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All The Books I Read In 2021.

2021 was the year I decided that I was going to start reading for pleasure again. As a child and teenager reading was my favourite pastime. I would much prefer to be curled up on the couch with my book than watch TV or go outside. I think the moment that really exemplified how much I loved reading when I was younger was when i went on a family holiday to Malta at 12 and took 7 books with me for a week long holiday. My mother told me I was wasting valuable suitcase space and that I wouldn't have time to read them all. I finished them all in three days. Reading by the pool, when I was having breakfast, lunch, dinner, before bed, on the beach, on the bus to a different part of the island. I had nothing to read for those last four days or the plane ride home.


As I have gotten older, reading stopped being an enjoyable pastime for me. This is probably due to the fact in college I had to read specific text for all my classes and then the same again when I attended university. Whenever i got a free moment I didn't want to read, I wanted to play a game or watch my favourite shows because I had to read all the time for class anyway.


2021 marked 6 months of being out of university, and I began to remember how much I loved reading, and the feeling I get when I'm in a bookshop surrounded by new books. I decided I was going to read for pleasure again. So like most book enthusiasts I set a GoodReads goal of 30 books (this was a bit ambitious of me looking back now.) I managed to read 18 books total, and here is what they are in order:


JANUARY


'Midnight Sun' by Stephanie Meyer.


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When Stephanie released that countdown announcing she was releasing the anticipated retelling of Twilight from Edward's perspective my inner 13 year old jumped out and I pre-ordered that hardback copy from Waterstones so fast. True to herself Meyer's writing style hasn't changed, and by that I mean it is god awful. But that's what makes Twilight, well, Twilight. I was happy to read the same familiar tone and writing style and learn new little details about the story that would never get revealed from Bella's perspective, (such as finding out Edward set Angela and Ben up as a couple because he genuinely liked them and knew they liked each other.) The Twilight series will always be unmatchable and unbeatable in my heart.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Dead of Night' by Emily Goodwin.


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The beginning of some spicy books for this year. This particular book series kept appearing on my TikTok feed via Booktok. It wasn't the type of book I would usually be interested in, but I caved and downloaded the first book of the series it in the hopes that videos about it would leave my TikTok feed (they did by the way.) Overall I had one massive issue with this book. It seemed like Goodwin couldn't decide whether this was going to exclusively be an erotica with a bit of plot going on, or a very interesting fantasy novel with a few sexy scenes. She was trying to smush these two very different styles and it overall just didn't work for me. I haven't read the other books in the series so who knows maybe it balances out better, but overall I wasn't this books biggest fan.

2/5 stars on GoodReads.


'The Flatshare' by Beth O'Leary.


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This was probably one of my favourite reads of the year. I am a sucker for romances and this one just ticked every box for me. Strangers to friends to lovers. The writing style was immaculate and I loved the switching of chapters between Tiffy and Leon and how differently their chapters were written to express their differences in characters. It was overall just a very wholesome well written love story that I would recommend to anyone.

5/5 stars on GoodReads.


FEBRUARY

...*crickets*...


MARCH


'Breasts and Eggs' by Mieko Kawakami.


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My partner bought this book at our local Waterstones and upon reading the blurb I stole it from him to read myself. It is a stunning piece of Japanese literature that explores the different stages of women's lives and Japanese society's views on artificial insemination. I would even argue that this is an amazing piece of feminist literature. If you haven't read this already I highly recommend you do; not only is is just good to read books written from cultures different than yours but it's also just a wonderful book. A new favourite of mine, and possibly a new favourite author also.

4(4.5)/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Before the Coffee Gets Cold' by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.


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I bought this as part of Waterstone's 'Buy One Get One Free' offer as it had an interesting premise. Based in Tokyo, this café offers its customers the opportunity to travel back in time. We meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer. Before reading this I didn't realise that it was a novel adaptation of Kawaguchi's stage play of the same name. Once I realised that it was written to be performed it made much more sense. Without knowing this, as a stand alone novel, the concept is interesting, but is written very simply with too many long sentences and unnecessary details (but this could be just due to translation issues.) It reads like a linked collection of short stories, and I hope to see it performed one day.

3/5 stars on GoodReads.


APRIL


'BJ Alex' by Mingwa.


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The first of many Yaoi's. I loved reading BL as a teenager and it turns out I still do as an adult, sue me. I absolutely loved the art style and also the plot. From one sided love to being obsessed with each other, I loved it *chefs kiss.* There is that one questionable scene with the um, cough, pee, but I'm going to choose to skip over that. Something else I also loved the side characters story, how not only do you see Chanwoo and MD's relationship develop during the main story but how they were also given their own series to give us a fleshed out ending for them also. This is a BL I will be reading again.

5/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Normal People' by Sally Rooney.


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I feel this is a book that everyone read last year, especially with the popular BBC series (which I have yet to watch.) This book was being talked about everywhere by everyone. I admit I enjoyed this book but I didn't think it was revolutionary like some people were describing. Rooney has an excellent prose style, and her portrayal of young love was scarily accurate, but I don't think it was overwhelmingly new or exciting. I still think people should read it, as it is a bittersweet love story and I will be watching the series to see if it works better as a show rather than a novel.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Ghost World' by Daniel Clowes.


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This was a comic that my partner recommended to me (mostly to help me boost my reading when I was still ambitious enough to hit my reading goal.) It's about two teenage girls trying to figure out themselves and what they want from life. I personally didn't enjoy this. I heard it was a cult classic but I don't see why. I was confused most of the time and didn't particularly like the writing style, but I also didn't hate it either. I'm pretty neutral about this read.

3/5 stars on GoodReads.


'The Song of Achilles' by Madeline Miller.


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aka the book that emotionally destroyed me. I love all things Greek mythology and when I saw this book blowing up on TikTok (10 years after it had initially been published might I add,) Was i aware of how the myth of Achilles ended? Yes. Did I still have an absolute breakdown when it happened in the book? Yes. Miller has such a beautiful poetic writing style that perfectly encapsulated Patroclus's and Achilles love and respect for one other. This is a book that definitely deserved all the hype it received. Read it and be emotionally heartbroken with me.

5/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Haru wo daiteita/Embracing Love' by Youka Nitta.


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Number two on the BL train with this '90s classic. Fun fact, I used to read this exact Bl every morning at the ungodly hour of 7:50am on my bus to college, not caring if someone could see the pages I was flicking through on my phone screen. I ever finished it college, but I finally finished it in 2021 after years of on and off reading it throughout the years. Like most '90s BL it has the classic large hands art style and the typical "I'm not gay, I don't like men, but you're different" trope, but it was still a very wholesome and enjoyable read. Seeing Kato mature and Iwaki become more open throughout the series was just so lovely to witness and warmed my 17 year old heart.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


MAY


'Doukyusei/Classmates' by Asumiko Nakamura.


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THE MOST WHOLESOME THING I READ ALL YEAR! If you want a super sweet innocent short love story then I couldn't recommend this enough. Both the manga and the short film were so beautiful and I fell in love instantly. My only complaint is that I wish there was more!

5/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Small Pleasures' by Clare Chambers.


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I picked up this book because I loved the cover (yes I judged a book by its cover.) I later found out it was on the longlist for the Women's Fiction Prize 2021, which piqued my interest and made me read it sooner that I had anticipated. I have mixed views on this book. I didn’t particularly like it, but I also didn’t particularly dislike it either. Chambers has an excellent writing style and voice, it was easy to read and follow along with the plot, but I found the plot itself a bit… meh. I have also heard people have similar views to me about this novel so at least I'm not alone with this thinking. Who knows, maybe it'll be your cup of tea?

3/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Liebling!' by Kim Nuruk.


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Ummmm, let's start off by saying

  1. If you know what this is, don't judge me, okay?

  2. This was the tamest photo I could find on Google Images alone to included in this review.

Has anyone else ever gotten really weird manga adverts on their Facebook before? Like I know a few people who have gotten 'Under the Oak Tree' but I mean like, *weird* ones? No? Just me? Okay, well this is one of them. Again I read it in the hopes the ads would stop and they did. Here is the simple premise: a medieval German knight is plunged into the future to modern day Korea, where both he and a local man, Taehoon, are cursed. The only way to break this curse and Sir Leopold to return to his time is for them, you guessed it, to have sex. Strange premise but interesting plotline and cute love story. If you like super graphic, super spicy, super weird stories, this one is for you.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Convenience Store Woman' by Sayaka Murata.


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I picked up this book because whilst I was attending The University College of London’s ‘Introduction to Publishing’ course, I met the team behind the marketing of this book when it was originally released (in the UK) IN 2018. In a Waterstones in London, they made a makeshift Japanese vending machine out of cardboard and displayed the various coloured covers in it, to make it looks like a convenience store vending machine. I was so impressed by this marketing tactic alone that I decided to buy a copy of the book.

With it being such a short book, I finished it in about an hour. Keiko’s descriptions of the convenience store are so descriptive, rigid but also otherworldly, that it makes you think differently about how you could perceive a convenience store.

4(4.5)/5 stars on GoodReads.



JUNE


'Exciting Times' by Naoise Dolan.


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This is Naoise Dolan’s debut book (and another book that made it onto the Women's Fiction Prize longlist.) I am a fan of her writing style; it almost reminds me of Haruki Murakami’s in the sense that it perfectly captures Ava’s whirlwind of thoughts down to every last detail that you can sometimes find yourself re-reading sentences to take everything in. It’s also clear from this style of writing that Ava suffers from a form of anxiety and made the novel much more relatable to me (being a 23-year-old with anxiety.) I love novels that are mostly internal monologues and thoughts, I think that it helps the reader become the protagonist and understand the world from their viewpoint, and Exciting Times is one of those novels.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


'The Other Black Girl' by Zakiya Dalila Harris.


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This novel is exceptional. Period. Not only does Zakiya have an exceptional writing style (which will have been amplified from working in the editorial department of Knopf Doubleday for nearly three years,) but she brings to focus the racism and microaggressions still prevalent in the publishing industry to this day. I highly recommend that everyone read this book to understand the struggles that black people face on a day-to-day basis, but I also recommend that you read reviews for this book from other black people, hear what they have to say and their experiences with this novel.

4(4.5)/5 stars on GoodReads.



JULY


'Killing Stalking' by Koogi.


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THE BIGGEST OF TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS ONE HOLY HELL. TikTok duped me into thinking this was a BL about a man falling in love with his captor, and I read many fanfictions like this as a teen so was excited about this. I was not mentally prepared for this manga and I doubt I will ever read it again as it has mentally scared me. It is a manga of rape, abuse, murder, suicide vile graphic torture with a very f*cked up relationship. Do not go into this expecting a BL because it is not that. I still sometimes find myself lying awake in the middle of the night thinking about the ending because it's permanently burned into my brain. The only positive I can give this series is that the fact i was so horrified and cannot read it again and still think about it means that Koogi has written an exceptional horror/thriller manga.

3/5 stars on GoodReads (just as a thriller alone.)



AUGUST


'Writers & Lovers' by Lily King.


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If you are going to read a book about writing a book, it should be this one. Usually, when authors write a fiction book about writing a book, it doesn’t work. It becomes pretentious and they project too much of themselves on their main character even if the main character is nothing like them, making the difference stark. Lily King does it perfectly. Perhaps I am being influenced by the fact that I have been working on a novel since I was fifteen (I am now twenty-three, so eight years), and only now does it seem to be slowly progressing, but I related so much to Casey and her struggles with writing and the whole writing process. Also, if you are sick of exclusively reading romances about people in their early twenties and teens, this book is a refreshing breath of fresh air.

4/5 stars on GoodReads.


'Red, White & Royal Blue' by Casey McQuiston.


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Red, White & Royal Blue is McQuiston’s debut novel, and boy, what a debut novel it is. Regardless of the fact that I am a SUCKER for enemies to lovers’ romances, the writing style is immaculate and the development of Alex and Henry’s relationship is just beautiful to read.If you are looking for a heartfelt gay romance with an amazing writing style and prose that flows perfectly, this is the book for you. I advise everyone to add this to their reading lists.

4(4.5)/5 stars on GoodReads.


SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER


...*crickets*...




And that was everything I read in 2021! This year I have set the more reasonable goal of 20 books as I now work full time (hence nothing read the last four months of the year as I settled into my first full-time job.) What did you read last year? What are you excited to read this year? Do let me know!

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