Review of 2021 Reading Year

Reading continued to benefit from the lockdown and social distancing effects of the pandemic with 37 books read in the year. An increasing proportion (59%) were by ‘new to me’ authors. The gender balance remained even with male authors edging it this year by 19 to 18. However, men dominate the best reads list by 6 to 3. The lack of a reading group enabled the ‘bookpacking’ reading journey to progress with three books, hopping from Africa via Australia and Hong Kong to Japan (though none of them get a place at the top table).

My nine best books of the year are by authors either new to me or for whom this is only a second read. (Month of full review in brackets.)

 

Into the Silence – Wade Davis: Comprehensive and fascinating account of the first three attempts to climb Everest between 1921 and 1924, covering biographical backgrounds, motivations, and characters of those who took part, and in some cases did not return. (Mar)

 

Elizabeth is Missing – Emma Healey: Sensitively written tragi-comedic tale of dementia-suffering Maud, concerned for a friend she is convinced is missing, and whom she gets confused with someone who similarly disappeared decades earlier. (Apr)

 

The Last Thing to Burn – Will Dean: Increasingly horrific but nuanced story of control, imprisonment, and cruelty imposed on an immigrant woman by a reclusive farmer in deepest Norfolk. (Jun)

 

The Bell in the Lake – Lars Mytting: Atmospheric slow-burner set in late nineteenth century, rural Norway, where Astrid Hekne finds herself in a love triangle with the new young priest and an architectural student; at the centre of the triangle are the church’s iconic bells. (Sep)

 

Heroes – Stephen Fry: Masterly re-telling of the exploits of Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, Jason, and their ilk, treading the fine line between archness and erudition. (Sep)

 

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini: Harrowing story of two women caught up in the maelstrom of events in Afghanistan between 1960 and 2001 that despite tragedy galore also manages to be uplifting. (Sep)

 

Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout: Retired teacher Olive’s role as wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, friend, hostage, and airline security hazard all feature in this charming, humorous, and perceptive collection of episodes that hang together beautifully. (Dec)

The Girl with All the Gifts – M R Carey: Eerily believable post-apocalyptic science fiction that examines familiar human traits in a new challenging environment where five characters must put their differences aside to work for mutual survival. (Dec)

The Five – Hallie Rubenhold: The five women whose murders are attributed to Jack the Ripper become more than nameless victims in this fine piece of non-fiction writing that reveals them as rounded, if flawed, daughters, wives, and mothers caught in spirals of deprivation common in their social context. (Dec)