Best Fiction I Read in 2021 ♥️💫 | The Book Castle | 2022

[@sonjadevenney2524]

I absolutely loved Miss Benson’s Beetle. Like you I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the story. One of my best books of 2021 as well.

[@tiffanycorsello1886]

Miss Benson's Beetle- so good!!!!

[@jennifermorrison580]

Miss Benson's Beetle!!! It was so great. It was my number 1 of 2020. This year.. The Paper Palace! Another great video Alice, thanks and Happy New Year. Jen in Toronto

[@TheBookCastle]

It's such a good book! Happy new year

[@katolavson3639]

Yeah totally the same with me, 'Miss Bensons Beetle' and the crying😭😭😅

[@ExpeditionThroughPages]

This Green and Pleasant Land is defo going on my TBR. Ah love that you enjoyed Richard Osman's books, I haven't read them yet, but I really like him so I want to get to them! The Song of Achilles was prob my fave fiction book I read last year, but my fave non-fiction book was Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.

[@TheBookCastle]

Yeees, they're so good! :D

[@stellastar8888]

I love this series by "Hjorth & Rosenfeldt". This year i read the whole series (7 books so far, at least in the german translation) and all of them are in my favorites this year. Now I´m desperately waiting for the next book. This series is just so, so good and every book had these surprising, shocking moments and plot twists. Actually I might reread them all in 2022.

[@TheBookCastle]

It's sooo good, I really need to continue on with it; my colleague just read the latest one that came out in Norwegian and came into work YELLING about how good it was! xD

[@MLLatUtube]

Most of my top reads were fantasy, but one "best of 2021" was The Reading List. It is about books and found family. (The top books were Black Sun, Under the Whispering Door, and Project Hail Mary.)

[@tiffanycorsello1886]

Project Hail Mary!!!! Yes!!

[@-ParisTexas-]

Awesome list. Not what I've seen everywhere. I'm definitely going to check out *The Smoke Hunter* and *Miss Benson's Beetle* . Oh and the Norwegian title. (typing as I'm watching) They sound like excellent books to take on holiday. I'm currently reading *The Thursday Murder Club* and really enjoying it. My favourite reads of last year were (top 10 in no particular order, except for the Andy Weir, that is the best) *Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir, the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, *The White Tiger* by Arvind Adiga, *The Appeal* by Janice Hallett, *Passing* by Nella Larsen, *The Interpreter of Maladies* by Jhumpa Lahiri, *The Secret Lives of Church Ladies* by Deesha Philyaw, *The Red Tent* by Anita Diamant, *The Moonstone* by Wilkie Collins and *Lady Susan* by Jane Austen. I've read some more lighter books in 2021 because I've had some low key reading slumps during the year. But in the end I've read some great books.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! :D You read loads of interesting titles last year for sure :D

[@tiffanycorsello1886]

This was great- love hearing you talk about your favorites! My favorite fiction reads of the year: Overall best book of the year- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. And the following books are close seconds (in no particular order): Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce (of course!!), Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. And I need to buy This Green and Pleasant Land...

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! :D I really need to read A Gentleman in Moscow! :D And I'm reading Hamnet now and it's AMAZING!

[@tiffanycorsello1886]

@@TheBookCastle Yay! Right?! Maggie O'Farrell was such a discovery for me- after Hamnet, I went and bought 3 more of her books!

[@TheBookCastle]

@@tiffanycorsello1886 I haven't even finished Hamnet and I'm itching to go get all of her works xD

[@krissyn.3366]

Happy new year Alice! Excellent picks! I made note of a couple I haven't read yet. Thanks! 💗📚📖

[@TheBookCastle]

Happy new year! :D

[@Angela41541]

i really want to read the thursday murder club series. i see a lot of ppl saying it's amazing. my favourite book from 2021 was probably tin man by sarah winman. it was short by beautiful and heartbreaking. i feel like I have a book like this every year. the one that's about a relationship and it's a bit tragic but still so beautiful. i cried so much in the second part of it. but it was definitely worth it. a close second would be lolita by nabokov. not only is it a very good book, it's also my biggest accomplishment. i have been wanting to read this book for year and in 2021 I finally did it and I'm so proud of myself. it takes a while to get into, but in the end it really is an amazing book

[@TheBookCastle]

It's great! Tin Man is also excellent, I read it a few years ago and loved it. And Lolita is on my TBR for this year! And good for you for finally getting to it, that's so satisfying!

[@Angela41541]

@@TheBookCastle tin man was so good❤️ also after reading lolita I went on like a binge of different lectures and analyses I could find on youtube. it's all so interesting xD

[@morganeua]

Oh wow, I guess I should pick up the second Osman book this year! The first one was so funny and clever, so it's good to hear the second one is even cleverer!

[@morganeua]

I really enjoyed The Library at Mount Char this year, which does have mystery elements! But it's also kind of fantasy/horror and it's kind of humourous.

[@TheBookCastle]

Awesome! :D

[@wondroushaze]

The Song of Achilles is definitely on my list as well 😭💔🥰 I listened to the audiobook and then bought the paperback and THEN they dropped the anniversary edition so I had to get that as well, obviously. I also loved Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman, very heartbreaking and powerful, I can only recommend her books, I read Summer Bird Blue by Bowman in 2020 and loved that as well and honestly I‘ve never heard anyone on booktube talk about her which is a crime! I do have to mention the 4th Heartstopper Volume of course 🥰 that whole series is just amazing! And I really liked Rule of the Wolves by Leigh Bardugo, great ending of the duology! I have the Housekeeper and the Professor on my physical tbr and I can’t wait to read it!

[@2_pencil]

I just read Starfish and loved it!

[@karakask5488]

My favorite books that I read this year were Radio by Tonu Onnepalu, The Snakes by Sadie Jones, and Turning Blue by Benjamin Myers. They're all a bit dark so maybe that is reflective of my mental state this year.

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooh, interesting!

[@irhonda31]

I know that I am going to be rewatching your videos when I need something to read. The last one really grabs me; I hope the English translation is good. I hardly read anything last year, but Anxious People by Frederik Backman was really good.

[@TheBookCastle]

Oh thank you so much!! :D

[@RadioGirLF]

My fave of the year was hands down The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain. I read it in January and it kept its spot the whole year! It's a mother-daughter story with a time travel twist and has the most compelling writing. Other amazing fiction books I loved were: - The Appeal by Janice Hallett (a murder mystery told entirely through mails, chat logs and messages) - Foe by Iain Reid (a mind bending experience) - Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau (coming of age set in the 70s, revolving around music) - Maybe This Time by Jill Mansell (a heart warming love story) - A Piece of The Word by Christina Baker Kline (historical fiction set around a real painting, telling the story of a woman that's on it)

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooh, the Dream Daughter sounds excellent! :D

[@christinacampbellbooks]

I absolutely loved The Thursday Murder Club. It's definitely one of my favourite books of 2021 too. So much so that I bought it for my Dad for Christmas! I think it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. And, I can't wait to read the next book. My boyfriend bought it for me for Christmas. Definitely want to read it soon ☺

[@TheBookCastle]

Me too, it's so good! :D And I bet you'll love the second one as well!

[@victoriaclarke1911]

I loved both Richard osman books - the characters are fantastic- he needs to hurry up and write more😃

[@TheBookCastle]

Totally agree! :D

[@LauraRodriguez-Peace]

Thanks for sharing your faves, Alice. I have enjoyed watching your videos since your channel began, and have really appreciated the excellent descriptions of the books you have read. Here are my faves from 2021. ☮💜📚 Fiction: "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead (2021), "Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles (2021), "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (2021), "The Man Who Died Twice" by Richard Osman (2021), "The Seed Keeper" by Diane Wilson (2021), “The Sentence” by Louise Erdrich (2021) Non-Fiction: "The Anthropocene Reviewed" by John Green (2021), "Seed to Dust" by Marc Hamer (2021), "How the Word is Passed" by Clint Smith (2021), "Code Breaker" by Walter Isaacson (2021), "Finding the Mother Tree" by Susan Simard (2021), "Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe (2021), "Think Again" by Adam Grant (2021), Fave Re-Reads: "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles (2016), "An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014), "Breath" by James Nestor (2020), "Favorite Memories of a Country Vet" by James Herriot (1983), "The Feather Thief" by Kirk W. Johnson (2018) Fave Audiobook: "Taste" by Stanley Tucci (2021) Fave Children's Book: "A Place to Hang the Moon" by Kate Albus (2021) Take care! Happy reading! 😊

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much, especially for being here for so long!! :D

[@safe-keeper1042]

My favourites this year have to be House in the Cerulean Sea and Klara and the Sun.

[@TheBookCastle]

Fantastic

[@anniegravel2383]

My favorite read of 2021 is Pachinko, what a great book! I should probably read The Song of Achilles. I read Circe by the same author and did not really like it so I am hesitant… Love your videos 😊

[@TheBookCastle]

Awesome! :D I feel like Circe and The Song of Achilles are quite different, I felt the Song of Achilles was much more impactful (although I liked Circe too) :)

[@elize3137]

My favorite books from 2021 in no particular order: The Goldfinch The Song of Achilles If We Were Villains and Six of Crows duology (way better than the trilogy so I highly recommend) Edit: I forgot Maurice as my favorite classic from last year

[@TheBookCastle]

Awesome!! :D If We Were Villains is a book I definitely need to get to!

[@Mrs.Moriarty]

On my list ware a lot of favourites from 2021 (19 to be honest) so I only mention my Top Nr.1 and this is The Binding by Bridget Collins. I really loved in which direction the story goes and it suprised me in some way, because I had no clue that this would happen. Its all about the Idea that Books are not fictional, but the memories of People. And if this memory is written down in a book, the People who told the "Author" this memory forgot the same memory and dont know that this had ever existed. Some use this as a opportunity to get rid of bad memories, but also to get money for their memories and there are some who use it as a opporutnity to wipe out what they have done to others. It was such a intense and also interesting Story. I loved Collins Ideas about books, it was so unique and a fresh Idea. But also the Story itself, sometimes really heartbreaking, but also making me happy when I read it. And the Cover is amazing.^^ I read it in German and than bought both editions, the German one and the Original one because the cover is such a beauty.

[@TheBookCastle]

That sounds excellent!! :D

[@MaryAmongStories]

💛🌻

[@TheBookCastle]