2021 Year in Review: Favorite Books

Here’s my annual list of my ten favorite books read for the first time in the year.  As always, this is merely the best books I read this year for the first time and not necessarily books published in 2021. For previous years see 2020, 2019, 2018,  2017,   2016,   2015,   2014,   2013,   2012,   2011,   2010,   2009,   2008,  2007 and 2006. You may also want to check out My Favorite Books of All Time or see Every Book I’ve Ever Read cataloged in Library Thing. Books published in 2021 are in bold.

• Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter by Kerri Greenidge
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
• The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin
• Humankind by Rutger Bregman
• The Sword of Summer / The Hammer of Thor / The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan
• Eager by Ben Goldfarb
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
• Revolution Song by Russell Short
• Sinatra! The Song is You by Will Friedwald
• Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh

Books Read in 2020

The books are rated on a scale from 1 to 5 stars with links to summary reviews. (A) is for audiobook. Here’s a thumbnail of what the ratings mean:

• 5 stars – all-time classic (I’m very stingy with these)
• 4 stars – a particularly interesting, well-written, or important book
• 3 stars – a good book from start to finish
• 2 stars – not a good book on the whole but has some good parts
• 1 star or less – basically a bad book with no redeeming values

January

• Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (A) – *****
• Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (A) – ****
• Entrepreneurs: The Boston Business Community, 1700-1850 ed. Conrad Edick Wright and Katheryn P. Viens – ***
• Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter by Kerri Greenidge – ****
• Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn (A) – ***1/2
• Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (A) – ***

February

• The Golden Child by Claire Adam (A) – ***1/2
• Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn (A) – ****
• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien – *****
• Jazz by Toni Morrison – *****
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (A) – ****

March

• The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin (A) – ****
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (A) – *****

April

• The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (A) – ***1/2
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead – ***1/2
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (A) –  ***
• Paradise by Toni Morrison (A) – ***

May

• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (A) – ***1/2
• Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn (A) – ***1/2
• The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (A) – ***1/2

June

• The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (A) – ***
• The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (A) – ***1/2
• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan – ***1/2
• Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid – ***
• The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando 2021 by Seth Kubersky – ***
• The Last Command by Timothy Zahn (A) – ***
• 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline – ***
• Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn (A) – ***1/2
• Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt by Marc DeMatteis, illustrated by Mike Zeck – ***1/2

July

• The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek – **
• Love by Toni Morrison (A) -****
• Marvel Select – The Life Of Captain Marvel by Margaret Stohl, Carlos Pacheco – ***
• Greater Good by Timothy Zahn (A) – ***1/2

August

• Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link – **1/2
• The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (A) –  ***1/2
• Women and the City by Sarah Deustch – ***
• Humankind by Rutger Bregman (A) – ****
• The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (A) – ****
• The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan – ****
• The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan – ****
• The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps by Stephen J. Hornsby – ***1/2
• Eager by Ben Goldfarb (A) – ****

September

• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (A) – ****
• The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson (A) – **
• From a Certain Point of View : Star Wars (A) – ***1/2

October

• The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett (A) – ***
• Revolution Song by Russell Short (A) – ***1/2
• Cobalt Squadron by Elizabeth Wein (A) –  ***1/2
• Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (A) – ****1/2

November

• Sinatra! The Song is You by Will Friedwald –  ****
• Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper (A) – ***1/2
• Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh (A) – ****
• Prisnms by Gart St. Omer – **

December

• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (A) – ***1/2
• This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel – ***1/2
• The China Mirage by James Bradley – ***
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (A) –  ****
• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert – ***1/2
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (A) – ***1/2