Books Read in 2021

Books are listed in the chronological order I read them. The links in this list are to my reviews – some ‘reviews’ are mini reviews/notes or as parts of composite posts (not all books will be reviewed).

Key:

  • F = Fiction
  • K = Kindle
  • CF = Crime Fiction
  • HF = Historical Fiction
  • LB = library book
  • TBR = book acquired before 1 Jan 2021
  • RB = a review book from author/publisher/NetGalley
  • B = book borrowed from family/friends
  • NF = non-fiction
  • AB = Audiobooks

January

  1. The Measure of Malice: Scientific Detection Stories edited by Martin Edwards 4* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  2. Cruel Acts by Jane Casey 5* CF, F, K, TBR
  3. Exit by Belinda Bauer 4* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  4. The One I Was by Eliza Graham 5* F, HF, K, TBR
  5. The Cutting Place by Jane Casey 3.5* CF, F, K, TBR
  6. English Pastoral by James Rebanks 5* K, NF, RB, TBR
  7. Orlando by Virginia Woolf 4* F, HF, TBR

February

  1. Murder in the Mill Race by E C R Lorac 4* CF, F, K
  2. Don’t Look Now and Other Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier 3* F, TBR
  3. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood 3* CF, F, K, RB
  4. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell 3* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  5. For the Record by David Cameron 3* NF, TBR
  6. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – audiobook 2.5* CF, F

March

  1. The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley 4* F, K, RB, TBR
  2. Checkmate to Murder by E C R Lorac 4* CF, F, K
  3. Girl in the Walls by A J Gnuse 4* F, K, RB
  4. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 4* NF, K, TBR
  5. Not Dark Yet by Peter Robinson 4* CF, F, K
  6. We Are Not in the World by Conor O’Callaghan 2* F, K, RB, TBR

April

  1. A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville 4* F, K, RB, TBR
  2. The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor 4* F, HF, K, RB
  3. A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough 5* NF, K
  4. Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen 5* NF, TBR
  5. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie 4* CF, F, TBR
  6. The Mirror Dance by Catriona McPherson 3* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  7. The Pact by Sharon Bolton 4* CF, F, K, RB
  8. The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville 5*, F, HF, TBR
  9. Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal 4* F, HF, K, RB

May

  1. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson 5* F, K, RB
  2. Inland by Téa Obreht 3* F, HF, K, TBR, RB
  3. Prophecy by S J Parris 4* F, HF, LB

June

  1. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens F, TBR
  2. The Killing Kind by Jane Casey 5* CF, F, K, RB
  3. The Railway Children by E Nesbit 5* F, K
  4. Coming Up for Air by Sarah Leipciger 5* F, K, RB, TBR
  5. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles 3* F, HF, K, RB, TBR
  6. Six Tudor Queens:Katheryn the Tainted Queen by Alison Weir 2* F, HF, K, RB, TBR (29 June)
  7. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris 5* F, HF, TBR

July

  1. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn 3* F, HF, K, RB, TBR
  2. The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge 4* F, TBR
  3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 4* F, K
  4. Enigma by Robert Harris 5* F, HF, K, TBR
  5. The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen 5* K, NF
  6. A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz 4* CF, F, K, RB
  7. Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen 3* F, HF, K, RB, TBR

August

  1. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope 4* F, K, TBR
  2. The Queen’s Spy by Clare Marchant 4* F, HF
  3. The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray 4*NF, K
  4. Dead Tomorrow by Peter James 3* CF, F, K, TBR
  5. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronvitch 4* F, K, TBR

September

  1. Second Place by Rachel Cusk 4* F, K
  2. Index, A History of the by Dennis Duncan 4* NF, K, RB
  3. A Corruption of Blood by Ambrose Parry 5* CF, F, K, RB
  4. Failures of State by Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott 4* NF, K
  5. Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers 4* CF, F, K
  6. Another Journey Through Britain by Mark Probert 4* NF, K

October

  1. The Library of the Dead by T L Huchu 4* F, K
  2. I Love the Bones of You by Christopher Eccleston 5* AB
  3. The Way Home by Mark Boyle 4* NF, K
  4. The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin 4* CF, F, K
  5. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman 1* CF, F, K, RB
  6. How Britain Ends by Gavin Esler NF
  7. And Away … by Bob Mortimer 5* NF, K
  8. Breathtaking by Rachel Clarke 4* NF, K

November

  1. Fludd by Hilary Mantel 4* F, K, TBR
  2. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton – a reread
  3. Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon 3* CF, F, K, TBR
  4. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay 5* F
  5. Country Dance by Margiad Evans 3* F, K, TBR
  6. Just Like the Other Girls by Claire Douglas 3* CF, F, K, RB, TBR

December

  1. The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry 4* LB, NF
  2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 4* F, K, TBR
  3. The Quiet American by Graham Green 4* F, K, TBR
  4. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel 3.5* F HF, K, TBR
  5. The Grand Banks Cafe by Georges Simenon e.4* CF, F, K, TBR
  6. The Fell by Sarah Moss 3* F, K
  7. The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne 3.5* CF, F, K
  8. The Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon 3* CF, F, K, TBR
  9. Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanagh 4* CF. F, K, TBR
  10. Right Said Fred by Andrew Flintoff 4* NF, K