“Best Books of 2021” lists abound each January. For various reasons I start my personal new year in early February, so I’m just getting around to my annual reading retrospective. Use the comments to talk about your favorite reads for the past year or friend me on Goodreads so we can really discuss best books!

Book Data

Let’s start with some numbers.

Thanks to Goodreads, I keep excellent reading records. In 2021 I read thirty-two published books, cover to cover. Since I started providing editorial book reviews (Independent Book Reviews) last year, I read many unpublished or pre-published books. As best as I can tell, four of those were published in 2021, so they count toward my thirty-two total reads.

What Books are Eligible for My Best Books?

• For this retrospective, I’m going with stories I experienced in 2021, regardless of when they were published.
• The books’ format could be e-book, print, or audiobook. For ease of sentence structure, I declare the word “read” to mean, for this article’s purposes, “consumed the media.” 
• The work was available to the public in 2021. 
• While I love all story forms, by “book” I mean a length of at least 7500 words (novelette length).

How The Books Found Me

I’m aware a book’s provenance affects my expectations: Do I prejudge a book published by the author versus one from a publishing company? A related question is how I learned of the book’s existence in the first place. Publishing companies, especially large ones, spend money on ads, book reviews, feature articles, and interviews, all of which catch readers’ attention. Promotional messages impact the book’s impression on a reader before they encounter the words on the page.

Of the thirty-two published books I read last year:

• Fifteen were from large, medium, or university publishers
• Fourteen were from small press
• Three were author published 

A caveat: Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether an imprint is the author’s own. 

Audiobooks became a big part of my life in 2021; I consumed nine stories during my walks. These were all checked out of the library’s random array of whatever was available when I needed a book. Synchronicity ran wild! These titles were all recent bestsellers from major publishers. 

            I Need Books More Than Ever

Beyond the obvious need for books to entertain and distract me, I have several goals for my reading list. 

            Support The Publishing Industry and Bookstores

My support of local independent book sellers could have been better this year, although I did buy books locally as gifts. I had a bookshop ordered one of my reads for me, and I know one book I received as a gift was purchased at a local independent shop.  I also ordered books from a Canadian First-Nations run bookseller (Goodminds) for my own reading and gift-giving.

            Learn The Writing Craft and Business

While a writer learns something from everything they read, I read two books about writing and social media presence. I’ll review these in future.

            Widen My Horizons

A great way to get out of your comfort zone is to deliberate seek out narratives with point-of-view characters different from yourself. Seven of the titles on my 2021 reading list featured voices who were not heterosexual white Americans/Europeans.

            Lift Up Other Storytellers

I purchased ten books published independently by their author or by a micro/small press. Many of these were promoted through social media on Twitter or Facebook. In addition to purchasing from indie authors, I also made a point to review the indie books I liked and buy a paperback copy if I loved the e-book. 

            Promote My Own Writing Business

I write for Independent Book Reviews, which gets my byline and website address in front of a new audience. These titles are all micro/small press or author published. Four of these reviewed books were published in 2021. I also provided reviews for another seven works. 

My Best Books of 2021

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. (Penguin Random House, 2019) Fantasy fiction. A valentine to story and imagination, I experienced this luxurious narrative as audiobook. A bookish young person goes on an amazing quest in a labyrinth-like library.  I adored this celebration of storytelling and books. 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Audio narration by Tom Hanks. (HarperCollins, 2019) Literary fiction. Also experienced as an audiobook, Tom Hanks was a superb narrator for this family drama. 

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (Penguin Random House Canada, 2018) Fantasy fiction. Wonderful coming-of-age and magical-identity story about a teenaged boy in British Columbia. I can’t tell if meant to be YA or not. Pretty gritty with substance use, people in peril, and sexual situations. Older high schools would enjoy, I think. See my blog for review.

Manifest by Adam Phillips (Montag Press, 2021). Literary fiction. Manifest captures a robust, turn-of-the-last century America through its game, baseball, and an assortment of death row prison inmates and staff drawn from all levels of society. The feel is Walt Whitman, Shawshank Redemption, and Field of Dreams all rolled up into killer storytelling. 

Improv for Gamers by Karen Twelves (Evil Hat Productions, 2019). Nonfiction. Roleplaying game resource. Read my review, here.

A Word About Book Evaluation Standards

I have mixed feeling about comparing author-published books to those from large publishing houses. Big publishers have many resources the independent author does not.  But does that matter to the reader who is paying hard-earned money and spending precious time on a tale?

Authors sometimes expect readers to overlook the book package and just appreciate the story. But story is only one aspect of book-as-consumer-product. A fine narrative can be marred by unprofessional production in cover and interior design, proofreading, or editing. Book promotion for small press and author-published stories is a constant and expensive problem. 

As a reader, I can’t cut the independent presses much slack. Somehow I found and read (or tried to read) their book, so the promotion worked. I got past the cover and the book description, for good or ill, and read at least fifty pages, no matter if the design was alluring or ugly; the tale engrossing or boring. Although I gave the novels every opportunity to wow me, three of the books I started last year still sit on my currently reading list.  All independently published, I haven’t entirely given up on them, but I’m not feeling the love, either. 

See my best reads of 2020, here.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

Check out my new release from Montag Press, The Big Cinch, a supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Order today. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions. . . 

Reviews, even a line or two, put the books you enjoyed in a more prominent position on Amazon and are vital for independent and small-press books to find their audience. Remember your most recent read? Leave a review for it on Amazon or Goodreads today. The direct link to review Wolfhearted on Amazon is here, The Resurrectionist, here , and Water of Life, here, or visit my Shop off the landing page menu to review at Barnes and Noble. Thanks in advance. Reviews put the book in a more prominent position on Amazon.

Like the blog? Subscribe (form at the bottom of my website) to never miss an issue. Want more? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter for exclusive content. And, of course, I’m selling books. Last year the St. Louis Writers Guild published Love Letters to St. Louis. This adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations included my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” A perfect gift and profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program. 

Check out all my stories at Amazon.com. Order my novella, Wolfhearted, or from Barnes and Noble if you prefer, here. It is also available as an audiobook, here.