A 2021 to-read list from AM

Too many books, so little time - we've all heard that before. Sometimes it's a good idea to prioritise. Here's a selection of books from my 'Want to Read' list for 2021.

Intimations by Zadie Smith: There are three types of pandemic readers: those who go all gung-ho science-y reading about genomes and epidemiology and frankly scare the rest of us with their daring; those who find themselves with reader's block and/or need short and easily digestible reads (fair enough); and those like me who don't stray too far from their usual reading material but are tempted to pick up some philosophical book in order to raise the ideas in conversation with friends and appear eminently more educated on the topic than they really are. Zadie Smith's Intimations ​is that philosophical book. Written from the UK in the first few months of lockdown, Smith's book promises to deliver the same piercing social/cultural criticism as her previous essay collections. This one is mostly pandemic-related. I've read a few essays from Feel Free as well most of her novels (of which I would recommend White Teeth the most), so I have high hopes for Intimations.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: This is Ishiguro's latest offering, due to be released in March 2021. The blurb says it's about Klara, an Artificial Friend, who is sitting on the shelf waiting to be chosen. Sounds like perfect fodder for the kind of weird musings Ishiguro weaves through his novels: I read Never Let Me Go a few years ago and I think I've recovered enough from the bewilderment to try another one.

Severance by Ling Ma: One of those strangely prophetic books with plague as a central plot device (published in 2018, pre-COVID). According to our catalogue, it also contains "black humour" - one of my personal favourite ways to deal with the fact that I won't be reading it from beside the pool in some tropical beachy location. In all seriousness though, I've heard this is a good read and I've been meaning to read it for the last year.

 

       

 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: Coming to the end of a medieval history paper, I'm feeling inspired to read more fictional accounts of the middle ages (which previously I shied away from). This translated historical novel has the added intrigue of murder mystery, and an apparently infinite number of symbolic levels discussing the Bible, middle ages and literary theory - what more could you ask for?

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Okay, I'll admit it: long books scare me. They require a level of commitment I'm never sure I can give. But I have never heard anyone say they didn't enjoy this book. Mantel follows the shady Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry VIII, throughout this trilogy (all up, about 1950 pages) which by all accounts is one of the most accomplished historical fiction series in existence, two of the books having been nominated for the Booker Prize (and Wolf Hall won it).

 

Tenth of December and Pastoralia by George Saunders: I won't pretend to be a huge short-story reader, but I read Saunders' short story 'The Falls' and it was so darkly funny that I've resolved to change my ways. I'm currently reading his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo​, which will likely be one of my favourite reads of 2021 and one I recommend to people a lot. Saunders masters the portrayal of the idiosyncrasies that make us human: there's also often a chuckle involved.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell: Yes, I'm one of the last remaining people on Earth not to have read Hamnet​. This book came out last year and was touted as a favourite for the Man Booker Prize longlist (which unfortunately it did not make). It's a fictional re-imagining of the short life of Shakespeare's son and apparently is quite dark in parts (not ideal for escapist readers).

Posted by AM