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Island Books Best of 2021: Fiction

Cindy, our beloved and most venerable bookseller, leads off our Best of 2021 with this to say:

“There is much to love about being a bookseller. Where else can you get an employee discount on an entire mega-verse, centuries in the making and ever evolving???

Where else can your boss ask you what you're doing and you can say “I’m looking for Cloud Cuckoo Land” and still get to keep your job???

The rewards are infinite and satisfying except for one thing:

At the end of every year amid the proliferation of lists of the best books of the year I am asked to contribute my thoughts on choosing “The Best Books of the Year”.

It’s hard.  

And I don’t like doing it.  

But after 27 years in bookselling I have finally figured out how to answer the inevitable question of my favorite books of the year:

My favorite book is the one I’m currently reading and my second favorite is the one I’ll be reading next.

So, when I was asked by my esteemed colleague, Lori (who is arguably the greatest bookseller of her generation and will probably win The James Patterson Award one day, as I did today), for my picks for the best books of the year I said “The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier” which was what I was currently reading and why I was able to spell his name correctly—the book was right there in my hand.

And how can you not love a book you tear through in two or three sittings? That was this for me.  A thought-provoking thrill ride about identical planes with identical manifests, experiencing identical air turbulences from which the planes are identically damaged — the first one landing in the month of March and the second, the “copy plane”, landing the following June.  

When the government realizes the 2nd plane to land had already landed several months earlier — well, Government gets Big.  The passengers from the second plane are detained at a military air base and the passengers who landed three months earlier are rounded up by government goons and taken to the hangar.  

Through the course of the book we meet a handful of the passengers who will be meeting their identical doubles, not “twins”, but human doubles, sharing the same exact everything from moles to memories.  

Theorizing abounds — astrophysical, spiritual and existential — but when the news hits the news a little bit of chaos ensues.  

The Anomaly is a multi-brid: A little Sci Fi, a bit of mystery, definitely an airplane read, and a flick of chick lit—certainly it’s metafiction (at least as I understand what metafiction is), parody and social satire. It’s kind of funny a little bit sometimes but it’s a serious flippin’ story.

Now for my second favorite book of the year — the one I’m about to start:  Cloud Cuckoo Land

Which is why I was looking for it a few paragraphs ago.”

— Cindy

Luckily for Cindy, Cloud Cuckoo Land tops the best of the rest of our fiction list, along with a smattering of YA, a very memorable chicken, and a timely short story collection. See what fiction the staff at Island Books loved in 2021!

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Lori says: “When I picked this up I was ready for a change of pace and Anthony Doerr immediately pulled me into his weaving narrative. Just like All the Light We Cannot See, Doerr has a gentle touch even with serious subjects. His love of books, as objects and conveyers of knowledge, as well as libraries permeates every page.”

And Nancy adds: “This was such a lovely and comforting big book that I didn't want to end. The theme is the power of story, lost fragments and memory, and it is one that resonates in these times.”

Nives by Sacha Naspini; translated by Clarissa Botsford

Caitlin says: “Back in May I declared Nives as one of my favorite books of 2021 and in mid-December that's still true. After Nives's husband dies in an unfortunate farming accident she brings a beloved chicken into her home as a companion. Nives and her chicken watch TV together and keep each other company, when her chicken becomes ill Nives phones the town vet who just happens to be one of her old flames. Gossip! Scandal! Chickens! Set in the Italian countryside.”

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Both Laurie and Lori were hooked by Moriarty’s latest domestic thriller, set against the backdrop of competitive tennis. When Joy Delaney goes missing, her four grown children begin to wonder if the young stranger who showed up at their parents’ door one dark night might have some connection to the disappearance. The narrative peels back the layers behind marriage, motherhood, and sibling rivalry with deft insight, while still maintaining a twisty suspense right up until the very end.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Nancy says: “Tookie, a take-no-crap bookseller, is being haunted by an annoying customer's ghost as March 2020 moves her, her family, the bookstore, Minneapolis and the world into a new whole new stage — including the reappearance of her step-daughter with a baby in tow. Erdrich uses a light touch to decribe Tookie's struggle to come to terms with the ghosts of history, personal and generational trauma, and the effects of the pandemic and the protests.”

Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Lori wrote about this novel in her Short Take back in April, but for an even shorter take she says: “Utterly absorbing from the first chapter, this is a fascinating story of marriage, friendship and parenthood spans the theater world of NYC and the television studios of LA. Would be perfect for bookclubs — so much to talk about!”

Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

To another Short Take featured in February, Lori adds: “The first great book I read in 2021, and the first one I couldn’t wait to tell people about. Structurally clever, when I finished this I immediately needed to start it again. The storyline is so masterfully plotted, I had to see how David Arnold did it. This is the post-apocalyptic pandemic YA you didn’t know you wanted.”

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Nancy observes: “Five stories and one novella that pack a punch!  How does she make her stories feel like science fiction, present day reality and historical fiction all at once? I am looking forward to more from this original writer!”

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Lori says: “Before I even finished listening to the excellent audiobook, I texted Lillian to tell her just how much I was loving this YA novel. Boulley manages to balance so many things at the same time with her incisive look into Ojibwe culture and history by a #ownvoices author. She delivers a heart-pounding undercover drug ring thriller, while also following the evolution of Daunis Fontaine, a teen with a foot in two different worlds. Heart-breakingly beautiful.”

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Nancy says: “Marie is the definition of a battle-axe! Banished from Eleanor of Acquitane's court, the 17 year old is packed off to head a crumbling abby of starving nuns. Not expected to live out the year, Marie over the course of 50 years not only turns the abby into a powerful institution, but also creates a practically utopian paradise for women to be separate from the ills of men and society. Groff's writing is at her best!”

We hope you find something new to love on our list and stay tuned for our Best of the Year in Nonfiction titles, coming soon!

— Lori