The 12 Books I Read in 2021
Have you ever read the first page of a book, and felt like you need the main character to be your best friend forever?
I was in the airport on my way back home when I hit play on “Project Hail Mary” and found my virtual bff. My boyfriend’s sister had recommended the book to me almost a month before, but I kept getting scared by its length. In my defense I have this self-imposed rule of reading 12 books in a year, and yes, as you can imagine I always get to November with more than 8 books to go. So throwing in there a 16 hour manuscript may throw the whole thing off. But I digress, “Project Hail Mary” is the best book I read last year, by a long shot. Maybe, the best sci-fi book I have ever read. Give me a sarcastic, selfish, smart-adjacent character, and a nail bitting plot, and you will have me hooked. 14 hours later, I was in Santo Domingo, laying in bed, lights off, but with my earbuds still on. I needed to know how it was all going to end. I just had to know. Staci, thank you for recommending this master piece to me.
And after all that ado, here is a recap of the books I read in 2021.
One month before, I was in Cafe Rio waiting for my Vegetarian Burrito. 5 minutes passed. 10 minutes, 15 minutes… on one hand I was getting desperate but on the other I kept thinking I was part of a book. All of my servers were teenagers and any of them could have been Emoni from “With The Fire On High”. I was like, yeah! you go little guys, keep working towards your dream, to become a Chef of whatever else you are using your Cafe Rio salary for. “With The Fire On High” gives such a tender description of a teenage mom, navigating through her responsibilities and dreams, while still just being in freaking high school. This amazing story, written by Elizabeth Acevedo, was just the latest on my AA: Acevedo Addiction. I started with “Clap When You Land” without any clue of what I was getting myself into. The characters are so endearing. The story just grabs you. The descriptions of the island, my island, are so nostalgic, and the Spanish sprinkled throughout the book is just like finding Galleticas in your Habichuela con Dulce, a happy surprise.
My favorite quote from “Clap When You Land” is:
“Never, ever, let them see you sweat, negra. Fight until you can’t breathe, & if you have to forfeit, you forfeit smiling, make them think you let them win.”
After I finished that book, I was hooked. I had to read every single thing Elizabeth had put out there, I just had to. I followed it up with “Poet X”, and finished “With The Fire On High”. Every story, so touching. Every character, so personal. Every Spanish sentence, gently caressing my ears. I just could not get enough. And yes, I must admit, the pride of reading a book written by another Dominican made the entire experience that much better.
Giving a 180 degree turn, I found myself listening to “The Anthropocene Reviewed”. In 4 words it is: Beautifully sad! Amusingly unique!
Here’s to the irony of reviewing the review of the Anthropocene.
The book is not sad. At least most stories in it aren’t. However the tone of the audiobook carried an unspoken melancholy that perfectly captures how I feel whenever my days are gray. Thus having the opportunity to play and pause the sadness whenever I wanted was somehow novel and empowering.
I fail to remember which essay was my favorite. If I were to name one I’m sure it wouldn’t be the one I enjoyed the most but simply the one that my fickle mind remembers, thus biased to be the last one. With that disclaimer out of the way, my OCD forces me to chose one. I’ll pick the Kentucky Bluegrass essay because I can’t remove from my memory the image of a big patch of bluegrass sitting in a godly throne while we serve it.
I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 4.5 stars.
2021 was also the year of sequels, and unlike movie sequels, these ones did not disappoint. I loved both “Ready Player Two” and “A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor”. Their capacity of showing new perspectives on our current world or near future was both entertaining and thought provoking. Have you ever thought about what would be humanity’s next big technological advancement? Do you ever think about how much harder it will be to unglue yourself from whatever it is? How much harder it’d be to go back to your real life? Your family? Friends? Loved ones? These are the kind of questions I found myself trying to answer while reading these. I particularly loved that both of these books created characters in which I could find myself.
My bike read was “Beach Read”. It was my first ever Romance book, and it made me realize that I’m too much of a cynic for Romance books, and too gay for straight sex literature.
Among the other books I read:
- The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014: Educational
- Of Mice and Men: Sad
- I Hope This Finds You Well: Creative
- 21 Lessons for the 21 First Century: A Book
- House Fires: Another Book.
Here’s to a 2022 full of books.
What did you read / hear / watch?
