The Books I've Read So Far in 2021 | Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

This is the Mid-Year Freakout Tag which was created by Earl Grey Books - https://youtu.be/2gsr9FJuHzI

Some book statistics...

Read 46 books (although this does include individual short stories).

Bought and received 84 books.

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2020

I feel like there's a tie for this category because I've read some amazing books which are fiction and non-fiction so couldn't not choose one from each category. I'm going to have to go with In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. 

 

In Order to Live is a memoir about Yeonmi Park from North Korea and her journey and story about living in and escaping North Korea. Park is about my age now and has gone through so much and is able to write so beautifully about something so horrifying. This is probably the best memoir I've ever read and I genuinely couldn't put it down even though it was non-fiction. 

It was insightful to be able to learn about the North Korean lifestyle and the problems that occur in China and South Korea for North Koreans who are escaping about the awful things people have to endure even though they've escaped. Somehow, this book was also so hopeful as Park was about to still see the best in humanity after seeing the worst. This just made me want to work hard for justice for all people because of how Park talked about her experiences with hope and forgiveness.

Such a Fun Age is a book about a young black babysitter and her employer, a white woman, who end up tangled together in their lives when the babysitter is accused of kidnapping the child when at a grocery store late at night. At the same time, it is so much more than that and the effects that spiral out are so interesting and insightful and honestly surprisingly page-turning. 

This book discussed race in such a nuanced, but simple and relatable way that I think everyone could understand the complexities of it. You were able to empathise and understand where each character was coming from and therefore what led to their personal emotional reactions and actions. Seeing this outsider perspective in this complicated relationship of characters helped me to be able to see actions that are helpful and actions that are not. 

This is a debut book from Reid and I am looking forward to reading everything else she writes because it was stunning. Highly recommend it to everyone. Especially if you feel naive in conversations about race.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (#2 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy of Five) was the only sequel I read this year because I binged all 5 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.

In this book, the characters have settled down and are exploring the universe but somehow t just gets more bizarre and better as a result. I love milliways as the restaurant at the end of the universe and it is just the best vintage feeling sci-fi (that's a contradiction but it makes sense if you read the books).

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to

During lockdown in COVID-19 in the UK, I decided to listen to the whole backlist for John Green's podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed and then I realised it was going to be added to and turned into a book - The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (18th May 2021). I have read all of Green's teenage fiction books and can't wait to see how he writes this essay collection come memoir for adults. I think I'll probably fly through it.

Another recent release is Slug by Hollie McNish (13th May 2021) which I am so looking forward to. I was meant to go and see Hollie McNish live for the second time in March 2020 but obviously, that was cancelled because of the pandemic, but hopefully, I will see her instead in November 2021. I have Plum by Hollie McNish and it's one of my favourite poetry collection so can't wait to see what this new collection is like.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (7th September 2021).

That's it. That's the anticipated read that everyone on my social media feeds has already read because they got send advanced reader copies (ARCs).

I read Normal People last year and Conversations with Friends this year and loved them both. 

5. Biggest disappointment

My biggest disappointment was Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. This was an interesting concept, starting with telling us that Bernadette had disappeared and then going back and working towards her disappearance. However, I never know how I feel about books that are told through documents and vignettes like emails and letters and invitations with some narration in between, so I never really knew how I felt about the book. It was quite fun but somehow ended up feeling kind of repetitive. 

6. Biggest surprise

Strangely the biggest surprise for me was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, even though it is an extremely well-loved classic. I kind of just kept going and pushed through at the beginning of The Bell Jar because I hoped I'd like it but wasn't quite liking it yet and I'm so glad I did. The start felt very slow, full of description and flashbacks, but by the middle, you understand why the slowness was necessary.

I understood what it felt like to be inside Esther's head and in her bell jar. I would not recommend it to everyone but as a classic for those used to reading literary fiction, I think it would work. The writing is beautiful and poetic. Plath describes being in America in the 50s so well and even better being mentally ill at this time. I was really able to appreciate the changes that have come about with time in society with regard to mental health.

I am really looking forward to trying some of Plath's poetry.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

This would be Wendy Cope because I read Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis and Serious Concerns this year. 

Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis is her first poetry book written in 1987 and I loved this one as it really got me enjoying poetry again. Cope's writing was able to stand the test of time and felt empathetic, relatable and witty regardless of when it was written.

Serious Concerns I think I liked even more than her first poetry collection with some really funny poems and some really touching ones. Some of these are probably now my favourite poems. Cope is just so funny and quirky and observant about normal life and its quirks. I sent the poem called A Green Song to my friends as a reminder of leaving university and the feeling of recycling alcohol bottles.

8. Newest fictional crush

I haven't really found a new fictional crush this year. I have a few books on my shelves that I think may give me some contenders for fictional crush by the end of the year. 

9. Newest favourite character

I think this would probably have to be Emira or Zara from Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Emira is the main character as the babysitter for the white woman in the book. Zara is Emira's best friend and has the wisest advice for Emira and sometimes makes the wrong judgments but always has everyone's best interests at heart and she helps the book come to the best conclusion.

10. Book that made you cry

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman I think made me cry although I can't quite remember. It's the story of the roles of race revered in society so the black people are in positions of power and the white people are being oppressed. It was gripping and devastating and put me on the edge of my seat.

11. Book that made you happy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. We used to listen to the radio play from the 1970s of a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy in the car on journeys when I was a kid and I kind of found it dull but it kept me going and I always knew the story. 

I had never actually read the books but reading them this year during a horrible pandemic winter was such a nostalgic romp and I loved it. The books are absolutely brilliant and one of the best creations from such an absurd mind.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)

   

I think this would probably have to be the Penguin vintage classic edition of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte or The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker or Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (which I have read and loved; it was a close contender for the best book so far this year). Although I am just such a fan of book covers in general, there are so many types and they're all so beautiful and when you find the perfect edition of a book second-hand, it is brilliant.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

There are genuinely way too many books that I would love to get to this year.

In terms of non-fiction, I would love to read one of the books by Naomi Klein which I have on my shelf; or So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson which so many people love as an accessible fascinating non-fiction read; or James Acaster's Classic Scrapes sounds like it would be a fun easy going read from one of my favourite comedians. 

When it comes to fiction, the list is kind of huge and almost intimidating.

I have a few classics on my shelf like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which I watched the film and tv adaptations of this year, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte which I really enjoyed the film of and managed to find a beautiful edition of. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess which I don't actually know very much about but I just kind of think I'll enjoy it and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde which is a lot of people's favourite Oscar Wilde so I fancy trying that one too.

As for the rest of my unread shelves, some great ones which stand out include The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

Having just written that down, it's kind of funny that they are all books by women authors and not all set or centred around the UK or western Europe. This accidentally shows me that I am starting to read much more diversely and I love it.

14. Favourite Book Community Member

This year I have been really getting into the book YouTube community and discovering some great people who talk about books including Carley from Uncarley, Jack Edwards, Emma from *emmie* and Ally from AllyVee.

Photo by Asal Lotfi on Unsplash