2021 books

[lackingdaze]

just now

kidhood finished:

2

0

2

1

26 out of 21 books

8451 pages

lgbt / historical / contemporary / literary / young adult

average of 4.41/5.00 ⭐

♡

was thinking about the type of media i could do a yearly round-up post for but i have no interesting taste in music, watch too many trash shows, and wrote practically nothing this year.....so books it is!

this post is basically just going to be my storygraph rehashed (as one can tell from my clapped attempt at imitating the formatting) but let's get into it

⌛chronological breakdown

such a fun age by kiley reid

★★★.5 *

comfort women by nora okja keller

★★★ *

know my name by chanel miller

★★★★.5 *

obasan by joy kogawa

★★★ *

atonement by ian mcewan

★★★

last night at the telegraph club by malinda lo

★★★★.5

the empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo

★★★ *

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia

★★★★.5

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

★★★★

severance by ling ma

★★★★★

pachinko by min jin lee

★★★★★

crying in h mart by michelle zauner

★★★★.5

for today i am a boy by kim fu

★★★★

writers & lovers by lily king

★★★.5

interior chinatown by charles yu

★★

how much of these hills is gold by c pam zhang

★★★★★

new waves by kevin nguyen

★★★

a pho love story by loan le

★★★.5

this is how you lose the time war by max gladstone and amal el-mohtar

★★★★.5

sour heart by jenny zhang

★★★★★

milk fed by melissa broder

★★★.5

southland by nina revoyr

★★★ *

the interpretor by suki kim

★★★★ *

your house will pay by steph cha

★★★ *

are you listening? by tillie walden

★★★★.5

on a sunbeam by tillie walden

★★★★★

*= rating not recored on storygraph

🥲 dropped

the midnight library by matt haig

honey girl by morgan rogers

bestiary by k-ming chang

the love curse of melody mcintyre by robin talley

the house in the cerulean sea by tj klune

(code source)

i actually read a blasphemously small amount considering my major, but i don't think this data is super comprehensive of everything i read recently considering the fact that most of my time these past few months has been eaten up by reading manuscripts and then just exhaustion...

★ a closer look at stats

as you can see, my reading was very on-and-off...laughing crying at october being my month with ZERO books yuppp that's when my reading slump began 🥲

top genres:

• lgbt (9)
• historical (9)
• contemporary (8)
• literary (5)
• young adult (4)

i'm surprised to see historical tying at first, since i don't really think of myself as someone who reads a lot of historical fiction? but considering that some of this is class material + general my interest in asam fiction that does make sense...and what even were the four young adult novels i read??? ok just checked and why is FOR TODAY I AM A BOY tagged as young adult it's literally contemporary adult fiction 😭

my average rating is higher than i thought it'd be but i didn't log the ratings of my class readings on storygraph so that may be why. i'm also not the type of person who tends to finish books i dislike so that may be another reason why?

in general though, despite my current reading slump, i would say that i'm pretty content with my reading this year since i actually managed to reach my goal? in 2020 i was like 3 books short of 20 TT-TT i think this year's discovery of storygraph has motivated me to read more and keep track of my reading bc i hated goodreads and its useless recommendations, but storygraph's algorithm is sooo good at recommending me things i actually want to read (aka NOT JOHN GREEN NOVELS! but that could be a lifestyle i guess no hate). okay i'll shut up here but plsss if everyone could use storygraph <3 and post even letterboxd-esque reviews <3 i would be so happy <3

★ noty (novel of the year)

a few days ago, my friend asked me what my noty is... i've thought long and hard (well kind of) it and um....

severance

by ling ma

"We spoke until our voice grew hoarse, deepening and breaking and fissuring. It lasted early into the morning. Our bodies curled inward, away from each other, dry leaves at the end of summer."

(code source)

did i mention i had basic tastes....ok this book is kind of an obvious book to pick for a year in these trying times but also what better time to have this as my noty <3 aside from ling ma's simpsons-esque projection of pandemic times or whatever, i picked this because of how much the main character candace struck me in her relatability TT-TT like sometimes you are unlikeable and have no social skills and can't stop working yourself down a rabbit hole even though you don't even like where you are and the world is litrally going through a zombie apocalypse or whatever while you're working through your parental issues....and how living or the imitation of living is characterized as a series of routines and fixations that ultimately lead to our downfall....anyways. prose-wise, i really enjoy the way ma writes, as exemplified by the excerpt above. even though i've said in a previous notes app review that i never want to read this again, i think i actually might when i'm in a better headspace just to reevaluate my thoughts on this.

★ notable mentions

♥ on a sunbeam by tillie walden — i don't tend to read a lot of graphic novels or, really any at all, but storygraph algorithm recommended are you listening to me, which then lead me to this! i want to reread this with a physical copy because i read it on my ipad and i think it undercut some of the experience...but the art is so gorgeous, i've had a panel from this set as my lockscreen for the past few months 😭 and i'm no expert on graphic novel storytelling but reading this brought me some semblance of peace during finals week and after

♥ how much of these hills is gold by c pam zhang — there was a period of time where i was obsessed with talking about this book on dw and how i think it would be my noty, so this definitely deserves a mention here. i think the general premise of the novel can be difficult to get past if you're adverse to gore/body parts, but zhang writes about it in a way that doesn't revel in grossness or emphasize shock value. there are some parts of this novel that lagged (mainly the beginning), but hmothig is one of those works that is more concerned with telling story through language than plot so i don't think that detracted from the experience of the book too much. sometimes with these kinds of "poetic prose" books, purple prose can be frustrating when the writer doesn't quite have the ability to keep their style tight for a novel without suffocating the story under abstractions (iykyk). but zhang's prose feels very agile and imo, the book is worth experiencing if purely for part 3.

♥ pachinko by min jin lee — almost forgot this one from the list which would have been bad but yes THIS WAS SO GOOD! was going back and forth between this and severance as noty but ultimately i thought the ending of pachinko detracted a bit from the rest of the novel so ;-; which is not really saying much about how incredible lee is at creating such a dynamic tableau of characters stretching across 4 generations. pachinko is so masterfully woven that it’s not hard to consume in like 2 obsessive sittings.

♥ on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong — asdhbhajsdb ok this is embarrassing....but i think it deserves a mention since i spent so much time this year (and probably next year) thinking about this book. reading it for a second time and through a diff lens made me even more impressed by vuong's ability to write a freaking novel in his style. it's kind of crazy to me how big vuong is now after this book considering i've read him since i was like 13 when he had a little tumblr and how he kind of hates the fame now and how people perceive his work but is also perfect for literary stardom w/ his vintage cuffed jeans fall all year lewks on instagram....ok i promise i'll be less of a basic bitch next year and stop talking about ocean vuong <3

★ goals for 2022

quantity — since i managed to reach 26 books this year, i think i'll aim for 30 the coming year....yes the bar is on the ground

genres — this year, i tended to gravitate towards the same sort of books over and over again...which is not bad per se but i want to expand my range. specifically, i want to read more nonfiction (essay collections, memoirs, etc.), "commurshial" fiction, graphic novels, and YOUNG ADULT/middle grade. just to challenge myself to read things that i might not necessarily like + to get a better understanding of the market for uh nefarious/job purposes idk. it'd also be nice to read more short stories so i can do a little short story section in this round-up for next year <3 i'd like to get in a good mix of books that are released in/around 2022 vs. older books, just to diversify my reading and get to know new writers! as well as read books off award lists just to see what that's all about.

and some books i didn't get around to finishing this year but really want to next year:

• afterparties by anthony veasna so
• bunny by mona awad
• a tale for the time being by ruth ozeki
• the chosen and the beautiful by nghi vo
• the office of historical corrections by danielle evans
• the other black girl by zakiya dalila harris

and i think that's it! i'll stop rambling now. as always, creds to the icon girlrock for the beautiful formatting that i ripped and butchered <3 and also miss permutative for the post inspo <3

Comments

[girlrock]

it’s a shame that storygraph ui is so clapped because it’s rly nice that they offer so much data! when will we get letterboxd-level website for books :/

but anyway you are soo iconic to me *__* i can’t even comment on most of this post since i’ve barely read any of these books lol but i love that u’ve taken to using storygraph and that you read so much good stuff in 2021 in the midst of suffering over manuscripts <3 i do have a storygraph account but i’m too used to gr + i need to START READING AGAIN. but i’ll def let u know if i make my return to it!! btw speaking of pandemic fiction have u read station eleven??? i’m really loving the tv adaptation for it rn but idk if i’ll ever read the book...

also it’s ok to talk about madame vuong in the year 2021 no one is judging <3 GOOD LUCK WITH UR GOALS IN 2022 AND LMK IF U READ MORE YA/MG STUFF!!!! i want to read some middle grade books honestly

[lackingdaze]

RIGHTTT i'm hoping more people switch to storygraph despite the clapped ui but that's prob also why people won't switch to storygraph TT-TT

i haven't heard of station eleven but now i'm definitely adding it to my reading list!! the premise sounds promising (also just looked it up on sg and laughing @ one of my friends giving it a 4/5 while crys gave it a 2/5 SAHJDBAHJS ok i definitely have to check this out now bc of the contention)

PERSONALLY I THINK SOME OF US (me) COULD BASE LESS OF OUR PERSONALITIES ON OEWBG..... but also he has a new poetry book coming out so continued apologies etc etc. i realllyyy want to get into middle grade as well, hopefully i'll pick up some soon TT-TT

it's ok if u never get into sg but if you do pls lmk!! i love reading people's reviews.....and thank u for reading this as always <33