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bookshelves: goodreads-year-in-review

I could not start this review until 2021 is officially over as there was reading through the last day, after all. But now it’s time.

2021 was an odd year in real life, full of stress and often unpleasantness, and some health issues which luckily by now seem to be pretty much under control, and some changes that I hope will bring a much better 2022.

Book-wise though it was another good year. According to My Year in Books, my average rating for books this year was 3.8, which is pretty decent.

Oddest read :

Yes, as you can see above, my oddest read for this year - 25 Placenta Recipes - Easy and Delicious recipes for cooking with placenta! - remained sadly underrated on this site. Seeing that there were only 26 other people who shelved this gives me back my faith in humanity.

Most unexpected favorite : This honor definitely belongs to Saga: Compendium One, really the first comic book I’ve read � and loved to pieces (there may be a certain Prince Robot figurine making its way to me in the next few days). Both irreverently funny and unexpectedly brutal, it is firmly in my heart now. Thanks to Dennis for this wonderful buddy read!

The year of Tchaikovsky : No, not the composer but the brilliant British science fiction writer Adrian Tchaikovsky, as reliably good as he is prolific. There have been a few amazing buddy reads that filled my heart with joy. Walking to Aldebaran, Spiderlight, Shards of Earth - just to name a few.

Murderbot : Well, was there ever any doubt I was going to re-read the entire Murderbot series to celebrate the release of Fugitive Telemetry? And yes, I am very much ecstatic that not only did the series win the Hugo Award for best series but that Network Effect got both Hugo and Nebula Award for the best SFF novel.

Favorite re-reads :
- Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness The Dispossessed
- Andy Weir’s The Martian
- Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch
- China Miéville’s Embassytown
- Stephen King’s It and The Body
- Tana French’s Broken Harbour
- Frances Hardinge’s Cuckoo Song
- Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October

Favorite non-fiction : John McWhorter’s Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever brought me many hours of joy. The re-read of Ian Mortimer’s The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century was pure happiness.

Best short story : John Scalzi’s Automated Customer Service and Terry Bisson’s They're Made Out of Meat, seriously, those are hilariously the best.

Did not live up to the hype : Oooh boy, I wish there weren’t that many books to populate this category, but there were a few disappointments. The Midnight Library was a simplistic self-help book that did not endear itself to me. Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun was an underwhelming effort. Hamnet by O’Farrell was painfully overwritten. Dhalgren by Samuel Delany both puzzled and disgusted me.

Toes were dipped in Scandi noir with Snowblind, The Darkest Day and The Root of Evil: An Inspector Barbarotti Novel 2. That saga will continue.


And of course, I pretty much finished my project to read Hugo/Nebula nominees, so that’s a success.

Anyway, here’s to 2022. Let’s have it good � bookwise and otherwise.

—ĔĔ�
—ĔĔ�

Time for my 2nd annual challenge: read and review all the Hugo and Nebula Award nominees, as my undying love declaration for SF and fantasy. As a bonus, I’m including the younger readers books nominated for Lodestar Award and Andre Norton Award:

� = “Category winner�
❤️ = “My favorite(s) in the category�

—ĔĔ�

Hugo nominees:

Novel:

☑️ Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke � 4 stars, review
☑️ The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin � 3 stars, review
� The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal - 3rd in the series, not happening� yet
☑️ Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir � 4.5 stars, review
☑️ Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse � 2.5 stars, review
� ❤️ Network Effect, by Martha Wells � 5 stars, review

Novella:

☑️ Finna, by Nino Cipri � 3 stars, review
☑️ ❤️ Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark � 4 stars, review
☑️ Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey � 2 stars, review
☑️ Come Tumbling Down, by Seanan McGuire � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ Riot Baby, by Tochi Onyebuchi � 1-2 stars, review
� ❤️ The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo � 4.5 stars, review

Novelette:

☑️ “The Inaccessibility of Heaven� by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny 7-8/20) � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ “The Pill� by Meg Ellison (PM Press) � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ “Helicopter Story� by Isabel Fall (Wyrm) � 3 stars, review
☑️ “Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super� by A. T. Greenblatt (Uncanny) � 3 stars, review
☑️ “Monster�, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/20) � 3.5 stars, review
� ❤️ “Two Truths and a Lie� by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) � 3.5 stars, review


Short Story:

☑️ “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse� by Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20) � 4 stars, review
� “Metal Like Blood in the Dark� by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny 9-10/20) � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ “Little Free Library� by Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com 4/8/20) � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ “The Mermaid Astronaut� by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 2/27/20) � 3 stars, review
☑️ ❤️ “A Guide for Working Breeds� by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Solaris) � 4 stars, review
☑️ ❤️ “Open House on Haunted Hill� by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20) � 4 stars, review

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book - BONUS CATEGORY:

⭕️ Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn
⭕️ Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger
⭕️ Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko
� A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ ❤️ A Deadly Education, by Naomi Novik � 4.5 stars, review
☑️ Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas � 2.5 stars, review

—ĔĔ�
—ĔĔ�

Nebula Nominees:

Novel:

☑️ Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke � 4 stars, review
☑️ The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin � 3 stars, review
☑️ Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia � 3.5 - 4 stars, review
☑️ The Midnight Bargain, by C. L. Polk � 3 stars, review
☑️ Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse � 2.5 stars, review
� ❤️ Network Effect, by Martha Wells � 5 stars, review

Novella:

☑️ Tower of Mud and Straw, by Yaroslav Barsukov � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ Finna, by Nino Cipri � 3 stars, review
� ❤️ Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark � 4 stars, review
☑️ Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon, by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki � 1 star, review
☑️ The Four Profound Weaves, by R.B. Lemberg � 2.5 stars, review
☑️ Riot Baby, by Tochi Onyebuchi � 1-2 stars, review

Novelette:

☑️ “Stepsister� by Leah Cypess (F&SF) � 3 stars, review
☑️ “The Pill� by Meg Ellison, (PM Press) � 3.5 stars, review
☑️ “Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super� by A. T. Greenblatt (Uncanny) � 3 stars, review
� ❤️ “Two Truths and a Lie� by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) � 3.5 - 4 stars, review
☑️ “Where You Linger� by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny) � 1.5 stars, review
☑️ “Shadow Prisons� by Caroline M. Yoachim (Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press) � 3 stars, review


Short Story:

☑️ “The Eight-Thousanders� by Jason Sanford (Asimov’s) � 4 stars, review
☑️ “Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math� by Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction) � 2.5 stars, review
☑️ ❤️ “A Guide for Working Breeds� by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Solaris) � 4 stars, review
☑️ “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse� by Rae Carson (Uncanny) � 4 stars, review
☑️ “My Country is a Ghost� by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny) � 2 stars, review
� ❤️ “Open House on Haunted Hill� by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots) � 4 stars, review


The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction - BONUS CATEGORY:

⭕️ Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko
⭕️ A Game of Fox & Squirrels, by Jenn Reese
� A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher � 3.5 stars, review
⭕️ Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger
⭕️ Star Daughter, by Shveta Thakrar
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Reading Progress

December 17, 2020 – Shelved

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Comments Showing 1-50 of 73 (73 new)


message 1: by Barry (new)
Dec 31, 2020 04:32AM

Barry Medlin Great list Nataliya!


message 2: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 31, 2020 10:57AM

Nataliya Thanks, Barry! My to-read list is unmanageable and it’s pretty hard to whittle it down to a reasonable length, so I have to resort to other measures to make sure I do read the books I’m hoping to actually read.


message 3: by Charlotte (new)
Dec 31, 2020 11:26AM

Charlotte Kersten The forgotten beasts of eld is one of my favorites. I'll have to keep an eye out to see what you think!


message 4: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 31, 2020 11:28AM

Nataliya I’m excited about that one. One of my friends quite liked it, and she’s not the one to tolerate mediocre books, so I’m expecting something really good from this one.


message 5: by Charlotte (new)
Dec 31, 2020 11:29AM

Charlotte Kersten Have you read anything else by Patricia McKillip?


message 6: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 31, 2020 11:50AM

Nataliya No, not yet. This one will by my introduction to her.


message 7: by Charlotte (new)
Dec 31, 2020 11:55AM

Charlotte Kersten Nataliya wrote: "No, not yet. This one will by my introduction to her."
She's one of my favorites!


message 8: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 06:40PM

Théo d'Or Interesting list. I, for one, would only read, from here,
" Children of the Arbat " and " Pnin".


message 9: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 06:49PM

Nataliya I read a lot of SF, so I’m trying to mark the books I’m hoping to read this year � and many of those will be SF. Otherwise it’s easy to get distracted and forget that library hold. But this may end up being just a wishlist anyway since I can veer off this course pretty easily.

Once Hugo/Nebula nominees are out, I’ll update this with a more directed goal.


message 10: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 06:59PM

Théo d'Or What is the percentage of SF books, in which you can really say that there is ( also) literature ?


message 11: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 07:05PM

Nataliya All of them. Literature is an inclusive term, at least for me. I don’t use it to exclude the genres. Genre exclusion is often used, especially in “highbrow� publications, to imply the inherent inferiority of genre literature, which I think is silly. I tend to think of that literature as “realistic fiction�, yet another genre under the literature umbrella.


message 12: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 07:15PM

Théo d'Or Strange. I read enough short stories that had nothing, but nothing in common with literature, but rather with a report of contravention.
Btw, journalism where do you classify it ?


message 13: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 07:19PM

Nataliya ^ I’m a bit unclear on what you are trying to say here. Are you saying that some short stories were just not good enough to be considered “literature�? Because if so, I’d call them bad literature.

Journalism is nonfiction reporting. When published as a book, it would be the nonfiction literature.


message 14: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 07:27PM

Théo d'Or I'd call them trees-cut-in-vain.

Aha. Can the journalist be considered a writer ?


message 15: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 07:34PM

Nataliya I use literature as a general category, not a statement of value. It can be good or bad. But I don’t like the idea that capital-L literature needs to be a stodgy non-genre affair covered in many college courses, and little else. In this case I follow the wisdom of Terry Pratchett: “Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book.�

And yes, journalists can be considered writers. Case in point: Svetlana Alexievich who received the Nobel Prize for Literature for her works that started as investigative journalism.


message 16: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 07:46PM

Théo d'Or Aaa, case closed. If you use literature as a general category, we already speak two languages :)


message 17: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 07:51PM

Nataliya I’ve found too many gems in what my college professors, for instance, did not consider worthy of inclusion in literature. That’s when I abandoned that school of thought.


message 18: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 07:52PM

Théo d'Or Nobel Prize for investigative journalism ??
That mean any prosecutor can receive a Nobel Prize ? For literature ?


message 19: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 07:59PM

Nataliya Her books were based on basically investigative journalism. They are excellent, but they are transcribed and edited oral accounts of witnesses of different historic events, with the author commentary. Read them - they are very interesting, especially her Chernobyl one, then you can see for yourself if her body of work deserves such recognition. But there’s no reason to jump to “any prosecutor can receive a Nobel Prize for literature� conclusion from that. Investigative journalism can lead to interesting nonfiction.


message 20: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 08:10PM

Théo d'Or We return to the same point. I was talking about literature, about adjectives, not an interesting and /or valuable article from a civic, historical , or any other point of view.


message 21: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 08:18PM

Nataliya Well, you can’t really see what I’m talking about unless you read her work. Plenty of adjectives there. I’m not talking about interesting Guardian articles; I’m talking about literary works rooted in investigative journalism. But it’s irrelevant as we have already established that we approach the term “literature� from very different viewpoints, so our idea about what qualifies and what doesn’t will differ by necessity.


message 22: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 08:27PM

Théo d'Or Exactly, Nataliya. What you say, may be, indeed, viable, but only as a separate case. A " tradition" cannot be developed in this sense.


message 23: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 11, 2021 08:31PM

Nataliya To use a weird American cliche, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.


message 24: by Théo d'Or (new)
Jan 11, 2021 08:42PM

Théo d'Or To use a French cliché, we can say " vouloir c'est pouvoir", that mean where there is will, there is a way.


message 25: by PyranopterinMo (new)
Jan 29, 2021 08:12PM

PyranopterinMo Nice list, I look forward to your reviews. I've only read 2, but several are also on my to-read list especially Drive Your Plow ... The preview was rather good.


message 26: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 29, 2021 08:19PM

Nataliya PyranopterinMo wrote: "Nice list, I look forward to your reviews. I've only read 2, but several are also on my to-read list especially Drive Your Plow ... The preview was rather good."

It will be interested how many of the books on this ever-growing list I’ll actually manage to read, and how much I’ll get sidetracked. It’s more of an inspiration list rather than one set in stone.


message 27: by Magdelanye (new)
Jan 30, 2021 07:19AM

Magdelanye What a lovely list containing a few of my favorites (Drive your plow, beasts of eld, on earth briefly gorgeous) and a few that ive not heard of that sound intriguing ( what we see when we read, ministry for the future, left handed booksellers) and a few already on my tbr. Is it pissy of me to recommend a different Mieville? I do adore him but this was very meh. May you wallow in bliss!


message 28: by Magdelanye (new)
Jan 30, 2021 07:43AM

Magdelanye So! I searched the library database with poor luck. The only book they have from my little wish list, left handed librarians, has a no holds policy still on it. And LOL GR informs me that i read what we see when we read in 2015. Pity, the review is still pending


message 29: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 30, 2021 12:56PM

Nataliya Magdelanye wrote: "Is it pissy of me to recommend a different Mieville? I do adore him but this was very meh."

This Census-Taker will be a reread for me. I was quite lukewarm about it when it came out. Then I read a lovely review by Cecily, and it resparked my interest in it. I want to see if second time is the charm, or if it remains a book I don’t quite “get� or enjoy.


message 30: by Magdelanye (last edited Jan 30, 2021 06:53PM) (new)
Jan 30, 2021 06:46PM

Magdelanye Well Cecily could write on the back of a cereal package and get it to sound like something you cant wait to eat!
I did go back and reread her review and wished I had read that book. I loved JesseBallsCensus

Thanks for the explanation, hope you can mine something there.
It's about time His Mievelness gave us something new to ponder.


message 31: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Jan 30, 2021 06:57PM

Nataliya Yes, it’s definitely been a while since we got anything new from His Chinaness. I wonder what he’s been up to writing-wise.


message 32: by James (new)
Feb 16, 2021 07:06PM

James Circe is vastly inferior to a Song of Achilles, I wouldn't recommend it as a stand alone read to be honest. Having said that, reading both together is gestalt as one illuminates parts of the other and makes you see both stories in different ways.


message 33: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Feb 16, 2021 07:42PM

Nataliya James wrote: "Circe is vastly inferior to a Song of Achilles, I wouldn't recommend it as a stand alone read to be honest. Having said that, reading both together is gestalt as one illuminates parts of the other ..."

Good to know � but as far as I understand both are standalone stories, right?


message 34: by James (new)
Feb 17, 2021 02:55AM

James Yes, but Circe is from the perspective of the gods and Achilles is from the perspective of mortals. Reading both makes you see things from both sides. They are standalone stories but there is a tiny amount of overlap in terms of characters, not that it affects the stories in any way.


message 35: by Kerry (new)
May 02, 2021 06:02PM

Kerry Circe was a fun read, in part, because we already know the story of Odysseus. Now we know... The rest of the story. Good day.


message 36: by Nataliya (new) - added it
May 02, 2021 06:29PM

Nataliya It looks like I may need to reread The Odyssey first.


message 37: by Ellen (new)
Nov 26, 2021 06:41AM

Ellen Nataliya, how do I access this feature? I can never figure this out!


message 38: by Tatiana (new) - rated it 3 stars
Dec 19, 2021 05:28AM

Tatiana Every year I feel like my taste in fantasy and sf moves more and more away what is popular in the community. This list makes me sad because there is exactly one item on it that I truly liked🤷‍♀�


message 39: by Sanjida (new) - rated it 4 stars
Dec 19, 2021 06:50AM

Sanjida I think the Hugos are going downhill. Smaller and smaller group of voters. Does anyone think people will think of any of the last few winners as classics of the genre 50 years from now?


message 40: by Sanjida (new) - rated it 4 stars
Dec 19, 2021 06:55AM

Sanjida Almost as bad as the fan-voted ŷ awards. I'm pleasantly surprised when I gave a nominee more than 3 stars.


message 41: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 19, 2021 09:26AM

Nataliya Ellie wrote: "Nataliya, how do I access this feature? I can never figure this out!"

It’s not a feature; it’s just a quasi-book created each year to allow readers to set goals and review the reading year. Just add the book - and you can make an exclusive shelf for it like I did.


message 42: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 19, 2021 09:28AM

Nataliya Tatiana wrote: "Every year I feel like my taste in fantasy and sf moves more and more away what is popular in the community. This list makes me sad because there is exactly one item on it that I truly liked🤷‍♀�"

Some of the popular stuff seems geared towards younger readers, which may be why the rest of us like it less. Other than that, I am not sure what’s going on. Maybe as we read more and more we are getting more genre-savvy?


message 43: by Tatiana (new) - rated it 3 stars
Dec 19, 2021 09:32AM

Tatiana Maybe it’s also that I feel like the same authors show up on these lists years after year, and once I’ve sampled someone’s work and don’t really like the writing style, I won’t go back for more. So it limits what I end up interested in.


message 44: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 19, 2021 09:32AM

Nataliya Sanjida wrote: "Almost as bad as the fan-voted ŷ awards. I'm pleasantly surprised when I gave a nominee more than 3 stars."

Oh, those are a joke.

Sanjida wrote: "I think the Hugos are going downhill. Smaller and smaller group of voters. Does anyone think people will think of any of the last few winners as classics of the genre 50 years from now?"

I voted this year thinking the same thing. A few of the books may actually become classics, but the majority will not. But when I look at past winners, that was often a thing; some of the winners or nominees in the past did not quite deserve a high status. (Now, that’s just about novels, the rest are hit and miss).


message 45: by Kalliope (new) - rated it 5 stars
Dec 23, 2021 02:05AM

Kalliope Happy reading year to you, Nataliya. I also want to read Piranesi....


message 46: by Left Coast Justin (new) - rated it 3 stars
Dec 28, 2021 01:20PM

Left Coast Justin Thank you, Nataliya, for dragging me kicking and screaming into the unique words of LeGuin and Wells. I'm happy to see some overlap in our 2022 TBR's as well. It's been fun!


message 47: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 28, 2021 01:22PM

Nataliya Kalliope wrote: "Happy reading year to you, Nataliya. I also want to read Piranesi...."

Happy reading year to you as well, Kalliope! Piranesi was a good one.


message 48: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 28, 2021 01:23PM

Nataliya Left Coast Justin wrote: "Thank you, Nataliya, for dragging me kicking and screaming into the unique words of LeGuin and Wells. I'm happy to see some overlap in our 2022 TBR's as well. It's been fun!"

You are welcome, Justin! It is time for me to pay it forward in 2022 with reading a few books your reviews inspired me to get.


message 49: by Barbara K (new) - rated it 4 stars
Dec 30, 2021 05:22AM

Barbara K Wow! You were spot on in picking winners, Nataliya. Well done. And actually, congratulations for all the reading you did to participate in this.

And to echo Justin - thanks for introducing me to LeGuin and Wells., though I can't say any kicking and screaming was involved in my case. I'm excited that I haven't finished the Murderbot series yet. It is so much fun that I've intentionally doled it out to myself slowly, the better to savor it. :-)


message 50: by Nataliya (new) - added it
Dec 31, 2021 11:48PM

Nataliya Thanks, Barbara! Always happy to bring more readers to good books!


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