Albany Public Library discussion

Welcome to Week 3 of the Winter Reading Challenge! I hope you're all well on this balmy 27 degree day (I think we started at 1 degree, so this feels like an improvement)!

This week is all about the BEST of the BEST! Or, at least, what the critics (and your humble library staff) deemed "The Best of 2021." Is there anything you think is missing from the list? What was YOUR best/favorite of 2021?! Did it make it on the list? Share in the comments!

FICTION
Harlem Shuffle
The Lost Apothecary
The Other Black Girl
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Klara and the Sun
Razorblade Tears
Libertie
Such a Quiet Place
Matrix
Early Morning Riser
Project Hail Mary
Seven Days in June
Incense and Sensibility
Son of the Storm
No One Is Talking About This
1984: The Graphic Novel

NON-FICTION
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Broken
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Crying in H Mart
Beautiful Country
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
Somebody's Daughter
Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes: Essays
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City
Notes on Grief
These Precious Days: Essays
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

I just finished "Under the Whispering Door," which I enjoyed! Not sure if it made it onto any Best Of lists.

Some of my five star reads published in 2021:
- Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
- Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I had a couple of romance favorites as well!

I don't think I have read anything actually written in 2021 yet!

Shannon, I do have a copy of Call Us What We Carry, but I think I am an outlier, as I can't get into Amanda Gorman's writing. I have never been a huge poetry fan, though.

Susan wrote: "I don't think I have read anything actually written in 2021 yet!

Shannon, I do have a copy of Call Us What We Carry, but I think I am an outlier, as I can't get into Amanda Gorman'..."

Hi, Susan! That makes sense - poetry is one of my favorite genres. Have you tried listening to an audiobook version? I am curious if you would enjoy it more that way?

That is a good suggestion!

The Turnout, Fight Night, and A Children's Bible were some of my favorite 2021-published reads. I've been looking forward to Matrix!

I also read quite a few indie press books in 2021--some stand-outs were Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, and The Gold Persimmon.

Kathleen wrote: "I just finished "Under the Whispering Door," which I enjoyed! Not sure if it made it onto any Best Of lists."


Hi Kathleen,

I started reading The House in the Cerulean Sea but I just couldn't get into it. Did you read that one? I may like Under the Whispering Door better. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing!

Shannon wrote: "Some of my five star reads published in 2021:
- Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
- Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
- The Four Winds by Kris..."

Shannon- What a list of great picks! I recently read The Nightingale- did you read that one? I am curious how it compares to The Four Winds

I think I only read two books this year that were published in 2021- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Once There Were Wolves. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was a great magical realism story. If you read Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy you may like her latest novel Once There Were Wolves. She has only written two novels so far, but both were enjoyable if you like thriller books mixed with dystopia.

No, I haven't read House in the Cerulean Sea, but I'd like to! Under the Whispering Door has a very contemporary voice, which I found appealing. The humor and setting are very much of the moment; I don't know how well it'll age.