What I enjoyed (and didn’t enjoy) reading in 2021
Welcome to the 7th Motti Literary Awards — written, directed, produced and presented by supreme dictator Ricardo Motti.
If you're new to the Motti Awards, here's how it works: I'll rank every book I read during the year, from worst to best. I’ll add a quick tweet-like review to each book, with decreasing levels of snark. By the end, you'll be convinced to read (or not to read) a handful. Job done.
A proper award requires an often ignored opening monologue. Here we go.
What a year of (irregular) reading! Between living without a bathtub and with a pair of kittens, there were times when I doubted myself. Thankfully, reading is what beach holidays, train delays and Covid self-isolations are for.
In the end, I read more than ever before—and, on average, the books were great. I haven't read a mediocre one since September.
There was also a wider range of subjects than before. We had books about sports, military history, prison doctors, politics, music, business, war journalism, cats, artificial intelligence and even (gulp) a few experimental novels. Which I liked! I must be getting soft.
Some highlights from 2021:
- Initial goal was 48 books, but secretly 52. It ended up being 55.
- I almost quit on the goal of "half of books by female authors". But had an awesome run in August-September and ended up with 28.
- Did NOT meet the goal of 20% of books by authors from ethnic minority groups. Turns out this is harder than it seems (and it felt a little weird Googling pictures of authors before buying books).
- Was kept afloat by my new favourite local bookshop, the quirky and adorable Open Book.
Ok, monologue done. Without further ado, welcome to the 7th Motti Literary Awards! Opinions all mine and, thus, irrefutable.
The ‘Farenheit 451’ Awards
As the supply chain crisis deepens, these are my book recommendations if you run out of firewood.
55. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara (2018)
Let me say this — if the killer was as messy as this book, they would have found him in two weeks.
To make matters worse… I don't know how to break this to you, but the author died before she could finish the book. She's survived by Patton Oswalt. It's all very confusing.
54. The Mermaid of Black Conch, Monique Roffey (2020)
Lovely plot: a man falls in love with a mermaid. This book won the Costa Book Award, which celebrates ‘enjoyable books’. But, just like a Costa coffee, the idea was better than the execution.
53. Luster, Raven Leilani (2020)
Synopsis: “I want him but he never calls". God, I'm tired of books about feelings.
52. Spooked: The Secret Rise of Private Spies, Barry Meier (2021)
You know when a book looks great, but no one has read it and the few reviews are pretty bland, yet you still buy it and think you're going to unearth a hidden gem? Well, that never happens. Also, scary book to read on holidays in Cyprus, where 9 out of 10 people are Russian.
51. Such Small Hands, Andrés Barba (2008)
It's about children being cruel so, like, awesome. But the writing is wayyyy too flowery for my taste. Just give me mean kids and hold the poetry.
The ‘Bleak House’ Tier
Fatally flawed fiction books. Proceed at your own risk.
50. Black Buck, Matteo Askaripour (2021)
It started really well. Got wobbly halfway through and completely derailed by the end. It's like the author got more and more irrationally confident as he went on. Or maybe he was drinking.
49. An Island, Karen Jennings (2020)
A short story turned into a novel—and it really shows. Great idea (man lives alone on an island, gets an unexpected visitor, chaos ensues), but there's LOTS of useless flashbacks. Y'all know I hate flashbacks.
48. Bom dia, Verônica, Andrea Kilmore (2016)
There's a nice little subgenre called "Brazilian crime novels". Former Gold Motti winner Raphael Montes is great at it. Maybe there's a reason he wrote this one under a pseudonym.
47. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Oh, Taylor! Likely my biggest disappointment of the year. I loved 'Daisy Jones', but this is as saccharine and far-fetched as a mid-afternoon soap opera.
Worth noting: my (first) wife did like it.
46. The Outsider, Stephen King (2018)
Do I even really like Stephen King at this point? The poor man has been struggling to break into top-30 for a few years now.
45. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
The good, old, annoying weird-person-can’t-connect-to-people-but-something-happens-and-they-become-more-normal character arc. I guess that fad kinda started with this one. Whatever, this book is famous enough, it doesn't need your attention.
The ‘Breaks of the Game’ Division
Completely forgettable sports books that I had to read to renew my White Man In His Forties Club subscription.
44. You Can’t Lose Them All: Cousin Sal’s Funny-But-True Tales of Sports, Gambling, and Questionable Parenting, Sal Iacono (2021)
Wow, this was stupid and silly, how did they give Jimmy Kimmel's cousin a book deal? I'm also stupid and silly, as I devoured it in two days.
43. Driven: The Men Who Made Formula One, Kevin Eason (2018)
This is not just about F1, it's about the business of F1. Fun at times, but not as fast as it could be (see what I did there).
The ‘Da Vinci Code’ Level
Turn off your brain and apply some sunscreen: these are fairly decent beach reads.
42. V2: A Novel of World War II, Robert Harris (2020)
I don’t want to feed stereotypes, but the older I get, the more military books I read.
41. Blacktop Wasteland, S.A. Cosby (2020)
Fun action, probably better if you like cars. The writing lost me at times. I'm betting this will be a great movie (starring Michael B. Jordan) soon.
40. Primeiro eu tive que morrer, Lorena Portela (2020)
This is literally about being on the beach.
39. The Lido, Libby Page (2018)
And this is literally about a swimming pool. Some would call it sweet. A cynic could call it soppy. (OK, it’s me. I’m the cynic.)
38. Just Like You, Nick Hornby (2020)
Nick Hornby is now Sally Rooney for the middle-aged. I’m the target audience, so keep 'em coming, Nick.
37. The Guest List, Lucy Foley (2020)
Quite thriller-y thriller. Very far fetched, but did keep me thrilled.
The ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ Division
Useful non-fiction books—either kept me entertained, or taught me something, or helped me earn points with my boss.
36. A History of Heavy Metal, Andrew O’Neill (2017)
Briefly turned me into Beavis & Butthead. That said, I severely disagree with the notion that Venom influenced 75% of heavy metal, but this is not the time or place to discuss it.
35. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America, David Hepworth (2020)
Hope for all of us skinny Brits with bad teeth.
34. Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat — Not a Sour Puss, Pam Johnson-Bennett (2000)
I'd name this "1001 Ways You're Ruining Your Cat". Pretty traumatising. I did learn a lot, and so far my cats seem moderately-adjusted.
33. Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future, Peter Thiel (2014)
Peter Thiel writing about startups is like Darth Vader writing about death stars. So useful, but so wrong. Lots of insights even if you’d never dream of founding a startup (I'd never).
32. How To Talk To Robots: A Girls’ Guide To a Future Dominated by AI, Tabitha Goldstaub (2021)
Super instructive and easy to understand—gave me a new appreciation about artificial intelligence. However, the second half of the book is just transcription of interviews. And, you know, there's this thing called 'podcasts'…
31. The Prison Doctor, Amanda Brown (2019)
I bought it at the airport. It’s a good airport read. But it's not the best prison book I read this year (keep scrolling, you'll get there).
30. Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, Anna Funder (2003)
The DDR Museum in Berlin ruined communism for me, because it makes everything seem hilariously incompetent, like a 40-year long 'Veep' episode. Now this, though, brings the 'scary' right back. Shocking and gripping.
29. How Google Works, Eric Schmidt (2014)
Good and useful, but not a fun bathtub read. Believe me, I tried.
28. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed (2012)
Motivating and inspiring if you love walks or if you hate showers.
The ‘Sally Rooney’ Interlude
The most famous book of the year deserves its own section.
27. Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney (2021)
Sally's third book is exactly like the third album by The Strokes. There's the usual brilliance, but there's also LOTS of self-indulgence. (And if you think about it, her first two books are like Is This It and Room on Fire: brilliant and impossible to tell apart.)
Well, First Impressions of Earth is my favourite Strokes album, but it took many repeated listens to get there. I don't plan on ever re-reading 'Beautiful World, Where Are You'. I'll likely re-read 'Normal People' one day.
Hope Sally doesn't follow the rest of The Strokes career arc, though. It really went downhill after the fifth release.
The ‘Leaves of Grass’ Tier
This is NOT poetry. But, in their way, these are poetic books. Which means I'm not supposed to like them, but I did. I don't know what's wrong with me.
26. The Employees, Olga Ravn (2018)
I can’t review this, there’s nothing to compare it to. Felt more like a game than a book, as you try to piece together bits of information. Very, very creative. Definitely not for everyone.
25. A Pediatra, Andrea del Fuego (2021)
It's about a twisted pediatrician. Extremely fun if you'll never have kids.
24. Weird Fucks, Lynne Tillman (2015)
Full of awesome phrases like “(…) work at the film cooperative was impossible — no one cooperated.”
Not a page turner, though. It’s poetic, if poets were funny and cynical, which they really should be.
23. Indelicacy, Amina Cain (2020)
It's the story of a cleaner who works in a museum, and then she becomes an artist. I’ll say this: not my style, but I really liked it. Best compliment I can give.
The ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ Award
The most fun book of the year (spoiler!) names the award for the books that were just plain fun. You should read them.
22. The Diary of Two Nobodies, Mary Killen & Gilles Wood (2018)
It's written by beloved Gogglebox couple Mary & Giles (in Wiltshire….). The book version of watching Gogglebox: very fun with the occasional belly laugh.
If you haven't watched Gogglebox — stop reading and go watch TV.
21. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops, Shaun Bythell (2020)
I'll keep buying and reading every book Shaun writes about being a bookshop owner (see 'Diary of a Bookseller' and 'Confessions of a Bookseller'.) It's because of Shaun that I buy a book whenever I enter a bookshop, out of sheer terror of being judged.
20. On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist, Clarissa Ward (2020)
This is interesting and well-written and emotional at times. However, I kept comparing it to another memoir by a female journalist… well, let me shut up, you'll get there.
19. The Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield (2021)
First hundred pages are nothing to write Earth about (and some early plot twists can be spotted all the way from Jupiter), but then it blasts off and becomes stellar. Great fun by everyone's favourite mustachioed astronaut.
18. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir (2021)
Three books in, Andy Weir is fast becoming the master of the space odyssey. The habitual science lessons are there, but there's more to it. It's sci-fi with a human heart.
17. An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination, Cecilia Kang & Sheera Frankel (2021)
Like. High engagement. Schadenfreude-filled. Biased at times. I'm talking about the book, really.
16. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell (2021)
I learned more reading this book than in my hundreds of hours playing WW2 airplane videogames.
15. The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World, Tim Marshall (2021)
As a frustrated geography student, this is so great. Each chapter discusses a country (say, Australia, Greece or Iran) and explains how geography affected the past, present and future of that region. Spoiler: the world is ending soon.
14. Suíte Tóquio, Giovanna Madalosso (2020)
This was the third book this year where people are cruel to children. I really should shut up.
13. How to Kill Your Family, Bella Mackie (2021)
Just what the world needs: witty feminist serial killers. More of this, please. (No kids were harmed, for the record.)
The ‘Great Expectations’ Trophy
Again, these books came so close to getting a Motti. Sorry, books. Maybe next year. But you really should read these — I highly recommend all of them.
12. The Test, Sylvain Neuvel (2019)
If you think the UK Citizenship Test couldn’t get any more ridiculous, this (fun, super creative, very short) book proves you wrong. Delightful.
11. A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century, Jason DeParle (2019)
Quite an accomplishment to talk about immigration by focusing very narrowly (one Filipino family) but also discussing the global context broadly. Great writing too. I'll be thinking about this one for many, many years.
10. It’s Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness, Seth Wickersham (2021)
Embarrassed about squeezing a book about the NFL between one about immigration and another about Marina Abramovic. (Maybe I don't highly recommend this one, unless you're a Tom Brady fanboy like me.)
09. Walk Through Walls: A Memoir, Marina Abramovic (2016)
Here's the thing with Marina Abramovic: everything seems super serious, but she's actually quite chill and funny. I know, I've met her (#humblebrag). And it comes through in this super inspiring book. What an artist, what a life.
08. The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz (2021)
Literally, a literary thriller. It's about a writer who steals a plot idea from one of his students… well, and all hell breaks loose. Fun read and kept me guessing until the very end.
07. Prisioneiras, Drauzio Varella (2017)
The best prison book of the year! Seriously, though, it's much more than a book about female prisoners, it's about Brazil, women's place in society and the human condition as a whole. Moving, didactic and easy to read.
The 2021 Motti Award Winners
It was a hard-fought battle, but you made it. Drum roll for the Motti Award winners of 2021.
06. Earthlings, Sayaka Murata
Such a great, smart and EXTREMELY DISTURBING book. I’ve never read anything like it. I even feel weird even recommending it here —like, what would people think, I'm not that sick. So I’m in awe of the braveness to actually write it. Wow. Don't read it, mom.
05. Tudo é Rio, Carla Madeira (2014)
‘Have you read this one?’ asks my friend Lais.
‘No. Is it good?’
‘Yeah. You’ll read it in a couple of days.’
‘Will it make my top 10?’
‘No.’
Well, Lais was wrong. It made my top 5. What a beautiful book—I cried a lot.
04. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris (2000)
Well, on the flip side, I laughed a lot with this one. I don't remember laughing this much while reading. Why didn't you tell me David Sedaris was so funny? Apparently everyone knows it but me. Looking forward to reading more of his books in the next few years.
03. Capital, John Lanchester (2012)
A masterclass in writing and structure. You know when a book has multiple characters, and you get to that chapter with the boring character and go like "aww damn". Well, this never happens here. It's always engaging and never boring or confusing.
Very fun read, very cool story, very human. Very London too. It's 600 pages long… it left me wishing it was longer.
02. The Border, Don Winslow
Now this… this is something else. It's a drug trafficking opera. It's fast-paced like an action movie, it's fun but will break your heart, it's educational but not preachy. A lot of what I learned about Central America immigration reading Tell Me How It Ends last year is applied here.
Sometimes all I want is a great book that's very long (this has 750 pages), so I can immerse myself and not worry about what to read next. This is more than I could want. An incredible achievement.
01. It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, Lynsey Addario (2015)
Nothing is as cool, as important, and as exciting as photojournalism. Now imagine war zone photojournalism… in Afghanistan… by a woman… while pregnant. See where this is going? It's insane.
Look, just read this. It's a bullet-paced (and bullet-ridden) memoir. The stories are even better than the pictures. It’s thrilling, it’s moving, it’s inspiring. It's well-deserving of the Golden Motti. Take a bow, Ms. Addario—it was all worth it.
So what about 2022? The goals are: 52 books (it's always secretly 52, so let's admit it); and as few as possible by white men, other than David Sedaris, but no numeric goals on that.
Finally, this is my yearly pitch for you to join Goodreads! It’s the best thing if you promised to read more. It’s fun! You can set goals. We can even be friends there (but just there). And they even do a recap of your year, like Spotify Wrapped but for people who drink lots of tea.
