The New York Times Book Review's Top 10 Books of 2021

The New York Times unveiled its list of the ten best books of 2021 (five fiction and five nonfiction). I look forward to this list every year, so of course, I wanted to take a look and react. We'll also talk about some surprising omissions and how many of these books I managed to predict.

Further viewing film 🎥:

Titles mentioned 📚:
How Beautiful We Were, Imbolo Mbue
Intimacies, Katie Kitamura
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorée Fannone Jeffers
No One Is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood
When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labatut (translated by Adrian Nathan West)
The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency, Tove Ditlevsen (translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman)
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, Clint Smith
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City, Andrea Elliott
On Juneteenth, Annette Gordon-Reed
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, Heather Clark

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[TheFellowshipoftheBooks]

I enjoy watching your reviews as you shed a light on many works that I probably wouldn’t have considered. Keep up the great work!

[hollydolan]

I absolutely loved the Copenhagen Trilogy, I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did but it’s ended up being one of my favourite reads of the year!

[athertonca]

I was pleasantly surprised to hear you mention Lucia Berlin’s “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” It is my favorite collection of short stories as well. Six years later and I still think about that book.

[Libridine]

I loved Labatut! I don't know if it's your cup of tea but it moved me and made me think a lot!

[ksilkey]

I purchased Red Comet from my local independent bookstore and requested Love Song as my free audiobook. I previously listened to the first 4 or 5 chapters of Red Comet on Libby and really, really liked it. It has come out in paperback, and I decided I wanted my own copy. I tend to like a physical book for really large books. I was surprised to find it on the list because it was actually published in 2020. I expected Empire of Pain. I read it when it first came out. I liked it, but I liked his book “Say Nothing” more. Empire of Pain is a 50, 000 foot view of the opioid epidemic. It should be read along with Dreamland or Death in Mud Lick for a more personal understanding. Love your videos. You are on my must watch list.

[jacksoncollins]

Copenhagen trilogy proved to me that a simple memoir can be so poetic. The way she weaves her life through these short 300 pages just struck me with so many emotions.

[becomingabookworm]

I did not really enjoy No one is talking about this when I read it. But it has sort of stuck with me ever since.. I am now considering reading it again.. Great video!

[victoriatangk]

I personally loved Intimacies, but I hesitate to recommend it because I think a lot of people would find it dull. Really nothing happens and I don't even know why I was drawn to the book. I did love the sparse writing style. I would say, if you don't feel particularly drawn to the book, no need to prioritize it, though worth an eventual read!

[johncrwarner]

I have to say I watch your videos
because I like them
and perhaps more importantly
you open possible new avenues
and new types of books
that I might read.

You aren't my only source of inspiration
BookTube as a whole does that and
research I do on topics can lead to a lot of reading.

[bookishsabrina]

I hadn't heard of How the Word is Passed until recently, and that has shot way up my list of things I want to read. I think Red Comet really deserves to be on that list. One of the best time investments I've made for a book maybe ever? And there's so much of her poetry and prose mixed into the text and discussed that I really do think you could go in not being familiar with her work. I hadn't ever read any of her poetry, and now I want to read it with the context I got from reading Red Comet. Such a great read.

[janethansen]

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura is one of my favourite books of the year, it is easy to read but very thoughtful and well crafted. I haven't read anything else by her so would be interested to pick another of her titles up.

[KierTheScrivener]

When We Cease To Understand The World is one that has been on my list since Seji from The Artisan Geek did a brilliant review on it last year.

How The Word Is Passed is brilliant and if you want to get a taste Clint Smith hosts Black American History on Crash Course (10 minute educational videos on youtube) and it is great in audio as he narrates himself and has a great voice for it

On Juneteenth was really good snd I think the audio is only around 3 or 4 hours. It does a good job of intergrating history and memoir and she is most famous on writing on Sally Hemings (the woman Jefferson has 6 children with) and she covers her life and Monticello and how people have tried to prevent information about her yo be released in order to 'protect' Jefferson's legacy.

The Bell Jar is one of my favourite books and a fast and compelling but hard book to read. Still not sure if I'll ever commit to Red Comet though.

[ygftiui]

I always follow the best of leases and the awards. I use them as tools for what is out there. I tend to lean to works in translation but I plan on reading How Beautiful We Were

[mradcaqbdb]

How the Word is Passed is brilliant. I’ve been shouting about it since I first listened to it. Definitely do it on audio.

I thought the full list of 100 from the NYT was great. Lots of books to investigate. I’m less impressed by their top 10.

[StephanieJCohen]

I loved Red Comet, but i am a Sylvia Plath fan and have read some of her other works. It is a commitment. I agree you don’t need to be familiar to read the biography, but I think it is a much better experience if you are (or a deeper one), though it is a fantastic biography/literary analysis. I am going to check out On Juneteenth and Invisible Child! They sound great.

[jaynelewis]

You don’t need to read Behold the Dreamers first. They are both excellent and fascinating. Intimacies is fascinating but I wouldn’t put it in the top 10. I loved reading about the life of interpreting trying to be true to the literal translation but also true to the intent of the communication.
Invisible Child is beyond excellent. It will make you you so mad at the system. The focus is the children and you will root for them. The audio is terrific.

[jacquelinemcmenamin]

Recommendation for you
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
It’s a short book that packs an emotional punch. It was shortlisted for the Irish Post book awards.

[barbarahelgaker]

I so agree about Patricia Lockwood. I also tried it more than once and finally gave up. Life is too short!

[patricejones]

On Juneteenth and How the Word is Passed are both fantastic. I wish I had read How the Word is Passed instead of listening to it. The author read it himself and it was a struggle. Great video. I might read that nonfiction trilogy. Sounds interesting.

[cedepnepal]

Love 💕 from Janakpur madesh Pradesh Nepal 🇳🇵✅
Love your book review 💖.
Please keep uploading