Complete 2021 Reading List - With Ratings!!

Rating Guide:

☆ – do not recommend reading; lacked most things a book/good story should have.

☆☆ – a good concept but not well-executed.

☆☆☆ – a good concept, a solid foundation, but lacking in some areas. books with this rating may be repetitious, have an unsurprising/predictable plot, or flat characters.

☆☆☆☆ – a strong, enjoyable book; a solid recommendation. usually leisure-reads.

☆☆☆☆☆ – the highest recommendation, fell in love with the book and would read it again.

Titles highlighted in grey are written by BIPOC authors.

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Monday’s Not Coming – Tiffany D. Jackson ☆☆☆☆

Washington Black – Esi Edugyan ☆☆☆☆☆

Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things – Josh Clark, Chuck Bryant ☆☆☆

The Colours of my Heart – Faiz Ahmad Faiz (trans. Baran Farooqi) ☆☆

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett ☆☆☆

Melmoth – Sarah Perry ☆☆

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone – Lori Gottlieb ☆☆☆☆☆

Devotions – Mary Oliver ☆☆☆☆☆

The Fishermen – Chigozie Obioma ☆☆☆☆☆

The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones ☆☆☆☆☆

Cinders & Sparrows – Stefan Bachmann ☆☆

Sharks in the Time of Saviors – Kawai Strong Washburn ☆☆☆☆☆

Featherhood – Charlie Gilmour ☆☆

Inadvertent – Karl Knausgaard ☆☆☆

The Fifth Season – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆

Luster – Raven Leilani ☆☆☆

Life of Pi – Yann Martel ☆☆☆☆

Friday Black – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ☆☆☆☆☆

My Struggle: Book 5 – Karl Ove Knausgaard ☆☆☆☆☆

The Dream We Carry – Olav Hauge ☆☆☆☆

Hatchet – Gary Paulsen ☆☆

Breasts and Eggs – Mieko Kawakami ☆☆☆☆☆

Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik ☆☆☆☆☆

Of Women and Salt – Gabriela Garcia ☆☆☆

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia ☆☆☆

How to Carry Soup – CM Rivers ☆☆

Razorblade Tears – SA Cosby ☆☆☆☆

Blackbird 4PM – Brett Maddux ☆☆☆☆

Fox & I – Catherine Raven ☆☆☆☆

The Obelisk Gate – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆

The Best of James Herriot ☆☆☆☆☆

Welcome to America – Linda Bostrom Knausgard ☆☆

The Stone Sky – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆

We Are Unprepared – Meg Little Reilly ☆☆

Queenie – Candice Carty-Williams ☆☆☆

Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney ☆☆☆

Lore Olympus – Rachel Smythe ☆☆☆

The Princess Bride – William Goldman ☆☆☆☆

The Wolf and the Watchman – Niklas Natt och Dag ☆☆☆☆☆

In the Dream House – Carmen Maria Machado ☆☆ ☆

Dragon Teeth – Michael Crichton ☆☆☆☆

Cuyahoga – Pete Beatty ☆☆☆

Writers & Lovers – Lily King ☆☆☆

Around the World in 80 Trees – Jonathan Drori, ill. Lucille Clerc ☆☆☆☆☆

If you've read any of the above books and have a differing opinion, feel free to leave a comment! I'm always open to re-evaluating.