It’s almost December 31st. And, as 2021 winds down, it’s also time to talk about all of my favorite things from the year.
Movies & TV Shows…
Surprisingly, I didn’t watch too many movies or try as many new shows as I thought I would have. I mainly rewatched old favorites when I happened to catch them. What I have, in terms of first time viewing, isn’t enough for it to get its own posts. So…
Some movies: F9, Poltergeist (1982), Nightbooks, Red Notice, Birds of Prey, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venome: Let There Be Carnage.
Some TV shows: Discovery of Witches season 2, SurrealEstate, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Gone For Good, Lost in Space season 2.
Books And Short Stories…
Generally, I liked most of what I read this year. I focused more on nonfiction as well as backlist titles and sequels that I’ve wanted to read. I didn’t get to all of them this year, but that just means I’m going into the New Year with a good-sized TBR list to keep me preoccupied. So, here are my favorite books from 2021.
Nonfiction...
- To The Greatest Heights by Vanessa O'Brien
- Aristocracy by William Doyle
- She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson
- The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, translated by Jane Billinghurst
- Fire & Ice by Natalie Starkey
- Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Fiction...
- Exit Strategy , Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
- We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
- Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert
- The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King by J. R.R. Tolkien
- The Case Study of Vanitas vol. 6, vol. #7 & vol. 8 by Jun Mochizuki
- Jelly by Clare Rees
- The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory
- The Return of the Sorceress, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno Garcia
- Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez-Wallach
- What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie
- Mine by Delilah S. Dawson
- You Can Never Tell by Sarah Warburton
- Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
- The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales
- Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore
- Dark Waters by Katherine Arden
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- A Swift and Savage Tide by Chloe Neill
- A Murder Yule Regret by Winnie Archer
- Hollywood Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
- It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Murder by Maria DiRico
The short stories...
- The Karyōbinga Sings To Jiro by Riyu Ando (Strange Horizons; Issue: 11 January 2021) Note: there is a podcast version of the story available from Strange Horizons
- Your Own Undoing by P H Lee (Apex Magazine, January 19, 2021)
- #Selfcare by Annalee Newitz (Tor.com, January 19, 2021)
- Judge Dee and The Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, February 10, 2021)
- A Serpent For Each Year by Tamara Jeree (Strange Horizons, Issue 1 February 2021)
- Las Girlfriends Guide to Subversive Eating by Sabrina Vourvoulias (Apex Magazine; Issue 122, March 2021)
- Mouth by Sasha Lapointe (Strange Horizons; Issue: 1 March 2021)
- Masquerade Season by ‘Pemi Aguda (Tor.com; March 24, 2021)
- Mysteries of Visiocherries/Misteri Visciceri by Rio Johan (Strange Horizons; Issue: April 26 2021)
- Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells (Tor.com, April 19, 2021)
- The Angel of Khan el-Khalili by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com, April 28, 2021)
- The Life & Death of Mia Fremont: An Interview with a Killer by A.K. Hudson (Apex Magazine; May 4, 2021)
- Eilam is Forever by Beth Dawkins (Apex Magazine, July 6, 2021)
- Data Migration by Melanie Harding-Shaw (Strange Horizons; Issue: 12 July 2021)
- Survival, After by Nicole J. LeBoeuf (Apex Magazine, August 3, 2021)
- What Cacti Read by Mary Soon Lee (Strange Horizons; Issue; 26 July 2021)
- Cocoon by H. Pueyo (Strange Horizons; Issue: 2 August 2021)
- Judge Dee and the Poisoner of Montmartre by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com; September 15, 2021)
- Thread Count by Cynthia Gómez (Strange Horizons; Issue: Fund Drive 2021)
- Bespoke Nightmares by Carolina Valentine (Strange Horizons; Issue: 18 October 2021)
Music…
2021 was a great year for music. It seemed like most of my favorite artists had new music coming out, and I discovered a few new bands and groups I want to follow. Below is a list of all my favorite albums and EPs I listened to in 2021. There is no particular order.- Alpha by CL
- Planet Her by Doja Cat
- Mini Mix vol. 1 and vol. 2, A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling, and Mercurial World by Magdalena Bay
- Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3 by Tkay Maidza
- 1/f and Pink Noise by Laura Mvula
- If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey
- Scaled and Icey by Twenty One Pilots
- 2000AND4EVA by Bree Runway
- The Bitter Truth by Evanescence
- Montero by Lil Nas X
- Harenchi by Chanmina
And that’s it. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. I will see you all in the New Year!
