A new year, a new list of my favorite books of the year. The past year is divided in two fases: first half of the year I read every now and then and then I fell in a huuuge reading slump. I still wanted to reach my goal of 26 books, but I definitely had to rush it in December. Lots of these books were rereads of books I already owned. Some have made it to my favorite books of 2021, while others made room for better ones in the future.
2021 will forever be the year I reread a ton of books. Last year we moved to our house and our old book shelf didn’t fit in the house anymore. I ended up with a MUCH smaller book shelf that would only fit my favorite books as from now on. I realised I owned a lot of books I didn’t know the plot anymore, so I decided to reread these.
The result? I noticed I’ve evolved in my taste in books, but also that I’ve made some good choices in the past.
Rereading some gems
Truly Madly Guilty – Liane Moriarty
The Liane Moriarty book that made me fall in love with her writing style. I already wrote about how I laid my hands on my very first book of her (this one), and also in my 2018 list she made an appearance. I’m definitely a fan now!
What I loved about this book is how everything comes together in the end. Even though I knew what was coming I still cried towards the end.
Eeny Meeny – M.J. Arlidge
When going over my book shelf I realised I’m really into mystery/thriller books. This one is definitely one of the reasons why. Like the first time I read it, this book got my attention from beginning to end.
Discovering some new favorites
The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
I’ve had this one on my to read list for so long. So when I saw it when browsing in a book shop I just took it with me. Haven’t regretted it a bit. I loved the story, loved the layers in it, and finished it in 3 days. How Bennett can portray that it’s important to stay true to your identity is amazing.
War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy
One Reddit group led to another and I ended up in r/oneyearofwarandpeace, where you read one chapter of Tolstoy’s War & Peace a day. I loved the concept and the daily discussions, which also helped me understand the book better. Without the group I might not have gotten that much out of this book. Definitely a great idea if you want to tackle a classic but don’t feel like reading it in one go. I did fall into my reading slump around second half of August so I had around 350 pages to catch up on by the end of December.
It is not an easy book: there are a LOT of characters involved in the story, with so many relations between them, … I really had to write everything out! It’s been a long time that I’ve been this involved in a story simply because it was a big book with that many characters in it.
I still have quite some rereads on my list, next to some new books and books I’ll be reading as part of a reading club. I’ve already finished one book this year, so I’m definitely on track to reach my goal this year as well.
What were your favorite books of 2021?
xo Noor
