2021 was the year of the re-read. Out of the (somewhat impressive) 230ish books I read over the past 12 months, about 85 of them were books I’d read at least once before. Many, many, many old favorites were revisted. So many.
What that means, sadly, is that this year’s annual reading review isn’t particularly interesting. Plus, when I consider “new to me” books without taking into account all those re-reads, it turns out that only two books were 5-star reads. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, without further ado, I now present:
THE TWO (2) BOOKS I LOVED IN 2021
Better Than People
From my review: “Better Than People caters to very specific reading appetites that I feel that M/M romances can only fill: Gruff & Grumpy Guy + Socially Anxious Sweetie.
…This book is (a) adorable, (b) sexy af, (c) has gloriously three-dimensional characters, and (d) is beautifully written. Better Than People is the platonic ideal of a romance novel. Or, at least, my ideal.”
Thronebreakers
From my review: “Thronebreakers is the best book I’ve read in 2021, for many reasons, including:
- A difficult coming-of-age arc that both complements and completes the more obvious “pew! pew! pew!” aspects of the external conflict
- Sharp, irreverent narration from a protagonist with a distinctive and loveable voice”
The End.
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.
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Kidding! Since I did spend most of my year chilling with old friends and/or marathoning various series/authors, I’ll highlight some of my reads below:
Favorite Books/Series I Re-read In 2021
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë — an old favorite, and a perennially underhyped Victorian novel. Emily and Charlotte who?
A Literal Mountain of Books by Mary Balogh — My old standby favorite historical romance author, Mary. She (almost) always comes through for me when I’m in need, and I had a might need this year. In total, I read 20 books by Balogh in 2021.
Ice Planet Barbarians & Icehome series by Ruby Dixon — These books really took off amongst the online reading community this year, but I would like to have it be known and remembered that I was an Early Adopter of the Blue Alien Dick. I re-read/read every single book in both series this year, for a total of 42 individual titles.
Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries by C.S. Harris — My favorite series, my favorite ship, my forever “please somebody write fanfiction of this” midnight thought.
Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery — I last read the series in 2012, so it was fun to revisit (and then force my spouse to watch the truly excellent miniseries). Wholesome, comforting, just what the doctor ordered.
I also wrote some (in my opinion) pretty great reviews this year, so I’ll take this opportunity to highlight a few favorites:
Favorite Reviews Written in 2021
Outlawed by Anna North
A lengthy diatribe against this book’s particular brand of toxic white feminism.
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Split narratives! Joyful trans rep! Art, secrets, family history, immigration, mental health.
The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell
Yet another lengthy diatribe against toxic white feminism, this time in a fun fantasy setting!
Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl by Hetty Bell
I liked this book, but in the review I spend a fair amount of time discussing the dinstinctions between Romance and Women’s Fiction.
Onward to 2022!!!
As usual, I’m not making any goals or resolutions as we turn the corner and head onto a new year. I read and review for fun, as the mood strikes. Maybe I’ll have another year of revisiting books I’ve already read; maybe I’ll find a new favorite genre and fall into the black hole of hyperfixation; maybe I won’t read anything! Infinite possibilities!!
Oh, and for those keeping count: January 1, 2022, is the 10-year anniversary of my first post on my original book blog, Respiring Thoughts (rip), which I have resurrected for all of us via the kind offices of the Wayback Machine. Which means I’ve been Officially Active in the book community for a decade. Nice.
Stay tuned for (*waves hands*) whatever happens next.
A great list!
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/the-10-best-books-i-read-in-2021/
Wow you’ve read so much! And congratulations on ten years of blogging.
I love ZEYN JOUKHADAR! I wish more of her books were available here, but I’m a patient one. Have you read the Map of Salt and Stars too? So beautiful!
What a fabulous list! (And I too re-read Anne of Green Gables fairly often!) Happy 2022~ 🙂
Wooo, ten years of blogging! I hit my ten year in November too! 😀
I really want to read Better Than People! And I also read all of Icehome this year. Not reread, just for the first time. And finished Ice Planet Barbarians from last year. Such fun series!
I hope 2022 will be a great year for you Renae!
I am *so* looking forward to reading Ice Planet Barbarians.
What a great list! It looks like 2021 was a great reading year for you.
Dude, I too had a year that was very thin on five-star reads! It was strange! I did a lot of rereading, but setting that aside, I feel like I had a strangely weak reading year. Especially compared to last year, when I had so many standout reads that I ran out of space in a single post about them and then never wrote Part Two of the post and felt guilty about it. But this year, honestly, it was The Chosen and the Beautiful and The Space between Worlds and All the Feels, and those were the books I shoved at everyone all year every moment. 😛