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What are the best new books in 2021? And how about surprisingly good older gems? A year of reviewing books led me to some very engaging books.
These are my highlights and surprises of 2021. While I haven’t read all books that were published – not even all of the popular ones – I found many engaging books among those that I did read.
A year of reading and reviewing books… I read over 100 books this year and reviewed half of them. Many of the books I read are now on my new book lists about China, Taiwan, Austria, Korean short story collections and Japanese short story collections.
Last year I identified some blindspots, namely books originating from or set in Africa and South America. While my reading activity for these parts of the world have not been overwhelming, I did read a few books from there: When We Cease to Understand the World (writer living in Santiago de Chile), Remote Control (set in Ghana), At Night All Blood is Black (writer from Senegal) and Bakhita (set in Sudan).
Back to 2021. Many of the books I read were released in 2021 or will be released in 2022. But aside from my more recent picks, I also read some classics or other books that are still getting a lot of attention around the world. Some of it deserved, the rest – in my eyes – baffling. That’s what is so great about the vast amount of books that exist in the world: there is a ‘right’ book for everyone.Â
I see it as my mission to raise awareness of all the good stories that exist in this world.
So here they come: the best, most engaging, unique, and inspiring stories of 2021.
Dare to feel
My Wow books of 2021
- Popisho by Leone Ross (Review): a magical and sensual, yet down-to-earth story that only Popisho natives will fully understand. Such an entertaining story.
- Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin (I didn’t review this one, check it out on Amazon). This series blew my mind: the scope is immense. Unsurprisingly, the books by Liu Cixin made it to the top of my science fiction book list.
- Bolla by Pajtim Statovci (Review): I was really impressed by the writing style (in translation). The narrator’s feelings were expressed in a beautiful and touching way.
Exploring new horizons
- At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (Amazon): a powerful and gruesome novel about a Senegalese man who fought as a soldier in the French army during World War I.
- Bakhita: A Novel of the Saint of Sudan by Véronique Olmi (Amazon): a book set in Sudan and Italy by the author of one of my favorite books, Beside the Sea. I didn’t particularly like the writing style in Bakhita, but the story was interesting.
- Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor (Review): a magical journey through Ghana that you can’t even remotely control.
- Soviet milk by Nora Ikstena (Amazon): a story about the influence of Soviet rule on individual lives in Latvia.
Into science this year?
- When We Cease to Understand the World by BenjamÃn Labatut (Amazon): a blend of fiction and essay about the good and the bad that led to scientific advances in the 20th century. And about the minds and lives of those that came up with them.
- Saving Schrödinger’s Cat by Mark Jenkins (Review): Schrödinger is back again (he also plays a role in the book by BenjamÃn Labatut).
- The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson (Amazon): I read this one because I wanted to know more about RNA. I was also interested in the ethical aspects of curing genetic diseases and to what extent it should be allowable to improve DNA.
- Future Bright, Future Grimm by D.J. MacLennan (Review): explore what happens if you use scientific progress to allow time to move on in a fairy tale realm.
- Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin (Amazon). This series blew my mind: the scope is immense. Unsurprisingly, the books by Liu Cixin made it to the top of my science fiction book list.
Identity
LGBTQ+
- Bolla by Pajtim Statovci (Review): I was really impressed by the writing style (in translation). The narrator’s feelings were expressed in a beautiful and touching way.
- Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (Review): I love how his spirit and energy changed over the course of the book. The author portrays the gradual character transformation very convincingly.
- The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei (Review): shows a future in which intimacy, experiences, and identity are fluid.
- To the Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-young (Review): a dystopian story about two strangers growing close and showing affection despite their hardships.
- Last Words from Montmartre and Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin: two classics from Taiwan about the passionate relationships between (queer and lesbian) people. You need to be in the mood for these books.Â
Contemplative and mesmerizing
- The Mountain Whisperer by Jia Pingwa (Review): this book is pure and warm, cruel and mean, and above all, absurd and compelling. The author combines historical and mythical knowledge into a turbulent and rich story set in rural China.Â
- Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong (Amazon): a slow-paced story showing respect for nature and the culture of the people living in north-central Inner Mongolia. This book transports you right there and reads as a meditation on living with nature and maintaining balance.
- The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (Amazon): about a woman and some animals in survival mode. At first, this sounds like a pleasant change, but trouble lurks. You would have liked to be kept ignorant until the very end…
- Wittgenstein’s Nephew by Thomas Bernhard (Amazon): what stuck with me is the irony of a narrator stuck in a hospital bed talking about how he and some other people are the happiest travelers and the unhappiest arrivals.
Hard to judge
- Stronghold by Kesha Bakunin (Review): a study of leadership styles and political and social issues in the form of a fantasy story set in a world with a rich history.
- When We Cease to Understand the World by BenjamÃn Labatut (Amazon): a blend of fiction and essay about the good and the bad that caused scientific advances in the 20th century. And about the minds and lives of those that came up with them.
- Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (Amazon): about three generations of Taiwanese American women that are haunted by the myths of their homeland. I didn’t like this book, but many people love it. It’s either hit or miss.
Whatever happened?
Books I wanted to like so much
- Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (Amazon): half a year later I am trying to come up with a description. I have to read the synopsis to even remember what it was about. A heavy and interesting topic but I’ve read more impressive books about this topic.
- Piranesi by Susanna Clark (Amazon): a book with great reviews that I found extremely boring.
- The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (Amazon): a book that I both love and hate because I don’t like the narrator’s personality and thoughts but I love the setting. So of course I’ll read the third installment next year.
- To the Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-young (Review): if only one of the other characters had been the main narrator…
- House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Amazon): I actually did like this book, but it lacked the wow-factor that I was expecting after hearing other readers rave about it.
Guilty pleasures
- Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend (Amazon): a truly magical and fantastic children’s books series that was just what I needed at some point this year.
- Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension #1) by Andrew Rowe (Amazon): the Arcane Ascension trilogy by Andrew Rowe also helped to satisfy my magic school books craving.
Published by Honford Star (because I ended up buying all of them)
- Astral Season, Beastly Season by Tahi Saihate (Review): a story about adoration and objectification. What does it take to grow up as a star instead of a beast?
- To the Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-young (Review): a dystopian story about two strangers growing close and showing affection despite their hardships.
- Tower by Bae Myung-hoon (Review): this book is a mirror of society; a sci-fi depiction of social and political issues. It is intense, subtle and funny.
- Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung (Review): the author will amuse you with all the unusual things that are considered perfectly ordinary.
- Whisper by Chang Yu-Ko (Amazon): Whisper is a plot-driven, Taiwanese horror story, that is hopefully on its way here from Manchester (I think it is travelling on foot because it was sent to me two months ago). It will arrive someday.
Most popular reviews on Wheretokim in 2021
Interestingly enough, three of them were also popular last year. Numbers four, five and six are new though.
- Almond by Won-pyung Sohn (Review): a touching story about two vastly different boys that grow closer by talking.
- Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (Review): that book with the very cryptical paragraph hinting at the ending. When you see it, you just have to read the book to know what it means.
- A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (Review): the second Haruki Murakami book I ever read! I know, I should read the rest of them as well. But at least I am now a member of the sheeplessnessclub!
- Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (Review): a book of growth, about a person gaining color and facing his past.
- The Vines by Shelley Nolden (Review): about the ethical dilemmas involved in curing diseases and fighting pandemics. The story has the perfect setting for that, namely North Brother Island, New York City.
- Extra: Orakel (Dutch version) by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Review): I want to highlight this one because the long expected English translation of the author’s previous book Echo will be published on 8 February 2022!
What is the most interesting and engaging book you read in 2021? Any books you’re looking forward to in 2022?
