So, I fell seven summaries short of telling you about all the the books I read last year. And since I hadn’t finished sharing, I just didn’t bother to give you my ten favorites from 2021. But, there’s nothing like a freebie week for Top Ten Tuesdays over at That Artsy Reader Girl in early April to provide the inspiration to rectify that oversight.

So here are the ten books I most enjoyed reading last year:

1. T.J. Klune’s Under the Whispering Door: In back to back years,  Klune has penned the novel that I loved best. In this one, a grey, unlikeable man dies, but does not move on. A girl comes to collect him and brings him to a cafe, where a gentle bear of a man explains that it is a safe place for him to adjust to being dead, and that when he is ready, upstairs there is a door that leads on. But what happens if in this final wayfinding station between the worlds, he finally finds a life?
2. Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz: If you read the story of Joe, Beth, Meg, and Amy and got to the end and thought, “Perfect! Everyone ended up just with the people they should have!” you can just move along to the next entry. If, on the other hand, you fumed at a woman who’d been dead for 100 years for not letting two obvious characters explore things further, this book, written from the perspectives of Jo (the author of an alternative version of Little Women) and Laurie (her BFF, who knows her better than anyone), might let you explore some of those feelings.
3. Class Act by Jerry Craft: In this companion middle-grade graphic novel to the award-winning New Kid, Craft centers his story on Jordan’s friend, Drew, who is now in seventh grade and his second year at the prep school where he and Jordan are some of the only Black kids enrolled. This year, they’ll deal with colorism, remaining friends with someone whose family has a lot of privilege, and the question about why all the Black kids hang out together, among others. Another beautiful story about aggressions and microaggressions.
4. Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev: In the third of Dev’s The Rajes series, a modern quartet of novels that reimagine some of her favorite Austen novels, but featuring six Indian-American cousins, we focus on the eldest cousin, Yash, who is running for governor of California. After an assassination attempt which lands his bodyguard in a coma, Yash begins to have panic attacks. His sisters convince him to go and see their dear friend, India, who with her mother and sister, runs a yoga studio and is an expert at helping clients deal with mental health issues. Little do they know that he once long ago fell deeply in love with India, only to end up fake engaged to his own childhood friend. Way less soapy than I make it out to be. And, as with all of Dev’s books in this series, inspired by the Austen novel, rather than being a strict retelling.
5. Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli: Set in D.C., this is a sweet contemporary novel about a young woman who’s trying to find her way in the world and succeeding on the face of it, with a kick-ass new position at her dream job. But as a first-generation American, she’s struggling with issues with her parents. She’s also having a hard time making friends — and goes on a couple of hilarious friend-dates during the course of the story. And then there’s her love life — there’s the cute photographer from her sister’s wedding, but there’s also the guy she used to be in love with, who’s subsequent marriage has broken up, but with whom she swears she just wants to rekindle a friendship. Multi-layered and well-thought out. Recommended.
6. Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas: The latest in the Lady Sherlock series, this Christmassy story sees Charlotte, Mrs. Watson, and Lord Ingram having to solve a murder that Inspector Treadles has been accused of. I adore this series and highly recommend it.
7. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez: A cute middle-grade story about a boy, who in his grief at losing his mother a couple years earlier, accidentally found a way to access the multiverse. When he starts at a new school, a girl with an eye for details figures out what’s happening, and they set out on a series of adventures that just might destroy the world.
8. Michelle Obama’s Becoming: The fact that it took me nearly three years to finish listening to this memoir should not remotely count against it. Instead, take away how comforting it was to have Michelle pop in to tell me bits and pieces of her story — a remarkably rewarding life, but not remotely what she would have chosen for herself — over occasional nights washing dishes after being downsized, as I was struggling with a job that asked a lot of me, and, finally, during the pandemic. She’d talk about how infuriating her husband could be, how stressful her jobs had been, and the biggest challenges she’d faced. And I’d feel a little less alone at 3 a.m.
9. Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev: In a tribute to the Jane Austen classic, the second in this interlocking series of four stories about an Indian-American family focuses on Ashna, a chef, who is paired in a celebrity cooking contest with Rico Silva, a soccer star, who just happens to have been her secret high school boy friend — and the boy her father sent away because he wasn’t good enough for her. I love this series and recommend it to everyone.
10. Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson and illustrated by Jenn St. Onge: In this graphic novel adaptation of the famous young sleuth, Nancy is summoned from River Heights by an anonymous note that hints that her mother’s death years before is more than just an accident. Now she’ll need to team up with her old friends, George, Bess, and Joe and Frank Hardy to solve that mystery, another that dates back to the same time as her mother’s, and some that are much more recent. Nancy Drew meets Veronica Mars. Highly enjoyable.

Have you read any of these books? Got any books you’ve read recently that you’ve loved?