7 Best Books of 2021

In 2021, I read a total of 94 books, the most I’ve ever read. This amounted to a total of 34,429 pages. While I enjoyed most of the books I read, here are the seven that are my absolute favorite and I am looking forward to re-reading in the years to come. These plots and characters have stuck with me for a long time since reading the book and have greatly impacted how I will be reading other books in the future.

7. It by: Stephen King

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: For years I was frightened by what a tome this is to tackle. And I can only say that I wish I read it sooner. King is a master of coming-of-age stories, and It was unique among those I’ve read. Aside from chilling descriptions of Pennywise and the Losers Club battling It, it is a surprisingly relatable story. There are demons we all have to face when growing up, and it shapes who we are as adults. Like the Losers Club, we often forget the specifics of what happened until we are face-to-face with this demon later in life.

If you have never read any of King's work, this is a perfect one to start with. Although there are some slower parts, I found it difficult to put down.

And yes, the multiple descriptions of Beverly's 11-year-old body are disgusting, as was the child orgy.

Updated review: There are other books I read in 2021 that I gave five stars and although this book only earned four stars from me, I still loved it so much. I docked a star because of the many faults, but I cannot help myself from loving this story. While I’m planning to re-read all the books in this list in 2022, I don’t think I’ll be doing that with this one because it is over 1,000 pages. If you are scared of tackling this tome, don’t be! It is well worth the hours you put into it, and you are rewarded with some perfect Stephen King brand of horror and gore.

6. Midnight Library by: Matt Haig

Category: Fantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: The only thing I disliked about this book is that I wish I would’ve written it. The Midnight Library has everything I love: death, philosophy, chess and pets named after philosophers. It was also surprisingly funny, for example, on page 36: Bertrand Russell wrote that ‘To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three-parts dead.’ Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she was just scared of living. But Bertrand Russell had more marriages and affairs than hot dinners, so perhaps he was no one to give advice.

I understand other readers’ gripe with the end of the book coming off like a self-help lecture, but every book has a moral it is trying to teach the reader, this one was just more obvious from the start.

Updated Review: This is a book I know I will be returning to when I start to feel frustrated and overwhelmed with life. It contains some wonderful motivation to help pick yourself back up. If every self-help book was written this way, by hiding the intent in a beautiful story, I would read many more self-help books.

5. Pet Sematary by: Stephen King

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This quickly became a new favorite Stephen King novel. Aside from the traditional horror aspect that you expect from King, like dead cats coming back to life, this novel was such a beautiful exploration of grief and how far parents will go for their children. A couple and their children move into a new home with a pet cemetery behind their property. I feel like not much can be said without giving away the plot. If you have only seen the movies, they do not do this masterpiece any justice.

Updated Review: I never expected a horror book to be exactly what I needed while grieving loss, but I cannot even begin to explain how important and helpful this book was to me at that time. Maybe that is why I have such an affinity for it, but I know this book will always bring me comfort in the future.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by: J. K. Rowling

Category: Young Adult Fantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: What a perfect and heart-breaking ending to this series. My favorite part was that we learned more about Snape’s background and he received his redemption arc. This is a series I will be re-reading every year.

Updated review: I could honestly put the entire Harry Potter series into this list, but the final book was a wonderful and tragic ending to this series. I’ve already started re-reading the series and I’m excited to see what else I can learn from the wizarding world during my second read-through.

3. The Secret History by: Donna Tartt

Category: Mystery/ Dark Academia

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: This book was a wonderful way to start the year. We follow a group of eccentric Greek students and their classics professors. As it is the quintessential dark academia book, there is an expected murder on campus. This was an immediate favorite, and I do not know how to review it without giving away any plot details. There is a large amount of Ancient Greek in the book, but nothing that cannot be deciphered with context clues or if you have a light understanding of Ancient Greek. The only fault I found in this book was towards the end when the group begins to dismantle, there are many pages where all we see is the characters drinking and smoking, with seemingly no resolution.

Updated review: Although this book was over 500 pages, it took me about three days to complete. The story is so engrossing and dark. Many readers claim that this book is too pretentious and attempting to exclude the reader, but I’ve also been told that I’m pretentious, so maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much.

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Category: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: It is hard for a book to make me cry, but this one did so multiple times. Evelyn Hugo is insufferable, manipulative and egotistical, and I could not get enough of her. I see many aspects of myself in her character, which is probably what made this book so painful. There are so many beautiful quotes about love and sexuality. I also enjoyed that Evelyn is a Cuban woman, and it was emotional to read how she felt she had to hide her heritage to make it in old Hollywood. I recommend this to anyone looking for a moving book.

Updated review: I am still heartbroken thinking about this book, and almost made it my favorite book of the year. Perhaps it is because I see so much of myself in the main character, but I find myself frequently thinking of Evelyn Hugo and how she would respond to whatever I’m going through at the moment. It is so rare for a book to make me cry, and this was the only book that accomplished that in 2021. I might wait until the end of 2022 to re-read this book, to hopefully be able to forget some plot details, but I doubt that will happen.

1. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by: Iain Reid

Category: Horror

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: Holy. Shit. Wow. I know it is too early to decide this, but this may be my favorite book of 2021. This is about a couple driving to visit the boyfriend’s parents, but the girlfriend is thinking of breaking up with him. The twist is something that I can’t imagine any reader saw coming. Aside from the traditional horror scenes, there are some wonderful existential discussions that they have in the car, which makes this book stand out from the crowd.

Although this is not a movie review, the Netflix adaptation was so utterly disappointing and the only aspect that was worth anything in the movie was Toni Collette’s performance.

Updated review: As you can see above, I was correct, this was my favorite book of 2021. There is so much packed into 240 pages. Even though I read this book at the start of 2021, I still cannot forget the twist ending, as much as I wish I could. I already have this book at the top of my list to read in January 2022. I wish I could give more information on what this book is about without spoiling anything, but it is best to go into it knowing as little as possible.

Overall, 2021 was an outstanding year of reading for me. I read so many books that will be all-time favorites for years to come. Here's to another year of reading and reviewing in 2022!