In 2021 I read fourteen books under the vast category of fiction. The oldest of the books was written in the 14th Century. The newest were published this year. The authors as close as my own family and as far away as Russia. The setting of one novel is more than two thousand years ago, another is in the near future.
In an earlier post I listed the non-fiction books I read in 2021.
In another post I said that my favorite book of 2021 was a work of fiction I did not finish: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. But having a favorite does not mean there were any books on the list I did not like. They are so different. But The Decameron was very much in my mind in our pandemic world.
My oldest daughter Lauren wrote this about a rescue dog she adopted and cared for in the last year of her life. It's a lovely children's book both in the sense of a nice story and that her co-author made lovely illustrations for the story.
La Veritable Histoire de Trois Cochons by Erik Blegvad. I read children's books in French to practice that lovely language. This book is a traditional and gruesome retelling of the story fo the three pigs.
The Quick and the Dead and What Dark Days Seen by Alison Joseph. I met Alison Joseph in 2018 and read three of her mystery novels. She wrote a new one this year set in the pandemic reviving her Sister Agnes character. I read the new novel and the first Sister Agnes novel this year and plan to read more of Sister Agnes in 2022.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read and re-read everything Kazuo Ishiguro has written. The new novel is a chilling story of a future world in which Artificial Intelligence develops to the point that kids can have AFs, Artificial Friends.
Untraceable by Sergei Lebedev. This very darkly funny novel imagines a Russia in which political dissidents would be poisoned by incompetent government secret agents. The attacks would be ordered by a former spy who became the President for Life of the Russian Federation and who wants the old Soviet Union back! Crazy right?!
Till We Have Faces Lewis by C.S. Lewis. I re-read this wonderful book for a discussion with the New York CS Lewis Society. It is a re-telling of the Cupid and Psyche myth (which means it is also a retelling of Cinderella) from the perspective of the oldest stepsister. The book is her complaint against the gods and her side of the story. I read this book aloud to my daughters when they were in middle school as an example of a tough woman who becomes a great leader. The queen wears a mask her whole life as queen, so there's that connection to our world right now. The difference between appearance and reality is the best I have read in any novel.
The Mandrake by Niccolo Machiavelli. A very funny short play by a guy with a reputation for political advice.
A Game of Thrones, A Feast for Crows, #4 and A Game of Thrones, A Storm of Swords, #3 by George R. R. Martin. I watched the entire series on HBO. It was wonderful except for the ending. The books are better. I am currently reading book five and hoping the author lives to finish book 6!
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. An strange and mysterious story set vaguely in the former Yugoslavia. A fascinating story.
Selections from Canzonieri and Other Works by Francesco Petrarch. I started reading Petrarch to round out my reading of the Three Crowns of Florence: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. The Decameron became my book of the year. Petrarch's sonnets led me to put more poetry in my reading, although this book is the only one I finished in 2021.
Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. I had never read Stoppard. This play is full of twists and fun and playful language and is a wonderful story. I will read more or him in 2022.
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin. I love this book. I read it in 2016 and re-read it this year. Set in the late 1,400s in Russia and across the world.
