My 2021 Reading List

Hello friends! Happy Tuesday!

Today we are talking about books. I’ve been watching a lot of Booktube (Book Youtubers) this year and I have a huge list of books that I want to read. My reading goal for the year is 12, one book for each month, and so I’ve narrowed down my list to the 12 books that I want to read (or have read) this year!

At the end of each quarter, I’m going to be doing a recap video on my Youtube Channel with all of the books that I’ve read in those months. I also like to put book reviews on here, so stay tuned for that. If you want to keep up with my reading as it goes, I’m on GoodReads and Storygraph (mayacatherinecreative).

Let’s jump in!

The Hunting Party

By: Lucy Foley

7 long-time friends take a trip to the Scottish highlands for New Year’s Eve. When they take up residence at this remote lodge, things start to unravel between the group, made worse by the discovery that one of the friends has been murdered.

I have read this one already and I enjoyed it! The writing wasn’t my favourite but the mystery was great and the plot twist definitely got me!

Hearts at Stake

By: Alyxandra Harvey

The Drake family is one of the longest surviving lineages of vampires. Solange, the youngest daughter and the only daughter born to the Drake Family for centuries, is about to go through the blood-change and become a vampire. However, many other vampire families don’t want this to happen.

I read this series a long time ago and chose this book to fulfill the “teenage favourite” prompt on the RAD Reads Reading Challenge. It isn’t as good as I thought it was as a teen but I jumped right back into that vampire world.

What we All Long For

By: Dionne Brand

When Tuyen’s family fled Vietnam during the war, one family member, the youngest boy, was lost. Fast-forward to many years later where the family has been living in the regret of losing this child. Is it possible that this child could still be alive? The story follows Tuyen and her friends Carla, Oku, and Jackie as they deal with their own family issues, living as the Canadian-born members of their immigrant families, and struggling with anonymity in the large city of Toronto, Ontario.

This is not a book that I would likely have picked up on my own. It was the second pick in the Boring Little Girls Club Book Club and while I am glad that I read it, it is definitely a strange read. I think that I’ll do a separate blog post on this book, so stay tuned for that.

Lore

By: Alexandra Bracken

Every 7 years, the Greek Gods are forced to return to Earth as mortals during the Agon. This 7-year tradition is Zeus’ punishment to the gods for betraying him. The gods must walk the earth as mortals while avoiding the hunters of other bloodlines who desire to kill them. If a mortal successfully kills a god, they take on the godly powers and live as a god until they are next defeated. Lore thought that she would be able to get out of her own family bloodline, but now the gods are coming for her. If she chooses to rejoin the fight, it might be the end of her and the god that she binds with.

Alexandra Bracken is one of my favorite authors, this girl can write. Like everyone my age, my childhood was shaped by Greek mythology because of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This book is definitely more confusing than those were (I’m about 70 pages in), but I like it so far and it is a very unique story. This is a highly anticipated release so go get your hands on it!

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful

By: Sarah Wilson

The author details her journey through anxiety and other diagnoses and how she came to embrace her anxiety and learn from it.

When I saw this on TikTok, I knew that I had to add it to my collection. As someone who struggles with anxiety and how it exists in my life, I definitely want to get to the point where I learn to live along side it, without it controlling me. This book has already given me a lot to think about and I’m only two chapters in!

The Vanishing Half

By: Brit Bennett

Growing up in the deep south, The Vignes twins were always known for their race. Now, they live separate lives, one with her black daughter in the town she grew up in, and the other with her white family across the country. The book juxtaposes race and the reality for black people from the 1950s to the 1990s in the United States.

I can’t believe that I haven’t read this book yet, you guys! It’s the read for another book club that I’m in for March, so I will be picking this book up next month. I feel like it’s a must-read to better understand the dynamics of race. Definitely looking forward to this one.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

By: Gail Honeyman

“Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her timetabled life, where week0end mostly consist of frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with her Mummy. But everything changes when she meets Raymond, the bumbling IT guy from her office, whose big heart will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.”

I have a huge long list on my phone with books that I’ve heard about and want to read. I sent that list to my parents for Christmas and this is one of the books that they chose for me. I really don’t know much about this book but I can already tell from the summary that I’m going to like Eleanor.

The Silent Patient

By: Alex Michaelides

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. One evening her husband returns home from work and she shoots him 5 times. She refuses to speak another word, which captures the interest of criminal psychologist Theo Faber. He is determined to understand her story and find out why she did what she did.

The Silent Patient was one of the most talked-about books last year, between the Youtubers that I watch and the Tiktoks that I’ve seen. This was another one that I added to my list and I got it for Christmas as well. I think that this is going to be a heavy book to read, but I can’t wait to jump in.

Dancing with Elephants

By: Kalyn Nicholson

This collection of poems is deep-dive into Kalyn’s journal. The book deals with topics including love, heartbreak, travel, and self-discovery.

I’ve been a fan of everything that Kalyn Nicholson has done for years and I own all three of her books. I’m not the biggest poetry fan, but I need to check off the “poetry” category of my RAD Reads Challenge. I’m so ready to read more of her stunning words and stories.

The Midnight Library

By: Matt Haig

(TW: Suicide)

The Midnight Library is the place that exists between life and death. It enables visitors to see all of the ways that their life could possibly go if they choose to stay alive and see how life would have gone if they’d made different choices. Before Nora, a girl who has lived her life with so much misery and regret, can leave the Midnight Library, she has to answer the question: what is the best way to live?

This is another newer release that has been getting a lot of attention recently. I am so intrigued by the concept of the novel and the idea of being able to see how your life would play out if you weren’t around. I think that this will be a difficult read, but I hope that it will really shine a light on the ideas of suicide and living with regret.

Wilder Girls

By: Rory Power

The Raxter Girls School has been in quarantine for 18 months. The school has been terrified by The Tox, something that killed off the teachers and turned the students against each other. It has made the woods around the school extremely dangerous. But when Hetty’s friend goes missing, she goes into the woods to find him and discovers much more than a lost friend.

My mind is screaming at me that we’re living in a pandemic, in quarantine, and that the last thing we need to read about is a pandemic. BUT THE CONCEPT OF THIS BOOK IS SO INTERESTING. I’m also obsessed with private boarding schools. I’ve been thinking about this book for months since I first heard about it and I placed an order for it yesterday.

Honestly Ben

By: Bill Konigsberg

“Ben Carver is back to normal. He’s working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He was just elected captain of the basketball team. He’s even won a full scholarship to college if he can keep up his grades. All this foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past. Except… There’s Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighbouring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There’s his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure is higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there’s Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else… and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.”

This is the sequel that I didn’t know existed to one of my favorite books of all time; Openly Straight. I read Openly Straight a long time ago, but it was one of the first times that I felt truly moved by an author and a story. One of the prompts that I need to fill is a backlisted read from a favourite author, and this one fits the bill! I’m excited to get back into the world and see how I feel about it nearly 10 years after reading the first one.

What books are on your reading list this year? Let me know by commenting below or messaging me on Instagram!

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