2021 reading in review

I read 115 books this year, many of which I didn't write about here— partly because, between school and internships and everything else, something had to give, and partly because I realized I needed to give myself permission to read a book without feeling like I had to voice an opinion on it, or like I had to Publicly Acknowledge having read a book in order for it to Count. (This is, of course, an entirely self-created problem that exists only inside my head, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here we are.)

Favorite book this year was Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, which I read a totally normal three times in eight months. (I only got around to reading Harrow the Ninth twice, otherwise it would be a tie.)

Extremely specific reoccurring themes this year were teenage necromancers (5) and thieves roped into geopolitical intrigue (12, including Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, T. Kingfisher's Clocktaur War duology, Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows duology, and the first few books of Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series). Slightly less niche trends were retellings of Shakespeare plays (4), Greco-Roman mythology (6), and historical fiction about real people (5). Lots of Golden Age murder mysteries, per usual! I branched out to new authors this year— mostly Ngaio Marsh (9), Patricia Wentworth (5), and Christianna Brand (4). 14 non-fiction, including 3 literary biographies and 3 about U.S. legal history. I feel like I read significantly more fantasy than usual, although I haven't actually compared the numbers on that.

I've made a couple of attempts to start a new backburner Classic™ novel since finishing Our Mutual Friend back in September, but nothing has stuck. I've switched to long backburner non-fiction, instead, but I hope this is only a temporary mental block— I like reading long 19th century novels.