Books of the Year 2021

As part of the end-of-year round-up, I can once again present a list of books read in the past year.

Here is the list:

1. "Sharpe's Siege", by Bernard Cornwell
2. "Starsight", by Brandon Sanderson
3. "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything", from Wizards of the Coast
4. "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Merry Rise of Skywalker", by Ian Doescher
5. "White Oleander", by Janet Fitch *
6. "Tome of Beasts II", from Kobold Press
7. "Sharpe's Revenge", by Bernard Cornwell
8. "The Alchemist", by Paulo Coelho *
9. "The Star Wars Book", by Pablo Hidalgo, Cole Horton, and Dan Zehr
10. "Sword of Destiny", by Andrzej Sapkowski
11. "Sharpe's Devil", by Bernard Cornwell
12. "Exploring Eberron", by Keith Baker
13. "Blood of Elves", by Andrzej Sapkowski
14. "The Gates of Athens", by Conn Iggulden
15. "The Dwarves", by Markus Hietz
16. "Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection", by Rev. W. Awdry **
17. "Sharpe's Tiger", by Bernard Cornwell
18. "The Good Earth", by Pearl S. Buck *
19. "The Poisonwood Bible", by Barbera Kingsolver *
20. "Time of Contempt", by Andrzej Sapkowski
21. "Sharpe's Triumph", by Bernard Cornwell
22. "Firefly: The Ghost Machine", by James Lovegrove
23. "A Murder of Quality", by John Le Carré
24. "Kane and Abel", by Jeffrey Archer *
25. "Baptism of Fire", by Andrez Sapkowski
26. "Children of Húrin", by J.R.R. Tolkien
27. "Sharpe's Fortress", by Bernard Cornwell
28. "The Diviners", by Margaret Laurence *
29. "The Last Druid", by Terry Brooks
30. "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" *
31. "The Killings at Kingfisher Hill", by Sophie Hannah
32. "Sharpe's Trafalgar", by Bernard Cornwell
33. "The Hobbit", by J.R.R. Tolkien * **
34. "Tower of the Swallow", by Andrzej Sapkowski
35. "Sharpe's Prey", by Bernard Cornwell
36. "The Mists of Avalon", by Marion Zimmer Bradley *
37. "The Massacre of Mankind", by Stephen Baxter
38. "Warlord", by Bernard Cornwell
39. "The Notebook", by Nicholas Sparks *
40. "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", by Suzanne Collins
41. "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", from Wizards of the Coast
42. "Rebel", by Bernard Cornwell
43. "Firefly: Generations", by Tim Lebbon
44. "Broken Homes", by Ben Aaronovitch
45. "The Summer Tree", by Guy Gavriel Kay *
46. "Troubled Blood", by Robert Galbraith
47. "Lady of the Lake", by Andrzej Sapkowski
48. "The Monogram Murders", by Sophie Hannah
49. "Copperhead", by Bernard Cornwell
50. "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants", by Ann Brashares *
51. "Season of Storms", by Andrzej Sapkowski
52. "Closed Casket", by Sophie Hannah
53. "Troy", by Stephen Fry
54. "Incompetnece", by Rob Grant
55. "Battle Flag", by Bernard Cornwell
56. "The Time-Travelling Caveman", by Terry Pratchett
57. "New Spring", by Robert Jordan
58. "The Bloody Ground", by Bernard Cornwell
59. "Good Omens", by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

So that's 59 books in total. That includes 12 books from The List, one of which was a reread. There are 4 RPG books, and either 4 or 5 re-reads - I think I've read all the "Thomas the Tank Engine" stories before, but I'm not absolutely certain about every single one. There are 2 books for Funsize/Surprise!. One of the things I need to do more of next year is reading to Surprise! - I read to Funsize almost every single day, but need to do the same for both.

There were a number of really good books this year, but I'm naming "Kane and Abel" book of the year. Special note should go to the Sharpe series, and also "The Time-Travelling Caveman", since this is the third time I've read the very last Terry Prachett book. And also Shakespeare, of course, mostly because it represents the final book in the UK side of The List.

Sadly, there have also been some stinkers this year, but I'm not going to name a particular one as the outright worst. However, I need to make a special mention of "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", which was the book that knocked the final nail on the coffin of my love for D&D. In isolation it wouldn't have been enough to do that job, but it did serve as a final straw.

And that's that. My goal for 2022 is another 60 books, ideally including all eight remaining books from The List (US side) - it would be nice to finally have that done.