Mariel’s 2021 Favorites
My Favorite Books From This Year!
Books
I’m a big reader and books have been a constant source of support, grounding, and inspiration in my life. I would like to say I read every day, but sadly, I tend to end my day with the apps on my phone. I’m sick of scrolling on Instagram or TikTok before I fall asleep. So — shout out to these books, which swept me up, and allowed me to forget about my glowing phone screen for a few hours each night.
Arcadia by Lauren Groff
This book makes me feel warm inside. This was my second time reading it and I may claim it as my favorite book ever. Arcadia is seen through the eyes of Bit, a child born into a hippie commune in upstate New York in the 1960s. We follow Bit throughout his life, as the commune grows tremendously, eventually fails, and everyone splinters off into different corners of the world. It’s a book full of grief, confusion, joy, community, and people just trying to figure it out. I feel enamored by the ways that community can grow and shift, how people can live out different lives than the classic “get a job, a partner, get married, have kids, and live alone working for the rest of your life.”
The setting of this book has a special place in my heart. I have spent years of my life wandering through fields and forests in Upstate New York. I feel somewhat nostalgic when I read this book, as it reminds me of a life I once lived throughout camp and college. A community of people trying to figure it out, in a beautiful corner of the world.
Godshot by Chelsea Bieker
Godshot takes place in a small central California town that is suffering from years of drought. Once the thriving “raisin capital of the world”, Peaches is now a barren wasteland, with its residents barely surviving. In their desperation, the residents have turned to the cult leadership of Pastor Vern, who promises to bring back rain if the congregation completes his secret assignments. Lacey May is under the spell of Vern, but after her mother is exiled from the town, her worldview explodes and she realizes that something is off with Vern’s leadership. This book shows the quirks of American families that are often hidden from our viewpoints. It’s terrifying, disturbing, fascinating, and hysterical. There is a grandma that prays to her taxidermy mice each day, baptisms that take place in reused coca-cola, a phone sex hotline house, and more. This book is bizarre — in a fantastic way. Read it for a laugh.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
I was gifted The Dutch House for Christmas last year and ended up reading it after moving back to Brooklyn. I read it fast, eating up every word. A fascinating family story, The Dutch House follows two siblings over the course of five decades. Throughout the narrative, we are constantly brought back to the main dwelling — a lavish and grand Dutch House that their father bought when they were kids. The Dutch House tells a simple story of an average family in a way that makes you feel less alone. I’m a big fan of books that follow families for generations, and this does just that.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
I read this book through tears. Chanel Miller, known to the world as Emily Doe for years, reclaims her trauma and her story in this deeply personal and powerful book. Miller writes about her experience before, during, and after the event that changed her life — she was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner. This is the type of book that makes you want to cry and scream. I don’t even know how to write this review, all I can say is: if you have the ability to read this book, do it. More people need to understand just how fucked our society is towards people that experience sexual assault (and just how favoring we are of white, wealthy, men).
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel a few years ago and was blown away. I had never read a book so gripping and so extreme. When I first came across Mandel’s new book, The Glass Hotel, I wasn’t convinced that I would enjoy it. I came back to it multiple times in multiple book stores across multiple states. When I moved back to Brooklyn, my mother had bought it for me as a welcome gift. And so I read it.
Mandel has a way with words and I am convinced she can make any storyline captivating. We read about a Ponzi scheme, living as a hotel manager on a remote island, a brother struggling with addiction, and starting over. There is definitely a lot going on in this book, but I don’t mind. I like that I can get wrapped up into a complicated and, confusing at times, storyline.
