Reads 2021 Fiction

 As it turns out, the shallow end of the pool is, well, shallow.  In number of novels I read in 2021, in total, and, as you might deduce from that observation, in the even smaller number that I would highlight.

 

The prize goes to Linwood Barclay for Find You First (2021), a mystery novel that enthralled me from the very first page.   It considers the question, How might donations to a sperm bank to earn quick cash as a struggling student come back to haunt you as a millionaire victim of Huntingdon’s disease?  Enough said.

 

The Guersney Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Schaffer (2008) is a historical novel centered around the German occupation of the British island of Guernsey during World War II, the struggles of the residents and the role of books in their survival.  The book is in letter form.  Enjoy the film as well; you will recognize many Downtown Abbey alumni.  View or read first, it doesn’t matter.   Both versions navigate several complex themes with sensitivity and delicacy.

 

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles (2021)

I found this novel quite by accident while scrolling through Hoopla.   Set at the beginning of World War II, with a generational parallel narrative in 1983, the novel takes up the tangle of unexpected events that impact our lives, both in the present and in the future.  Great read.

 

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (2018)

The months I waited for my turn in the library’s wait list for this book were so worth it!  It’s a compelling narrative of a child coping with abuse and neglect, raising herself, essentially, making the most of each day in whatever way she can.  

 

Thanks for sharing my reading experience during 2021.