2021–My Year in Books

If you follow this blog, you may know that every month I make a few comments about the books I read that month. You can browse the monthly book posts here.

For several years I have set a goal for the number of books I’ll read in the year. This year it was 70, and I only just made it. The image at the left is the book covers from all the books I completed this year, from my Goodreads page. Not easy to make out the titles, I realize, but it makes a nice graphic!

So, what were my favorites for the year? A few do stand out.

In nonfiction, I thought Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe was excellent. I also really liked The Premonition by Michael Lewis. (My book club also read Lewis’s The Fifth Risk, which I also thought was excellent.)

In fiction, I liked Red Island House by Andrea Lee and Matrix by Lauren Groff. Elizabeth Strout’s latest, Oh William! is also a terrific read. I can also recommend Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar and Life after Life by Kate Atkinson.

I’ve already started a few books that I’ll finish reading in early 2022, and I plan to continue my monthly commentary, so stay tuned!