The 25 best books of 2021
The 25 highest-ranked books first published in 2021 in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 106 books of 2021 in all. How we rank
- 1
Project Hail Mary95.2Must-Read ScoreProject Hail Mary
A man wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he's there, and two dead crewmates beside him.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (science fiction) winner (2021)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)157 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021Hugo Award finalist (2022) - 2
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty89.2Must-Read ScoreEmpire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
The Sackler family's name was once on museum wings and university buildings around the world.
Why it made the listBaillie Gifford Prize winner (2021)Goodreads Choice (history biography) winner (2021)40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2021) - 3
How the Word Is Passed86.6Must-Read ScoreHow the Word Is Passed
Poet and historian Clint Smith travels to places across America where the history of slavery is remembered, or misremembered: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, a Louisiana plantation turned museum, Angola prison built on a former plantation, a Confederate cemetery, Galveston where Juneteenth began, New York City and Senegal's Gorée Island.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Nonfiction) winner (2021)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)Goodreads Choice (history biography) finalist (2021) - 4
Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice86.0Must-Read ScoreLiliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice
In 1990, Liliana Rivera Garza, a twenty-year-old architecture student in Mexico City, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who was never brought to justice.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Memoir) winner (2024)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2023) - 5
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City84.7Must-Read ScoreInvisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City
Andrea Elliott spent nearly a decade following Dasani Coates, a girl growing up in a New York City homeless shelter with her parents and seven siblings.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) winner (2022) - 6
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois84.4Must-Read ScoreThe Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
Ailey Pearl Garfield grows up in a northern city but spends her summers in Chicasetta, the small Georgia town where her mother's family has lived for generations.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2021)Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2021) - 7
Cuba: An American History83.5Must-Read ScoreCuba: An American History
Ada Ferrer, a Cuban-born historian, tells the story of Cuba from before Columbus to the present, focusing on its long, entangled relationship with the United States: slavery and sugar, wars of independence, American occupation, the Mafia era, Fidel Castro's revolution, the Cold War and the exodus to Miami.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (History) winner (2022) - 8
Lessons in Chemistry83.1Must-Read ScoreLessons in Chemistry
In early-1960s California, Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant chemist in a research lab where men take credit for her work and treat her as a secretary.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2023 (Publishers Weekly)99 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2022) - 9
The Four Winds83.0Must-Read ScoreThe Four Winds
In 1934, the Texas Panhandle is in the grip of the Dust Bowl: years of drought and dust storms have destroyed the farms, and families are leaving.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2021 (Publishers Weekly)Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2021) - 10
Five Decembers81.0Must-Read ScoreFive Decembers
In late 1941, Honolulu police detective Joe McGrady takes on a brutal double murder, and the trail leads him across the Pacific toward Hong Kong.
Why it made the listEdgar Award winner (2022) - 11
What Happened to You?80.7Must-Read ScoreWhat Happened to You?
Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist who studies childhood trauma, and Oprah Winfrey, who survived abuse as a child, talk about how early experiences shape our brains and lives.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)121 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021Goodreads Choice (nonfiction) finalist (2021) - 12
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-centered Planet80.7Must-Read ScoreThe Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-centered Planet
John Green rates pieces of the human-centered world on a five-star scale: Canada geese, the QWERTY keyboard, sunsets, Diet Dr Pepper, Halley's Comet, the song You'll Never Walk Alone.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (nonfiction) winner (2021)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 13
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance80.6Must-Read ScoreA Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
Hanif Abdurraqib, a poet and critic, writes about Black performance in America and what it has meant to the performers and to him.
Why it made the listNational Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2021)NBCC Award (Memoir) finalist (2021) - 14
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music80.5Must-Read ScoreThe Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music
Dave Grohl, drummer for Nirvana and founder of the Foo Fighters, tells the stories of his life in music, in his own hand: growing up in Virginia, touring with punk bands as a teenager, the rise of Nirvana and the death of Kurt Cobain, building the Foo Fighters, and the joy of playing music with his heroes and his daughters.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 15
Cloud Cuckoo Land79.9Must-Read ScoreCloud Cuckoo Land
Five people in three times are linked by one ancient Greek story about a shepherd who longs to fly to a city in the clouds.
Why it made the list26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2021)Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2021) - 16
The Hill We Climb79.3Must-Read ScoreThe Hill We Climb
Amanda Gorman, at 22 the youngest inaugural poet in American history, read "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, two weeks after the attack on the Capitol.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1) - 17
The Wish78.8Must-Read ScoreThe Wish
In 1996, Maggie Dawes is sixteen and pregnant, and her parents send her away to live with an aunt in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2021) - 18
Small Things Like These78.4Must-Read ScoreSmall Things Like These
In the weeks before Christmas in 1985, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant in a small Irish town, is busy with deliveries.
Why it made the listBooker Prize finalist (2022)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 19
Better Than the Movies78.1Must-Read ScoreBetter Than the Movies
Liz Buxbaum has loved Michael Young for years, and now that he's moved back to town, she'll do anything to get his attention and maybe a prom date, even befriend Wes Bennet, her annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor, who has been a pain since they were kids.
Why it made the list202 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022 - 20
Crying in H Mart78.1Must-Read ScoreCrying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner, the musician known as Japanese Breakfast, grew up in Oregon with a Korean mother and an American father, and often clashed with her demanding mother.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (memoir autobiography) winner (2021)89 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 21
The Code Breaker77.5Must-Read ScoreThe Code Breaker
Jennifer Doudna was a sixth-grader when she read The Double Helix and decided to become a scientist.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)Goodreads Choice (history biography) finalist (2021) - 22
Broken Horses77.4Must-Read ScoreBroken Horses
Brandi Carlile grew up poor in rural Washington State, in a musical family that moved constantly.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)Goodreads Choice (memoir autobiography) finalist (2021) - 23
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within77.1Must-Read ScoreThe Galaxy, and the Ground Within
On Gora, a barren planet with no water, no air and no native life, the only business is a layover stop for ships traveling between wormholes.
Why it made the listHugo Award finalist (2022) - 24
Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It77.0Must-Read ScoreFour Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It
If you live to eighty, you have about four thousand weeks on Earth.
Why it made the list28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 25
The Lincoln Highway76.8Must-Read ScoreThe Lincoln Highway
In June 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska after serving time at a juvenile work farm.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)38 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021Goodreads Choice (historical fiction) finalist (2021)
