This year marks the tenth anniversary of the first time I created a list of top ten books read in a year to share on my blog. It’s been one of my favorite posts to put together each year, and I hope you enjoy reading them! Also according to custom, I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Every year’s list is a bit different, but they usually have a few things in common: they’re typically a hodgepodge of different genres, but frequently see the mystery genre well represented. This year’s list, as you will see, checks both of those boxes! Here are my picks for 2021, in the order they were read over the year:
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
I’d heard Gaudy Night highly praised long before I read it, and it absolutely lived up to its reputation. I’d inadvertently read spoilers for it in Sayers’ The Mind of the Maker years ago, and so I put off reading it for a while in the hope that I might forget the culprit’s name. I didn’t. But I think knowing the basic solution to the mystery may have actually allowed me to be more tuned in to the character development and philosophical themes of the book as I read. Gaudy Night is perhaps even more remarkable as a deep, meditative novel, full of thought-provoking ideas and discussions, than it is simply as a mystery. I feel like it’s a book I will come back to and take away new thoughts on future readings (it would make a terrific choice for a book club discussion).
The Icarus Aftermath by Arielle M. Bailey
If Greek mythology retold as space opera sounds like your cup of tea, you’ll probably love this book. I loved it even though sci-fi is typically something I only read occasionally for a bit of novelty, and even then it tends to be only if I know the author! But though the setting itself is fun, it’s the amazing characters and the depth and vividness of their emotions that are the shining star of the book and the chief reason it gripped me so much. Read my full review here.
Over the Hills and Far Away: The Life of Beatrix Potter by Matthew Dennison
The movie Miss Potter has been a favorite of mine for several years, and probably owing to that, I picked up this biography of Beatrix Potter rather on impulse and found it absorbing. It was interesting to read about the development of her creative work, but the aspect of her life that I found particularly moving was how she gradually overcame the frustration and unhappiness of her isolated, over-sheltered earlier years (her controlling parents seemed to treat her as if she was still a child far into adulthood) and learned to be her own person and shape the course of her own life. So much of her best creative work and her most fulfilling years happened long after what we consider youth. Yet I didn’t receive the impression from this biography of someone “radical” or “rebellious;” just of one woman learning to set boundaries and make the best use of circumstances in her life that she could control.
Dude Ranching: A Complete History by Lawrence R. Borne
This is the super-nerdy entry on my list (there’s usually at least one). I read this for research but found it utterly fascinating. Borne covers every aspect of dude ranching from its origins (further back than you’d think!), the skills and supplies necessary to run a successful dude ranch, how the advent of the automobile and changing concepts of vacationing and entertainment affected the industry in the post-WWII era, and inevitably, how government regulations and changes to the way the national parks were managed in the later 20th century resulted in many dude ranches being forced to close. It’s an intriguing look at how dude ranching was a surprisingly integral part of the Western economy, especially in the decades after the open-range era, and if you’re interested in the subject this is definitely the book to read.
The Diary of a Dude Wrangler by Struthers Burt
This was intended for research too, and I think it was the first time I had to stop and order my own copy of a book before I had even finished reading the library copy. In this beautifully-written memoir, Eastern-born Struthers Burt recounts how he fell in love with the West on visits there as a young man, settled in Wyoming and co-founded a successful dude ranch. It’s filled with colorful anecdotes of ranch guests and native Westerners and animals both wild and domestic, and interspersed with Burt’s musings on topics ranging from hunting and land management to the character and legacy of the West in general. Favorite read of the year.
The Land of Strong Men by A.M. Chisholm
I really enjoyed this Western novel, which, rather surprisingly for something written as late as 1919, feels like it bridges the stylistic transition from the Victorian to Edwardian eras in fiction. The story includes several things I love to see done well: family relationships, especially a conflict-laced relationship between brothers; and that rarest of all plot elements, a romance where the characters actually get married a good ways before the end of the book and finish out the rest of the story as husband and wife! And as applies to Westerns in particular—I really like that while the plot does involve crimes that need to be solved and punished, there is a strong focus on the fact that the ranch-dwelling characters actually spend most of their time working instead of chasing each other around with six-shooters. When the showdown ultimately comes, it realistically reflects the slower pace and strategizing that characterized a pursuit or fight in this type of mountainous terrain. Fire, weather, and wildlife all play well-integrated roles in the story, and a lot of little details ring true.
Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly
I read about halfway through Elizabeth Daly’s Henry Gamadge series this year, and Unexpected Night, the series opener, is still my favorite in terms of plot, though all of them have been enjoyable. There’s a lot to like about the series: it’s set in 1940s New York City and New England and gives you an authentic feel for the time and place that you really only get from books written at that time, and the protagonist being a rare books and handwriting expert, the stories are full of bookish references and often turn on subtle literary or poetic clues. Unexpected Night is set at a Maine summer resort, and involves the apparently accidental death of the young heir to a fortune just hours or moments from his coming of age and coming into his inheritance. Gamadge, a likable, unassuming character, somehow gets drawn into investigating among the residents of a hotel, nearby cottages, and a summer theater held in an old barn on the seashore, in a plot full of clever twists and pleasant humor alongside the suspense.
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
I’d read the first in Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, A Morbid Taste For Bones, earlier in the year and liked it just adequately—but this second book was brilliant. A masterly blend of historical events with murder mystery, wonderful characters, and absorbing suspense. Without spoilers, Peters does a fantastic job of what looks like setting you up to believe one thing, then doing a complete reversal that ends up making total sense. I loved it.
Operation Lionhearted by Maribeth Barber
Yes, you’re seeing that right: two sci-fi novels on my top-ten list in one year! Operation Lionhearted is a different flavor from The Icarus Aftermath but excellent in its own way: a mature-but-clean story with themes of family, friendship, overcoming fear and living bravely, and an intricate plot with lots of political intrigue and just enough action. The central characters have a forthright, uplifting decency and goodness about them, while still being very much human beings with struggles and imperfections, that I think is a rare and refreshing quality to find in fiction. And as just an occasional sci-fi reader, I have to say this is one of the first books I’ve read where the worldbuilding really made sense to me, instead of just conveying an impression of a big vague galaxy out there beyond the immediate scene of the story.
Arrow Pointing Nowhere by Elizabeth Daly
Without spoilers, Arrow Pointing Nowhere has to have one of the most unique, high-concept mystery plots I’ve ever read. I had a correct-ish hunch about just one point, but everything else was satisfyingly complex and baffling. Another thing I like about this series is that it makes excellent use of recurring characters. Gamadge collects a nice circle of assistants and sidekicks who reappear throughout the series to help detect (he even gets married eventually and has his wife join the team, which so few authors ever successfully pull off!), and one of my favorite bits of Arrow Pointing Nowhere is a great sequence featuring his outwardly gloomy but endearingly loyal and chivalrous young assistant, Harold.
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Of this year’s list, only The Land of Strong Men is in the public domain (free on Kindle). One Corpse Too Many was a digital library borrow; Gaudy Night and Over the Hills and Far Away were conventional library borrows, while Dude Ranching and The Diary of a Dude Wrangler not surprisingly required an inter-library loan. The rest were Kindle purchases (excepting Operation Lionhearted, which I had the pleasure of formatting for publication and so was able to read an advance copy).
This October was one of the busiest months, in the sense of pure physical work, of my whole life. Along with being pitchforked into a sudden home redecorating project, one of my sisters and I got part-time jobs at a local farm and pumpkin patch, working several days a week picking pumpkins and gourds, cutting cornstalks, and a variety of other outdoor tasks. I didn’t get very much writing done this month. But I didn’t find it time wasted; on the contrary, I think the mental break and just taking time to absorb new impressions did me good. Working with your hands outdoors, especially if the work is new to you, has a curious way of starting new wheels turning in your mind and making you contemplate all the different angles of what you’re doing. I scribbled a lot in my journal and pondered a lot of ideas both light and serious, and these are a few of the things on which I pondered.