Favorite Books of 2021

There is so much good music and television, so many great books and films out there today that I can't possibly see/read/hear them all but of the books I've read this year, these are my favorites, and I believe all of them were published within the last two years. I've curated this list for you on Bookshop and you can order any or all of them at this handy link.  I will donate any proceeds from books bought at this link to the Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund.  

I read thirty-four books this year (this morning I started the thirty-fifth but won't have it finished before the new year) besides books I read for blurbs and the like.  These are the ones that stuck with me the most.

Fiction

Clare Keegan's Small Things Like These is a book I want to give to everyone.  I think it is just about perfect.  The sentences are all precise gems, the main character is someone I want to spend more time with, and most of all the book conjures a feeling, an ambience.  I do not quite know how Keegan pulls it all off, which makes me love it more.  The story of a small Irish town in the late 80s and a call for empathy. I want to read everything she has ever written.  

   

This novel about a young man who befriends a mysterious older woman on the English coast tells the story of a remarkable friendship, and the way a chance encounter can change us forever. 

Migrations is an epic, a contemporary feminist retelling of Moby Dick.  It is a literary page-turner of the highest order.  I couldn't put it down but I also wanted to savor every word.

 A Burning by Megha Majumdar is the cinematic, compelling, and profound look at a young woman accused of a terrorist bombing in India.  An incredible debut novel. 

The Prophets is one of the most difficult and necessary books I've ever read.  The story of two gay enslaved men in the years just before the Civil War, it is violent, beautiful, and everything in between. I thought it should have won every award of the year but I will warn you that it is not a book for everyone.

Full disclosure: I edited this book and I am one of the people who chose it for publication but I still want to include it on this list because I never would have chosen it if I hadn't thought it was so beautiful.  Waldrop expertly explores the extraordinary nature of people who are living ordinary, everyday lives.  The whole book is filled with incredibly layered characters, and you'll never forget the two main ones that root the entire story. Not to mention the sense of place that is so vivid you will be transported to the lakes and towns of Western Kentucky. 

Nonfiction

I have rarely learned as much or have been as moved by a book as I was by Allison Moorer's beautiful memoir of raising her son after his nonverbal autism diagnosis.  It is a book of rare grace and toughness and one that everyone should read although it will speak especially to any parent and to every parent of an autistic child.  

Margaret Renkl is the best columnist working in America today.  Many of her best New York Times columns are collected here and I think this is an essential book for any library.

This book is not only a look into a tragic double murder but also into gender and the complexities of Appalachia.  It is expertly structured, beautifully written, and hugely readable. 

Young Adult

Few people write more beautifully about young people than Jeff Zentner and I think he also has special insights into what it means to be working class and rural.  You will need a handkerchief or some Kleenex while reading this book.  I certainly did.

So imaginative, so original, and so profound, Arnold's look into the future is a marvel of structure and philosophy.  

Poetry

You will luxuriate in the language of the first poetry collection from one of my favorite voices, filled with remarkable insights about what it means to be country, Black, and/or a woman.  

Full disclosure:  I edited this book of poetry but I loved it long before I became involved in its publication (which is one reason I ended up being its editor).  Worthington ties together country music, grief, and the balm of the natural world expertly.  A real beauty.