Books I read in 2021
What constitutes a book? Most of the books I read this year are pretty traditional, straight-through text in paragraphs, the kind of thing you could pick up a physical copy of in a bookstore. But some stood out as different:
Worm (Wildbow) is a web serial, published one chapter at a time through a Wordpress blog (though it was complete by the time I first read it, on my phone during chemistry class in high school). The format lends itself to frequent end-of-chapter cliffhangers, and although it is quite long, it doesn't feel like the author was getting paid by the word (unlike Dickens-style newspaper serials of yore). These days, I would guess that most serialized fiction is actually fanfiction - I have fond memories in particular of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky), which I also first read in that same chemistry class. Similarly, There Is No Antimemetics Division (qntm) was originally published on the SCP Foundation, a wiki-style site for collaborative horror (and other) writings - though I did read this one on Kindle because I didn't know that at the time... or did I?
17776 (Jon Bois) is another piece of web fiction, one that uniquely takes advantage of the format. From the first chapter, dialogue is marked out on a month-by-month calendar grid - we share the characters' wait as we scroll and scroll, sometimes years between messages. As the story continues, it continues to take full advantage of the abilities of a website, interleaving the traditional text with images, animations, and full-blown video. The natural progression in power leads to interactive fiction, modernizing the "turn to page 37"-style choose-your-own-adventure novel. In Aviary Attorney (Sketchy Logic), your courtroom choices decide the fate of your clients; while Hatoful Boyfriend (PigeoNation Inc.) is ostensibly a dating simulator, you have the opportunity to reveal the dark secrets of its world with the right choices; and Doki Doki Literature Club (Team Salvato) further subverts the expectations of the dating sim genre and even its interface. (I didn't actually play any of these this year, but they're interesting enough for me to recommend here anyways).
Finally, the book House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) reminded me that you don't need to run a web browser to get a nonstandard reading experience. It's a physical book and worth a read for the novelty alone: the entire thing is typographical chaos from start to finish, in a way that enhances the story. I probably looked like an idiot (moreso than usual) flipping the book sideways or upside down to read passages, thumbing back and forth to re-read parallel sections and appendices, and pulling out my phone to check if one of the copious footnote references is to a real work or another in-universe piece. I have a vague memory of A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket) occasionally having bits like that - but House of Leaves turns it up to 11.
And finally finally, one last plug for one of my all-time favorites, the short story Nate the Snake (author unknown) is available online in both text and audio form ',:^)
In 2021, I read 56 books, mostly on Kindle (and mostly paid for with a generous reimbursement from my employer). The SF Chinatown library re-opened but with hours that overlap entirely with my newly meetings-filled work schedule, so I haven't been back yet. I failed to revive the CMU TEBA book club and read a couple books with the Twilio PEPM book club. I inadvertently started a collection of paperbacks with dogs on the cover (3 so far), and I cried because of at least four (4) of the books listed below. I plead the fifth on which ones, exactly.
In the list below, books marked with an exclamation mark (!) are the ones I enjoyed especially.
- Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
- Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn
- Moral Mazes - Robert Jackall
(!)Worm - Wildbow- Ask Your Developer - Jeff Lawson
- Never Split The Difference - Chris Voss
- Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
- The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz
(!)Know My Name - Chanel Miller- The Industries of the Future - Alec Ross
- Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu
(!)17776 - Jon Bois- Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino (translated by William Weaver)
- Show Your Work! - Austin Kleon
(!)Frankly In Love - David Yoon- Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart
- Losing The Signal - Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff
- The Shining - Stephen King
- Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
(!)A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara- An Elegant Puzzle - William Larson
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X and Alex Haley
- Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
- Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb
- Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb
- Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
- Inspired - Marty Cagan
- Minor Feelings - Cathy Park Hong
- Accelerate - Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim
- Separation Anxiety - Laura Zigman
- House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
(!)Sourdough - Robin Sloan- Sing To It - Amy Hempel
(!)How to Measure Anything - Douglas W. Hubbard- Chemistry for Beginners - Anthony Capella
(!)The Art of Racing In The Rain - Garth Stein(!)This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone- Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
- Deep Work - Cal Newport
- Spirits Abroad - Zen Cho
(!)The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick(!)There Is No Antimemetics Division - qntm- Ra - qntm
- Decoded - Jay-Z
- Confessions of a Recovering Engineer - Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
(!)The Overstory - Richard Powers- An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green
- A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor - Hank Green
- Hench - Natalie Zina Walschots
(!)The Innovator's Dilemma - Clayton M. Christensen- The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune
- The First Ten Years - Meg Bashwiner and Joseph Fink
- Working Backwards - Bill Carr and Colin Bryar
- Intimacies - Katie Kitamura
- Our Country Friends - Gary Shtyengart
A big thanks to everyone from real life who gave me recommendations this year: Yee Aun, Lizzie, Connie, Lois, Tiffany, Marshall, Rohan, and Russ. Also of note, I drew a lot of good suggestions from Robin Sloan's "In Search of the New", Alison Green's yearly book recommendations, and Jason Evanish's Bookshelf. It's said that for restaurants and movies, instead of reading random reviews of random selections, you should try to find a reviewer with similar tastes and see what they're excited about. I'm glad to have found some like-minded reviewers through the power of the internet.
And as always, if you have any book recommendations, let me know!