These books represent my favorite reads in 2021, even though most were not published in 2021. I enjoyed the heck out of this selection. These books were funny, moving, hopeful, adventurous. Some made me cry, some made me laugh, some sent me into an emotional spiral I may never recover from.
So here goes, in no particular order, my year-end round-up of my 2021 favorites:
A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (2018)
YA Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
Lush imagery and equally sumptuous language, this novel never falls into the trappings of ‘purple prose’ while readers chase along with the adventures of princess and prince fighting across a fantastical otherworld. We meet our heroes as they each long to escape impossible situations. While they are deciding if they can even trust one another, they are bound together in a tournament of myth and mystery. If they hope to realign their otherwise doomed lives, they must work through unfeasible challenges and prove their worth to themselves, their kingdoms, and to one another. Thrilling, romantic, and wholly entertaining.
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly (2017)
Elementary Fiction, Middle School Fiction, Friendships, Adventure
How can a small story feel so epic? But that’s the point, right? In real life, profound changes and realizations occur in small and mundane ways. Not every epic has to be Frodo climbing Mt. Doom to single-handily save the world.
Hello, Universe is about how fate brings the people we need into our life and how it is up to us to accept the ways the universe gently nudges us in the right way. Fate and free choice don’t need to be mutually exclusive, but being open to new possibilities can carry us in unexpected ways. This is a philosophical concept not too common in children’s literature, but Kelly’s writing makes it clear and relatable while crafting a fun adventure. Also, there is a guinea pig.
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (2008)
I have to start by telling you that my entire existence could be summed up in one phrase.
And that is: If my life wasn’t funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable. (Fisher,2008, p. 17)
Knowing how the story ends, listening to Fisher examine her past with wry wit and a winking nod can be bittersweet. But Fisher is a great storyteller and her “I just don’t give a damn” attitude creates a funny and oh-so juicy narrative of one of Hollywood’s cool kids. (FYI, I just had to do this one as an audio book, because no voice tells this story as well as Carrie Fisher’s own).
In Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher is here to spill all the tea. Her parents, her parents’ other lovers and spouses, Fisher’s own love life, her friends, Star Wars, and everyone else she has crossed paths with up to this point. In an early tale, she finds out her daughter is dating a grandson of Elizabeth Taylor. This creates a conundrum in which she breaks down every connection between her parents, their multiple spouses, the multiple spouses of those spouses, and which kids go with which coupling, all to come to the conclusion that these particular grandkids are probably not committing incest by dating. Probably.
It is a slim read, but as Fisher recounts her wild and unreal life readers won’t feel like she is being light on narrative. In fact, she tells her tales with such frankness and humor it feels more like an intimate conversation with an old friend.
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (2021)
Comedy, Thriller, Rom-Com, Family
Dark comedy. Light humor.
Dial A for Auntie has all the hijinks of a classic 80s comedy (most conspicuously Weekend at Bernie’s), while otherwise refusing to be boxed in by a single genre. There’s romance, murder, lessons about the love and dedication of family. There are plenty of twist and turns, a few obvious ones and a few genuine surprises.
But through all the screwball action and comedy, there’s a cast of characters who are easy to root for, even if their actions are a tad criminal. Meddelin Chan works for her family’s wedding business as a photographer. This is not the life she meant to choose for herself, and she is full of some reasonable self-doubt. Her life only becomes more confusing when she accidently kills a blind date. Her mother and aunts (a group of bickering sisters recognizable to all of us from large families) rush in to help Meddy without question, attempting to hide the body while inadvertently making the situation worse.
When the family business is contracted for a lavish wedding on a fantastic island resort, that wayward dead body turns up to complicate their business’ big break. And then there is Nathan, the lost love of Meddy’s life, who arrives in the middle of all the mayhem, ready rekindle their romance.
And that’s just the first 100 pages.
Sometimes the pacing is a bit off, and the coincidences a little too unbelievable. But Meddy and her family are charming and fun, and worth the introduction in this first novel in a new series.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (2020)
Short stories, Women, African American Women, Family, Religion, LGBTQ+
A thin volume with the gravity of a star.
The stories of Black sisters, mothers, friends, wives, lovers, daughters. These are tales about women seen and unseen. Women in control of their lives and women on the verge of breaking free.
Philyaw’s women will break your heart, make you cheer them on, embrace you in a blanket of familiarity. Some tales take the path of poignant humor, such as the long form letter that comprises “Dear Sister.”“Peach Cobbler” confers a sense of desperation knowable to any reader denied their own potential, while “How to Make Love to a Physicist” assures us that love and acceptance are possible through our personal choices. “Instructions for Married Christian Husbands” has a sharp emotional twist I’m still processing. Personally, I found “Snowfall” especially moving with its tale of a woman dealing with painful nostalgia for a home and family that severed themselves from her life. Read it, trust me, you’re gonna cry.
Every story is told in a unique voice, every character fully realized within a few short pages. The Secret Loves of Church Ladies will stay with you long after you finish reading it.
Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi (2012)
Modern Fairy Tale, Relationship Drama, Magical Realism
Famous author St. John Fox is confronted by Mary Foxe about his tendency to kill the women in his novels. This accusation is especially surprising because Mary Foxe is not real, or at least she shouldn’t be. Mary is an invention of St. John's, a muse of his own crafting, and certainly not someone who should be criticizing the work she herself is a part of. And then there is Daphne, St. John’s wife and another wrinkle in a relationship with one too many people.
Reality bleeds into fiction as fiction bleeds into reality in Oyeyemi’s masterwork about the transcendent power of words and communication, crafted in an unusual and completely original structure. Told through shifting narratives from our principal characters as well as the involuntary chronicles of St. John’s characters, all unaware of their status as figments of a complicated mind’s imagination. As each of their fates are sealed story-by-story, one voice breaks free in an attempt to end the bloodshed. Mary Foxe materializes to influence St. John into changing his behavior. And while she’s here to influence him, she can’t help but get involved in his failing marriage, and perhaps even saving one more woman from St. John's careless words and actions.
Mr. Fox is a tale of magic, a tale of reality, a testament to the written (and spoken) word. The frame story is engrossing, and each of the tales of St. John’s imagined women are moving, funny, heartbreaking, distinct. The experience of reading Helen Oyeyemi is unlike reading any other author, and her characters will haunt you long after finishing the last page.
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