Favorite Reads of 2021
March 18, 2022 | Dara Marie | @thornfield_lane
I know 2021 was a while ago now, but since Thornfield Lane was only officially started in February of 2022, I hope you’ll forgive me and let me reminisce.
2021 was a great reading year for me. I read more than I had in 2020, even during two very busy college semesters. Some were better than others, and here’s a look at my top favorites of last year:
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte
I’ve already discussed Jane Eyre in earlier posts. When I finally got to it in 2021, I simply fell in love. I had only just begun my study of the Brontë’s earlier in the year with Wuthering Heights, so I had high hopes and it delivered in every sense. I was in a book coma afterward and couldn’t commit to another book for two months because I was still so enchanted by it.
I look forward to reading more of the Brontës this year.
The Overstory (2018) by Richard Powers
I had never heard of this Pulitzer-Prize winner before, but I chose to read it for a group project with a few of my university peers because I didn’t think it was one I would have picked out for myself if I saw it in a bookstore. After only a chapter, I was so pleased I had. This novel is beautifully written; it’s clear why it won awards. It is uniquely formatted, deeply philosophical, and inherently poetic. A triumph of the English language.
There are many characters and multiple plots throughout this complex work, but it all connects to trees, environmentalism, and a love of nature. This is the perfect book for any nature or tree lover.
Little Fires Everywhere (2017) by Celeste Ng
The best way I can describe this book is: explosive. Full of gut-punching drama, the web Celest Ng spins is simply magnificent. I fell into it and could hardly put it down. It is one of my favorite uses of literary foils I’ve read and I’m excited to discuss it further on my coming podcast.
The Hulu miniseries by the same name was also fantastic.
The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt
This was also one that had been on my “to-read” list for a while and it lived up to the hype.
It’s essentially about pretentious, eccentric college students committing murder. Very beautifully written, filled with philosophy and poetry, it was the perfect book to indulge in the academia aesthetic. It’s one of the most extreme and best-executed cases of changing your perception of characters I have ever seen: a character I loved in the beginning, I grew to hate.
This is one I can’t wait to reread as I’m sure it’ll only get better and better with each revisit.
The His Dark Materials trilogy (1995-2000) by Phillip Pullman
A friend recommended this series’ HBO TV adaptation last summer. I didn’t have much interest at first, but reluctantly obeyed and looked up one of the characters she named, Mrs. Coulter, on Youtube so I could say I had at least sampled it. I watched the first video that popped up which happened to be a random scene from season two. With limited context, I watched and was blown away by the acting, the writing, and the cinematography. On a whole, the scene was perfect and everything I would want out of a TV Show, be it a book adaptation or not. From the comment sections, I gaged the show was fairly spot on to the books. That was all I needed. I was sold. I ordered copies of the books that very night and devoured them as soon as they arrived.
I have since become an avid fan of both the books and TV Show. It surprised me, honestly, since it’s so different from what I usually read, but I fell in love with the fantasy world and with the characters. I eagerly await the last season to air this year.
Mexican Gothic (2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
As promised on this site and my social media, Thornfield Lane will soon be a podcast as well as a blog. I am currently developing and recording episodes, and for this, I’ve had to read many books. For one of my episodes, I did a quick google search of the top-rated modern gothic novels and this was one.
I won’t lie, I had doubts. How could a book with as obvious and cheesy of a title as Mexican Gothic be one of the best modern gothic novels? Even so, I gave it a chance and was in love by chapter two. Exquisitely written. Unique while blending classic gothic tropes. It left me genuinely horrified.
For now, I’ll leave it at that because I plan to discuss it further on both my podcast and blog.
Once Upon a River (2018) by Diane Setterfield
Like Mexican Gothic, I heard about this novel by looking up top-rated modern gothic novels. It’s not as dark or creepy as many of the gothic novels I have read which surprised and confused me at first, but I grew to love it in its own right anyway. It is genuinely one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. One of my friends teases me for my love of emotional and tragic books; I want stories to move me and emotion is one of the surest ways. This book had me in tears on multiple occasions.
This is another one I will love to reread so I can catch all the hidden meanings and deeper levels I’m sure I missed the first time.
The Little Stranger (2009) by Sarah Waters
Yes, this is another gothic novel. I really love the genre and read many of them in preparation for my coming podcast.
From chapter one, I couldn’t put it down. While slow, it was mysterious, creepy, and strange. I had so many questions throughout and was left breathless at the ending. One of the ways I know a gothic novel is good is if at some point I say, “Nope,” because I’m so uncomfortable. And the best compliment I can give this book is that there was one scene in particular that left me so unhinged, I was just shaking my head, saying “Nope, nope, nope, nope!”
The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin
I read this short novel for my English major elective class, Survey of American Culture. We read it during a unit exploring women’s rights and how they’ve changed over the years in America. I simply loved it; I read it twice in 2021. It reminded me in many ways of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, which I love. The character development was tragic and amplified by the discussions I got to have with my peers about it.
This is also one I’m excited to discuss with you further, so stay tuned!
The Children of Hurin (2007) by J.R.R. Tolkein
At the beginning of the summer, I did a Tolkein binge where I reread The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit along with The Silmarillion and a few of his anthologies, including The Children of Hurin. Tolkien wrote so much that was never published in his lifetime and following his death, his son Christopher went through his notebooks and edited some of the unpublished works into novels, including this.
The Children of Hurin was a story that occurred during Middle Earth’s first age when the dark lord Morgoth reigned. It was gritty, intense, and tragic. The ending sufficiently broke me. It moved me more than any of Tolkien’s other work and has become my favorite of his.
Although those were my top ten, there were a few other notable reads I think deserve an honorable mention:
The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) by Stuart Turton
Hands down the most ambitious, original murder mystery I’ve ever read. Imagine the movie Ground Hog Day, but he wakes up in multiple bodies each morning and has to solve a murder in a week.
Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte
The relationship is so toxic: I love to hate it and hate to love it.
Life after Life (2013) by Kate Atkinson
Like The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this book was ambitious, original, and complex. A woman keeps dying, yet coming back to life and living a different one. It’s honestly trippy.
Fatal Thrones (2018) by Lisa Sandell, Stephanie Hemphill, Candance Fleming, Deborah Hopkins, Jennifer Donnelly, Matthew Anderson, and Linda Park.
Historical fiction about the wives of King Henry VIII, written with a different author for each wife.
Have you read any of these? What were your favorite reads in 2021? I'd love to hear from you! You can connect with me through thornfield.lane@gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok (soon!), and Twitter: @thornfield_lane. 