Best and Worst of 2021

[Kristie, Moderator]

What were the 5 best and 5 worst books you read this past year?

[Roz]

My 5 best books this year were:

Raft of Stars
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
To Dance with the White Dog
The Four Winds
The Rose Code

All 5 ⭐️

My worst this year included:

Long Man
Darling Rose Gold
The Girl from Venice
The Long Path Home
The Good Widow

All 2 ⭐️ duds for me. There were a few other duds these are my top 5. At least I was able to fit them into the Yearlong Challenge.

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

My top five... Hard choices, I read a lot of really good books this year.

The Witch's Heart
Once a King
Network Effect
The One
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

The worst for me was Number9Dream. I tried so hard to finish, but finally gave up.
Then another DNF- Uck It List
All the others I finished, but didn't suit me
Black Dahlia & White Rose: Stories
Sandstorm
Country Bride

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

@Roz I had all your top 5 on my Tbr except To Dance with the White Dog. It has been added... It looks like it might qualify for headlights on cover also. Win,win:)

[Camilla]

I've read only two five-star books this year: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World and Passing Strange. The first one is a bit heavy, but extremely worthwhile to read. The second one I just randomly "picked up" (I read the ebook) and it was a lovely surprise.

Some four-star reads that I also enjoyed were Fae (again, somewhat of a random choice, needed it for some challenges), Scythe (I read the whole trilogy and it held up very well until the end, which IMO is rare), and Dawn.

Worst... too many one star-reads to list, LOL!

[Saar The Book owl]

Hm, that's always a difficult one, but I'll try my best.

5*
The Push
Gardens of the Moon
Diary of a Young Naturalist
The Fifth Season
Cat Daddy: What the World's Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

2*
The Lending Library
The Gift
The Little Teashop in Tokyo
Six Stories

1*
Finding Sky Didn't finish this one.

[Almeta]

I get so stressed every year when this thread shows up! Why only 5? Why not 10...no, no wait...how about 12? One for each month.

I've eliminated so many, it is painful. This is the best I can do. Some of my 5 Star reads:

Bump In the Night
Lanny
Blue November Storms

Get A Room
Desperate Measures
The Girl in 6E

Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
The Devil All the Time
Innocent
The Echo Wife

Sigh-Fan
Project Hail Mary
Raft of Stars
One Boy, No Water

I probably won't be able to sleep tonight.☻

[Almeta]

Do not recommend:

Ink Exchange
Strange Angels
Folsom Untold
The Wall
Kushiel's Dart

[Almeta]

Christina wrote: "@Roz I had all your top 5 on my Tbr except To Dance with the White Dog. It has been added... It looks like it might qualify for headlights on cover also. Win,win:)"

Yep, I added it also!

[Kristie, Moderator]

Camilla wrote: "Worst... too many one star-reads to list, LOL!"

Oh, that's not good, Camilla! What a bummer.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Almeta wrote: "I get so stressed every year when this thread shows up! Why only 5? Why not 10...no, no wait...how about 12? One for each month.

I've eliminated so many, it is painful. This is the best I can do.

...I probably won't be able to sleep tonight.☻"

lol. This thread is always near impossible for me too.

[Ayacchi]

Love Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as well!

I've made a list of 10, but here's my best 5:
I Had That Same Dream Again
The Silent Companions
Things You Save in a Fire
After
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

My worst 5:
The Woman Next Door
The Rainbow Troops
If Cats Disappeared from the World
Beyond Me
The Fellowship of the Ring

Some of the books are actually good, but I found them boring. Not for me :(

[Sharon]

I am very stingy with awarding a book five stars. It has to be a book I want to read again and keep on my shelves. These were some of my top reads for 2021:
Top Reads:
Usher's Passing
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
The River
The Songcatcher
Cutting for Stone
The House in the Cerulean Sea
The Rose Code

Wish I hadn’t:
Women Talking
The Ghosts of Notchey Creek
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour
Barefoot

I enjoyed the series:
Louise Penny and Three Pines/Inspector Gamache
Simon McCleve and police procedurals in Wales

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm going to break the rules and list 7 five-star reads because that's how many I gave out and I can't decide between them.

Best:

The House in the Cerulean Sea
The Witch's Heart
Fool's Assassin
Assassin's Fate
The Lost Man
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
The Lions of Al-Rassan

Least Favourite:

dnf - Death Is a Lonely Business
dnf - The City We Became
dnf - Every Single Secret
1 Star - We All Looked Up
1 Star - Too Many Murders

[Janice, Moderator]

Speaking of series, Robin Hobb's Realm of the Underlings was supreme. I've got two of the last books listed above. I was over at my grandson's on Boxing Day and he was showing me his bookshelf. He's most proud of the illustrated editions he has of the first sub-series. He commented, "I almost wished I hadn't read the series because it's ruined it for all the other fantasy series."

[Almeta]

Ayacchi wrote: "Love Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as well!.."

Me too!

[Dawn]

Oh I love doing best and worst, fun way to review the year.


I ended up with 6 best of:

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Awesome story of tragedy and resilience.
Em by Kim Thúy. A beautiful story about love, life, connections, and survival. Short but impactful.
The Russländer by Sandra Birdsell. A quiet story with a wonderful protagonist.
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. Awesome world, great story, good writing.
The Strangers by Katherena Vermette. A family story of pain, trauma and hope.
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad. An immigration story, a re-imagining of a real life tragedy.

A shout out to this, as my favourite series of the year:

Deed of Paksenarrion. An epic fantasy with a female lead in 3 books.

And my worst of the year:

Senlin Ascends was boring. I didn't get very far.
Greenwood I hated the characters and also didn't finish.
All I Ask was uninteresting and I didn't finish.
Fight Night was a kind of first person narration that I could not get into and also didn't finish.

[Amanda (Mandy)]

My 5 best books:

I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America
Project Hail Mary
Crying in H Mart
The Paper Palace
The House in the Cerulean Sea

My 5 worst books:

The Candy Cane Caper
Where the Crawdads Sing
Labyrinth Lost
Realm of Dragons
Blackberry & Wild Rose

[Camilla]

Kristie wrote: "Camilla wrote: "Worst... too many one star-reads to list, LOL!"

Oh, that's not good, Camilla! What a bummer."

Well, I'm used to it. My reading is heavily directed by all the challenges I do, which results in reading less than stellar books just to get e.g. a certain item on the cover.

[Saar The Book owl]

Ayacchi wrote: "Love Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as well!

I've made a list of 10, but here's my best 5:
I Had That Same Dream Again
The Silent Companions
[book..."

Hi Ayacchi, I'm curious in why you found 'If Cats Disappeared from the World' a worse book? I've read it too and found the opposite. I'm curious about your thoughts.

[Peggy]

Highest ratings
I got only four 5 star reads this year:
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Assassin's Fate
Troy
The Glass Woman

Lowest ratings (but not bad)
I have one 2 star read:
A Long Petal of the Sea

And a couple of abandoned books (also, definitely not bad books, just not for me at the time)
Americanah
A Short History of Nearly Everything
An Echo of Things to Come
The Secret Scripture

I have never abandoned this many books in a year! I have a total of 18 on my shelf. So 14 between 2013 and 2020, and then 4 in 2021. I haven't had the best reading year. Books that are generally viewed as very good I have abandoned, I read only 40 books, and just often wasn't that into it. The last month has been better though, so let's hope that continues into 2022!

[Janice, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Lowest ratings (but not bad)
I have one 2 star read:
A Long Petal of the Sea"

Oooh, this has me worried. Isabelle Allende can be a hit or a miss for me and I bought this book.

[Peggy]

Who knows, it might be a hit for you! :)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Vegemite!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Also, my to read list hates you all.

[Lilisa]

Janice wrote: "Peggy wrote: "Lowest ratings (but not bad)
I have one 2 star read:
A Long Petal of the Sea"

Oooh, this has me worried. Isabelle Allende can be a hit or a miss for me and I bought this book."

Peggy/Janice - I liked A Long Petal of the Sea :-)

[Peggy]

Lol Rusalka. I've been avoiding clickingon book titles ;-)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Lol Rusalka. I've been avoiding clickingon book titles ;-)"

"What can I do while I try and binge 20 hours of my last challenge read of 2021? I know, click these links!"
ROOKIE MISTAKE

[Peggy]

Lilisa wrote: "Janice wrote: "Peggy wrote: "Lowest ratings (but not bad)
I have one 2 star read:
A Long Petal of the Sea"

Oooh, this has me worried. Isabelle Allende can be a hit or a miss for me and I bought th..."

I really enjoyed the story in itself and the characters, and the writing as well, but there was a too much dry history and politics crammed into a quite short book for my liking.

[Lilisa]

Best reads of 2021 for me:


- The Island of Missing Trees
- Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire
- Madonna in a Fur Coat
- Ten Women
- Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture

I had only one two-star read this year:
- A Recipe for Daphne

Disappointed that I didn’t enjoy the following more - they got three stars:

- The Lincoln Highway
- The Madness of Crowds

[Lilisa]

Peggy wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Janice wrote: "Peggy wrote: "Lowest ratings (but not bad)
I have one 2 star read:
A Long Petal of the Sea"

Oooh, this has me worried. Isabelle Allende can be a hit or a miss for me ..."
:-)

[Kristie, Moderator]

Rusalka wrote: "Also, my to read list hates you all."

lol!

[Jayme, Moderator]

And 2021 is in the books.

My 5 star reads:
In an Instant
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Raft of Stars
The Rose Code

My least favorite of 2021 (2 stars or less):
Outlawed
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Utopia Avenue
Ready Player Two
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing

[Lilisa]

Jayme wrote: "And 2021 is in the books.

My 5 star reads:
In an Instant
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
[bo..."

Great to see you gave Rose Code five stars, Jayme. I have the audiobook queued up for the first of the year. Looking forward to it.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I finished two books on the 31st, so I don't tend to come into this convo until the new year. Sorry for my tardiness!

But 5 best for me:
Autumn - random pick up from Cherie's shelf in August(?) and turned out to be my only 5 star of the year
The Shadow of the Wind
Force of Nature
The Secret Chord
Mistress of the Art of Death (very close call with The Hangman's Daughter though)

Worst books:
The Music Teacher
The Railway
I recommend a long visit to your dentist instead of reading these two. Root canal sounds more fun in truth.

Bad but not as bad:
Outsider in Amsterdam this rode very close though.
The Girl Who Played Go
Psmith in the City

[Kristie, Moderator]

Not tardy, Rus! You just wanted to finish your reading before you rated it. Makes perfect sense to me.

Funny thing about your list is that Force of Nature was also a 5 star read for me, but The Shadow of the Wind was a DNF. I'd probably have to add that one to my worst books list.

[Almeta]

Kristie wrote: "Funny thing about your list is that Force of Nature was also a 5 star read for me, but The Shadow of the Wind was a DNF. I'd probably have to add that one to my worst books list..."

I saw that, so I just had to look.

I read it and gave it 3 stars. Three years later, I reread and gave it 5 stars.

Go figure!

[Kristie, Moderator]

Maybe I'll have to try it again in a few years, Almeta!

[Rusalka, Moderator]

It was a reread for me too. I gave it borderline 4 stars from 3 last time, and thought I was not in the right mood to read it then. I reread and gave it a 4 stars borderline with a 5.

I usually do not recommend/suggest/condone rereads, but you never know. Or maybe it was just one of those books that wasn't for you, Kristie. I know how annoying that is though when everyone else on the planet seems to have loved it.

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm usually the other way, Almeta. I reread a 5 star and tend to downgrade it.

[Vicki]

2021 Favs:
The Mirrored World
The Golden Compass
The Song of Achilles
Recursion
The Girl in the Tower

Least Favs:
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Amber Spyglass
The Three-Body Problem
I haven't finished it and I'm not sure if I ever will but I am not enjoying A Christmas Carol at all.

[Almeta]

Janice wrote: "I'm usually the other way, Almeta. I reread a 5 star and tend to downgrade it."

I don't reread very often, but sometimes I do downgrade 5 stars. Especially when I read the synopsis again later and can't recall a single thing about the book.

If I can't remember it, it must not have been all that earth shattering to my life after all!

[Katrisa]

My top are
The Witch's Heart
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Middlegame
The Sandman: Act II
The Mask of Mirrors

I don't think I had any books I just really didn't like this year except maybe The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Usually if I didn't like a book very much it was to fill a challenge prompt and I knew it wasn't my cup of tea before reading it and I just sucked it up so I feel like that isn't fair to the book to judge it harshly

[Sandra, Moderator]

I also liked Force of Nature very much. I have read all the books by Jane Harper and loved them all. Can't wait for the next one. She doesn't write fast enough!

[Sandra, Moderator]

My 2021 reads:

Least favorite:

my only 1 star of the year:
Purple Hibiscus

2 stars:
The Pull of the Stars
Mexican Gothic
Return to the Enchanted Island
Nine Perfect Strangers


The best I read this year:

all of them 5 stars:
The Passage The whole trilogy is fantastic
The Lost Man
1793
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History


Rereads that are still 5 stars:

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Tales of Love of Madness and of Death


I also rated 33 books with 4 stars, and it kind of feels unfair to leave them out this list, but rules are rules. :)

[Kristie, Moderator]

I wasn't really feeling this thread this year because the last 8 books I read this year were 3.5★ at best with one DNF. However, I just finished my year in review and it reminded me of all the great books I read earlier in the year. So, here are some of my thoughts:

My best of the year:

Prodigal Son (Orphan X #6) - excellent series installment
We Begin at the End
The Rose Code
In an Instant
These Silent Woods

Also 5 stars:
How to Walk Away
The Forest of Vanishing Stars
We Are the Brennans

Biggest surprise & honorable mention: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder - A really good YA mystery with an intelligent MC that stays true to herself. I expected teen angst and poor decision making, but was pleasantly surprised. 4.5★


Worst of the year and my only two DNF:

The Final Girl Support Group - My first DNF of the year. This was not what I was expecting at all and I gave up on it at 59%. I did not our MC. She bothered me so much that I just couldn't spend any more time with her. I listened to the audio of this one and I think the narration did it a disservice as the narrator didn't seem to fit the character and her voice just made it worse.

The Shadow of the Wind - I expected to love this and it ended up being my second DNF of the year. I just couldn't engage with the story or the characters. I had been wanting to read this one forever and it had been on my TBR for 8 years before I finally got around to it. Again, I just couldn't engage with the story at all and quit at 48%.


my 2021 year in books

my 2021 on Goodreads review

[Sandra, Moderator]

Kristie, at some point this year I had many 3 stars in a row, plus a couple of 2 stars, and was feeling like you did.

I noticed for the first time 2019 (and it is still the same) that I have became a 3-4 stars rater. I think the reason is I'm better now at avoiding books I would not like, thanks to GR, friends rating and reviews, and discussions in groups like this one. I'm also harder to impress for some reason, so 5 stars rating don't come as easily as before. I read 92 books last year, and only gave seven 5 stars, and two of them were favorite rereads.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I give mostly 3-4 stars too, Sandra. I read 99 books and gave eight five stars and had two dnf. I think the rest were all 3 or 4 stars.

[Janice, Moderator]

Almeta wrote: "Janice wrote: "I'm usually the other way, Almeta. I reread a 5 star and tend to downgrade it."

I don't reread very often, but sometimes I do downgrade 5 stars. Especially when I read the synopsis ..."

LOL! I could not remember A Prayer for Owen Meany even though I wrote about it in an essay question on an exam. Surely, you'd think I'd remember something about it years later. But it was like I had never read it before. I did give it 5 stars the second time around, and I do remember bits and pieces of it now.