You can tell it’s been a busy year, because not only is this the first time I’ve posted since I wrote this post for 2020, but also I’ve barely managed to scrape in whilst still in January. I would say “must do better”, but I had a frickin baby in 2021, so I think I get away with it.
I’m quite impressed that I still managed to get to 104 books read for the year and that I managed to reach 175 unique countries read, meaning that my goal of eventually reading the world is starting to feel in sight, assuming that I can ever find something to read from San Marino and Nauru that is. It wasn’t the best reading year I’ve ever had, but I still managed to find quite a few worth shouting about. Honourable mentions to Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and The Human Factor by Graham Greene, which were shortlisted but didn’t make my final list. Still well worth a read. And as for the ten that did make it…
10. Hamid Ismailov – Manaschi (translated by Donald Rayfield)
I’d been looking forward to the final volume of the Central Asia trilogy ever since finishing the second and it did not disappoint. Manaschi is set in a border village populated by Tajiks and Kyrgyz, co-existing on the edge of conflict, and explores the clashes between the various cultures through the lens of the Manas, the Kyrgyz national epic. The story moves between modernity (for example, the Chinese workers contracted to work on the local portion of the Belt and Road initiative) and history (the various proverbs which Ismailov peppers the work with), illustrating how history can repeat itself. A fascinating conclusion to a wonderful trilogy. Buy direct from Tilted Axis Press.
9. Cherie Dimaline – The Marrow Thieves
I received this as a present and really wasn’t sure what to expect but was looking for a short book that wouldn’t be too difficult to read – and I ended up being blown away. Set in a dystopian future where humanity has lost the ability to dream, only the indigenous peoples of North America have retained this ability, and their belief that their bone marrow holds the key to this ability has driven them to be hunted by the majority population. The protagonist and their companions are kept forever on the run, searching for their loved ones and in the end, themselves. It’s not an easy read in terms of its themes, but the ending was incredible. Buy direct from Jacaranda Books.
8. Karla Suárez – Havana Year Zero (translated by Christina MacSweeney)
Charco Press have been consistently knocking it out of the park since publishing their first books in 2017 and I don’t think there have been many years since then that I haven’t included at least one of their books in my round up. This year is no exception. Havana Year Zero is set in Cuba following the collapse of the Soviet Union, where our protagonist Julia is in search of a document proving that the telephone was in fact invented in Cuba. She becomes mixed up in a cast of characters who all point the finger at each other, while sex and romance also seek to muddy the waters. Maths, politics, intrigue, what’s not to love? Buy direct from Charco Press.
7. Edith Wharton – The Age of Innocence/The House of Mirth
Okay, this is two books and therefore cheating slightly, but it’s my blog so my rules. I listened to a lot of audiobooks in 2021 because it turns out reading while feeding or holding a baby is not as straightforward as I might have liked, and I discovered the incredible resource which is Librivox – a vast catalogue of public domain audiobooks. Edith Wharton has been my unquestionable favourite so far. Her portrayal of upper class New York in the Gilded Age is striking for its deep understanding of the psychology of her characters and her vivid descriptions of her characters, whose morals are never black or white but always deepest grey.
6. Alexandre Dumas – The Count of Monte Cristo (translated by Robin Buss)
A guy gets framed for a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison on an island castle? Check. Guy manages to escape from said island castle and learn about the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo? Check. Guy spends the rest of his life posing as the Count of said Monte Cristo enjoying his treasure and seeking revenge on those who framed him? Check, check and double check. It’s all deeply silly and requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, but it’s great fun.
5. Ludmila Ulitskaya – The Big Green Tent (translated by either Bela Shayevich or Polly Gannon depending on which bit of the book you look at… no I don’t know either)
Sweeping in its scope and timeframe, The Big Green Tent follows the lives of three friends in Moscow from the 1950s onwards and how they navigate life under the Soviet Union, following their hearts and their art. I was absolutely enraptured, and it’s testament to her skill as a writer that the huge cast of characters remains easy to follow and that the story, which jumps around in time, doesn’t become convoluted. This novel sits in the great tradition of Russian literature and I can’t wait to read more by her.
4. Narine Abgaryan – Three Apples Fell From The Sky (translated by Lisa C. Hayden)
Set in a remote village in Armenia’s mountains, Three Apples Fell From The Sky follows the tight-knit community of Maran through love and sorrow into the modern age. We open with Anatolia Sevoyants convinced she has a fatal illness and preparing for death, not realising that in fact her life has barely begun. This novel made me laugh and sob in turns, and ultimately is, as the front cover advises, “balm for the soul”.
3. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi – The First Woman
The First Woman (published in the US as A Girl Is A Body Of Water) is the latest offering from Ugandan writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and perhaps her strongest yet. It’s a feminist re-telling of the Ugandan story of Kirabo, “the equivalent of Eve in Ugandan mythology”. Raised by her paternal grandparents, Kirabo must search for her mother in order to find out who she really is in this coming of age story that is at once personal and epic in scope. I loved this novel, and it cemented her position as one of my favourite living writers.
2. Olga Tokarczuk – The Books of Jacob (translated by Jennifer Croft)
Speaking of my favourite living writers… I suspect the only shocker in this entry is likely to be that it places at number two rather than number one! The reasoning, other than that my number one is also an incredible work of literature, is that I think I still have a lot more to get out of the Books of Jacob on repeated readings, and right now I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. The scope of this novel is just incredible and I can’t imagine the level of research that must have gone into it, not only in the writing but in Jennifer Croft’s translation, which must have presented a vast array of challenges. The Books of Jacob tells the real-life story of Jacob Frank and his followers, a heretical Jewish-Christian sect in 18th century Central Europe. In some respects it poses more questions than it answers – does Jacob really believe in his message or is he mad? Or has he simply found a route to riches? For someone with little understanding of religion and its history, I found that I spent a lot of time looking things up, but it was an incredible intellectual journey and I look forward to delving deeper. Buy direct from Fitzcarraldo Editions.
1. Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, was one of my favourites the year that I read it and I’d been looking forward to the UK release of Transcendent Kingdom since it was announced. As a story, it couldn’t be more different and really showcases her range as a writer. It follows a Ghanian family in a USA in the grip of an opioid crisis, a protagonist trying to deal with her mother’s mental health at the expense of her own, and is incredibly moving and relatable. I ripped through this at an incredible pace and can’t wait to see what she does next.
So, what’s next for 2022? I just re-read my 2021 post and am amused to see that I planned to read more from my TBR in 2021 rather than buying new books – as you can see from the list above, a lot of books I included were new releases and definitely books I acquired in 2021! So I’m not going to set any bullshit rules for 2022 – whatever will be, will be, and ultimately, I suspect that raising baby will take priority over my reading!
Two in a Teacup 