cogman

Thorn - Intasar Khanani         A retelling of the goose girl fairytale

How to Fake Being Tidy: And other things my mother never taught me - Fenella Souter     A collection of essays about domesticity and other things

Song of the Crocodile - Nardi Simpson

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow - Jessica Townsend

Children of the Revolution - Peter Robinson     

* Can't Say it Went to Plan - Gabrielle Tozer

* Weather - Jenny Offill    A novel in vignettes about a librarian dealing with her family, climate change, general angst. A summary which doesn't do it justice- I loved this.

The Upside of Unrequited - Becky Albertalli

All Our Hidden Gifts - Caroline O'Donoghue    YA fantasy with tarot cards, creeping dread, lots of queer themes. This was dark and good.

*Notes to Self: Essays - Emilie Pine              A brutally honest set of personal essays about hte authors life, but also about the various challenges women face in the world

A Curious Beginning - Deanna Raybourn   Fun historical adventure romance set in Victorian England

The President's Hat - Antoine Laurain     A light French novel following president Mitterand's hat, and how it changes the lives of the people who encounter it

A Perilous Undertaking - Deanna Raybourn

*The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel      I wasn't super keen on reading a novel about the GFC, but Emily St John Mandel is great and so is this

The Octopus and I - Erin Hortle

*Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason     This is one of those books that it felt like everyone was reading this year- but it deserved it. A woman's life, relationships, experience of mental illness- all with a does of humour. And sadness, as the name suggests.

The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions - Kerry Greenwood      Collection of Phryne Fisher short stories. Honestly not 100% sure whether I'd read these or not,.

Murder with the Lot - Sue Williams          A bored fish and chips shop owner gets involved in trying to get to the bottom of something fishy happening on the rental property she's managing.

*Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton

Nimona - Noelle Stevenson

Leviathan Wakes - James A. Corey

The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathan Fairfax - Christopher Shevlin      This was a lot of fun. Our perpetually astonished hero falls into the middle of some dastardly goings on. Hijinks ensue.

Caliban's War - James A. Corey

*Reading the Seasons: Books Holding Life and Friendship together - Germaine Leece and Sonya Tsakalakis    A collection of letters between two bibliotherapists. Link to Goodreads review.

*The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik

Girls in Boys Cars - Felicity Castagna 

The True Colour of a Little White Lie - Gabriel Bergmoser

Loner - Georgina Young

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb - Cat Sebastien    Historical romance with a highwayman

*Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

*The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

*Solutions and Other Problems - Allie Brosh        This made me laugh so much. Even though it is also devastating. Allie Brosh writes and draws about life like no-one else.

Akata Warrior - Nnedi Okorafor

Snow White - Matt Phelan      A graphic novel retelling of Snow White set in New York in the roaring twenties.