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They are this decade’s version of “the plague of women’s backs” that Chloë Schama identified in 2013 (bicycles were a thing for a while, too), and they’re starting to weary the eye before the spine is even cracked. JACOBS I very much admire Lionel Shriver and plunged eagerly into “Should We Stay or Should We Go,” her novel about an aging couple who make a suicide pact, but I found its Choose Your Own Adventure-style looping, while technically impressive, more confusing and less convincing than a similar, simpler device in “The Post-Birthday World.” (Though maybe its confusions were meta-commentary on dementia? Scratching chin emoji.)Īlso: the cover designers who persist in pandering to Instagram with those titles in Futura or ’70s-retro fonts against lush, colorful backgrounds. SZALAI I wanted more from “A Splendid Intelligence,” Cathy Curtis’s biography of Elizabeth Hardwick - but then maybe I should have taken a cue from Hardwick herself, who derided the entire genre of literary biography (unfairly, I think, but she was unfailingly stylish about it). I had already been reading the philosopher Amia Srinivasan in The London Review of Books, but there was something exhilarating about reading her at length in “The Right to Sex.” She engages so deeply with the ideas of others, showing what’s useful while also acknowledging what’s troubling - a real feat at a time when it seems as if nearly every discourse lurches between two modes: worship or denunciation. SZALAI I was happy to be introduced to the work of Albert Samaha, whose family memoir, “Concepcion,” merges a roiling history of the Philippines with an intimate portrait of his immigrant mom.
And I noted with interest Alison Bechdel brightening her color palette in her timely yet highly personal examination of exercise and mind-body transcendence, “The Secret to Superhuman Strength.” (Goddess knows we need that right now!) JACOBS I was dazzled by the daring and imagination of “The Final Revival of Opal & Nev,” by Dawnie Walton, which I reviewed before officially becoming a critic for The Times. ‘Red Comet’: Heather Clark’s new biography of the poet Sylvia Plath is daring, meticulously researched and unexpectedly riveting.‘Intimacies’: Katie Kitamura’s novel follows an interpreter at The Hague who is dealing with loss, an uncertain relationship and an insecure world.‘On Juneteenth’: Annette Gordon-Reed explores the racial and social complexities of Texas, her home state, weaving history and memoir.‘How Beautiful We Were’: Imbolo Mbue’s second novel is a tale of a casually sociopathic corporation and the people whose lives it steamrolls.
“The Loneliest Americans,” by our colleague Jay Caspian Kang at Opinion, has been subject to a lot of spirited discussion already, and I think his exploration of class and identity among Asian Americans will be talked about for years to come.Įditors at The Times Book Review selected the best fiction and nonfiction titles of the year. Reading Tove Ditlevsen’s “The Copenhagen Trilogy” was so unsettling as well as so pleasurable that it’s bound to be one of those books I return to again and again. I was impressed by Clint Smith’s “How the Word Is Passed,” which traces the geographical legacy of slavery. JENNIFER SZALAI Eyal Press’s “Dirty Work” - about hard, morally troubling jobs, like piloting kill drones and working in slaughterhouses - was terrific: learned, patient, unflinching, powerful. Lauren Oyler’s novel, “Fake Accounts,” was more than promising I’m not alone in wondering what she’ll do next. The new books of poetry from Kevin Young and Louise Glück, two favorites, were treats. Gary Shteyngart was back in top form this year we’re lucky to have that guy. A very funny book about conspiracy theories, masculinity and the internet.ĭWIGHT GARNER Andrew Sullivan’s stuff is astringent and humane and, crucially, unpredictable, and I read his “Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989-2021” in three or four sittings. MOLLY YOUNG Jeff Chon’s “Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun” was superb enough that I read it despite two powerful obstacles: 1) The presence of the word “hashtag” in the title and 2) The fact that I spilled chili oil all over my copy, which turned the first 30 pages completely transparent and orange. What were some of the books published in 2021 that you didn’t review but admired? Below, Dwight Garner, Jennifer Szalai, Young and Jacobs talk about older books they read for the first time, authors who inspired and disappointed them, and more.
This time we welcome our newest critics, Molly Young and Alexandra Jacobs, to the conversation. We also ask them to gather to discuss their years in reading in broader detail. Each year around now, The New York Times’s book critics choose their favorite books from among those they reviewed over the previous 12 months.