5 Worst Books of 2021

In 2021, I read a total of 94 books, the most I have ever read in a year. This amounted to a total of 34,429 pages. Unsurprisingly, I did not love or even enjoy all the books I read. What I categorize as worst depends on how let down I was if I had prior expectations for the book, how desperate I was to get to the end of the book and how much I remember the plot a couple of months after reading it. Here are the 5 worst books I read in 2021.

5. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by: Simone De Beauvoir

Category: Nonfiction/ Memoir

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Review: I picked this book up because I’m a huge fan of De Beauvoir's philosophy and writing style, and my existentialism and phenomenology class further piqued my interest. However, this fell flat. I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t wait to be done with it. It was interesting to learn about her childhood, yet it all felt long-winded and unnecessarily drawn out. On the positive side, her writing style is beautiful, and more so in French.

I think if you are not a fan of her philosophy, this memoir will be painfully dull. Even if you are interested in philosophy, there is no mention of it until page 234, in a 359-page book.

Updated review: Since reading this book in February, I still remember how excited I was to read this book and how let down I still am by the monotonous topics covered. I’m still looking forward to reading more of De Beauvoir’s work because I know her writing style is eloquent and descriptive and I am a fan of her philosophy. Unfortunately, her memoir was a major let down.

4. Pillow Thoughts III: Mending the Mind by: Courtney Peppernell

Category: Poetry

Rating: ⭐️

Review: This is the third Pillow Thoughts book, and I enjoyed it less than the first two. I think reading all three back-to-back is what made the experience so boring. Thankfully, the author's poetry style is short and quick, so I did not spend too much of my time reading this book. I think I’ll give other poetry books a chance in the future, but probably not another one from this author.

Updated review: This book I read in the final quarter of the year, but I somehow forgot most of the poetry in it. While reading it, I was quickly trying to get through it instead of taking my time to analyze the poetry. I also generally dislike mushy love poems. Next time I give poetry a chance, I will pick some classic authors like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.

3. Ninth House by: Leigh Bardugo

Category: Fantasy

Rating:⭐️

Review: This book was so incredibly dull. I hate when authors use rape as a plot device to show how strong their women characters are. I especially hated this one because it was a 12-year-old being raped by a ghost. I picked this book up because an online article recommended it for people who enjoyed the Harry Potter series. While I enjoyed that it took place at Yale and included evil ghosts (“greys” as they’re called in the book), it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

Updated review: After learning more about Bardugo’s writing, she primarily writes Young Adult fiction, and I think that is what turned me off from this book. It reads as an author wanting to be taken seriously, so they use all the impressive vocabulary they know, and this leaves the book feeling inauthentic.

2. The Death of Jane Lawrence by: Caitlin Starling

Category: Gothic Horror

Rating: ⭐️

Review: This book had the potential to be exciting, but after 100 pages in, I knew this wasn’t for me. It reminds me of Mexican Gothic, which is another gothic romance in a haunted house. Jane marries a doctor in a small town and later discovers that he practices black magic and has created a haunted house with the spirit of his first wife. I did not like the magical aspect, I wish there would have been a worldly secret he was keeping, like keeping the bodies of any patients that died at his hands to keep from losing his license. If you liked Mexican Gothic, then you’ll probably like this book, but I disliked both.

Updated review: I read this book in the last quarter of the year, so not much time has passed since writing this. However, I do remember purchasing this book after a couple of medical procedures and doctor’s appointments as a reward for myself, and disliking the book made me even more upset.

1. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by: Fredrik Backman

Category: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: ⭐️

Review: I bought this book after my grandmother died because I thought it would help me grieve. Unfortunately, I could not stand this book and if I was someone who doesn’t finish books I don’t like, this would have been one of them. The main character was an insufferable brat, although it seemed like her tantrums were supposed to make her endearing to the readers. Besides her outbursts, the only other personality trait is her obsession with Harry Potter and the Gryffindor scarf she always carries around. I would have loved more of the story to be about the grandmother and her background, and also some more information on the mother. But unfortunately, we had to spend most of the story through Elsa’s egotistical point of view.

Updated review: This is still a book I think back on and feel incredibly disappointed in. I bought it as a way to grieve the loss of my grandmother, but instead, I felt frustrated with the plot and the characters. I have heard great things about Backman’s writing and his other books, I’m not sure if I would bother to pick up another one.

Overall, this year brought a lot of amazing books into my life, and some that will be favorites I constantly re-read. However, they can’t all be winners.