My favourite books of 2021

In 2021, I read 128 books, all by female authors. Below, I have a list of the 38 books I liked the most.

Three years ago, I realized that over 90% of books I was reading were by male authors. I wasn't deliberately avoiding female authors, but my habits revealed a profound gender bias. Since then, I have read only books by women: almost entirely fiction, and almost entirely novels. I was not alone in my earlier bias: a chapter of Deloitte’s 2022 TMT Predictions report on the reading gender gap that I co-authored points out that both men and boys are much less likely to read books by female authors or books with female protagonists. Why does this matter?

“When we read, we put ourselves in the characters’ shoes to see their points of view, fears, hopes, and experiences. For female authors and protagonists to be a closed book to many male readers can be unhelpful in an era where we strive for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

My original target for this post was to pick the “top 21 for 2021” but was too arbitrary, and I realized that there were about 38 books that I really, REALLY liked. The list below is in the order I read them during the year. Sometimes I loved more than one book by a given author, and those books appear on the same line, along with major literary prizes.

I have a mix of mainstream literary fiction and genre fiction, especially fantasy and science fiction. A third of the books are recent (2018-2021), another third are from 1960-2017, and the final third are from before that. I strongly urge readers to read older books: If I were ranking in order of merit, books published prior to 1960 would dominate. As always, the list features books and authors from different countries, diverse ethnicities, diverse original languages, and diverse sexualities.

Special thanks to The Toronto Public Library system: Most of my reading this year came from them, and I have either donated directly or asked for donations to the TPL Foundation of over $2,500 this year.

1.???Greengage Summer, Rumer Godden, 1958

2.???The Dark Archive (The Invisible Library #7), Genevieve Cogman, 2020

3.???Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories #1), 2010 (Also Glamour in Glass,#2)

4.???I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith, 1948 (Also The New Moon with the Old)

5.???To Be Taught, If Fortunate, Becky Chambers, 2019

6.???The Color Purple, Alice Walker, 1982 (Pulitzer)

7.???State of Wonder, Ann Patchett, 2011

8.???Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1855

9.???The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim, 1922 (also Elizabeth and Her German Garden)

10.?Tokyo Fiancée, Amélie Nothomb, 2008 (Prix de Flore)

11.?Writers and Lovers, Lily King, 2020 (Also Father of the Rain)

12.?Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout, 2008 (Pulitzer)

13.?News of the World, Paulette Giles, 2016

14.?The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery, 2008

15.?So Big, Edna Ferber, 1924 (Pulitzer)

16.?Vince and Joy, Lisa Jewell, 2005

17.?Luster, Raven Leilani, 2020

18.?Meet Me at the Museum, Anne Youngson, 2018

19.?The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennet, 2020

20.?Trickster Drift (Trickster #2), Eden Robinson, 2018

21.?A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2), Arkady Martine, 2021

22.?The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall, 1928

23.?Scarlet Sister Mary, Julia Peterkin, 1928 (Pulitzer)

24.?Dear Mrs. Bird (The Emmy Lake Chronicles #1), A.J. Pearce, 2018 (Also Yours Cheerfully, #2)

25.?The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient #1), Helen Hoang, 2018 (Also The Heart Principle, #3)

26.?Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters, 1998

27.?Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bront?, 1847

28.?Noah’s Ark, Barbara Trapido, 1984

29.?The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel, 2020

30.?Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri, 1999 (Pulitzer)

31.?Wigs on the Green, Nancy Mitford, 1935

32.?Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen, 1817