Such an auspicious number, 21. And in many ways, 2021 was a whole lot better than 2020. We held on to some of our newfound appreciation for long walks outside, time with friends and family, and of course, books. Whether with tea, coffee, ice water, matcha, or cocktail in hand, we nestled in more nights than we can count with those quietly enticing portals to other places and lives.
As a group of English majors, English teachers, writers, and book lovers, we at bookclique were not totally unhappy about this aspect of the ongoing pandemic, the ability to stay home and read without feeling too lame about it. At the same time, we recognize that life is not fully lived in the pages of other people’s stories, and we are all really looking forward to the day when we can leave our books behind and fill our bags instead with things like passports, binoculars, and impractical shoes.
Until then – we offer up our list of favorite titles from the last year.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey
The Push by Ashley Audrain
A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke
The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Parachutes by Kelly Yang
Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda Leduc
Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
What Women Do by Lauren Willig
Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood
Raising a Rare Girl by Heather Lanier
Intimations by Zadie Smith
Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Bruised by Tanya Boteju
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Gutter Child by Jael Richardson
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Summerwater by Sarah Moss
New Yorkers: A City and its People in Our Time by Craig Taylor
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
Hola Papi by J.P. Brammer
Soucouyant by David Chariandy
Such Color by Tracy K. Smith
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
I’ll Be You by Janelle Brown
The Ghost Birds, a short story by Karen Russell
