Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

As we wrap up 2021, let's take a look back at our reading with a Best Of post. Feel free to pick and choose which categories to use (I know they don't all apply to everyone's reading), and feel free to add some you think I'm missing!

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BEST ADULT FICTION

BEST YA FICTION

BEST NONFICTION

BEST ON AUDIO

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author

TAUGHT A LESSON
Book that taught me something about myself

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional

BEST FLUFF
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it

BEST ADULT FICTION
The Architect's Apprentice by Elif Shafak

BEST YA FICTION
YA: Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Middle-Grades: The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

BEST NONFICTION
Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid

BREAKOUT READ
The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

MOST RECOMMENDED
Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton

BIGGEST PUSH
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

BEST LGBTQIA+
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

TAUGHT A LESSON
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

BEST TIME MACHINE
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

BEST CHARACTERS
The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

BEST DRESSED
by Elif Shafak

BEST PLACE
The River by Peter Heller

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
The Wolf's Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves by Thomas Peacock

MOST HUMOROUS
Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton

BEST FEELINGS
To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

BEST FLUFF & WORTH THE PAGES
The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

BEST ADULT FICTION
The Hole

BEST YA FICTION
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor

BEST NONFICTION
The Anthropocene Reviewed

BEST ON AUDIO
The Dive: The Untold Story of the World's Deepest Submarine Rescue

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
Dearly

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone
Safecracker: A Chronicle of the Coolest Job in the World

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone
Purple Hibiscus

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author
Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
The Adventurer's Son

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)
Fangs
(it's not just the cover, it's also that the edges are black)

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

BEST ADULT FICTION: Mexican Gothic

BEST YA FICTION: Let's Talk About Love

BEST NONFICTION: You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism

BEST ON AUDIO: Becoming (read by the author)

BREAKOUT READ: Salt Houses
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations

MOST RECOMMENDED: Piranesi
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone

BIGGEST PUSH: Lovecraft Country
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone (horror)

BEST LGBTQIA+: One Last Stop
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author

TAUGHT A LESSON: It's Not All Downhill from Here
Book that taught me something about myself (aging)

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK: Becoming
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate

MOST TIMELY: You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism
Book that spoke to our current culture

BEST TIME MACHINE: The Henna Artist
Historical fiction book that set the scene

BEST CHARACTERS: Homegoing
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book

BEST DRESSED: A Hunger for High Country: One Woman's Journey to the Wild in Yellowstone Country
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)

BEST PLACE: All Systems Red
Book that was set in an interesting environment

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING: Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
Book that made me think the most

BEST SHOCK: Mexican Gothic
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise

MOST HUMOROUS: Spoiler Alert
Book that kept me laughing

BEST FEELINGS: Salt Houses
Book that made me really emotional

BEST FLUFF: Recipe for Persuasion
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books

WORTH THE PAGES: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Book that was long but worth it

I went with my own categories.

Best General Fiction:
A Man Called Ove
The Deal of a Lifetime and Other Stories

Best Science Fiction:
Fugitive Telemetry
This Is How You Lose the Time War
Generations

Best Fantasy Stand Alone:
The Witch's Heart
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Under the Whispering Door
The Tangleroot Palace: Stories

Best Fantasy Series:
When Sorrows Come (October Daye #15)
The God of Lost Words (Hell's Library #3)
Calculated Risks (InCryptid #10)
Angel of the Overpass (Ghost Roads #3)
Wild Sign (Alpha & Omega #6)

Best Romance:
The Love Hypothesis
The Charm Offensive
People We Meet on Vacation
Life's Too Short
Well Matched
Just Last Night
Incense and Sensibility
Take a Hint, Dani Brown
Ayesha at Last
Don't You Forget About Me

Best Historical Fiction:
The Rose Code
Hamnet and Judith - Don't ask me why the Canadian version has a different name.

Best YA General Fiction:
The Inheritance Games
The Hawthorne Legacy
What If It's Us

Best YA Historical Fiction
Salt to the Sea

Best YA Fantasy Stand Alone:
The Night Wanderer

Best YA Fantasy Series:
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of Air #3.5)
Crooked Kingdom (Grishaverse #5)
Six of Crows (Grishaverse #4)
King of Scars (Grishaverse #5)
Rule of Wolves (Grishaverse #6)
Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6)
Ruin and Rising (Grishaverse #2)
Terciel and Elinor (The Old Kingdom #6)
(I did read the other books in The Grishaverse, but they weren't great. If I hadn't started with Six of Crows, I would have DNF'd the series)

Best Graphic Novels:
Nimona
The Last Halloween: Children
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening
Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood
Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven
Monstress, Vol. 4: The Chosen
Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild
Monstress, Vol. 6: The Vow
The Magic Fish
Anya's Ghost
Cairo: A Graphic Novel

Best Poetry or Free Verse:
Apple: Skin to the Core
Inside Out & Back Again
Burning In This Midnight Dream

Best Nonfiction:
A Very Punchable Face
Wilf Perreault: In the Alley / Dans la ruelle
Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks
How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
NeuroScience Fiction

Best Picture Book
Oh Look, a Cake!

Pretty shocking to me. Unbelievable how some people think.

THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD
A MEMOIR
MAUDE JULIEN
Translated by Adriana Hunter
For readers of Damaged and Running with Scissors, a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape.

P. 2021 BEST OF:

BEST FICTION
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION
The Four Winds
The Things We Cannot Say

BEST YA or MIDDLE GRADE
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

BEST NONFICTION
Five Equations That Changed the World by Michael Guillen

BEST ON AUDIO
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

BEST SERIES
Sujata Massey - Perveen Mistry
Charles Finch - Charles Lenox

BEST TRANSLATED
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
What are the Blind Men Dreaming? by Noemi Jaffe

BOOK THAT EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS
Lamb to the Slaughter and Other Stories by Roald Dahl
Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

BOOK THAT DID NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

MOST RECOMMENDED
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

BOOK THAT GOT ME MOST OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE
Digging Up The Bones by Dale Marlowe
Untethered: An Exploration of Bipolar Disorder Through Art and Prose

BEST LGBTQIA+
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

BEST COVER
Faithful by Alice Hoffman

BOOK SET IN AN INTERESTING ENVIRONMENT
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

BEST FOR EMOTIONS
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman

BOOK THAT BROKE MY ROUTINE OF MISERY AND HEARTBREAK IN BOOKS
The Fatal Flying Affair by T.E. Kinsey

WORTH THE PAGES
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

BEST ADULT FICTION
The Great Gatsby
BEST YA FICTION
Crooked Kingdom
BEST NONFICTION
The Anthropocene Reviewed
BEST ON AUDIO
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
BREAKOUT READ
A Man Called Ove
MOST RECOMMENDED
Vicious
BIGGEST PUSH
The Secret History
BEST LGBTQIA+
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
TAUGHT A LESSON
Know My Name
BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
The Vanishing Half
MOST TIMELY
Beartown
BEST TIME MACHINE
The Book Thief
BEST CHARACTERS
The Raven Boys
BEST DRESSED
The Night Circus
BEST PLACE
Malibu Rising
MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
BEST SHOCK
A Reaper at the Gates
MOST HUMOROUS
Anxious People
BEST FEELINGS
Clockwork Princess
BEST FLUFF
Lovely War
WORTH THE PAGES
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

I didn't read enough (or enough variety maybe) to fill all the categories but here are a few. :)

BEST ADULT FICTION
Hamnet

BEST NONFICTION
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

BEST ON AUDIO
Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song

BREAKOUT READ
Luster

BEST LGBTQIA+
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

MOST TIMELY
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country

BEST CHARACTERS
Unsettled Ground

BEST PLACE
Where the Crawdads Sing

BEST FLUFF
How to Walk Away

WORTH THE PAGES
Grown Ups

I was pretty specific in what I read this year so only some categories are featured below.

BEST YA FICTION
Instant Karma
The Voting Booth
The Only Black Girls in Town

BREAKOUT READ
Dragon Hoops

MOST RECOMMENDED
The Voting Booth

BIGGEST PUSH
Slay

TAUGHT A LESSON
Wink

BEST CHARACTERS
Mr. Terupt Series
Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
The Chance to Fly

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Free Lunch

BEST SHOCK
Monday's Not Coming

BEST FEELINGS
Ground Zero

WORTH THE PAGES
Anything by Ellen Hopkins!

Gail wrote: "P. 2021 BEST OF:

BEST FICTION
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION
The Four Winds
[..."

Loved those two YA ones too!! So good!

BEST ADULT FICTION
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

BEST YA FICTION
Moxie

BEST NONFICTION
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

BREAKOUT READ
Poison

MOST RECOMMENDED
Malibu Rising

BIGGEST PUSH
My Heart Is a Chainsaw

BEST CHARACTERS
Down Among the Sticks and Bones

BEST DRESSED


BEST PLACE
A Deadly Education

BEST FEELINGS
Bruised

BEST FLUFF
Go the Distance

WORTH THE PAGES
The Moonstone

BEST ADULT FICTION
Ordinary Grace

BEST YA FICTION
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

BEST NONFICTION
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family

BEST ON AUDIO
Miss Benson's Beetle

BREAKOUT READ
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

MOST RECOMMENDED
Klara and the Sun

BIGGEST PUSH
All Systems Red

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

TAUGHT A LESSON
Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Behold the Dreamers

MOST TIMELY
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

BEST TIME MACHINE
Jack, Knave and Fool or any book from this series

BEST CHARACTERS
The Thursday Murder Club

BEST DRESSED
The Girl with the Louding Voice

BEST PLACE
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING - The Midnight Library (though partly thoughts about why I didn't like it)

BEST SHOCK
A Line To Kill

MOST HUMOROUS
It's a Wonderful Woof

BEST FEELINGS
Project Hail Mary

BEST FLUFF
The Bromance Book Club

WORTH THE PAGES
Cloud Cuckoo Land

BEST ADULT FICTION
Four Winds by Kristen Hannah

BEST YA FICTION
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

BEST NONFICTION
Caste by Isabelle Wilkenson

BEST ON AUDIO
Dear Martin by Nic Stone

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch by Erin French

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone
The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate
Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch by Erin French

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene
The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment (setting)
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
Verity by Colleen Hoover

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing
Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional
The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it
Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

BEST ADULT FICTION
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

BEST YA FICTION
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

BEST NONFICTION
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

BEST ON AUDIO
All of the Sookie Stackhouse books

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

TAUGHT A LESSON
Book that taught me something about myself
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within) [okay - maybe not "attractive" but a really cool cover]
Finders Keepers by Stephen King

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment
Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt by Kara Cooney

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah. J. Maas

BEST FLUFF
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books
Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

BEST ADULT FICTION
And Then There Were None

BEST YA FICTION
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone
Where the Crawdads Sing

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone
The Kite Runner

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
Animal Farm

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene
The Book of Negroes

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
The Thirteenth Tale

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness
within)
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment
Lost in a Good Book

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
And Then There Were None

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing
Barney's Version

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional
The Flame

BEST FLUFF
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books
Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily

BEST ADULT FICTION

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

BEST YA FICTION

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

BEST NONFICTION
I immediately ordered his other travel books:

Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon

BEST ON AUDIO

I didn't listen to any audio books so N/A

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past by Jennifer Teege

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone

The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet by Sheila Watt-Cloutier


BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

TAUGHT A LESSON
Book that taught me something about myself

On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging by Nicola Chester

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate

I don't belong to a book club, but I think this would be a good book for discussion:

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene

Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)


BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment

Set in Mongolia and looking at shamanistic culture:

The Horse Boy: The True Story of a Father's Miraculous Journey to Heal His Son by Rupert Isaacson


MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie


BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
Very different from her usual writing:

The Supreme Lie by Geraldine McCaughrean

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing

Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes: words, wit, wisdom, one-liners and rants


BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional

by Nam Le


BEST FLUFF
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books

Not sure that was my routine but this was delightful:

Breadfruit by Célestine Hitiura Vaite

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

reply | flag *

BEST ADULT FICTION
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

BEST YA FICTION
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

BEST NONFICTION
Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home by Nikesh Shukla

BEST ON AUDIO
The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

BREAKOUT READ
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

MOST RECOMMENDED
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

BEST LGBTQIA+
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

MOST TIMELY
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

BEST TIME MACHINE
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

BEST CHARACTERS
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

BEST DRESSED
The Forevers by Chris Whitaker

BEST PLACE
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

BEST SHOCK
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

MOST HUMOROUS
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

BEST FEELINGS
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

WORTH THE PAGES
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

BEST ADULT FICTION
The Drowning Girl by Caitlyn Kiernan

BEST YA FICTION
I don't think the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is actually YA, but people keep slotting it there and it's the closest thing I have for 2021. I have a few loves in this series, but In an Absent Dream was just exquisite and is also a stand alone book if you somehow don't want to read the whole series.

BEST NONFICTION
Serpentine is wonderful. Art and snakes.

BEST ON AUDIO
The Magnus Archives, quite honestly.

BREAKOUT READ
I truly was not expecting The Drowning Girl to go that hard.

MOST RECOMMENDED
Have you read The Arrival by Sean Tan yet? Because you really should!

BIGGEST PUSH
Not so much a comfort zone issue, but I knew Allie Brosch would be coming for my heart with Solutions and Other Problems and she did. Very hard book; content warnings for suicide, drug abuse, and self harm.

BEST LGBTQIA+
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is absolutely as good as you may have heard.

TAUGHT A LESSON
2021 on Goodreads. (2021 was enough self discovery for me all on its own.)

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson got some nice discussion going. Also a great read.

MOST TIMELY
If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar

BEST CHARACTERS
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

BEST DRESSED
I've already mentioned the Singing Hills with Empress of Salt and Fortune, but the cover for the sequel was fantastic too.

(When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain)

BEST PLACE
Khaw's crumbling mansion was fantastic, but since I've already mentioned it, The Decagon House Murders also had an excellent creepy house. (The most excellent book for this I encountered in 2021 is actually Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims, but I'm listening to it which always takes me so much longer, so I didn't get it finished by year's end.)

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami is a book I am still picking apart all the time in my mind.

BEST FLUFF
"the work of spring" by wrrms on AO3 (fanfiction for The Untamed). (I'd link by Goodreads has decided to ruin my fun in that department.) I actually think I didn't read nearly enough fluff in 2021. I should make a conscious effort to fix that in 2022.

BEST ADULT FICTION: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I tore through this one in a day, it was so good.

BEST YA FICTION: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
This was a reread, but I think I liked it better than I did the first time I read it.

BEST NONFICTION: The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
This was a real challenge to read - it's long and very detail heavy - but it was well worth it to me. So much fascinating information and cool facts!

BEST ON AUDIO - I don't listen to audio books.

BREAKOUT READ: The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick
This was a risk because of its low Goodreads rating, but I LOVED it.

MOST RECOMMENDED: Watership Down by Richard Adams
Has everyone already read this? Are you putting it off because it sounds like it might be boring? It's not, it's amazing.

BIGGEST PUSH: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Thrillers are not usually so much my thing, but this one really worked for me - probably because it was really more of a family drama disguised as a thriller.

BEST LGBTQIA+: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This was a wild ride - really cool premise and characters.

TAUGHT A LESSON: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
This kind of psychology/self help book isn't my usual thing, but I did get one especially helpful insight out of it.

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
I bought this book for a friend and we had a really interesting and nuanced conversation about it.

MOST TIMELY: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
I loved how the series of different voices complemented and contradicted each other - it felt like a really nuanced total perspective.

BEST TIME MACHINE: Katalin Street by Magda Szabó
Set in Budapest during and after WWII, I thought the atmosphere of this book was incredible.

BEST CHARACTERS: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
I loved how character-driven this novel was, and how much Elena's perspective influenced how we viewed them.

BEST DRESSED: Ship Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett

I love the cover to this book and I think it perfectly captures the sense of beauty and wonder in nature and natural science that this collection of short stories focused on.

BEST PLACE: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
I didn't know all that much about the Partition of India and Pakistan before reading this book and I learned SO much. Rushdie really brought these countries and their histories to life.

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING: Hellspark by Janet Kagan
This is tied with Piranesi for overall best of the year, but it gets this slot because it made me think so much about language, communication, cultural norms, and intelligence.

BEST SHOCK: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
I thought I had guessed the twist early on, and then it turned out that was just a decoy twist!

MOST HUMOROUS: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
This might be a strange pick for this prompt, but this book really is so absurd and I laughed out loud several times while reading it.

BEST FEELINGS: The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien
I cried multiple times rereading this.

BEST FLUFF: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Just give me a book where there are a whole bunch of interesting worlds built around different themes, I am guaranteed to enjoy it.

WORTH THE PAGES: Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
There was so much plot, complicated, fascinating, intricate plot, packed into this book. None of the pages are wasted.

BEST ADULT FICTION
Migrations

BEST YA FICTION
Instructions for Dancing
Had no expectations when I started. Which is perhaps why it rose to the best YA fiction spot.

BEST NONFICTION
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

BEST ON AUDIO
I'll second The Magnus Archives (podcast)!

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
The Empire of Gold

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone
Me
Wow. So much beauty in so few words.

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone
Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
Oof. Doesn't skimp on details. Hard to digest at times. I don't know how I would have lived through those times.

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

TAUGHT A LESSON
Book that taught me something about myself
Hmmm... That I enjoy a good romance? That I have a huge soft spot for science fiction? That yet again in 2021 (as in 2020) I read books that helped me escape? Then:
Shards of Honour

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate
Am not part of a book club. But if I were to pick a book to discuss it would be:
Half of a Yellow Sun

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
One fiction, one non-fiction:
Vesper Flights
Ring Shout

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene
The Architect's Apprentice

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
Me

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)
Migrations


BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment
The Goblin Emperor

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
See above, in Biggest Push.

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
When No One is Watching

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing
Hollow Kingdom

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional
Me

BEST FLUFF
Book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books
A Rogue of One's Own

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it
The Eighth Life

Best Adult Fiction: Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
Best YA Fiction: Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
Best Nonfiction:,/b> Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up and What We Make When We Make Dinner by Liz Hauck
Breakout Read The Incredible Winston Brown by Sean Dietrich
Most Recommended Martin Marten by Brian Doyle
Book Out of My Comfort Zone Montana 1948 by Larry WAtson
Best LGBTQIA The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Book Club Pick Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
Most Timely Anxious People by Fredrick Backman
Best Time Machine A Band of Sisters by Laura Wittig
Best Dressed The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick
Best Place The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
Best Thought Provoking One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
Best Feelings The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Kline

BEST ADULT FICTION
- The Garden of Evening Mists - My Review

BEST YA FICTION
- Klara and the Sun - My Review

BEST NONFICTION
- An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943 - My Review

BEST ON AUDIO
- The Golden Compass - My Review

BREAKOUT READ
Book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
- Embers - My Review

MOST RECOMMENDED
Book I would recommend to anyone and everyone
- Piranesi - My Review

BIGGEST PUSH
Book that got me most out of my comfort zone
- A Passage North - My Review

BEST LGBTQIA+
Best book featuring LGBTQIA+ characters and/or written by an LGBTQIA+ author
- Middlesex - My Review

TAUGHT A LESSON
Book that taught me something about myself
- Unless by Carol Shields - My Review

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
Book that sparked discussion and encourage debate
- Everything Here is Beautiful - My Review

MOST TIMELY
Book that spoke to our current culture
- Hell of a Book - My Review

BEST TIME MACHINE
Historical fiction book that set the scene
- The Colour - My Review

BEST CHARACTERS
Book whose characters stuck with me long after I finished the book
- The Sea, The Sea - My Review

BEST DRESSED
Book with the most attractive cover (that shows the greatness within)
- The Moor's Account - My Review

BEST PLACE
Book that was set in an interesting environment
- A Thousand Splendid Suns - My Review

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Book that made me think the most
- Assembly - My Review

BEST SHOCK
Book that made my jaw drop in surprise
- Cloud Cuckoo Land - My Review

MOST HUMOROUS
Book that kept me laughing (well, not the entire book but it has humorous moments)
- The Eternal Audience of One - My Review

BEST FEELINGS
Book that made me really emotional
- The Secrets Between Us - My Review

BEST FLUFF
I would not call it fluff, but it is the book that broke my routine of misery and heartbreak in books
- Nelson's Purse - My Review

WORTH THE PAGES
Book that was long but worth it
- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - My Review

OTHER GREAT READS
Fiction:
- The Hungry Tide - My Review
- A Man - My Review
- So Much Blue - My Review
- What I Loved - My Review
- Three Junes - My Review
- The Young Lions - My Review

Non-fiction:
- Conspiracy of Fools - My Review
- The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe 1944-1945 - My Review
- King Leopold's Ghost - My Review

BEST ADULT FICTION
Changes

BEST MIDDLE GRADE FICTION
Elatsoe

BEST YA FICTION
Cemetery Boys

BEST NONFICTION
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided

BEST ON AUDIO
Brightstorm
(though next in line would be: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided; Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; & Elatsoe)

BREAKOUT READ
Magic for Liars

MOST RECOMMENDED
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

BIGGEST PUSH
The Only Good Indians

BEST LGBTQIA+
Heartstopper: Volume One

TAUGHT A LESSON
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

BEST BOOK CLUB PICK
When No One is Watching

MOST TIMELY
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided

BEST TIME MACHINE
The Duke Who Didn't

BEST CHARACTERS
The Midnight Bargain

BEST DRESSED
Lore Olympus: Volume One

BEST PLACE
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening

MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

BEST SHOCK
All Systems Red

MOST HUMOROUS
Saga, Vol. 1

BEST FEELINGS
Beneath the Sugar Sky
(next up being In the Country We Love, Cemetary Boys, The Graveyard Book, The Princess Trap, and Mangos & Mistletoe)

BEST FLUFF
The Tea Dragon Society

WORTH THE PAGES
Rosemary and Rue

best of 2021