The Ultimate List of the Best Books of 2021

The Ultimate List of the Best Books of 2021 If you want to read the books that offer people the much-needed comfort in uncertain times, read on below for our list of powerful page-turners.

1. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” Jeffers’ first novel, is a compelling coming-of-age epic, an investigation of race, and an excavation of American history all at the same time. It alternates between the narrative of Ailey Pearl Garfield, a Black girl growing up at the turn of the twentieth century, and the “songs” of her forefathers.

2. The Earthspinner by Anuradha Roy Memory, history, migration, home, and the character of the artist, in whom all of these preoccupations intersect to produce something rich and odd, are among the themes explored in Anuradha Roy’s fifth novel. Elango is a potter, and every time he works, he transforms dead clay into a living artwork.

3. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut Labatut deftly weaves together the lives of some of the greatest intellectuals of the twentieth century to illustrate both the ecstasy and agony of scientific breakthroughs: their enormous societal benefits as well as their high human costs. This astonishing blend of fiction and nonfiction also creates the tension of a long true-or-false test: as we read, the boundary between reality and fabulism becomes increasingly blurred.

4. Names of the Women by Jeet Thayil Jeet Thayil reclaims the stories of Mary Magdalene and 14 other women who gave birth to, cooked for, bathed the prophet’s feet, served to him, and witnessed him, but were easily forgotten by the men who penned the gospels.

5. The Odd Book of Baby Names by Anees Salim The Odd Book of Baby Names is a wonderful celebration of absurdity in which the writer vanishes and life takes control.