I read a total of 148 books this year and that’s up (by 23 books) from last year, but reading more is not a goal here.  Reading GOOD books is.  

So these are my top 10 of books read this year by category. I read a lot of new releases so many of them are 2021 books but NOT ALL!!!  It’s not a rule or anything. The following are in general order from best of best to least of best. 

My way of rating is 1-10 for fiction and nonfiction, but A-F for crime/mystery/sci-fi because the criteria for a good book, such as they are, are different. Tension is usually very important in crime and sci-fi novels, but it’s not always even consideration in classic lit (Proust for instance).  World-building can be huge in sci-fi, but not even present in non-fiction. Actually, imo, literary styling (delicious metaphors) can interfere with a good thriller. (LOL!). So I use different rating systems. But I use both when some good crime novel uses literary-type devices well.  (The Quincunx by Charles Palliser, 1989, would get a 10/A++  – so would The Name of the Rose by U. Eco.). That said, it’s all very subjective. 

“ALL artistic judgement is subjective. ALL artistic judgments are camouflaged autobiography. How it comes about, you don’t know. Inspect yourself. “ John Carey, book reviewer, London Times

There were 8 women authors and 2 translations, total.

• *******
  NONFICTION
   (I read some really fine nonfiction this year)
  
• Braiding Sweetgrass:
   Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
  by Robin Wall Kimmere
  Rating:  10 / History-Americas – botany 2013
  
• Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America,  1754-1766  
  by Fred Anderson
  Rating 10 / US history 2000
  (Read and listened)
  
• The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790
  by Rhys Isaac 1982
  Rating: 10 – US history/ 
  (Kindle and paperback due to graphics)

Entangled Life:
How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures 
by Merlin Sheldrake 2020
Rating 10 / botany
(Read and listened 2x)

The Invention of Nature:
Alexander von Humboldt’s New World  
by Andrea Wulff 2015
Rating 10/  life science/history
(Read and listened 2x)

Forget the Alamo:
The Rise and Fall of an American Myth
By Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford
2021
Rating: 10 / US-Texas history

Robert E Lee and Me: 
A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
By Ty Seidule 2021
Rating: 10 / history-memoir

Children of Ash and Elm: 
A History of the Vikings
By Neil Price 2020
Rating: 9.5 / European history

The Viking Heart:
How Scandinavia Conquered the World 
By Arthur Herman 
Rating: 9.3  / European history 2021

The Craft:
How Freemason’s Made the Modern World
By John Dickie
Rating: 9 / history 2020

*****
FICTION

Cloud Cuckoo Land
by Anthony Doerr 2021
Rating: 10/ general fiction 

The Adventures of China Iron 
By Gabriela Cabezón Cámara 2021
Translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre 
Rating: 9.8 / literary – historical fiction 

The Promise
by Damon Galgut 2021
Rating: 9.75 / historical fiction (S. Africa)

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree
by Shokoofeh Azar 2021
Rating:  9.6 /  historical fiction (Iran) 

At Night All Blood Is Black
By David Diop (France) Translated
Rating:  9.6 / literary-historical 2021 
(graphic violence)

The Magician
by Colm Toibin 2021
Rating 9.5 / biographical novel (Thomas Mann)   

Antiquities 
by Cynthia Ozick 2021
Rating: 9.5  /historical fiction 

The Sentence 
by Louise Erdrich 2021
Rating: 9.5 / historical fiction

Convenience Store Woman 
by Sayaka Murata
Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori 
Rating:  9.25  / contemporary Japanese 2016

CRIME/SCI-FI 

The Ice Harvest 
by Scott Philips 
2000 / 4h 30m 
Rating:  A+ /  noir crime

Razorblade Tears 
By S.A. Cosby
Rating:  A+,  9.5 / lit-crime
2021

The 19th Christmas
by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
Rating:  A+ / crime thriller 
2018

When These Mountains Burn 
by David Joy –
Rating: A+, 9.5 – lit crime
2020

State of Terror 
By Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny
Rating A+ / crime thriller 
2020

Another Kind of Eden 
by James Lee Burke
Rating: A / crime  
2021

The Joy and Light Bus Company
by Alexander McCall Smith 
Rating: A  (for enjoyment) / featherweight crime
2021

Billy Summers
By Stephen King
Rating A / crime 
2021

Back of Beyond 
by C.J. Box – 
Rating A- / crime 
2011

Apples Never Fall
By Liane Moriarty 
Rating: A, 9  / lit – crime  
2021

Sci-fi: 
The Ministry for the Future 
by Kim Stanley Robinson 
Rating –   A+ / sci-fi
2020/ 

Full reviews at my site: 
https://mybecky.blog