70 Books Later, The Best Books I Read in 2021
When I was younger, my Grandma would take me to the library. I always loved the summer reading challenges and I loved perusing the aisles of the library to find the *perfect* books to take home. As I got older, I stepped away from reading because I associated it with school and grades and all that stuff that I never really enjoyed. Since the pandemic, and even a year or two before that, I rekindled my love for reading. Now I can't put the books down no matter where I go.
I got a library card this summer and I think it’s the best thing I’ve done for myself. So, I no longer feel guilty about flying through books or taking back books that don’t hook me in after the first 100 pages. I had a goal to read 50 books this year, a goal that sounds ambitious in theory, but I flew past it by the first half of the year. I ended up reading about 70 books this year, if you want to check them out find the whole list here. But the books below are the ones I can’t stop talking about or recommending to all of my friends.
My Favorite Books of 2021
Fiction
- Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski: A book I believe everyone with a human body should read. It'll dispell everything you thought you knew about sex and sexuality.
- Want Me by Tracy Clark-Flory; A Sex Writer's journey to discoverying the meaning of desire and how where desire and pleasure stems from.
- I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi; A non-boring, practical, and useful personal finance book with actionable steps to take today.
- Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron Gikani: The best wealth consciousness mindset book I've read. If you want to begin healing your relationship with money, this is a good place to start.
- The Feminine Face of God by Sherry Ruth Anderson; A reflection and deep dive into a woman's experience with spirituality and spiritual growth and how it differs from most spiritual texts written from a man's perspective.
- Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton; A beautiful coming of age memoir by writer Dolly Alderton. She is wildly authentic, blunt, and shares her obstacles with love and dating throughout various ages in her life.
- Cultish by Amanda Montell; A fascinating exploration into cults, the nature of cults, and how many things in today's mainsteam society can be classified as a cult (think social media gurus and MLMS).
Non-Fiction
- The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling: All I have to say is; why has it taken me 23 years to read the Harry Potter series? I'm obsessed.
- The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer; A beautiful story of the importance a mentor can have in a young woman's life. A lovely story of friendship, love, admiration, and discovering who you are.
- Writers & Lovers by Lily King: Best novel I read all year (Sorry, HP). Love, romance, writing, dreaming, ahh it is so beautifully written.
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: An enticing novel following two twins who go down very different paths in life; and their journey towards finding eachother again late in life. A story that grapples with race, identity, family, and love.
- Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney: Who doesn't love a good Sally Rooney novel? I read this and Beautiful World, Where Are You this year; and found Conversations with Friends a bit more dreamy, easy to follow, and quicker to get sucked in. Both were good though!
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh; A peculiar page turner that I still don't quite know how I feel about. This novel will leave you questioning what just happened and not being able to read what happens next. It was...weird but I also couldn't put it down so I'd say that makes for a pretty good book.
I always have a book with me or when I'm traveling, I keep my Kindle with me at all times. Reading has become my go-to to curb my social media addiction and stop mindlessly scrolling as much. Reading is a way for me to escape into another reality. It makes me feel empowered and more deeply connected to myself, and continue learning day in and day out. I've read the majority of my "to-read" list this year; so if you have any suggestions for the year ahead, drop them in my inbox. I always find recommendations from others quickly become some of my favorite books.
