My Favourite Books of 2021

[@thebritishbookworm]

The best video of the year! I'm making a pot of tea to watch :D

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Aww, thank you so much! This is the kindest comment ever 😊

[@yasmina_reads]

I agree!

[@BookswithBrittany]

Braiding Sweetgrass is a fav of mine as well. I got so many wonderful recommendations from this video. Thank you!

[@myreadinglife8816]

Carry and Braiding Sweetgrass are both brilliant.

[@janethansen9612]

I really enjoyed White Ivy and A Crooked Tree too. Great list, I feel like I'd like to look up a few of them.

[@whatevermydoodz]

Looking forward to watching this! Also love the eye shadow! That color looks great on you!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Aww, thanks so much!

[@rebecca3762]

google how do i not add 16 books to my basket 🥲🥲🥲

[@SunshineJournals]

Dancing at the pity party made me cry!!

[@sandragreen6346]

Yay, I have been waiting for this 😁

[@evam6961]

I was so busy last year and hardly read any books and wasnt on booktube at all so this video is great way for me to catch up so thank you for making it!

[@arp711]

I have Fault Lines and Win Me Something on my TBR cart and now I'm even more eager to get to them!

[@unboundbookishnotions7373]

Great recommendations! I want to High House and White Ivy for sure!

[@kittygbooks]

I picked up Sitting Pretty on audio as that certainly sounds like my thing. Inferno sounds so interesting so I may get that with my next audio credit too! Sounds really smart and scary and interesting. Loved learning your tops of the year as always :) I’m finally getting back into watching and making Booktube videos so this long one was a lovely one to chill with and enjoy!

[@ellentaggart5796]

Last year, I read A Room Called Earth, A Crooked Tree and Fault Lines based on your reviews and they all made it onto my best books of 2021. It's safe to say that I now have high hopes for all of the other books on your favourites list! The ones that I am most excited for are White Ivy, Win Me Something, Dancing at the Pity Party and The Paper Palace, but I am planning to read pretty much all of them at some point. Sitting Pretty was also one of my 2021 favourites, but Jen Campbell's channel gets the credit for me reading that one. Thank you for all of the amazing recommendations. Your videos are always the best, even if I do wind up with significantly less money in my bank account afterwards :)

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Hahaha, sorry for your bank balance! Thanks so much for the lovely comment 😊 it makes me so happy to know you picked those books up and enjoyed them!

[@LaurenAndTheBooks]

My library request list THANKS YOU! xx

[@crystaljohnson3831]

I’m so glad you loved Braiding Sweetgrass. I was the person or one of them to tell you about it. I have listen to it and Gathering Moss twice. Wonderful books, I wish she had more.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Thanks so much for convincing me!

[@noaattali8425]

I loved the secret history, I'd love to try white ivy!! and many of the others as well because you speak about them so beautifully. This year conversations with friends was one of my most memorable and favorite reads, I think it was based on your recommendations from a while ago that I first wanted to read both Donna Tartt and Sally Rooney, you are the best! Also it's so nice to see you this cheerful in this video

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Aww, thanks for such a lovely comment 😊 conversations with friends is great! I'd love to reread that and the Secret history this year!

[@zuzanatimulakova5041]

I started listening to Fault Lines on audio today and so far I love it a lot! The narrator is wonderful. I have A Crooked Tree, The White Ivy, We Are All Birds of Uganda and The Color of God on my wishlist thanks to your great reviews! And I just added The High House and Carry and Inferno too.☺️ I hope I’ll manage to read them this year!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yay, I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying Fault Lines! And I hope you enjoy the others when you get to them 😊

[@nadiazeemeeuw8650]

I read 3 books from your list because of your reviews during a year - A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan, A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion and The High House by Jessie Greengrass. Loved all three of them. Thank you very much, Mercedes! I adore this kind of video you do.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed them all so much 😀

[@FHMS97]

i see so many of my favourite books here!! Inferno, Fault Lines (which i picked up on your recommendation), White Ivy! im hoping to get to Carry and The Colour of God soon - they just sound so good!! and Win Me Something wasnt initially on my radar but now it definitely is 😊

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Glad to hear you enjoyed Inferno, Fault Lines and White Ivy so much!

[@WhoaThereMama]

Robin Wall Kimmerer 10000% has the best voice ever. The Gathering Moss audiobook felt like a meditation

[@bookishsabrina]

Love to see that we have some overlap in favorites, and you definitely made me interested in a bunch of other things! I've been unknowingly seeing The Paper Palace at work all of the time, but I was very judgemental of the US cover and thought it wouldn't be a book for me. You've made me want to reconsider! :]

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yeah, The Paper Palace has a pretty meh cover in both the US and the UK!

[@Wolfhailstorm]

I am really enjoying this Mercedes! I'm going to have to pull up a notebooks and write down every book you talk about haha! Fortunately I have a few of these already! I just have to get to it!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I'd love to hear your thoughts if you get to any of them!

[@michelleyoung6672]

I’ve immediately ordered Carry, White Ivy and Inferno. I read the Tall House, Fault Lines and Braiding Sweetgrass which were all highlights. Always make sure I check out your review of the year as it’s a goldmine.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yay! So glad to hear that 🙌 I hope you enjoy them!

[@pastorytime2683]

Love your list!!! 💃💃

[@jennafra]

White Ivy was also my favourite book of the year.

[@TalibHOB]

After what you've said about inferno I'm gonna definitely read it and will read it in February itself ❣️

[@ThatsSoPoe]

Dancing at the Pity Party made my best of the year list too! And one of my favorite memoirs from this year was Golem Girl by Riva Lehrer, which I think you might enjoy too. She grew up in the 1960s in the U.S. with Spina Bifida and became an artist & disability activist in her adulthood.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I got Golem Girl for Christmas so I'm glad to hear you recommend it :)

[@bookwormkara]

We do also call it private school if you have to pay tuition to go, public is free☺️ thanks for your video! I'm very interested in The Paper Palace and hadn't heard of it so I'm excited 🎉

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I'm such an idiot. It's us I'm the UK that call schools you pay for public school 🤣

[@bookwormkara]

@@MercysBookishMusings don't worry if be confused too! And now I learned something ☺️

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

I especially love the sound of Fault Lines, We Are All Birds of Uganda, and The Color of God. I'm also so intrigued by your description of The High House but I really didn't like the author's previous book Sight (although that was essentially a plotless novel so they might be very different), so I'm conflicted!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yes, Sight sounds so different! I wasn't interested in it when it came out but now I'll read it just because I loved The High House so much.

[@SpringboardThought]

Great list. I have a few of these, also loved a few of these, like The Paper Palace. Some I can’t even get here yet. As is the way with UK releases here in Canada.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yeah, same here in reverse. Its such a shame because so many books sound amazing that we can't get! Glad to hear you liked The Paper Palace 😊

[@cookcreateread]

I should not have watched this video! I read King of Rabbits (I think because of your review earlier in the year) and absolutely loved it and wish more people were talking about this. Also read and loved Inferno. I own The Paper Palace, and have added pretty much all the others to my wishlist! Thank you (I think?!) :)

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Hahaha, I hope you enjoy them when you get to them!

[@labyrinthmandala]

Great video, Mercedes! To answer your question, in the U.S. a public school is the “free” (tax-payer funded) option. Private school is a choice that parents must pay for.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Hahah, yeah I got it the wrong way round! We call the school you pay for public school which makes no sense!

[@SavidgeReads]

I must read King of Rabbits. I bought The Paper Palace on your rave review in your December wrap up. I need to get Black Queer Hoe. I’ve dusted White Ivy off to read in the next few weeks too. I thought Inferno was really brilliant. Fab list.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I feel like you might love King of Rabbits!

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Ever read a book and imagine it as a film? As you were describing Fault Lines and We Are All Birds of Uganda, I was casting the films in my mind.I wonder if they ever will be made into films? I haven’t read any of the books on your list. I now have a long list of books I’ve missed from watching booktubers top books list.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

You're right, they do both sound v cinematic 😊

[@rosegreensummer]

i fancy the debut novels

[@mehreenali5475]

Yay I'd been waiting for this video! Let me cancel everything to watch.

[@leeh4343]

Been wondering what books would make the cut 😊 Fault Lines made it into my top 10 of last year, loved it so much that I had to have my own copy having picked it up from the library initially.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Glad to hear you liked it so much! What else made it to your top 10?

[@leeh4343]

@@MercysBookishMusings in no particular order 😊 Nest - Inga Simpson The Yellow Bird Sings - Jennifer Rosner Dignity - Alys Conran Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few - Becky Chambers Frostheart - Jamie Littler The Midnight Library - Matt Haig Tiddas - Anita Heiss A Kind of Spark - Elle McNicoll No non fiction which is a bit unusual for me 😊

[@MercysBookishMusings]

@@leeh4343 ohh, lots there I haven't read so I'll have to look into them 😊

[@Samalys71]

Public school is free in the US. K-5th is elementary school, 6th-8th is middle school, and highschool is 9th-12th. There aren't really junior high schools anymore. If you pay for your child to go then it's private education. By law children have to be enrolled in school by aged 6. You can drop out at 16. You have to be "done" (so if you've been held back or moved a lot or other special circumstances) before turning 21. However, you're considered an adult at 18. Weird laws 🤷 just an fyi 😁 XX

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I'm such an idiot. It's us I'm the UK that call schools you pay for public school 🤣 When I was at school you could drop out at 16 but they changed it after I left to 18. But you can go to a vocational college if you prefer and study a trade like carpentry or hairdressing. So there's lots of choice 😊

[@Samalys71]

@@MercysBookishMusings you're not an idiot! There are trade school options here too! You can graduate HS with an associate's degree or trade license like cosmetology or welding or vet tech assistance.

[@kellyrosen1]

The High House was also one of my favourites from last year. It is the best book about climate change that I have ever read and I don't understand why I haven't been seeing it everywhere.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Same! I've hardly heard anyone talk about it!

[@readingwithlaurane2490]

50 minutes? I'm supposed to get some work done today...

[@malenahaarhaus8847]

You made me interested in reading almost every one of the books. I have a question. When an American book is published in the uk, will the American English be changed into British English?

[@MercysBookishMusings]

No, that happens v rarely and I think more commonly with children's or teen books.

[@acaciairving]

We call school you pay for privet too. There are some religious schools that are public kinda of but like you need to be part of the religious community. And the education is completely different

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I'm such an idiot. It's us I'm the UK that call schools you pay for public school 🤣