Below are the titles I chose to read in 2021, and as in previous years the crude rating system aims to give some indication of what I personally got from each of them. Any review is obviously as much about the reviewer as the title, so I don't guarantee you will get the same from any given book but hopefully it is of some assistance.
Choosing what to read for maximum reward is itself an absorbing activity, the result of extensive reading of trusted reviews and recommendations, coupled with past experience, personal priorities, and a hefty dose of instinct. It's an enjoyable but inexact process so while the ratings are generally quite high as a result, things can be disappointing on occasions.
📖📖📖📖📖 Truly Special, exceptional
📖📖📖📖 Very Good, and deeply rewarding
📖📖📖 Middling to Good, worthwhile but not special
📖📖 Poor and disappointing
📖 Dreadful
+ Plus half a rating
R Denotes a re-reading
January
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte 📖📖📖📖+
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 📖📖📖📖📖
The Waste Land - T S Eliot 📖📖📖+
February
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters 📖📖📖📖+
Sisters - Daisy Johnson 📖📖📖📖
March
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 📖📖📖📖📖
Begin Again - Eddie S Glaude Jr 📖📖📖📖+
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou 📖📖📖📖
April
Diary of a Young Naturalist - Dara McAnulty 📖📖📖📖
Spirit of Place - Susan Owens 📖📖📖
Ness - Robert Macfarlane & Stanley Donwood 📖📖📖📖
May
Figuring - Maria Popova 📖📖📖📖📖
The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin 📖📖📖📖📖
The Snow Ball - Brigid Brophy 📖📖📖+
June
Women & Power - Mary Beard 📖📖📖+
The Secrets We Kept - Lara Prescott 📖📖📖📖
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 📖📖📖📖+
July
Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak 📖📖📖+
The Passenger: Japan - Various 📖📖📖📖
August
What it Feels Like for a Girl - Paris Lees 📖📖📖📖
Empireland - Sathnam Sanghera 📖📖📖📖
Nova Swing - M John Harrison 📖📖📖📖+
Tokyo: Art & Photography - Ashmolean Museum 📖📖📖📖+
September
Strange Bliss - Katherine Mansfield 📖📖📖
Luckenbooth - Jenni Fagan 📖📖📖📖
Gigantic Cinema - Alice Oswald & Paul Keegan (Eds) 📖📖📖+
October & November
Virginia Woolf - Hermione Lee 📖📖📖📖📖
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - Julia Strachey 📖📖📖+
A Month in the Country - J L Carr 📖📖📖📖
December
Sterling Karat Gold - Isabel Waidner 📖📖📖📖+
English Magic - Uschi Gatward 📖📖📖📖
Treacle Walker - Alan Garner 📖📖📖📖
The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman 📖📖📖📖
Village Christmas - Laurie Lee 📖📖📖📖
Here's to rich reading rewards of all kinds...
See also: 2020 - Reading in the Time of Covid
