Best Books of 2021

This is probably my favorite post to write every year.

I love looking back over the year through the lens of the books that stand out most. And it isn’t always the books that I rated most highly! Although if they stand out for a negative reason, they definitely don’t make it on this list.

As I go back over all the books I read, I’m always surprised by the 4 Star books that I struggle to recall and by the 3 Star books that I have found myself recommending again and again. Apparently how much I enjoyed a book the first time through really has very little to do with its longevity in my memory!

But, without further ado, here are the books that stand out from 2021 (mostly 4-star ones, with a few 3-star ones thrown in).

1. In Five Years

2. The Little Book of Life Skills: Deal with Dinner, Manage Your Email, Make a Graceful Exit, and 152 Other Expert Tricks

3. HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style

4. The Dinner List

5. Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

6. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

7. Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

8. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit

9. Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty

10. The Newcomer

11. The Flight Attendant

12. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

13. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

14. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

15. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

16. Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice

Even though I read a similar number of books to last year, I was shocked to see that only about half as many made the list this year.

It was also interesting to see that early in the year, I read about 1 memorable book a month, but as the year went on, there were whole months with nothing memorable, only be followed by months with several.

Upon reflection, I noted there are noticeably fewer novels and personal development books on the list, compared with past years. Whereas, I can see that there were more books in the crime, history, war, and thriller genres that made the list this year.

I also wanted to acknowledge that very rarely do I give a book 5 Stars. In fact, no book in 2021 got that honor! You may wonder if my whole ranking system is off (whereby 4 Star books really should be considered as 5 Star books), but I stand by my rating system. It is the way that it is for a reason - and there just aren’t that many 5 Star books. But trust me, when I read one, I know.

Although I did re-read a lot of fantastic books this year, I have not included any of those on the above list. The ones that I bothered to re-read are ones that I automatically loved and enjoyed enough to return to again. And for the sake of ease of reference, I have included the books that I re-read this year here:

• Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years

• Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

• Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

• Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between)

• 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy

• Slaughterhouse-Five

• You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth

• The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists

• Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy

• I Am The Messenger

• Meg and Jo

• Is This Anything

• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Similarly, the books that I bought this year are all ones that I loved and wanted to own so I could come back to them in the future. Once again, I didn’t include them on the list of “best books,” but I have included them here because they are definitely ones I recommend (that’s another reason why I wanted to own them - so I could loan them to people!). There is some overlap between the books I re-read and the ones that I bought, because sometimes I was reminded how much I loved a book and had to buy it, and other times I re-read one because I’d just bought it. This year, I added the following books to my personal library:

• Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

• I Don't Know What You Know Me From: My Life as a Co-Star

• I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time

• Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy

• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

• I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends

• Home: A Memoir of My Early Years

• Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years

• Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me

• Slaughterhouse-Five

• The Scarlet Pimpernel

• The Catcher in the Rye

• The Great Gatsby

• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

• Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

• HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style

• You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth

• Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

• How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time

• I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works

• The Wellness Project: How I Learned to Do Right by My Body, Without Giving Up My Life

• Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

• The Curated Closet: A Simple System for Discovering Your Personal Style and Building Your Dream Wardrobe

• The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists

• 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy

• The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done

• The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

• Rich Bitch: A Simple 12-Step Plan for Getting Your Financial Life Together...Finally

• Is This Anything

I already am excited to write this post next year - to see what books (and genres!) stand out and why! I’m not sure of the things, people, experiences (and books, of course) that will shape me along the way, but I already can’t wait.

Until next time,

Carly