Everything I Read In 2021

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Total books read: 73

If there’s one good thing I can take away from this seemingly never-ending pandemic it’s the time its gifted me. Time I’ve been able to spend doing one of the things I love most in the world: reading books. After smashing my reading goal in 2020 I decided not to set one for 2021, and to instead just enjoy the act of reading, rather than pushing myself to be better. To explore new genres and authors, just for fun.

I entered January with a crime / mystery tucked firmly in hand, as I tend to do, before finding myself meandering the poetry and personal essay path. I even made my way through a couple of classics, though I admit Wuthering Heights had me racing back to the safety of Stephen King after less than three chapters. I’m yet to pick it up again.

Overall it was a good year, not a great one, on the reading front. Only a couple of favourites, but equally only a few duds.

Here’s everything I read in 2021.

2021 Favourites

1984, George Orwell
The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward

2021 Not-So-Favourites

Winter Garden, Kristin Hannah
Anxious People, Fredrik Backman

Suspense / Thriller / Crime

Rose Madder, Stephen King
The Chalk Man, C.J. Tudor
The Silent Wife, Karin Slaughter
The Butcher, Jennifer Hillier
Her Final Words, Brianna Labuskes
Death in the Family, Tessa Wegert
Later, Stephen King
Mr Mercedes, Stephen King
Finders Keepers, Stephen King
End of Watch, Stephen King
The Liar’s Girl, Catherine Ryan Howard
One Perfect Morning, Pamela Crane
Every Last Fear, Alex Finlay
Triptych, Karin Slaughter
Seven Days, Alex Lake
The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
Fractured, Karin Slaughter
House of Correction, Nicci French
We Begin at the End, Chris Whitaker
Genesis, Karin Slaughter
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides
An Eye for an Eye, Carol Wyer
The Other People, C.J. Tudor
Girl A, Abigail Dean
Broken, Karin Slaughter
A Deadly Influence, Mike Omer
The Liar’s Daughter, Rona Halsatt
Little Secrets, Jennifer Hillier
Fallen, Karin Slaughter
Here to Stay, Mark Edwards
The Thin Place, C.J. Tudor
The Next Wife, Kaira Rouda
The Best of Friends, Lucinda Berry
Criminal, Karin Slaughter
The Confession, Jo Spain
Billy Summers, Stephen King
Unseen, Karin Slaughter
When She Returned, Lucinda Berry
A Slow Fire Burning, Paula Hawkins
My Sister’s Grave, Robert Dugoni
Black Rock Bay, Brianna Labuskes
The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward

Literary / Contemporary / YA Fiction

Little Fish, Casey Plett
In Five Years, Rebecca Serle
Stay, Catherine Ryan Hyde
They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera
The Silent Treatment, Abbie Greaves
Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Acts of Desperation, Megan Nolan
Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagen
Luster, Raven Leilani
The Light Through the Leaves, Glendy Vanderah
Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
Seven Perfect Things, Catherine Ryan Hyde
Beautiful World Where Are You, Sally Rooney
The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Forever Interrupted, Taylor Jenkins Reid
We Are Not Like Them, Christine Pride & Jo Piazza
My Name is Anton, Catherine Ryan Hyde
Winter Garden, Kristin Hannah
Anxious People, Fredrik Backman

Science-Fiction / Thriller

Dark Matter, Blake Crouch
The Gone World, Tom Sweterlitsch

Classics

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
1984, George Orwell

Poetry / Essays / Memoir

Ongoingness: The End of a Diary, Sarah Manguso
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, Lana Del Rey
The Black Flamingo, Dean Atta
High Achiever, Tiffany Jenkins
In My Defence I Have No Defence, Sinead Stubbins
Center Center, James Whiteside
Unnatural Causes, Richard Shepherd

Self-Development

Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon

~

Have you read any of these, or are they lingering in your #TBR? What’s on your list for 2023? Let me know!

~ prb