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12 books NPR staffers loved in 2021 that might surprise you

Mia Estrada

In what has become an annual tradition, NPR's staff and regular book critics bring you a mighty year-end guide of Books We Love . In 2021, you can find more than 360 recommendations ranging from cookbooks to realistic fiction and from graphic novels to tell-all tales.

Here are the Books We Love: 360+ great 2021 reads recommended by NPR

Here are a handful of some of the most interesting staff picks — you may even find some choices that surprise you! — like The Secret History of Home Economics and Fat Chance, Charlie Vega.

We hope you enjoy our full slate of selections — and take some time to browse through for awhile!

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

" Build Your House Around My Body begins with the disappearance of a young woman named Winnie, and works its way backwards through time, telling a story of unfinished business and long-delayed revenge. Some of its set pieces are familiar from Hollywood horror movies and Brothers Grimm fairy tales – there's an exorcism and a haunted forest. But because this book is set in Vietnam, the forest is an overgrown rubber tree plantation and the exorcism doesn't have crucifixes or holy water. It's a sprawling novel that tells a ghost story spanning generations, drawing the reader into its supernatural world." — Ari Shapiro , host, All Things Considered

Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood

"Billed as 'One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World,' this fascinating, exhaustively researched and gorgeously written tome delves deep into the background of everything from D.W. Griffith's monstrous silent Birth of a Nation , to teenager Darnella Frazier's video of the murder of George Floyd. If you've ever wondered why you can't see the Sidney Poitier/Dorothy Dandridge Porgy and Bess , or why Spike Lee had to borrow money to fly to Cannes to win Best Young Director for She's Gotta Have It , or why ... nah, I should stop. So many treasures to unearth, you'll want to do it yourself." — Bob Mondello , movie critic, Culture Desk

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

"Michelle Zauner's debut memoir eloquently lays out the complexity and the ongoing grief of losing a parent in your 20s, just as your own life is about to start. Zauner, who heads the indie band Japanese Breakfast, writes about how she turned to Korean food as a way to process her grief when her mother, her only tie to Korean culture, died of cancer. The book, which was first excerpted as viral New Yorker essay in 2018, reflects on how cooking and eating the food that her mom once prepared gives her a way to connect to her identity. As someone who also lost a parent in my 20s, it's hard to convey the loss of identity and confusion that I faced, so I'm so thankful this book exists." — Alyssa Jeong Perry , producer, Code Switch

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

"I'm glad there's a wave of YA books with fat protagonists, but the characters often possess a level of self-confidence that's too good to be true. Crystal Maldonado has created a much-needed believable protagonist with teenage and adult readers. Charlie Vega is a fat, glasses-wearing, biracial Puerto Rican with a diet-pushing mother and a beautiful, athletic best friend. When her classmate Brian pursues a romantic relationship, Charlie is plagued with-self doubt. The book is propelled by conflicts both internal and external. I'm glad this book isn't body-positive escapism, but rather a well-observed story of fat teenage life." — Jessica Reedy , producer/editor, Pop Culture Happy Hour

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

"Kristen Radtke looks at the science of loneliness and its presence in American society – and interweaves it with poignant stories from her own life. She dives into its evolutionary purpose while retracing the surprising places where loneliness comes up: in TV laugh tracks, in the much-venerated lone cowboys in American pop culture. All the while, she shares her own brushes with isolation – mourning the end of a TV series, scrolling through her phone in bed, witnessing the death of her grandmother. It's a deeply engaging, masterful work of science and heart, and incredibly timely as the pandemic continues on." — Malaka Gharib , deputy editor, Goats and Soda, author of I Was Their American Dream

Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) by Dan Ozzi

"Let breathe new dawn - this art is dead / No sense of original thought in the mainstream" goes a lyric in the opening track of Against Me!'s first major-label album – one I (wrongly) thought sucked before ever having heard it, simply because it was on a major label. In Sellout , Dan Ozzi examines this intersection among bands trying to make a mark in the world, music labels hoping to make a buck off them and fans feeling betrayed by their idols. Even if you never spent time on punknews.org arguing about the taxonomy of "folk punk," it's a question that exists in every art form: How much is it worth to get paid? — Andrew Limbong , reporter, Culture Desk

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

Code Switch

To love and not forgive.

"Ashley Ford's riveting memoir is an honest, heartbreaking story about her father's incarceration and the resulting family trauma. Her story is about race and family and about how the choices we make, plus those forced upon us, can complicate the trajectory of our lives. Ford writes with a refreshing and riveting candor. As a fellow Hoosier, I found the book particularly compelling because it is not only a coming-of-age Midwestern tale with all the typical concerns about body image and mother-daughter tension, but also a sharp commentary on the harsh realities of growing up as a Black person in Indiana. Ford also gives us an important glimpse of how prison shapes the daughters left behind." — Asma Khalid , White House correspondent, Washington Desk

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Book Reviews

Intimacy is nothing to be ashamed of in helen hoang's powerful new romance.

"Anna Sun is a talented violinist in the Bay Area whose disappointing boyfriend springs a proposal on her: an open relationship. While processing her boyfriend's request and battling a creative block, Anna meets Quan and wonders if he might be the real deal. I love this book because it deals with issues that feel really relevant to today, such as creative burnout, bad boyfriends and neurodivergence, which Helen Hoang explores through these deeply rich and heartfelt characters." — Candice Lim , production assistant, Pop Culture Happy Hour

The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life by Kyle Beachy

"The year 2021 is the year of skateboarding. The "rebel" pursuit was transformed into an Olympic sport. Thrasher magazine, skateboarding's bible, turned 40. And many have picked up skateboards for the first time. So The Most Fun Thing couldn't have come at a better time. Kyle Beachy is a longtime skater and writing professor. His memoir, compiled from essays that span a decade, ponder the meaning of skateboarding. "What percentage of skateboarding, I wonder, is talking about skateboarding?" he writes. "Half, probably. There is such rich joy to be found in these debates without stakes." Even as they "go nowhere, slowly." — Milton Guevara , production assistant, Morning Edition

The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Dreilinger

"The secret's out! Before I read this book, home economics was just a class that I took in junior high with the aptly named Mrs. Housekeeper. But in reading this book, I discovered that in the early 20th century, the field provided jobs for women in the sciences, corporations and government. And despite a flirtation with the eugenics movement, it was an area in which Black women could, and did, make significant contributions. Danielle Dreilinger also makes the case that cooking and managing a budget are invaluable lessons for all children and should still be part of the school curriculum. — Emiko Tamagawa , senior producer, Here & Now

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

"I'm among the weirdos who responded to the pandemic by upping my workouts, which made Alison Bechdel's latest graphic novel feel unexpectedly timely. A lifelong fitness freak, who's embraced everything from martial arts to mountaineering, Bechdel applies the same rigor to her analysis of her quest for a mind/body connection, which contains the sort of psychoanalytic layers, self-deprecating charm and ambitious complexities her fans have come to expect." — Neda Ulaby , correspondent, Culture Desk

Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of Desire by Tracy Clark-Flory

"As a woman, dating men is kind of exhausting – especially when you consider all of the ways women's understanding of our own sexuality is shaped by the male gaze. In her new memoir, Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of Desire, Jezebel writer Tracy Clark-Flory unpacks the different ways women are taught to be passive objects of lust, rather than active participants in sex. Through a combination of personal stories, previous reporting and feminist theory, Clark-Flory decodes the messy yet massively rewarding journey of taking agency over one's pleasure, with or without a partner." — Isabella Gomez Sarmiento , assistant producer, Weekend Edition

To read more recommendations from staff members, you can explore the "Staff Picks" section on the 2021 Books We Love website.

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• Seen & Heard

‘New York Times’ Reveals Its Best Books of 2021

BY Michael Schaub • Nov. 29, 2021

The New York Times Book Review unveiled its list of the 10 best books of the year , with titles by Honorée Fannone Jeffers, Patricia Lockwood, and Clint Smith among those making the cut.

Jeffers was honored for her debut novel, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois , which was a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award.

Lockwood made the list for her Booker Prize-finalist No One Is Talking About This , while Imbolo Mbue was honored for her novel How Beautiful We Were . The other two works of fiction selected by the Times were Intimacies by Katie Kitamura and the genre-defying When We Cease To Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West. Kitamura’s novel made the National Book Award fiction longlist, while Labatut’s book was on the prize’s translated literature shortlist.

Smith’s How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America , also longlisted for the National Book Award,was one of the nonfiction books to make the Times list, along with Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth .

Other nonfiction books on the list included Andrea Elliott’s Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City and Tove Ditlevsen’s memoir cycle,  The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency , translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman.

Rounding out the list was Heather Clark’s Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath . The biography, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, was published in 2020; when asked on Twitter why it was named one of the Times’ notable books of 2021, Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul explained , “We used to make the cut after the Holiday issue and carry the titles over [to the] following year. Moving forward, it’s the full calendar year.”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.

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The Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2021

Editors at The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year. Taken from The 10 Best Books of 2021 from The New York Times.

How beautiful we were : a novel

Mbue, Imbolo

FICTION Mbue Imbolo

"'We should have known the end was near.' So begins Imbolo Mbue's exquisite and devastating novel How Beautiful We Were. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by a large and powerful American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean up and financial reparations to the villagers are made--and ignored. The country's government, led by a corrupt, brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight the American corporation. Doing so will come at a steep price. Told through multiple perspectives and centered around a fierce young girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, Joy of the Oppressed is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghosts of colonialism, comes up against one village's quest for justice--and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom"

Kitamura, Katie M.

FICTION Kitamura Katie

"A novel from the author of A Separation, a taut and electrifying story about a woman caught between many truths. An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into explosive political fires: her work interpreting for a former president accused of war crimes becomes precarious as their relationship is unbound by shifting language and meaning. This woman is the voice in the ear of many, but what command does that give her, and how vulnerable does that leave her? Her coolly impassioned views on power, love, and violence, are tested, both in her personal intimacies and in her role at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her; it is her drive towards truth, and love, that throws into stark relief what she wants from her life"--

The love songs of W.E.B. Du Bois : a novel

Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne

FICTION Jeffers Honoree

The great scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois, once wrote about what he called "Double Consciousness," a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. From an early age, Ailey fights a battle for belonging that's made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma. To come to terms with her own identity, Ailey embarks on a journey through her family's past. In doing so Ailey must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story - and the song - of America itself

No one is talking about this

Lockwood, Patricia

FICTION Lockwood Patricia

"From "a formidably gifted writer" (The New York Times Book Review), a book that asks: Is there life after the internet? As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms "the portal," where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats--from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness--begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal's void. An avalanche of images, details, and references accumulate to form a landscape that is post-sense, post-irony, post-everything. "Are we in hell?" the people of the portal ask themselves. "Are we all just going to keep doing this until we die?" Suddenly, two texts from her mother pierce the fray: "Something has gone wrong," and "How soon can you get here?" As real life and its stakes collide with the increasingly absurd antics of the portal, the woman confronts a world that seems to contain both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy, and justice in the universe, and a deluge of evidence to the contrary"

When we cease to understand the world

Labatut, Benjamín

FICTION Labatut Benjamin

"A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger: these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Labatut's book thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life to the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Benjamin Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible"

The Copenhagen trilogy : Childhood, Youth, Dependency

Ditlevsen, Tove Irma Margit

BIOGRAPHY Ditlevsen, Tove Irma Margit

"Tove Ditlevsen's autobiographical trilogy about her troubled life in Copenhagen"

How the word is passed : a reckoning with the history of slavery across America

Smith, Clint

973.00496 /Smith

"'How the Word is Passed' is Clint Smith's revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation. Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nations collective history, and ourselves."

Invisible child : poverty, survival, and hope in an American city

Elliott, Andrea

362.5 /Elliott

"Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolize Brooklyn's gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani grows up, moving with her tightknit family from shelter to shelter, her story reaches back to trace the passage of Dasani's ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. By the time Dasani comes of age in the twenty-first century, New York City's homeless crisis is exploding amid the growing chasm between rich and poor. In the shadows of this new Gilded Age, Dasani must lead her seven siblings through a thicket of problems: hunger, parental addiction, violence, housing instability, pollution, segregated schools, and the constant monitoring of the child-protection system. When, at age thirteen, Dasani enrolls at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, her loyalties are tested like never before. As she learns to "code-switch" between the culture she left behind and the norms of her new town, Dasani starts to feel like a stranger in both places. Ultimately, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning the family you love?"

On Juneteenth

Gordon-Reed, Annette

394.263 /Gordon-Reed

""It is staggering that there is no date commemorating the end of slavery in the United States." -Annette Gordon-Reed. The essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth's integral importance to American history, as told by a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Texas native. Interweaving American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed, the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas in the 1850s, recounts the origins of Juneteenth and explores the legacies of the holiday that remain with us. From the earliest presence of black people in Texas-in the 1500s, well before enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown-to the day in Galveston on June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger announced the end of slavery, Gordon-Reed's insightful and inspiring essays present the saga of a "frontier" peopled by Native Americans, Anglos, Tejanos, and Blacks that became a slaveholder's republic. Reworking the "Alamo" framework, Gordon-Reed shows that the slave-and race-based economy not only defined this fractious era of Texas independence, but precipitated the Mexican-American War and the resulting Civil War. A commemoration of Juneteenth and the fraught legacies of slavery that still persist, On Juneteenth is stark reminder that the fight for equality is ongoing"

Red comet : the short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath

Clark, Heather L.

BIOGRAPHY Plath, Sylvia

With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials--including unpublished letters and manuscripts; court, police, and psychiatric records; and new interviews--Heather Clark brings to life the brilliant daughter of Wellesley, Massachusetts who had poetic ambition from a very young age and was an accomplished, published writer of poems and stories even before she became a star English student at Smith College in the early 1950s.

The 20 best books of 2021

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We asked four regular contributors of Times book reviews to name their five favorite books of the year, and they were full of surprises. None of their choices overlapped, and their range revealed a fruitful and diverse year of sweeping novels, hidden histories, searing essays and powerful biographies. Below are the individual lists; together they showcase the best 2021 had to offer between covers.

The 5 best fiction books of 2021, according to Mark Athitakis

As 2021 comes hobbling to an end, we ask four book critics to pick their favorites from a very fruitful year. Here are Mark Athitakis’ top 5.

Dec. 14, 2021

The 5 best books of 2021 according to Jessica Ferri

As 2021 nears the end, we ask four book critics to pick their favorites from a very fruitful year. Here are Jessica Ferri’s top five.

Dec. 15, 2021

The 5 best nonfiction books of 2021 according to Mary Ann Gwinn

As 2021 nears an end, we ask four book critics to pick their favorites from a very fruitful year. Here are Mary Ann Gwinn’s top five nonfiction books

Dec. 16, 2021

The 5 best novels of 2021 according to Bethanne Patrick

As 2021 nears an end, we asked four book critics to pick their favorites from a very fruitful year. Here are Bethanne Patrick’s top five novels

Dec. 17, 2021

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The 100 Must-Read Books of 2021

The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths and encouraged us forward Annabel Gutterman, Cady Lang, Arianna Rebolini and Lucas Wittmann

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

Acts of desperation, afterparties, aftershocks, all that she carried, all the frequent troubles of our days, america on fire, beautiful world, where are you, the book of form and emptiness, call us what we carry, the chosen and the beautiful, chronicles from the land of the happiest people on earth, cloud cuckoo land, the code breaker, the committed, the copenhagen trilogy, covered with night, crying in h mart, dear senthuran, detransition, baby, empire of pain, everyone knows your mother is a witch, the family roe, the final girl support group, finding the mother tree, four thousand weeks, the free world, great circle, harlem shuffle, hell of a book, how the word is passed, invisible child, the kissing bug, klara and the sun, the life of the mind, the lincoln highway, a little devil in america, the loneliest americans, the love songs of w.e.b. du bois, malibu rising, the man who lived underground, mike nichols: a life, milk blood heat, my darling from the lions, my monticello, my year abroad, no one is talking about this, oh william, on juneteenth, one friday in april, one last stop, orwell's roses, the other black girl, our country friends, a passage north, pilgrim bell, poet warrior, the promise, the prophets, razorblade tears, real estate, the removed, remote control, the rib king, second place, seeing ghosts, somebody's daughter, something new under the sun, the sum of us, the sunflower cast a spell to save us from the void, the sweetness of water, a swim in a pond in the rain, tastes like war, there’s no such thing as an easy job, under a white sky, until proven safe, while we were dating, white magic, who is maud dixon, who they was, who will pay reparations on my soul, you got anything stronger, you're history, by ai weiwei, by megan nolan, by anthony veasna so, by nadia owusu, by tiya miles, by rebecca donner, by elizabeth hinton, by sally rooney, by ruth ozeki, by amanda gorman, by sunjeev sahota, by wole soyinka, by anthony doerr, by walter isaacson, by viet thanh nguyen, by tove ditlevsen, by nicole eustace, by jonathan franzen, by michelle zauner, by akwaeke emezi, by torrey peters, by patrick radden keefe, by rivka galchen, by joshua prager, by grady hendrix, by suzanne simard, by oliver burkeman, by louis menand, by melissa febos, by maggie shipstead, by colson whitehead, by mieko kawakami, by jason mott, by clint smith, by katie kitamura, by andrea elliott, by daisy hernández, by kazuo ishiguro, by kaitlyn greenidge, by christine smallwood, by amor towles, by hanif abdurraqib, by jay caspian kang, by honorée fanonne jeffers, by taylor jenkins reid, by richard wright, by lauren groff, by mark harris, by dantiel w. moniz, by melissa broder.

by Rachel Long

By jocelyn nicole johnson, by chang-rae lee, by patricia lockwood, by elizabeth strout, by annette gordon-reed, by donald antrim, by casey mcquiston, by caleb azumah nelson, by rebecca solnit, by zakiya dalila harris, by gary shteyngart, by anuk arudpragasam, by kaveh akbar, by joy harjo, by larissa pham, by damon galgut, by robert jones, jr., by s.a. cosby, by deborah levy, by brandon hobson, by nnedi okorafor, by ladee hubbard, by chibundu onuzo, by rachel cusk, by kat chow, by kristen radtke, by john le carré, by sarah ruhl, by ashley c. ford, by alexandra kleeman, by rivers solomon, by heather mcghee, by jackie wang, by nathan harris, by george saunders, by grace m. cho, by percival everett, by kikuko tsumura, by tarana burke, by elizabeth kolbert, by geoff manaugh and nicola twilley, by jasmine guillory, by elissa washuta, by alexandra andrews, by gabriel krauze, by jesse mccarthy, by gabrielle union, by lesley chow.

This project is led by Lucy Feldman and Annabel Gutterman, with writing, reporting and additional editing by Eliza Berman, Kelly Conniff, Mariah Espada, Lori Fradkin, Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, Cady Lang, Nik Popli, Arianna Rebolini, Lucas Wittmann and Julia Zorthian; art and photography editing by Whitney Matewe and Jennifer Prandato; and production by Paulina Cachero and Nadia Suleman.

The New York Times Reveals Their 10 Best Books Of 2021

Carina Pereira

Carina Pereira, born in ‘87, in Portugal. Moved to Belgium in 2011, and to Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2019. Avid reader, changing interests as the mods strikes. Whiles away the time by improvising stand-up routines she’ll never get to perform. Books are a life-long affair, audiobooks a life-changing discovery of adulthood. Selling books by day, writer by night. Contact

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As the end of the year approaches, various platforms start putting together a selection of the books they believe deserve to have the literary spotlight of the last 365 days.

From Goodreads Choice Awards , to the Top Five Books Of The Year At Amazon , these lists are often a great way to compare what is going around our own social media bubble, and what the mainstream media and platforms deem the best of. (Amazon’s list has one book in common with the New York Times. Read this whole post and see if you can guess which one before you click that link.)

Book Riot is obviously not an exception in this matter – we are always down to tell you all about our favourite reads – and you can check out the books we held most dear to our hearts in 2021 here .

The 10 Best Books Of The Year as it is currently presented by The New York Times has been going on since pretty much the beginning of the Book Review magazine, back in 1896.

After several changes across the years, in 2004 the list has taken the shape that is still being used today: as fall arrives, the editors start reading, discussing, and choosing what will become their definitive list of the ten best books of the year.

These are their choices for 2021:

• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
• The Love Song Of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
• No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
• When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamín Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West
• The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman
• How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With The History Of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
• Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope In An American City by Andrea Elliott
• On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
• Red Comet: The Short Life And Blazing Art Of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

As it’s common with the New York Times 10 Best Books Of The Year lists, the first five books are labelled under the genre literary fiction, and the other five are works of non-fiction, although Labatut is said to stand on the edge of both.

This year’s list includes two books in translation. Or, if we are in the mood to be pedantic, we can say it actually includes four, since Ditlevsen’s are actually three books put together and they can be found and purchased on their own (nice little way to include 12 books in a list of 10, New York Times!). Likewise, you’ll find several important works around social justice themes, including class and race, both fiction and non-fiction.

The Love Songs Of W.E.B Du Bois was one of the picks of Oprah’s Book Club 2021. It was also nominated for Time’s best books of 2021. Similarly, other books on the above list also fell under the Time’s 2021 best of non-fiction: Juneteenth , How The Word Is Passed , Invisible Child , and The Copenhagen Trilogy .

Fifty percent of the books nominated were written by authors of colour. Last year, this same list included forty percent authors of colour.

Read more about each of the 10 books listed above in this link. And for those with full access to the New York Times website, here are 100 Notable Books released in 2021 that their editors put together.

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6 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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This week’s recommended books include two memoirs by writers recalling their parents: “The Whole Staggering Mystery,” by Sylvia Brownrigg, digs into her father’s secret history, and “Did I Ever Tell You?,” by Genevieve Kingston, aims to capture her lost mother on the page. We also recommend two books about Mexico (a history and a journalistic exposé), along with a look at the neurological effects of climate change and a novel that puts U.S. immigration policy front and center. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

THE WEIGHT OF NATURE: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains Clayton Page Aldern

Aldern, a science journalist, asks us to consider the impact of climate change on our brains: According to this alarming book, a warming planet and natural resource depletion will mean everything from angrier, more anxious people to dolphins with Alzheimer’s disease. The litany, he writes, is almost “comically apocalyptic.”

“Aldern is the rare writer who dares to ask how climate change has already changed us.”

From Nathaniel Rich’s review

Dutton | $30

THE WHOLE STAGGERING MYSTERY: A Story of Fathers Lost and Found Sylvia Brownrigg

When Brownrigg’s remote and enigmatic father, Nick, died, his children were left with a key to his past in the form of a mysterious scrapbook. What they found was wilder than they could have possibly guessed: This hippie dropout, seemingly without family, was in fact heir to a British title and had a complex history that included colonial postings, mysterious deaths, lost novels and unexplained estrangements. Brownrigg sets out to discover what, exactly, happened — and does so with style and sensitivity.

“Gets at … the way in which, over generations and in the face of good intentions, family bonds can loosen and die. It’s dreadfully sad, and yet through Brownrigg’s sleuthing, something touching is redeemed.”

From Emma Brockes’s review

Counterpoint | $34.99

AMERICAN ABDUCTIONS Mauro Javier Cárdenas

In his new novel, Cárdenas considers the devastating effects of U.S. immigration policy on Latin American families, using expansive, pages-long sentences full of references to art, mysticism and ominous technologies. The main narrative involves an ailing Colombian man, recently deported from Califorrnia, and the painful choices facing his American-born daughters.

“Cárdenas creates what I’ll call an art-polemic — a melding of play with political purpose. From it, the cruelty of American immigration policy emerges: How else to capture such surreal inhumanity?”

From Gina Apostol’s review

Dalkey Archive | Paperback, $17.95

HABSBURGS ON THE RIO GRANDE: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire Raymond Jonas

Jonas vividly recounts the story of Maximilian I of Mexico, the delusional Austrian archduke who tried to establish an enlightened monarchy on America’s southern border in the midst of the U.S. Civil War. “May my blood end the misfortunes of my new country,” he said as he stood before a republican firing squad, in 1867. “Viva Mexico!”

“Vividly reconstructs how Maximilian’s power was forged and maintained by the sharp end of a French bayonet. … Jonas is astute and judicious in navigating the kaleidoscope of contradictory political ideologies that came together in the Second Mexican Empire.”

From Natasha Wheatley’s review

Harvard University Press | $35

THE WAY THAT LEADS AMONG THE LOST: Life, Death, and Hope Among Mexico City’s Anexos Angela Garcia

An investigation of Mexico’s makeshift drug rehab centers for the poor, Garcia’s book combines anthropological field work with personal history, delivering an unvarnished chronicle of desperate patients, brutal treatment regimes and her own struggles with depression and a traumatic past.

“Offers a view of the war on drugs that differs from the familiar one. … The characters who populate Garcia’s pages reside on the periphery of urban life, and of the conflict itself.”

From Azam Ahmed’s review

Farrar, Straus & Giroux | $29

DID I EVER TELL YOU? Genevieve Kingston

In this heartfelt memoir, Kingston reflects on her mother’s death, in her late 40s, from breast cancer and the carefully cataloged notes and gifts she left for her children to open when she was gone. Kingston opens each on schedule, while reflecting that “the person I needed … was not the smiling, gentle mother wrapping birthday gifts” but “all of my mother, not only the softest pieces.”

“Wrenching. … Helped Kingston see the rage and terror her mother had papered over, as well as the steely will she’d summoned to keep going.”

From Kim Hubbard’s review

Marysue Rucci Books | $28.99

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Streaming on Max: The 21 Absolute Best Movies to Watch

Here are some highly rated films to check out, plus a look at what's new in May.

Turtles All the Way Down adapts the 2017 novel by John Green.

Wondering what you should watch on the Max streaming service ?

Max  replaced HBO Max last year and streams a variety of titles, including Warner Bros. movies like Dune and HBO originals like Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off. Below, you'll find a batch of can't-miss films on the streamer, plus a look at new releases for this month. (If you're still trying to figure out if Max is for you, skim  our review of the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service ).

New releases for May

Note:  These descriptions are taken from Max press releases and lightly edited for style.

• Turtles All the Way Down  (2024):  Romantic drama. The film tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes. 
• Stop Making Sense (2023 rerelease):  It's the 1984 Talking Heads concert film directed by renowned filmmaker Jonathan Demme, newly restored in 4K to coincide with its 40th anniversary.
• The Iron Claw (2024):  Sports drama. The film tells the true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.
• Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die  (2023):  Comedy special. Glaser dives into a wide range of topics, including why she doesn't want kids, the harsh realities of aging, her sexual fantasies, and plans for her own death.
• MoviePass, MovieCrash (2010):  Documentary. The film is about MoviePass, which in a span of eight years went from being the fastest growing subscription service since Spotify to total bankruptcy.

Read more:   Best TV Shows to Watch on Max

The best movies to watch

The films below consist of notable new releases and blockbusters, HBO and Max originals and Warner Bros. films made exclusively for Max . All score around 65 or higher on Metacritic.

Turtles All the Way Down (2024)

Don't usually dabble in the young adult genre? You shouldn't let that keep you from taking in Turtles All the Way Down, based on a 2017 novel of the same name by John Green. The film stars Isabela Merced (Madame Web, upcoming sci-fier Alien: Romulus) as a teen who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. With elements of romance and a captivating performance from Merced, this straight-to-streaming movie deserves more attention.

Priscilla (2023)

Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, about the relationship between Priscilla and Elvis Presley, is streaming on Max along with other recent films from entertainment company A24. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi star in the stylish flick, which tells things from Priscilla's point of view. If you like new A24 flicks, Max's stash also includes The Iron Claw, The Zone of Interest and Dream Scenario (Love Lies Bleeding and Civil War will hit the streamer eventually).

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Avatar: The Way of Water reintroduced audiences to James Cameron's film franchise after 13 years and won an Oscar for best visual effects. The sequel centers on the Sully family -- Jake, Neytiri and their kids -- and is brimming with adventure and heart. It'll be  at least a couple of years  until Avatar 3 arrives, but you can pass the time by rewatching this on Max.

The Fallout (2022)

After a shooting occurs at her high school, 16-year-old Vada Cavell must navigate friendships, school and her relationship with her family. The Fallout skillfully approaches serious subject matter with realistic dialogue and compassion for its characters. With strong performances from stars Jenna Ortega, as Vada, and Maddie Ziegler, as her new friend Mia Reed, the feature will keep you glued to the screen for the entirety of its 90-minute runtime.

Dune (2021)

Remember 2021, when Warner Bros. movies hit HBO Max on the same day they premiered in theaters? That exciting period may be over, but at least we'll always have the memory of watching Denis Villeneuve's stunning sci-fi epic Dune at home. If you've never seen the film or need to brush up on what "the spice" is before Part Two, stream Dune now.

King Richard (2021)

King Richard is a feel-good biopic about the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. The film winds back the clock to before the sisters became household names, giving us a glimpse of their upbringing in Compton and time spent practicing on run-down courts with their father, Richard Williams (Will Smith). Convinced his daughters are going to be successful, Richard works tirelessly to get their star potential noticed by professional coaches. A complicated man with a tremendous personality, Richard is fascinating to get to know, and his unwavering belief in Venus and Serena is inspiring. 

Son of Monarchs (2020)

A rare (nowadays) 90-minute film, American Mexican drama Son of Monarchs will stay with you long after the end credits roll. This deep character study follows two brothers who are changed in markedly different ways by the trauma they suffered in childhood. This story, folding in magical realism, follows how they move forward in life -- the butterfly metaphors are strong, with biologist Mendel returning to his hometown surrounded by majestic monarch butterfly forests.

Bad Education (2019)

Based on a magazine article by journalist Robert Kolker, this tale about a public school embezzlement scandal and the student journalists who broke the news is captivating from start to finish. Allison Janney and Hugh Jackman are great in their roles as the school officials who took part in the scheme. The drama also won the 2020 Emmy award for Outstanding Television Movie. 

Wonka (2023)

Dune's Timothée Chalamet stars in this prequel to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and it's a total treat. With new and familiar tunes, a committed cast and oodles and oodles of whimsy, the film allows audiences to get to know a young Willy Wonka with giraffe-sized ambition and undeniable chocolate-making skill. It's a quirky, comforting flick from Paddington director Paul King that you'll absolutely want on your plate.

Barbie (2023)

Unless you've been living in Barbie Land (or another place that isn't the real world), chances are you're very familiar with this pink-coated comedy already. The flick -- Warner Bros.' highest-grossing global release of all time -- brings a long list of stars together for a hilarious and heartfelt adventure. Greta Gerwig directs, Margot Robbie plays the titular role, and Ryan Gosling belts out an incredible power ballad as Ken.

Father of the Bride (2022)

Max's Father of the Bride introduces a Cuban American family that includes patriarch Billy, a traditional guy who struggles to digest surprising news from his eldest daughter: She's met a guy, and she wants to marry and move away with him. The third film adaptation of a 1949 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter, the movie is an enjoyable iteration that includes stars like Andy Garcia and singer Gloria Estefan.

Let Them All Talk (2020)

Meryl Streep playing an eccentric author in a Steven Soderbergh comedy. What more do you need to know? If you do want to know more: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Hughes (Streep) is struggling to finish her next book, chased by her literary agent (Gemma Chan). She boards a cruise ship with old friends, who inspired her best-known work. Tensions are strong. It looks great -- Soderbergh uses crisp, natural light -- and most of the dialogue is improvised. See how Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen, Lucas Hedges and the rest of the impeccable cast have fun with that.

Kimi (2022)

Steven Soderbergh directs this engaging tech thriller set during the COVID-19 pandemic. Angela, a Seattle tech worker played by a neon blue-haired Zoë Kravitz, has agoraphobia, a fear that prevents her from making it past the front door of her apartment. But when she uncovers an unsettling recording while doing her job, she's pushed to make the leap. Kimi is a stylish thriller complete with eye-catching cinematography, a solid score and a protagonist you'll be rooting for.

No Sudden Move (2021)

A movie from Steven Soderbergh, the great director behind Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven and, more recently, Logan Lucky? Twists, thrills and desperate characters populate this crime thriller set in 1950s Detroit. When a seemingly simple job gets out of hand, a group of criminals must work together to uncover what's really going on. Take in the incredible cast: Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm and Amy Seimetz. While the plot can be a little convoluted and some won't be able to get past the fish-eye lens cinematography, Soderbergh's sense of humor and immersive direction make this crime caper an entertaining night in.

Documentary

All That Breathes (2022)

This captivating documentary is filled with images that will stick with you. It centers on two brothers in New Delhi who run a bird hospital dedicated to black kites -- birds of prey that are a staple of the sky. It was a contender for best documentary feature at the 2023 Oscars.

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022)

Tune into this HBO doc for the gravity-defying skateboard stunts, a time capsule of the '80s skateboarding scene, and a version of Hawk you've probably never seen. We get to know the renowned athlete as a lanky, stubborn but determined kid who adopted his own skateboarding style. Hawk's persistence is something to marvel at, along with all the stunning skateboard moves this film packs in. Hang on for a memorable ride.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)

This film about beloved author, chef and globe-traveling TV host Anthony Bourdain comes from documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville, who also directed 2018's Won't You Be My Neighbor? and the Oscar-winning film Twenty Feet from Stardom. In interviews with people who knew Bourdain, like his friends, former partners and longtime colleagues, the doc tracks his career path, relationships and personal struggles. Bourdain fans and those less acquainted with the star will likely appreciate this two-hour look at his life.

The Color Purple (2023)

This movie musical version of The Color Purple is adapted from Alice Walker's 1982 novel and the Broadway play. Set in the early 1900s, the film tells the story of Celie, a Black woman living in the South who faces multiple hardships but is able to find strength in the bonds in her life. The cast includes Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey and Danielle Brooks, who received a 2023 Oscar nomination for her role as Celie's daughter-in-law, Sofia.

In the Heights (2021)

In the Heights  stars Anthony Ramos (whom you might recognize as John Laurens in Hamilton) playing Usnavi, a bodega owner struggling to keep his business afloat while a heatwave strikes Washington Heights. Secretly in love with his neighbor Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), who dreams of getting out of the salon and out of the neighborhood, Usnavi serves the people of Washington Heights with a whole lot of love, lottery tickets and cafe con leche. Between the choreographed twirls and fireworks, In the Heights is an examination of wealth disparity, immigration, classism and the importance of culture.

The Batman (2022)

Robert Pattinson steps out as Batman in this moody superhero flick directed by Matt Reeves. The movie takes place in a perpetually gray and rain-soaked Gotham City, where Bruce Wayne starts to seek out a murderer with an affinity for riddles. Along the way, he meets Catwoman, played by a swaggering Zoë Kravitz. A satisfying dark mystery with great scene-setting and storytelling, The Batman is also getting a Max spinoff series, The Penguin, in 2024.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Over-the-top violence abounds in this DC film about supervillains who agree to help the US government in exchange for some time off their prison sentences. Their mission is to destroy something alluded to as Project Starfish, harbored in the fictional island country of Corto Maltese. With a notable cast that includes Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and John Cena, 2021's The Suicide Squad is a wickedly entertaining, darkly funny bloodbath that differs from what you usually see in superhero movies. (Peacemaker, a spinoff TV series, is also available on Max.)

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