Klara and the Sun has intrigued so many.

Michala wrote: "Yaa Gyasi’s ‘Transcendent Kingdom’ has been my best book of the year so far. I finished it and just sat there thinking “wow, this writer is in a league of her own.”"

Have you read Homegoing? Loved it. Yaa is an amazing author, next to read is Transcendent Kingdom

Brian Broome, "Punch Me Up to the Gods." A really remarkable debut book by a man who approaches his own life with frankness, some sorrow, and humor. His writing pulls the reader into his world, and gives no quarter. I have followed him on Facebook for several years, and he is both hilarious and brutal.

I take these lists with a grain of salt. Some just came out last week so how are they already members top 48 favs when majority haven’t had a chance to even read them? 😂

Kim wrote: "We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker should be on the list. That's my favorite fiction read of the year so far."


I agree 100%. I am on book 31 for the year and it is still at the top of my list.

Katmandu wrote: "I will read anything Sally Hepworth writes. She has such a way with words."

Totally agree!!

Finding Freedom by chef Erin French. Superb memoir

My absolute favorite so far,“Klara And The Sun” intrigued me and squeezed my heart. “The Lost Apothecary” was intelligently written and a riveting page-turner. “Caste” is an illuminating must-read. “Broken”had me laughing out loud and tearful.

My nominee for best book of 2021 is: THE LAST GREEN VALLEY by Mark Sullivan who also wrote BENEATH A SCARLET SKY. "Valley" is the true story of survival of a little known group of Ethnic Germans who had lived in Ukraine for over a century, but who were "repatriated" by the Nazis. This is the actual telling of a real family caught between the Nazis and the Stalinist Russians and of their harrowing efforts at finding peace and safety in the treacherous world of WWII.
If I could have given it more stars, I would have!

Kim wrote: "We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker should be on the list. That's my favorite fiction read of the year so far."

Couldn't agree more!

Donna wrote: "Kathy wrote: "I read The Four Winds. I thought it was terrible. Grapes of Wrath dumbed down for 6th grade reading level. Klara and the Sun was just weird. Not compelling. Not interesting. Thankfull..."

Agree on The Four Winds. I just Read The Grapes of Wrath and went back to lower my rating of The Four Winds (from 2 stars to 1) when I realized what a basic copy job it is.

Four Winds

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica and Finding Tessa by Jaime Lynn Hendricks. Both were amazing!

My favorite book of the year so far is Earth's Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World by Kathleen Dean Moore. An exquisite collection of essays looking at the loss, via ecological degradation, of the soundscape of our world. It is informative, alarming, and stunningly beautiful.

Interesting list, as usual.

Too bad books in other languages than English (or from other countries than the US) hardly ever make it to Goodreads' lists and recommendations. There are fantastic works appearing in French, German or Dutch - and probably also in several other languages - that we never get to know because they fall outside of the recommendation algorithms. They are in GR's database, however, as I can manually add them to my want-to-read shelf.

ohhhhhh my , I have to stop looking at these lists, I just add more and more and more books to my want to read list! Add them way faster than I can ever read them all! LOL. Always so many interesting sounding ones.

Totally loved When All Is Said ....by Anne Griffin. A debut novel from an author worth taking note of.

The only one that I've read is The Lost Apothecary and I absolutely loved it.

Kathy wrote: "I read The Four Winds. I thought it was terrible. Grapes of Wrath dumbed down for 6th grade reading level. Klara and the Sun was just weird. Not compelling. Not interesting. Thankfully not that lon..."
Also, just because you didn't like a book doesn't mean the book is bad. It just means you didn't like it.

Eternal, Lisa Scottoline

Yellow Wife was excellent!

I agree about We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

My top book this year so far is The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L Armentrout.

"Maybe You Should Talk to Someone" was great!

Shuggy Bain, Anxious People

Shuggie Bain was the best by far. Then I began reading the Gilead series by Marilynne Robinson. Gilead was just plain evocative. I still need to read Jack. Home was a surprise because I think it explained Jack, when I’d expected it to be more about the sister. Lila was probably the one I read through fastest. These reminded me of the feeling I get from Horton Foote. The Push was such a page turner & I don’t want to look, all rolled into one. It was a surprise how much I liked reading it. Can I name some duds? Well, I am: The Midnight Library. Just not good. People We Meet On Vacation, same. And the oddest one of all, Whereabouts from Jhumpa Lahiri. I wanted that one to be so much more.

Kim wrote: "We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker should be on the list. That's my favorite fiction read of the year so far."

I agree.. One of the best books I have read so far..

Kim wrote: "We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker should be on the list. That's my favorite fiction read of the year so far."

Agree, enjoyed this book.

Melissa wrote: "My favorite of the year is The Book of Lost Names so incredible!"

Agree, excellent book!

Project Hail Mary is my book of the year. I doubt it will be topped. It was exceptional. Listen to the audiobook if you can - it brings it to life!

Heart of Fire by Mazie Hirono is my top book of this year. I also loved Southbound by Anjali Enjeti, And of course The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright.

Have men stopped writing books or have they gotten worse at it?
Or are the Goodreads users predominantly female and female writers appeal more to them?

Sean wrote: "Liked the look of Last Call but it seems I can't buy it because it's only available for pre-order? How can this be on the list of Best so Far?

Sean"some people review books for pay or give positive reviews before the book is out because they like the author - - this is the case with any of John Green's books.

Jacquie wrote: "The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
Beautifully written" Oh yes, I'm nearly finished reading this and loving it.

Ulrika wrote: "Have men stopped writing books or have they gotten worse at it?
Or are the Goodreads users predominantly female and female writers appeal more to them?"

Predominantly female users. I personally have to go elsewhere to find books because these lists are worthless to me.
"For anyone who's curious, we measure popularity by how often a book is added to readers' Want to Read shelves. "

The Nature of Fragile Things- great historical fiction with a bit of psychological thriller thrown in.

I'll be reading Klara and The Sun, for sure!

I've heard nothing but good things about Mike Nichols A Life by Mike Harris.

The Tide Between Us, This Tender Land, The HIVE and recently Songs in auras Major.....

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi is I think the best book I've read this year.

At the End and The First Day of Spring were both excellent. They both really stuck with me.

Kim wrote: "We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker should be on the list. That's my favorite fiction read of the year so far."

Fantastic book, loved it

Kathy wrote: "I read The Four Winds. I thought it was terrible. Grapes of Wrath dumbed down for 6th grade reading level. Klara and the Sun was just weird. Not compelling. Not interesting. Thankfully not that lon..."

Agreed!

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart is brilliant! Heartbreaking but brilliant!

I must agree with Kathy, whose comment is above mine. How did Kristin Hannah become such a popular writer? Beats me! My favorite reads so far this year are "A Place for Us", "The Overstory" and "Whose Names Are Unknown", all published prior to 2021.
Nothing better than searching out your own preferences. Bah to popular reading lists! They are designed only to sell books.

From those on the list, I have only read a couple. Waiting for the library to get them or else waiting in line to check them out from the library! "Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah was excellent. Hannah is one of my favorite authors. Haven't read a book of hers I didn't like. Most I love, some I like a lot and some aren't my favorites yet I like them. "The Women of Chateau Lafayette" by Stephanie Dray should be on this list as it came out this year. It was excellent as well. I have found a new interest thanks to Stephanie Dray's new book about Adrienne Lafayette's role in the French Revolution. "Madame Tussaud" from a few years back about the same is fabulous and now am reading another older book by multiple authors, "Ribbons of Scarlet, a Novel of the French Revolution," which I'm loving too. Trying to read other than WWII historical fiction, when possible, but there is so much of it out there right now making it hard not to read it.
For now, though, I'm learning more and more about the French Revolution.

Why choose the top books by recording what people want to read? Wouldn’t a better measure of quality be the ratings of books people actually did read and enjoyed?? I’ve often been eager to read books and been disappointed. I’ve often read books out of obligation only to be amazed. I want to know what books are great, not what books people think might be great before they are read. Why do you read book reviews? To find out what the reviewer wants to read next, or to find out what the reviewer thought of a book that was read?

Why not make a list of the top rated 48 books of 2021?