I read 129 books by 122 different authors in 2021. Here are a few of my favorites and why you might like them. I discussed the first three in my last book list, and there you can also read about some of the books I read and enjoyed in 2020. Huge thanks to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library for employing me and enabling my reading habit. If you have a CML card, you can click on the name of each book and request a copy to read yourself. Happy reading!
Transcendent Kingdom follows PhD student Gifty, whose mother comes to stay with her, causing her to remember her complicated family dynamic, including an absent father, a mentally ill mother, and a brother struggling with substance abuse. Gifty also works through how she can combine the religion of her childhood with the science of her career. Read this if you enjoy realistic fiction and the intersection of faith and science.
Legendborn is an Arthurian fantasy set in Chapel Hill, where Bree attends a residential high school program. She quickly becomes entangled with a secret society descended from the knights of the Round Table, a society dedicated to hunting demons. Read this if you enjoy fantasy, young adult books, and Chapel Hill.
Jesus and John Wayne traces the growth of the militant masculinity strain of Christianity, the rise of the religious right, and the radicalization of white, American evangelicalism. Read this if you are interested in the history of the religious right and how white evangelicals have consolidated power and turned conservative politics into their religion.
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake follows the eponymous Rosaline, a single mom who lands a spot on a beloved national baking show. She hopes to use the winner’s purse to support herself and her daughter, and along the way she finds herself drawn to two fellow competitors. Read this if you enjoy The Great British Baking Show and love triangles.
How Lucky is a mystery set in the college town of Athens, Georgia. Daniel, whose disability keeps him homebound, is sure he’s witnessed a kidnapping through his window, and he becomes determined to find the missing woman. Read this if you like college towns, mysteries, and humor.
The Forest of Stolen Girls is a historical mystery set in 1426 Korea during the Joseon dynasty. It follows Hwani, who is investigating the disappearance of her father, which may be tied to a mysterious event that befell her and her sister years ago, as well as to the recent disappearance of thirteen girls. Something is stealing girls in the forest, and Hwani is determined to find out what, and find her father along the way. Read this if you like thrillers, history, and tricky family dynamics.
She Who Became the Sun tells an alternate version of the founding of the Ming dynasty, beginning in 1345 China when a peasant girl makes the decision to assume her dead brother’s identity and claim his fate for her own. There is a lot of violence, political machinations, and ruthlessness from the main characters. Read this one if you want She’s The Man but a lot more intense.
If you like the girl-disguised-as-a-boy conceit but want a slightly lighter story, try Alanna: The First Adventure, the first book in the Song of the Lioness quartet. I originally read these as a teenager and they hold up just as well on a second read over a decade later. Here, Alanna switches places with her twin brother so she can achieve her dream of becoming a knight. Read this series if you like tales of medieval knighthood, magic, and coming-of-age.
Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown outlines the various men and women who could have (or did) laid claim to the English throne. Murder, war, and scandal plagued the medieval royals and often threatened the line of succession. This is a history book, but it’s not inaccessible to non-academics. Read this if you are into medieval England, history, and royals.
If you want more medieval English history, try She-Wolves, which profiles the four women before Elizabeth I who ruled England in all but name. Elizabeth may have been the first queen regnant of England, but she was not the first to wield monarchical power. Read this if you like medieval history and women who go for what they want.
Never Saw You Coming is a young adult romance that follows Meg and Micah, who each bear the scars of religious trauma. Together, they navigate young love and rebuilding their faith after being hurt by church people. There is an emphasis on reclaiming your faith from those who have hurt you; after all, God has not let you down, but people have. Read this book if you want a sweet, easy-to-read romance about teenagers figuring out their faith.
The Ghost Bride is set in colonial Malaysia and follows Li Lan, who receives a marriage proposal from a powerful family– for their dead son. Li Lan finds herself swept up in the world of spirits as she fights to get back to the land of the living. Read this book if you are interested in ghosts, Chinese mythology, and spooky vibes.
A Very Punchable Face is Colin Jost’s memoir of his childhood in Staten Island, his time at the Harvard Lampoon, and his career as head writer and Weekend Update anchor at SNL. I listened to the audiobook and read the physical book because there were bits in each that weren’t in the other. Jost is obviously a hilarious writer, and this is a fun ride all the way through. Read this if you like SNL, Staten Island, and laughing. Don’t read this if you’re Michael Che. Or if you’re Cosmo Johansson-Jost, because you shouldn’t be able to read yet anyway.
Within These Wicked Walls takes inspiration from Jane Eyre and adds magic. Set in Ethiopia, the book follows Andromeda, who has been hired to cleanse a castle of the Evil Eye, and soon becomes drawn to her mysterious employer, Magnus Rochester. Read this book if you like fantasy, castles, and dark romance.
The Sentence takes place over the course of a year, from November 2019 to November 2020. Tookie works in a bookstore, where she is haunted by the store’s most annoying customer. While she works to rid herself of the obnoxious spirit, she also must reckon with the effects of the pandemic and George Floyd’s murder on her city, her bookstore, and herself. Read this if you like realistic fiction with a dash of supernatural.
Firekeeper’s Daughter follows Daunis Fontaine, a biracial, unenrolled Ojibwe tribal member who has never fully felt like she fits in with either side of her family. After she witnesses a murder, she is pulled into a criminal investigation into a drug dealing and trafficking operation that may be responsible for the devastation unspooling across several nearby tribal communities. Read this if you enjoy true crime and thrillers, strong women, and community strength and resilience.
A Snake Falls to Earth is the story of Nina, a Lipan Apache girl who lives on Earth, and Oli, a cottonmouth person who lives in the Reflected World, and how their paths intersect as Nina fights to save her family’s land and Oli fights to save his friend, Ami the toad, from extinction. Read this if you are interested in indigenous (specifically Lipan Apache) mythology, fantasy, and adventure.
Moriah Sharpe 