2021: The Worst Books I Read
Quality of quantity should be a reading mantra, and thankfully only about 16 percent of the books I read in 2021 fell firmly in the “not worth the time” category.
Not all the books are terrible per se. Each had a few redeemable qualities that made them entertaining and informative, but they lacked the brilliance that immerses you in a story and doesn’t let go.
A couple themes among the 13 noted below:
Repetitive elements
Meandering plots
High concepts that fell apart by the end
Bothersome characters
Writing flourishes that detract rather than add
It is worth noting that a few of these titles also made it on my best and worst audiobook narrations list, but this list is all about the content and not the format.
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Dates read: December 26, 2020 – January 9, 2021
In general, I find the thriller genre to be a mill of trite ideas, lazy character development and extreme violence that serves no narrative purpose. This book is no exception. With shades of Hostel (urine waterboarding!), political conspiracy theories and, of course, unreliable narrators (how original!), this was a scattershot of ideas that were more cringe-inducing than entertaining.
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate
Dates read: March 8 – 14, 2021
Although it starts promisingly enough, as soon as Tate fully immerses herself in group therapy led by an unethical charlatan, her story becomes one WTF scenario after another. In the end I felt sorry for her, and the other patients, who put faith in a person that regularly embarrassed and exploited them for his entertainment and profit.
On Cats by Charles Bukowski
Dates read: March 20 – 21, 2021
I love books about cats, and I especially enjoy stories that celebrate, and don’t deride, cat-obsessed men, which is how I found this career spanning collection of seemingly autobiographical poetry and prose by Bukowski. Several of the stories off-putting, specifically the repeated references to cat genitalia, alcohol abuse and degrading women. If you’re a cat lover looking for saccharine sweet stories, you won’t find them here.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Dates read: March 24 – 28, 2021
One of the biggest love it or loathe it stories of the year, I found it to be a mish-mash of ideas that never quite stuck. While I enjoyed the first half immensely, I was let down by the scifi and dystopian elements that were introduced in the second half but never fully explored by Ishiguro. The ambiguous and non-linear nature of the novel means every reader will interpret it differently, but this was a miss for me.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Dates read: May 13 – 18, 2021
For the most part I was confused about what was happening, because there are too many characters and the story flips between the real world and a fantasy world. The emotional punch of the story — how to overcome trauma — is lost between zany subplots and too much world-building for the fantasy realm. It almost felt like a young adult novel, although it clearly wasn’t.
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Dates read: August 18 – 24, 2021
In less than 230-pages Millet created the most confusing and disjointed reading experience of the year, and I’m struggling to see how the heaps of praised bestowed on this novel are justified. There are too many characters, too many plots and subplots and not enough cohesion to make this feel like anything other than a fever dream.
Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin
Dates read: September 19 – 20, 2021
Lin’s historical memoir (is that a thing?) takes the prize as my least favorite read of 2021. It is unfocused, pretentious and boring, which is amazing since he mostly talks about anonymous sex for the first 100-pages. In full disclosure, I gave up at 34 percent completed because his thesis that mainstream acceptance of queer people (in his world that’s only cis-gendered men) and equality measures have neutered gay culture. This implies there is a right and wrong way to be gay. Hard pass.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Dates read: September 24 – October 7, 2021
I really tried with this beloved novel but ultimately threw in the towel at 74 percent finished. An intriguing premise and cast of colorful characters quickly devolved into a soap opera, complete with lame cliffhangers and plot jumps with a loose connective thread between situations. Zafón’s language flourishes and repeated use of fart jokes added insult to an already hammy novel.
Zorrie by Laird Hunt
Dates read: November 5 – 13, 2021
It’s maybe a bit unfair to put Hunt’s beautiful and understated novel on this list, but the parts I enjoyed most had more to do with the setting — Indiana — than the story itself. Outside of showcasing how he can describe nature and the beauty in the plain of Midwestern farming communities, I don’t fully understand what Hunt was trying to accomplish here. Our main character, Zorrie, can’t get out of her own way and it makes the sympathy Hunt tries to build for her fall flat.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Dates read: November 7 – 11, 2021
While we get a few good insights into how to craft a message with easy recall and that drives action, some of the examples felt trite compared to other, similar books — or maybe there’s only a handful of original business books out there? The edition I read was from 2007, so many of the sections felt dated, largely because there is no reference to social media and its influence on communication.
Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth
Dates read: November 15 – December 7, 2021
It feels strange to give an autobiographical story a negative review, especially when it takes courage to share your personal thoughts publicly, but after the first 25 percent, this was not as interesting as Gansworth thought it to be. He shares the info — straddling two worlds, native and anglo — with a matter-of-fact clarity that is elevated by the poetry with which he writes. But after the initial revelations, the rest of his memoir becomes a variation of the same idea repeatedly.
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Dates read: December 8 – 11, 2021
This is the type of story that on the surface seems like a solid, well-told family drama, until you finish it and sit with the characters and plot a bit more. That’s when you realize you sat through nearly 300-pages of garbage people that lie and cheat their way through life but always seem to be the victims. It’s one thing when you have a morally corrupt character who recognizes it. It’s something else entirely when you have a group of people that feel entitled to be terrible and are rewarded for it.
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
Dates read: December 21 – 27, 2021
While it is a mostly well-done alternate history thriller, when you examine it all more closely a few red flags arise, primarily because Winters is a white man. Much of what is presented feels like cultural appropriation, and while I’m sure this was not Winters’ intent, a white person writing about a former slave hunting runaway slaves is incredibly cringeworthy. Not to mention the plot features white saviorism, repeated use of the n-word (in context) and shades of Nazism. Honestly this feels like a relic rather than a novel written within the past decade.
BONUS: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Dates read: July 5 – August 8, 2021
At more than 600-pages and republished multiple times over 40 years during his lifetime, it’s a behemoth collection of poetry that seemed like a good idea when I started it, but after a few lengthy and repetitive sections I decided to only read the highlights and did not finish the rest. While I’m glad to have read a small portion of this very American collection, I wouldn’t recommend most readers start with the unabridged version of “Leaves” unless you’re prepared to seek out the must-read poems from the often confusing and repetitive filler.
Explore more of my 2021 reading and listening:
