The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2021
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- I love the 100 Notable List from The New York Times because it's a great tool to find books I might be interested in reading. Let's take a look at the 2021 100 Notable Books list to see if there's anything interesting.
Read the list: www.nytimes.co...
The New York Times Book Reviews Best Books of 2021 reaction is here: • The New York Times Boo...
Further viewing 🎥:
Washington Post Best Books of 2021: • The Washington Post’s ...
NY Times Best Books of 2020: • The New York Times Bes...
Booker Prize Longlist reaction: • Booker Prize 2021 Long...
National Book Award Longlist reaction: • National Book Award fo...
Most anticipated books of 2021: • My Most Anticipated Ne...
New and Upcoming 2021 Releases: • New and Upcoming Book ...
Pulitzer Prize reaction: • Pulitzer Prize for Fic...
Titles mentioned 📚:
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir, Brian Broome
The Trees, Percival Everett
What Strange Paradise, Omar El Akkad
Afterparties: Stories, Anthony Veasna So
How Beautiful We Were, Imbolo Mbue
Libertie, Kaitlyn Greenidge
The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorée Fannone Jeffers
The Magician, Colm Tóibín
The Promise, Damon Galgut
Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby
The Sentence, Louise Erdrich
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, Patrick Radden Keefe
Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, Sarah Schulman
Beautiful World, Where Are You?, Sally Rooney
Bewilderment, Richard Powers
Burnt Sugar, Avni Doshi (surprise!)
Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr
Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen
Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters
Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead
Intimacies, Katie Kitamura
Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford
No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood
Oh William!, Elizabeth Strout
The Prophets, Robert Jones, Jr.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean, Joan Didion
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, Heather Clark
The Secret to Superhuman Strength, Alison Bechdel
Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir, Ashley C. Ford
My husband made a cookbook! Check it out here:
www.blurb.com/...
But wait, there's more!
Website: supposedlyfun....
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Twitter: / supposedlyfun
Detransition, Baby is great. It's funny, important and just an all around great work.
Thanks for the feedback on it.
Kind of shocked at the exclusion of fantasy, sci fi and speculative fiction. She Who Became the Sun, The Chosen and the Beautiful and Sorrowland were all some of the best books released this year hands down. Reviewers and readers alike flocked to those books in unexpected numbers! I wish they got recognized more.
That's a very valid point. They did put Ted Chiang's most recent book in their top ten the year that was released but that was a definite rarity.
I DNF’d Overstory and lost patience with it even though I thought it sounded like my kind of book. Bewilderment, I would say, is a sensitive thinking person’s story that gets right to the purpose quickly. Wonderful writing that I really should’ve taken notes of. (Oh sorry, that’s such an awkward sentence!) Loved it.
That's good to know--I also couldn't get through The Overstory.
Great job. I have a subscription to the NYT through work, so I signed up for the live announcement thingy. I'm quite excited.
I'm so jealous! I would love to sign up but it starts at 7 am my time, which is when I start my workday. Oh well!
@@SupposedlyFun The beauty of living in the Middle East is that this happens in the middle of my afternoon!
@@GuiltyFeat That works for sure!
You may have read it, but the novel of Louise Erdrich's I read first was The Roundhouse and I really found it compelling and good.
My dad actually was a founding member of Act Up Orange County, which as his gay son makes me very proud of him. I'd like to help him tell that story someday.
That sounds like a really great story! I hope you and he do get to tell it someday. I did read The Roundhouse and liked it.
What Strange Paradise won the Giller Prize the highest literary award in Canada. So it's been on my list for that reason
I need to pay closer attention to the Giller.
You absolutely want to read This Strange Paradise, loved it and it's a gut punch!
Thanks for the feedback on it!
Love your content, happy to have discovered your channel 😀
Amor Towels hooked me with Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow, can't wait to read The Lincoln Highway.
Thank you so much!
Great list. I've read some of them. On my radar Afterparties, Burnt Sugar and How Beautiful We Were.
I hope you enjoy them! I really liked Burnt Sugar.
I probably said it before but Percival Everett is amazing. Erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier are the 2 books of his that are must reads.
Thank you for the recommendations on where to start with his books!
Also “Percival Everett by Virgil Russell”. ( Percival Everett is the author). Is also very good I’ll be checking Trees and some others
@@user-yg6ft1iu1i Thanks for the recommendation.
Light Perpetual was on sale on Audible for the Black Friday weekend. I bought it with high hopes for good fiction. We shall see.
Let the Record Show is on my wishlist. 27 hours on Audible. That will take a while for sure.
It sure will! I think the length is why I haven't gotten to Let the Record Show yet.
It’s really interesting to hear you echo my own thoughts about Detransition Baby, I’m just not that interested in reading it but I’m not sure why 🤷♀️
It seems like something I should instantly want to read, right? I can't explain it.
I read The Trees - it was fast to read, but it is dark, as well as funny, if you don't mind a lot of dark. It also goes places I wasn't expecting at the end! It's a bit of a revenge fantasy. I did like it but I bet it would upset some people.
And YES, you should read Empire of Pain, the audio was great.
Also just listened to Crying in H Mart - I wasn't as bowled over as many people were, but there is a lot about food in relation to her somewhat fraught relationship to her mother who died too young from cancer, and her heritage.
I love food as a lens for relationships/politics, so that sounds great to me. Thank you for the feedback on The Trees!
I don't think Libertie is classified as YA. At my library, we definitely have it in the adult section. I enjoyed the audiobook though!
I've only read Erasure by Everett but it was extremely challenging and eye opening. I read it for a class I took in college about portrayals of violence in 20th century American lit (it was a very cool class).
I definitely want to get to The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. I've heard nothing but incredible things.
I did not like Cloud Cuckoo Land! I explained in my review why, but essentially I thought it was kind of cloying and lacking in depth, despite being so long.
Happy reading 😊
I get confused by the classification of Libertie because I've seen it labeled as an adult book but I've also seen it listed among YA releases for 2021. That class you took that covered Erasure does sound fascinating!
Happy reading!
Great video! I am obsessed with your library? Are we maybe having an updated shelf tour in 2022?....😂 Would love that! Also how do you remember which ones you've already read? ❤️
Thank you! The shelf tour videos were a lot to film so I might wait another year before doing another. I don't have a system for separating read books from unread ones, it's just all in my head!
I agree with you about Etdrich’s _The Night Watch Man_ , but I thought _The Sentence_ was much better.
I think you should give _DeTransition Baby_ a shot. I found it to be surprisingly my and at times really good.
I am on the hold list for The Sentence at my local library but have no idea where I am in line--with the amount of holds, it's possible I won't get it until 2022. I may give Detransition a try! We'll see how it goes.
I read What Strange Paradise. I liked it. It won the Giller Prize. I didn't predict it winning from the 12 longlisted books I read, but they were mostly spectacular anyway. So, it wasn't that Akkad's book had shortcomings, it was simply a preference on my part for a couple of the books in the running with What Strange Paradise. Thanks for the NYT list. I was waiting for it after you posted your WP list. Cheers from Nova Scotia.
Thank you for the feedback on What Strange Paradise! I need to pay closer attention to the Giller.
What Strange Paradise is definitely worth reading. It will have you riveted. I didn’t love the ending, but the whole ride was good.
Thanks!
Thr Promise is also exceptional and so deserving of the Booker. I went and bought all his past books after reading it. I haven't seen anyone who read it not love it.
Having had reservations about the Promise I’ve now started it and I’m finishing the first section and the writing is glorious. When a writer can nail the inner emotional life of a child, and one of the opposite gender with sensitivity and insight, I always take notice and trust them.
I'm really excited to try The Promise.
I really enjoyed The Lincoln Highway. Even though it is thick, it reads quickly. I, also, like Razorblade Tears, however, it’s very violent. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you for watching! That's good to know about both books.
How Beautiful We Were is an AMAZING novel. It’s very intense and stressful to read but such a well crafted novel!
Thank you for the feedback!
_What Strange Paradise_ won the Giller Prize. I've heard it's good, but I haven't read it.
I need to pay closer attention to the Giller Prize--thank you!
Funny how No One is Talking About This just won’t die. 😂 I still have no interest in it, but with every accolade it collects, it makes me wonder whether I really am missing something special. 🤷♀️
I put The Trees on hold at the library as soon as I saw this list. I have a proof copy of the Mbue book and I do think it sounds really good. I would love to read Crying in H Mart, but I think it would kill me. My mom died 12 years ago and I still couldn’t take a book this raw about losing her mother. It’s a shame. It sounds really outstanding.
I still intend to read Harlem Shuffle and The Prophets, and listen to Empire of Pain, before the end of the year. 🤞 But first… I just received The Fell by Sarah Moss which I will be reading tomorrow.
I thought this was a strong list from NYT.
No One is Talking About This DEFINITELY won't die. That's a difficult trigger to get around re: Crying in H Mart.
I always enjoy your videos about books. I especially enjoyed your tour of Colorado independent book stores. I live in Ft. Collins, CO, and buy many of my books from Firehouse Books. I thought this years NY Times list was good, although it contained a couple of big omissions. Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead, and The Matrix, by Lauren Groff should have been on the list and in the top ten books of the year. I thought the Promise was a masterful book and deserves to make it to the top ten. I don’t know why people objected to a white South African writing a novel about the history of apartheid, especially when he is sympathetic to the black population of his country.
I loved Firehouse! I'm jealous that you get to visit it regularly. I also loved the restaurant next door (can't remember the name right now). I agree that Great Circle and Matrix feel like surprising omissions.
Percival Everett is amazing. I really enjoyed "Erasure." I didn't know he had a new book out, but I'm really interested in "The Trees" now!
Thanks for the feedback--he's climbing my list of authors to get to.
"What Strange Paradise" won the Giller Prize. I have been looking at it and probably will read it. I loved the first two books by Amor Towles. I have a lot of problems with "The Lincoln Highway." I was very excited about it and was totally disappointed. I have read almost everything by Toibin. My favorites are "Brooklyn" and "The Heather Blazing." "The Promise" by Galgut is a great book. The structure and the plot are very interesting. The writing is good. I am a little biased because I have been a fan of Galgut for years. I have a hate/love relationship with Sylvia Plath, so I am with you on the biography.
I've heard great things about Brooklyn. I'm really looking forward to trying The Promise. Thanks for the feedback on Towles.
It’s a type of cool IMO how that works - 📚 being FOR certain people; I read BEWILDERMENT a couple weeks ago and it was my favorite of the year and maybe ever. I’ve never resonated with a book character so much & am bewildered it’s a 9 year boy who gets that title.
I enjoyed What Strange Paradise and enjoyed a panel I attended at the Portland Book Festival that Omar El Akkad spoke on. I don't think it is a top read for me this year, but definitely adds to a fuller picture of the refugee experience.
That's interesting--thanks for the feedback.
Great reaction video! I will say having looked at the full list I think the nonfiction is much stronger then the fiction, which seems to be made up of some of the usual suspects and then a few quirky novels thrown in for flavor. I may be also reacting against the grievous omission of “The Great Circle,” which I feel could be an enduring novel of the American experience that hopefully gets read for decades. But I do wonder what the numbers are dividing nonfiction and fiction and if it’s disproportionate from other years leaning towards nonfiction.
I’m so happy for “Afterparties” and yes, the lead story is an amazing opener. I think the lion’s share of stories were published elsewhere and you might be able to find them that way. I did just look and that first one is available on The New Yorker’s website and there’s an audio recording of him reading it. I hope people who are interested check it out and it leads them to wanting to read more. I will say the Gay subject matter is less prominent then I was expecting, but honestly I know that journey. The post genocide life and generational trauma of Cambodians was all but unknown to me, and the window into that experience was much more illuminating and engrossing and the fact we may not get more insight from him about that is the great loss.
I’m extremely happy Toibin is on the list as he’s a favorite and someone I champion at every chance. Which makes it hard for me to say about this book if you don’t have a strong connection to Mann and his writings already, I would not start with The Magician. The Master or Brooklyn are his works that I would suggest one to begin with, they definitely have a magic and spark that really captured me as a reader and wanted to read more from him.
I think there are a few usual suspects on the nonfiction side at this point, too, but it does feel like there are more of them in fiction. But there are also some surprising omissions in fiction (The Great Circle, Matrix, Hell of a Book, etc). I don't think this Notable list is as revelatory as ones from the past, but hopefully that's a blip.
Thank you for the feedback on Afterparties--definitely even more interested in it now. And thank you for the recommendations on where to start with Tóibín!
Looking forward to reading the Plath bio.
I've heard great things about it.
Oh I told myself the same thing with Mbue's books and I started with Behold the Dreamers but I didn't love it. Still want to give a chance to How Beautiful We Were though. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois sounds like it's so up my alley! I'm adding it to my TBR.
I've heard great things about both of Mbue's books but not gonna lie, I am a bit worried the same would happen to me.
Ooh it's been a big year. So, I would say Intimacies by Katie Kitamura was one of my favourite books for this year and also Detransition, Baby though I feel like I should re read it sometime to see if I still feel that way. I enjoyed Cloud Cuckoo Land but mind not blown. The Promise is worth a read, in the context of being a white writer talking about racism it does hit the mark but also spurs me to look for black South African voices (which I think is also part of Galgut's intention). Several of the others were kind of 'meh', I'm not much of a Sally Rooney fan.
From some things I've seen Galgut say, I agree that he's hoping readers will explore more South African voices (and more diverse ones).
The Brian Broome book is the only one I own. A handful of writers there that I've been meaning to get to, but I'll start with one of their works I already own rather than pick up one of these, though the Franzen one is a bit tempting.
I'm excited about the Broome one.
I concur with you re: Klara and the Sun. I am pulling for No One Is Talking About This to make the top 10. 😝 I really enjoyed Detransition, Baby. Hope you read it as i would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much for this video.
Thank you for watching! I'm on a hold list for Detransition, Baby, so we shall see!
Hi Greg, I heard “Crying In H Mart” is much more harrowing regarding grief than about food.
I was disappointed in Detransition Baby. Although I appreciated the unique premise the writing let me down. It seemed the author used big words when clearer more exact words would have flowed better. There were other problems with the story It was just OK for me. Aloha
That's what I hear regarding Detransition, Baby a lot. It's unfortunate. Aloha!
Oh The Trees is incredible. Easy 5 star read. Yet to read any reviews that weren’t 5 stars too, I think.
What Strange Paradise I have a video on, it was middling, for me. It was 3 stars. Dual timelines, him on slow boat to the island and after. Solipsistic, inoffensive prose, fairly boring plot masked by the time jumps. There’s some interesting dialogue on the ride there critiquing western culture and the myth of the American (western) dream. But didn’t land much else. It was billed to me as a Peter Pan retelling though, and it wasn’t reaaally that. So possibly my expectations were misaligned. But everyone on my Goodreads also gave it 2-3 stars.
Be interested to see what you make of Razorblade Tears. I thought it fumbled the premise badly early on so I bailed on it.
Huh! I haven’t heard of Let the Record Show. Will have to check that out!
Detransition, Baby I thought was not incredibly well written, but the character work and as a vehicle for interrogating intersectional trans identity elements, it works really well, I think. It’s messy and interesting. If you go for it, do the audio so the prose work doesn’t bother you, I’d say.
I think audio is how I would approach Detransition for sure. Thanks for the feedback--I didn't realize What Strange Paradise was a Peter Pan retelling (in intention at least). Interesting.
I think the US release of Burnt Sugar was 2021 rather than 2020.
I looked it up after this video was uploaded--Burnt Sugar was indeed released in the US in January of 2021.
Nice video. One correction: Imbolo Mbue is a she not he. Mbue is a Cameroonian author who is female.
Thank you for the correction!
Is that T-shirt illustrated by Edward Gorey?
It is! It's one of my favorite shirts I own. I think I got it from Out of Print.
I found Detransition, Baby disappointing.
That seems to be a popular opinion, unfortunately.
I have read so many excellent nonfiction books this year… Red Comet is not one of them.
I think it's safe to say I won't be dipping my toes into the Red Comet waters anytime soon...
The winners of the Irish Post book awards was announced last night. Sebastian Barry was entered into the Irish writers hall of fame. He’s currently Irish Laureate.
I’m currently listening to The Lincoln Highway on audio. I read Empire of Pain for #nonficnov. Cloud Cuckoo Land is one two best books of the year for me. The other is Great Circle. Disappointing that it’s not on this list.
Others I’ve read and would recommend are
The Promise ( great on audio)
Bewilderment
Beautiful World Where Are You ( just ok)
Burnt Sugar ( great writing terrible ending)
Intimacies & Klara and the Sun were disappointing
Check out one of the winners from the Irish post book awards
Did You Hear Mammy Died? by Seamus O’Reilly. It’s based on the authors real life. He’s from a big family. His mother died when he was very young. His dad ended up a single parent of 7? kids. It’s said to be funny and heartbreaking.
🍀👋☘️📚☕️📖🫖👓📕
P.S. The BBC & RTE join production of Normal People was fantastic. Try and find it to watch.
I will definitely look for the Irish Post awards! Thanks.