Top 6 Reads of 2021

I didn’t get to read very many books in 2021. Right after Christmas 2020 I moved, so I was without all of my books except for two, both of which I flew through during the break from school. By the time I moved into my new home and was reunited with my little book collection, I was deep into binge watching American Horror Story and had very little desire to read anything.

In addition to moving, I started a new job and began grad school in 2021! Thus, I learned that there is a such thing as “busy,” with which I was well acquainted, and there is “grad-school-busy,” which means there is no extra time in any day at all. No, actually, it means there is an insufficient number of hours in any day to complete one’s to-do list, sleep, eat, and potentially read a couple of pages of a book. I had intended to read 50 books in 2021, but by the end of the year I had only read half of that.

Since I only read 25 books this year, my top books of the year are few. In fact, not all of these are even five-stars. (You should know now that I am stingy with my five-stars. I don’t give them out to just any book.) These six are books that I read at the right time in the right headspace, that I would generally recommend, and that stayed with me long after I put them down.

1. Shiner by Amy Jo Burns

Shiner follows a young girl named Wren, who is being raised off-the-grid by her snake-handler preacher father and her mother, a devoted wife, in the mountains of West Virginia. This debut novel is non-linear, jumping from Wren’s perspective to others characters’ accounts of past events, and examines the dangerous ramifications of a religious charlatan’s abuse of authority and trust, the loyalty of a long friendship, the pain of growing up, and how the decisions we make for our lives set into motion a vast narrative that we would have never dreamed of, nor can we always control. Burns’s characters are complex and very human, and her prose is as stunning as the hardback’s textured dust jacket.

Shiner’s cover is the reason I even bought it. I am certainly a cover buyer, and when I saw this one at Barnes & Noble, I knew I would bring it home. I knew when I finished it that it would be hard to beat for my favorite of the year. Shiner is detailed, heartbreaking, and hopeful, and is a book I wish I could read again for the first time.

2. The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

Opal Jewel. Need I say more? I am genuinely upset that Opal does not exist in real life, and perhaps even more upset that the Opal-Virgil friendship is not a real one. I got this book for my March 2021 Book of the Month and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The book is written interview-style, detailing the careers of two fictional musicians who have a short-lived collaboration. It tells Opal and Nev’s personal stories, how they ended up together, and what each did after their partnership ended. Misogyny, sexism, and racism are major players in this novel, contributing to the depth and tragedy of this story. While the story of Opal and Nev is fictional, Walton uses these very real elements of modern society to paint the picture of how far America has come and how far we still have to go in the fight for equality and justice.

I have seen a a few bad reviews of this book floating around on review pages and sites, and I am genuinely shocked at its negative reception. The most common critique of this book is that it is not as good as Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which is written in the same style and shares a few themes with The Final Revival… I must say I read this book before I read Daisy Jones, so it is possible that this influences my opinion, but (Daisy Jones lovers beware) I think The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is twice the book that Daisy Jones and the Six is.

Walton’s characters feel 100x more real than Reid’s, The Final Revival has a much better, deeper, and more complicated plot than Daisy Jones has, and the way Walton wrote around the big interview was significantly more interesting than Reid’s “plot twist” at the end of Daisy Jones. Overall, The Final Revival of Opal and Nev has much more poignant content and higher quality characters than Daisy Jones and the Six. (Fun fact, Daisy Jones was among my least favorite reads of the year.)

“Many things can be true at once, and we must find inspiration in the materials we have.”

Virgil Lafleur
The Final revival of opal and Nev

3. Alfred Tennyson’s Major Works

I was first introduced to Tennyson through an introduction to literature course I took in my second year of college. I was annoyed at being required to take a literature course in order to complete the general studies component of my degree and largely bored with the class up to the point that we were assigned to read Tennyson’s poem Ulysses. I approached the assignment the same way I approached every assignment thus far-reluctantly and with down-to-the-wire procrastination. To my shock, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Actually “thoroughly enjoyed” isn’t the right term. Is it too dramatic to say it changed my life? At the time, I didn’t even know language had the power to change someone’s life. All I know is I read Ulysses and I wept. I wept at the beauty of the lines, I wept at the examination of life, I wept at the realization that language was indeed powerful enough to illicit this type of response.

The next morning in class I was scared to go through it in public because I thought I might cry again. And how could I possibly explain to my peers why I, an ignorant Intro to Lit student, was openly weeping in class at the cadence of a few lines of language being read? I successfully made it through class that day without a single tear, but I knew I needed to get my hands on more beautiful lines from Tennyson. I finally got this collection last year, and I dive into the lines of Tennyson’s poems (but mostly Ulysses) until I’ve got them stuck in my head like they’re my favorite songs.

4. What is the What by Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is one of my favorite authors of all time. I was introduced to him through his memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, through which I fell in love with his prose and self conscious tone. In this book, Eggers tells someone else’s life story. While this book is a novel, its subject, Valentino Achak Deng, is a real person, who really experienced the events in this book. Due to the creative liberty taken to bring some of the stories to life, create engaging dialogue between characters, and fill in forgotten details, it is categorized as fiction.

What is the What follows Deng’s journey from a relatively normal childhood with his family in Sudan, to his separation from his family and journey through Africa as a result of Sudan’s civil war, to his settlement in the States as a young adult. What is the What is adventurous, heartbreaking, and actually funny, showcasing the heart and resilience of its main character told in Eggers’s unique voice.

5. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers

As I mentioned, Dave Eggers is one of my favorite authors ever, so it’s only fitting that I would have read a couple of his books last year and that they would both make it on the list of my favorites. You Shall Know Our Velocity has been on my TBR for a while, so when I found it at my parents local book store used for $4 I grabbed it up. This novel is Eggers’s first and follows Hand and Will, two best friends attempting to travel the world in a week, whilst giving away the large amount of money Will has found himself with. Will is a dreamer-and a day dreamer-while Hand is more critical, realistic, and stoic, which lends a certain type of conflict and angst to the overall aesthetic of the narrative. This book’s plot is entertaining and unique. Eggers’s self-deprecating and insecure voice shines through Will’s, the dialogue feels surprisingly realistic considering the plot, and the characters’ mysterious backgrounds kept me engaged.

While it is engaging, this novel is also slow and cyclical. Will and Hand’s tumultuous relationship and frustrations about their trip is redundant at times, and the meat of the story-the characters’ complexities, losses, insecurities, and hopes for the future-are overshadowed by the characters’ inability to move on from their obsessive search for whatever it is they’re both looking for, which seem to be increasingly different for each person. Perhaps it’s through these compulsive cycles that Eggers reveals that these two characters, while on a trip intended to bring them together, are moving farther apart. Their dreams are polar opposite, which results in a less than satisfying ending.

The most interesting part of this book is actually the history of the writing and an insert in the middle of the book that was omitted from previous editions called Sacrament. Told from Hand’s perspective, the addition completely changes everything readers think they know about Will and the trip that he is on with Hand. Even though I docked it a star, I enjoyed my time with these characters. The novel is thoughtful and invites contemplation (my favorite kind of novel), and is perhaps the most original work of fiction I’ve ever read.

6. Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

Bonhoeffer wasn’t the only nonfiction I read last year, but it was certainly my favorite. I was gifted this book by my father, who found Bonhoeffer’s story to be moving and inspiring. After reading it, I’d have to say I agree with my dad, and I’m actually a little obsessed with Bonhoeffer after reading this biography. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian, pastor, writer, and without a doubt one of the greatest thinkers and teachers of his time. When Hitler rose to power in Germany, Bonhoeffer staunchly opposed the Third Reich and became a spy for the German government, playing both sides for the purpose of overthrowing Hitler. He played a major role in the plot to assassinate Hitler, for which he was executed.

While I enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read other Bonhoeffer biographies and Bonhoeffer’s original works, I almost did not include this book in this list. Although it was certainly one of my favorite reads of the year, the author’s bias can be found all over this book, tainting the story of Bonhoeffer’s life and adding unnecessary emphasis and personal opinion to what should simply be the telling of another’s story. About halfway through this book, at which point I was impressed by Metaxas’s thorough research and beautiful prose but could also sense a bit of a political bias, I looked him up online. I thought maybe I could find other works of his I might be interested in reading or an interview of him discussing Bonhoeffer. What I found was a personal Instagram account dedicated to promoting right-wing politics, a political radio show, and him flaunting over his fellow right-wing commentators.

Now, I should say that I am not an overly political person; in fact, I don’t even affiliate with a political party. I am not of the opinion that I need to share the same political beliefs with every person I meet, nor do I think I need to only read books written by people who lean the same way that I do. I don’t agree with everything Eric Metaxas believes just like I don’t agree with everything Dave Eggers believes. It is important to recognize the fact that all authors bring bias into their books, and it is very difficult for nonfiction authors in particular to write a book completely devoid of all bias. As a reader, I enjoy reading about and experiencing other people’s perspectives and beliefs even if I reject those beliefs. But the reason I was so frustrated by Metaxas’s decision to include his personal opinions so openly, and why I make note of it here, is because the purpose of this book is to simply tell the story of a historical figure. In my opinion, there is no place for an author’s skewed account of real-life events (that he was not alive for, might I add) in a work of nonfiction.

As disappointed as I was by my internet search of Eric Metaxas, what I was especially disturbed by was Metaxas’s comparison of Hitler’s regime to the mask and vaccine mandate following the COVID-19 pandemic and his argument that Bonhoeffer’s life can be an example to Christ followers in modern times in the fight against these mandates and other policies and ideologies that he deems “antichrist”. This book was first published in 2010, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, so these comments were not made within the pages of the book; however, it is clear Metaxas intended Bonhoeffer to inspire the American people to challenge the government. He stated (in the same youtube video linked above) that he believes God told him to write the biography on Bonhoeffer as a “prophetic word for America.”

Another Bonhoeffer biographer, Clifford Green, reviewed Metaxas’s book, explaining where Bonhoeffer falls short. I have not read Green’s biography of Bonhoeffer yet, but his article in review of Metaxas’s book is specific and detailed and can help anyone who has read, or plans to read, Bonhoeffer understand its limitations. What Metaxas does well is use many direct quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, even including some letters in their entirety. He also took the time to provide sufficient historical context for the history of the two world wars, the marriage of the church and state in Germany, and the Bonhoeffer family. Ultimately I would recommend this book to someone interested in WWII history, Christian theology, and slow, long nonfiction books with the disclaimer that the author has pretty obviously written this book with a motivation other than that of sharing the life story of a prominent historical figure.