My favorite books of 2021

I couldn't narrow it down so, uh, here's 59 books you might like

I read a lot this year and since I mostly read things I like — I am a prolific not-finisher when books don’t appeal to me — I really couldn’t narrow it down to a top 10. (Sorry.) So instead, you get 59 books I genuinely enjoyed & think you might, too.

At the very least, I sorted them into some categories based on topic.

Fiction

Gender & what it means to be a woman & love:

• Outlawed - Anna North

• Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

Motherhood is messy:

• The Fourth Child - Jessica Winter

• The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah

Romances that are a little bit hot:

• The Ex Talk - Rachel Lynn Solomon

• The Girl with Stars In Her Eyes - Xio Axelrod

• People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry

• One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

Romances that are a lot hot:

• The Intimacy Experiment - Rosie Danan

• The Soulmate Equation - Christina Lauren

• Seven Days in June - Tia Williams

• The Heart Principle - Helen Hoang

• The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood

• A Lot like Adiós - Alexis Daria

• The Fastest Way to Fall - Denise Williams

Corporate culture is a scam:

• Black Buck - Mateo Askaripour

• Imposter Syndrome - Kathy Wang

The kind of novel you can’t put down because the narrator is just so compelling:

• Intimacies - Katie Kitamura

• How Lucky - Will Leitch

• Lucky - Marissa Stapley

The internet is disintegrating our brains:

• No One Is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood

• Several People are Typing - Calvin Kasulke

Being a celebrity seems not so fun:

• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev - Dawnie Walton

• The View Was Exhausting - Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta

• If This Gets Out - Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich

Sibling drama! (especially sisters)

• Yolk - Mary H.K. Choi

• They’ll Never Catch Us - Jessica Goodman

• Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid

• What Could Be Saved - Liese O’Hallaran Schwarz

Race & family & love & the way things change very quickly and also way too slowly:

• What’s Mine & Yours - Naima Coster

• We Are Not Like Them - Christine Pride & Jo Piazza

• Infinite Country - Patricia Engel

Faith & religion are complicated:

• Revival Season - Monica West

• God Spare the Girls - Kelsey McKinney (cross-categorize under sister-sister!)

I’m very glad not to be a teenager anymore but also maybe it’s nice to feel your feelings the way teenagers do:

• The People We Keep - Allison Larkin

• Instructions for Dancing - Nicola Yoon

No spoilers except to say: maybe there are aliens!?!?

• Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

Thrillers that will keep you reading late into the night:

• We Were Never Here - Andrea Bartz

• Falling - T.J. Newman

• Too Good to Be True - Carola Lovering

• Ace of Spades - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

• Goodnight Beautiful - Aimee Molloy

A pandemic novel that won’t feel too real (but still a little real)

• Doctors and Friends - Kimmery Martin

Non-fiction

Memoirs

• Between Two Kingdoms - Suleika Jaouad

• Thanks for Waiting - Doree Shafrir

• Both/And - Huma Abedin

• Somebody’s Daughter - Ashley C. Ford

Put the Sacklers in prison

• Empire of Pain - Patrick Radden Keefe

The things we love will always destroy us (but also, maybe, save us?):

• Turning Pointe - Chloe Angyal

• The Secret to Superhuman Strength - Alison Bechdel

Words matter!

• Cultish - Amanda Montell

On grief & food

• Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

Essays that will make you laugh/cry:

• Minor Feelings - Cathy Park Hong

Essays that will make you laugh/cry/want to pet a dog:

• These Precious Days - Ann Patchett

• On Animals - Susan Orlean

Corporate culture is a scam, non-fiction edition:

• Out of Office - Anne Helen Petersen & Charlie Warzel

Abolition is the future

• We Do This Til We Free Us - Mariame Kaba

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If you’re looking for a specific recommendation, just let me know. Here to help!