It may seem a little late for a 2021 roundup post, with most of the genre being wrapped up by mid-December and many even earlier, but I always like an end-of-year review to actually be able to reflect on twelve months, instead of just eleven.
Moreover, I don't think the new year really begins properly until the festive season is over, which means after Twelfth Night and the feast of the Epiphany. Today, then, as the first Monday after the Epiphany is the real first day of the new year. It is, traditionally, also the start of the agricultural year and it is the beginning of Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar. Now is the time to look back, take stock and dive earnestly into those new year's resolutions. The year 2021 was, much like its predecessor, a complex one, but here and now we are just going to look at what it brought in terms of reading and books.
I read a lot of good books in 2021 and, as ever, tried to read widely and diversely. Most of my 2021 reads were either translations or works not in English.
To share my highlights, I have decided, rather arbitrarily, to go for a top seven this year, and some excellent books didn't make the cut.
These, then, in no particular order, were the books I enjoyed the most in 2021. Some were published last year, but not all of them. Good books have no expiration date, so the window for celebrating them shouldn't close with the chiming of the bells on Hogmanay.
Top 7 reads of 2021
(Click on titles for reviews/tweets)
What were your favourite reads of 2021 and what are you looking forward to reading this year?