21 Books to Read in 2021Like this list

21 items

• The Four Winds

  Hannah, Kristin,

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  Set during the Great Depression era--Texas, 1934. The heroine has to make the daunting choice to fight for her land or flee to California. Available in other formats.

• The Fifth Season

  Jemisin, N. K.

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  A end-of-the-world, fantasy novel about a woman who has to fight other nations for basic resources. Available in other formats.

• Persepolis

  the Story of a Childhood

  Satrapi, Marjane, 1969-

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  A memoir told in a graphic novel format is about Marjane Satrapi's life while growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

• The Nickel Boys

  a Novel

  Whitehead, Colson, 1969-

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  A black boy grows up in Tallahassee during the 1960s, and is wrongfully sentenced to a juvenile reformatory. They treat the boys terribly, and it's based on a real all-boys reform school that operated for over 100 years. Available in other…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Quiet

  the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

  Cain, Susan

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  Cain explains why the world shouldn't exclude introverts. There have been many famous introverts who have changed the world. Available in other formats.

• This Tender Land

  a Novel

  Krueger, William Kent,

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  Two brothers are the only white kids in an Indian Training School, a place where Native American children are forcibly taken from their parents. They flee with a few other kids, and the reader gets to follow their chaotic journey.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Letters From An Astrophysicist

  Tyson, Neil deGrasse,

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  Tyson answers 100 letters that he has received from people, old and young. Available in other formats.

• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

  a Novel

  Vuong, Ocean, 1988-

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  This is a letter to a Vietnamese mother who can't read from her son. He explains their family history from before he was born. Available in other formats.

• The Death of Vivek Oji

  Emezi, Akwaeke,

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  Set in Nigeria, a mother opens her door to find her son dead on her doorstep. The reader goes back and learns what exactly happened to a boy no one really knew. Available in other formats.

• My Dark Vanessa

  a Novel

  Russell, Kate Elizabeth,

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  A young girl has an affair with her English teacher, and now has to decide if she should speak up or claim that she "willingly" engaged in the act. Available in other formats.

• Transcendent Kingdom

  Gyasi, Yaa,

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  A neuroscience student would like to scientifically discover why there is so much suffering around her. Available in other formats.

• Girl, Woman, Other

  A Novel

  Evaristo, Bernardine

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  Stories about twelve black and British people. It tells about their families, romances, and friendships. Winner of the 2019 Man Booker Prize. Available in other formats.

• The Push

  a Novel

  Audrain, Ashley, 1982-

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  A psychological drama about a woman who found the experience of motherhood is not what she expected. Available in other formats.

• Black Is the Body

  Stories From My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, and Mine

  Bernard, Emily, 1967-

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  A memoir exploring what it was like to grow up as a black girl in the south with a family name inherited from a white man.

• Detransition, Baby

  a Novel

  Peters, Torrey,

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  Three women--transgender and cisgender--collide with each other after an unexpected pregnancy. Available in other formats.

• Klara and the Sun

  Ishiguro, Kazuo

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  A story about our changing world and what it means to love through the eyes of an Artificial Friend. Available in other formats.

• A Burning

  Majumdar, Megha,

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  Set in contemporary India, three characters try their hardest to rise up to middle class. Their lives intertwine after a catastrophe. Available in other formats.

• Homeland Elegies

  a Novel

  Akhtar, Ayad,

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  Fact and fiction about what it means to belong in a world that was created after 9/11.

• The Vanishing Half

  Bennett, Brit,

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  Sisters grow up in a southern black community before they run away when they're sixteen. One lives as a black woman, and one passes for white. What happens when their children grow up? Available in other formats.

• The Beauty in Breaking

  a Memoir

  Harper, Michele,

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  Michele Harper is an emergency physician who learns how to heal herself while working a life of service.