Best Books of 2021

Ones I read, that is. 
Well, it has been a crazy year. I knew it would be worse than 2020, and I have a sense that everything will get worse in the future given the tensions rising among the great powers (the stupidity of the elites in each nation and so forth, we've seen this show before) as well as Climate Change. So some of my books have been brilliant dives into the real world, peeling back the wallpaper a little and some of them are escapist tripe, but enjoyable.
Here they are (some manga ahead):
Abandon the old in Tokyo . Short Manga stories about the poor in Tokyo. Loved it. Dark with sad endings, but really hits you right. Check it out. Seriously. It takes less than an hour to read and yet is so brilliant. 
Against a Loveless World . Really, some brilliant story telling here. Heart wrenching but man is it good. Check it out if you can. 
Captain Blackman . Also a great novel. I think it's the best tone I've read from Vietnam or about it from the American side at least. 
The wretched of the Earth . Definitely worth reading, if only because most everyone alludes to this book over and over (and sometimes they really seem to get it way wrong). 😑. Highly recommend even if I think he got some things wrong. 
Unwomanly face of war . Women on the eastern front. Really good stories, though many are really damn dark (as you can imagine). 
American Histories . Really good gems here in this short story collection. 
A little Hatred . Man was this an enjoyable read. Took little more than a couple days to do so. 
Tokyo Ueno Station. Another brilliant look at the homeless in Tokyo. Loved every bit of it. Heartfelt and incisive. Really worth it. 
Showa . Japanese Manga historical fiction. The balance between the story of the author growing up and the history is brilliantly done. Can't recommend this enough. 
Solid ones but not completely brilliant:
Homeland Elegies . Not sure what to think about this book. Had some real good thought provoking parts. So that alone should have you reading it. 
The vanishing Half . Didn't get into this that much. I mean, this is well written and a damn good story. But I think the questions and thoughts raised in the first half aren't really answered or dealt with in the later chapters. Liked it a lot but some of that is preaching to the choir, you know? Wanted more from it. 
Notes on a Foreign Country . Solid stuff, even if much of it is preaching to the choir (for me). And, of course, some of it didn't pierce deep enough for me. Still worth looking through. 
Reign of Terror . Not as good as I had hoped. Even after I hoped that the filter of time would improve it. I mean basically it reiterated all I already knew. I do appreciate the author trying to show some attempt in looking into this aspect of our society, but not as deep as I'd have hoped.   
Not the end of the world . Also barely making the list, as the above one.  I mean some of the stories really do hit right in the heart, but for the most part felt kinda what you see coming out of the MFA world (don't think the author is that at all though), much like the myriad of cafes/restaurants I see today that are perfectly decorated but lack.. well something... these are nice, well written stories, but really lacking in just something else. What should I call this? Writing for suburban [1] ennui that DFW etc all have kept alive till today (and one with which the Cold War tainted our literary landscape to this day). Shame. 
honorable mentions: No One is Talking about this . Love some of her essays on LRB and as a writer I appreciate what she did here with the portal of the internet vs reality. But much of this ended up falling flat for me. Good stuff and good writer so I will read more in the future. 

[1] and more specifically a very provincial kind of American or European view of the world.. 

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