Favourite Reads/Books from 2021

I stopped writing book reviews on my Blog since a while now. I know I loved writing these reviews but I realised that I was reading faster than I had the time to write long review blogs for the books I read and so I just stopped.

However, I did still want to list my favourite books that from 2021. I love books that make me feel something – joy or heartbreak or teach me something new or have realistic protagonists. And all of the books below did that.

Here is a peak into some of my favourite reads from 2021 🙂

Standalone Fiction

• Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut: Satire on saviour complex and the pointlessness of human evolution
• Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri: A diary like story about a middle aged single woman’s journey to self discovery
• Daura by Anukrti Upadhyay: An eerie folktale retelling set in Rajasthan, India
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu: A dark comedy on Asian specific racism in America
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger: A new age fantasy murder mystery with an Ace protagonist!!
• My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologies by Fredrik Backman: A heart touching story on found family and the power of love and helping others to deal with grief and loss
• Loveless by Alice Oseman: Another Aro-Ace lead protagonist’s identity journey. A book I wish I had available when I was younger.
• Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon: A refreshing YA romance where the lead female protagonist stands up for why romances are equally important as any other work of literature
• The Once and Future Witches by Alex E. Harrow: A brilliant feminist retelling of many classic fairy tales with three famous witches’s journey during the beginning of the Suffragette movement
• No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood: Shortlisted for the Booker 2021, this modernistic writing takes you out of your comfort zone with its acerbic and poetic description of life on the internet, along with personal struggles

Non Fiction

• Chup by Deepa Narayan: On the life and subtle yet permanent discrimination that middle class Indian women face
• Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar: An essay written by Dr. Ambedkar to the Indian leaders at the time stressing on the importance of abolishing the caste system in India
• But You Don’t Look Like A Muslim by Rakshanda Jalil: The author’s autobiography on life as a middle class Muslim woman in India and the day to day racism she faces due to her religion
• Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn: A collection of essays written by various prominent authors on what Love means to them
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: Extremely funny and sometimes heart warming advice on Life and Writing
• Hunger by Roxanne Gay: The author’s autobiography depicting her rape and her subsequent relation with her body and food and her eventual healing
• Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space by Amanda Leduc: An impressive argument that the author makes around how ableist Fairy Tales are and how we can make space for differently abled protagonists in our stories as well
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle: An inspiring and uplifting account by the author who found herself in her 40s, and now she asks every woman to be the Cheetah she is born to be
• The Comfort Book by Matt Haig: I prefer Matt Haig’s non fiction to his fiction books. Another book that is great to read every morning or before going to bed..short, uplifting messages on life and how to deal with it

Books that are part of a Series:

• Sourcery and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett: Books 5 and 6 from the Discworld series. I love the sarcasm and the humor in this series..simply rib tickling!
• The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart: The first book from The Drowning Empire trilogy. I loved the book, the characters, the plot – everything!
• Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: I didn’t know this was part of a series, but then the second book released last year, so looks like we will get a lot more from this group of Septuagenarians and their murder solving skills 😉
• Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert: The last of the Brown Sisters romance trilogy. A romance that I’d recommend to every romance lover for the warmth, love, supporting cast and witty banter
• Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas: Books 2 and 3 from the Throne of Glass series. I simply loved the scenes with Abraxos and Manon and Dorian. Need to finish this series soon though
• A Dead Djinn In Cairo by P Djeli Clark: So, Im not sure if this can be called a series, but basically this is the first novella where our protagonist and the steam punk world is introduced. There is a follow up novella and then the novel – A Master of Djinn, set in the same world featuring the same characters. Hoping to finish all three books from this world in 2022 🙂
• The Burning God by R.F Kuang: Oh man, what an epic and spectacular and heartbreaking ending to this superb trilogy! I can’t stress on how much Ive loved all the three books from this trilogy and how much these books taught me about Chinese history
• Vicious by V.E. Schwab: I just loved this X-men sort of story about two best friends who become villains. The first book from the Villains duology and also another book with Ace rep.
• The King of Scars Duology by Leigh Bardugo: Aah, the end of Grishaworld and I’m in love with this feminist fantasy. In love with Nikolai, Zoya, Genya and Nina!
• These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong: First book from the duology set in Shanghai, with a Romeo and Juliet retelling. Loved it and can’t wait to finish the finale 🙂
• Dune by Frank Herbert: I actually didn’t like the fact that the book has many sexist themes, but then I can understand it was written in a time when the world was predominantly patriarchal. But the entire concept and the author’s imagination was mind blowing!

Poetry and Illustrated Books:

• Dearly by Margaret Atwood: A collection of poems on feminism, death, ageing and other subjects
• Kari by Amruta Patil: An illustrated book set in Mumbai with LGBTQIA and mental health representation
• Coffee Days Whiskey Nights by Cyrus Parker: I loved this collection of modern poems on life alternating between morning poems and night poems

Whew, I finally finished writing this post..LOL! Have you read any of these books? If yes, which was your favourite? If not, tell me some of your favourite books from 2021 that you’ve been going around recommending to all your friends? 🙂