My Top Reads from 2021 (Part 1)
The List You Can Use #56
It’s “Best of 2021” list time, which begs two questions: why have I not read any of these “top” books you speak of? And how, exactly, is it possible that we’ve made it to the end of another calendar year? It is about to be the year of our lord Twenty Twenty Two, so I guess it’s time to understand crypto, or frankly any of the other concepts whose meaning continues to elude me, like short sales or the onside kick. Even though I’d prefer to be reading due to … Global Conditions.
But here we are, so I humbly present to you the list of Kerry’s top reads from 2021. Some are delightful, some heavy, some are quick, some quite lengthy, and one is a spritely 50 years old, but they’re all impressively written. Simply, they are the 2021 books that have stayed with me since I read them.
Other “best of 2021” lists are organized in sensible categories like “fiction” or “memoir,” but by request (thanks, Ellis!) I’m giving you a list you can actually use, classified in order of sweetness, lightness and ease of reading. Each of these books is presented with a “Little Lamb” rating, five lambs being the gentlest, happiest reads. So let’s get started with Part One (the lesser lambys.)
Hamnet might be my very top fiction read of the year, even though I read it back in February. Telling the story of the Bard’s wife and children, in the time of the Plagues, this is an absolutely brilliant achievement in historical fiction. Tender and tearstained in its grief, and loss, and love. Do not read it when you’re feeling fragile, but please - do read it. (More Hamnet thoughts here.)
If art is “tragedy plus time,” I’m not sure I would have been able to read an earlier version of Crying in H Mart, an absolutely searing memoir about the death of the author’s mother and a reckoning with her Korean identity. Her heartbreak and conflict absolutely leap off every page in this stunning work. For those of us who have lost our lighthouse, who have had to rethink our selves in the face of a storm, or who simply have loved greatly, this is special. (More on this book here.)
Empire of Pain, about the Sacklers who ran Purdue Pharma and were the tip of the spear for the devastating opioid epidemic, is spectacular in its clear-eyed condemnation. Not just of the family but of the systems - legal, cultural, economic - that have allowed this to go on for so many years, and the implications are to us all. I believe that journalists should write all of the non-fiction, and this galloping read is a perfect example of why. (Read many more words I wrote about this book and why it will make you white-hot with anger here.)
Sure, another book about plagues, for absolutely no reason at all! How to Survive a Plague is a meticulously researched, beautifully narrative, howlingly sad and profoundly hopeful non-fiction essential. While you’ll be emptied by the deeply unfair loss of a generation of gay men, you’ll be buoyed by the courage of the everyday young people who tackled a pandemic - because the cavalry was not coming, they became the goddamn cavalry. (More of my thoughts here.)
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was a library book I took out multiple times before I finally read it and - what I almost missed! This collection of short stories addresses relationships Black women have with Christianity and their church, and where their desires conflict with the teachings. Timeless in its themes but deeply contemporary in writing (not to mention tremendously alive and readable). I was really blown away. (more here)
Detransition, Baby may be the book I’ve thought the most about this year due to its originality of voice and POV. Telling the fictional story of Reese (a trans woman), Ames (her ex, a trans woman who detransitioned and now lives as a man), and Katrina (Ames’s cis girlfriend and boss, now pregnant with Ames’s child) - are you still following? - this takes on gender, sex, parenthood, and identity is a fascinating, though-provoking way. It’s also savagely funny in places as the three characters come to terms with their situation. (more here)
Another original story, The Other Black Girl is part social commentary, part horror, part thriller … in all the absolute best ways. The story of a young Black woman, Nella, who is thrilled when her publishing house finally hires another Black woman, only to discover that nothing is quite what it seems. Fast-paced, beautifully written, smart! (More of my thoughts here).
Next week: Part Two of my top books of 2021. I’ll see you back here!
