My Favorite books for 2021
It’s the end of the year, and so time to reflect on the past 12 months and discuss some of my favorite things. Here are the books I most enjoyed (some in paper, some via audio book) this last year.
Goodreads indicates I read 50 books in 2021, or 3ish a month, the shortest being 111 pages, the longest being Brandon Sanderson at 1200+ pages. this doesn't include books I listened to via Audible, and some ebooks (mostly short) I've picked up and read without logging them. Those would be mostly woodshop or photography tomes. I always feel like I'm not reading enough, but 3 books a month, even if some of them are quicker, one-night reads, isn't a bad number. I am, also, slowly cutting the backlog of bought-but-not-read-yet books, rather than just piling on even more titles to make me feel guilty
Fiction
My favorite fiction of the year includes:
Brandon Sanderson: Oathbringer - I would argue the structure Sanderson uses for these books shouldn’t work; most authors would split this into multiple separate titles where he’s intertwining two+ novels into one volume. He makes it work, wonderfully. But I sure wouldn’t try this if I were to write a book, because I know I’d leave a useless mess behind. The size makes them a commitment to read, but one I find worth the time.
Dan Moren: The Aleph Extraction: More really fun, high tempo action spy novel type skiffy from Dan. Just a fun, great read.
Mary Robinette Kowal: The Fated Sky and The Relentless Moon: Happily bumped these up my priority list to get them read this year. Just wonderful writing with amazingly real and interesting characterizations among a really intense story.
John M Ford: The Dragon Waiting: This is a book that went out of print when Ford died, and it took years of wrangling with the estate and lawyers for Tor to be able to bring it back for us to enjoy. People I trust really push this as one of the best books if the last few decades; this sets a high level of expectation, but one it matched wonderfully.
Bernard Cornwell: The Pale Horseman: I am a fan of the historical Arthur and that time period. I’ve slowly been starting to read Cornwell’s series set in that time. By slowly: bought 2015, read 2021. But they are fun and interesting books
James S. A. Corey: Persepolis Rising: The Expanse series continues to move along, and I continue to enjoy each book when I get a chance to read it.
Non-Fiction
My favorite non-fiction books include:
Geoff Manaugh: A Burglar's Guide to the City: An interesting discussion of architecture and how buildings are designed, and from locks to simply plowing through walls, how people circumvent those designs to get things we don’t want them to have.
John Kelly: The Great Mortality: a really well-researched look at the time of the Black Death. Maybe not your cup of tea right now, but it’s a really interesting and detailed look at that time period and its impact on humanity
Stephen Ambrose: D-Day: A bit surprised I hadn’t read this before, to be honest, but a really good book on this pivotal day in history.
Gary K. Wolfe: How Great Science Fiction Works: A great course audio lecture via Audible, I felt it really gave me a good overview of the SF field, filling in some gaps in my knowledge.
Photography
My Favorite photography books include:
Sean Tucker: The Meaning in the Making: essays on life and photography by a favorite Youtube host
Don Komarechka: Macro Photography: A massive, detailed discussion on how to do Macro Photography. If you’re interested in that, a must read.
Art Wolfe: Night On Earth: Art’s newest book, which focuses on night photography of many styles.
Q.T. Luong: Our National Monuments: America's Hidden Gems: Luong’s new book, with amazing photography of these under-appreciated and preserved properties.
Birding
My favorite birding books include:
Jennifer Ackerman: The Genius of Birds: Birds are a lot smarter than we’ve given them credit for.
David Alderton: The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds of the World: The Ultimate Reference Source and Identifier for 1600 Birds, Profiling Habitat, Plumage, Nesting and Food: A massive tome, full of fascinating content and great illustrations
Pete Dunne & Kevin T. Karlson: Gulls Simplified. Gull ID often makes me crazy. This book has really helped sort out the chaos of gulls so it makes more sense to me.
