It was another quiet year for reading, but I did end up finishing 17 books, for an average of 1 or 2 per month. As the clearest indication that the pandemic had finally gotten to my brain, I read the 4 main books in . . . the Twilight Saga. I did not read them when the books and movies first came out, but I thought I’d see if they were really as bad as people now claim. (Spoiler: they aren’t, but they’re not good either.)
Best nonfiction
Light: Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting (5th edition) by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Fuqua. In this (again) uncontested category is an instructive guide to lighting for photographers based on the physics of light. It doesn’t give you step by step directions to light a vase or your Instagrammed breakfast, but it explains why and how you might want to light something a certain way depending on where it is, what it’s made of, and what you want it to look like. Informative and well written, with plenty of example photos.
Best fiction
Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. This last book of the “Crazy Rich . . .” trilogy picks up 2 years after China Rich Girlfriend (and 4 years after Crazy Rich Asians) with the Young family fortune at stake after Nick’s grandmother has a heart attack. It’s as ridiculous as the previous two books, and is overall a fun read. Several threads from the earlier books get tied up, and it’s a satisfying ending to the trilogy.
[Runners up – Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Similar stories of unmarried daughters looking (or not) for love in early 19th century England while dealing with their dysfunctional families, gossipy neighbors, and various vapid acquaintances. Having made it through my entire public school and college career without reading any Austen, I ended up listening to Persuasion (the Spotify recording by Cynthia Erivo) and reading Pride and Prejudice in 2021. I was pleasantly surprised that both were better than I expected.]
Best YA fiction
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. This was an interesting read. It takes place in an alternate 1983 London where a group of magical booksellers keep watch over the city, making sure the myths and monsters of the Old World don’t intrude into the New. While the right-handed deal with the intellectual side of things, the left-handed patrol and fight in the field. When the booksellers (left-handed) Merlin and his sister (right-handed) Vivian find that their jobs intersect with Susan Arkshaw’s search for her father, the three must figure out who Susan’s father is and what he (and Susan) has to do with recent Old World activity threating to disrupt day to day life in London.
Best science fiction
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. Unrelated to the above. I’ve read very little non-YA science fiction by female authors and Le Guin’s works are classics, so I finally picked up The Left Hand of Darkness. It has a D&D adventure/Star Trek exploring strange new worlds feel to it as it describes the Terran Genly Ai’s first contact with the planet Gethen and his quest to convince them to join the Ekumen, a United Federation-type body where the Gethenians will be able to share in the knowledge of the other planets in the Ekumen. Ai’s experiences are interspersed with stories and lore from Gethen that build on the world that Ai discovers. This might be my pick for the best book I read in 2021, and I’ll leave it at that.
Most vampires
And the award for the Most Vampires goes to . . . the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn). [Warning: Spoilers ahead.] If you somehow don’t already know, Twilight is about Bella Swan falling in love with the vampire Edward Cullen, choosing him over the werewolf Jacob Black, and the 2,000 pages of drama that ensues. It’s actually not the worst thing I’ve read, and my main complaint is that Bella might be the most boring character in the history of characters. For vast swaths of the novels, her defining characteristics appear to be 1) she’s really clumsy and 2) she’s really pale. She otherwise seems to have virtually no hobbies, treats her human friends horribly whenever she deigns to spend any time with them at all, and generally whiles away her life cooking for her father Charlie and pining after Edward. If you can get over that, the plot isn’t awful and the unfolding of the vampire/werewolf lore and the action scenes are pretty interesting.
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