AN ICU NURSE’S FRONT-LINES memoir of a COVID pandemic year. Raw, real account details the struggles, burnout, and PTSD faced by many US healthcare workers trying to keep people alive in overwhelmed hospitals. An important book. A MINUS

YEAR OF THE NURSE: A 2020 COVID-19 PANDEMIC MEMOIR
Cassie Alexander
2021

A DISASTER TRAVEL AGENT heads off to an isolated island nation and finds different crises than she had expected. Both a tense thriller and a thoughtful parable about tourism and exploitation. A MINUS

THE DISASTER TOURIST
Counterpoint
2020

THE DANGEROUS TERRITORY OF GIRLHOOD, and of femaleness in general, mapped expertly by Melissa Febos. Memoir, reportage, and analysis merge in a powerful examination of gendered existence. A MINUS

GIRLHOOD
Bloomsbury Publishing
2021

LOKI SPEAKS! AFTER nine centuries of exile on Earth, the mischief maker is once more entangled in the conflict between Asgard and Jotunheim. Can he avert a second Ragnarok? Clever, action-filled riff on classic Norse mythology. A MINUS

MISCHIEF MAKER: A NORSE MYTHOLOGY CONTEMPORARY FANTASY
Craig Martelle, Inc
2021

SCATHINGLY OBSERVANT THRILLER set in the literary world is at once a brilliant social satire and a sharp, twisty tale of psychological suspense. A MINUS

THE PLOT
Celadon Books
2021

LOVE, YEARNING, GRIEF, and joy are the cornerstones of this raw, brilliant memoir by a writer and musician whose extraordinary mother died far too young. Beautifully complex insights on split identity (Korean and American), and food and memory. A MINUS

CRYING IN H MART
Knopf
2021

A SPECTACULAR MAGICAL ADVENTURE set in an alternate steampunk universe where ancient magic has made Egypt the world’s superpower. Loaded with action and brilliant worldbuilding. A MINUS

A MASTER OF DJINN (DEAD DJINN UNIVERSE #1)
Tordotcom
2021

RE-ENVISIONING THE CLASSIC WESTERN with a powerful tale of frontier revenge—the difference here is that the steel-eyed sharpshooter exacting brutal justice is a Chinese outlaw with some help from the supernatural. Epic, vivid, cinematic. A MINUS

THE THOUSAND CRIMES OF MING TSU
Little
2021

DAZZLING, UNSETTLING NOVEL about two women, brought together by chance, who share deep bonds of grief and guilt. All the creepiness of the best Simenon, but with a feminist edge. A MINUS

CONSENT
Knopf
2021

ENCHANTED BY A POEM, an Irish poet devotes years to researching the life of its 18th century author, despite all the ways she was erased by history. Gorgeous, moving book combines the writer’s own life with that of her long-ago muse. A MINUS

A GHOST IN THE THROAT
Biblioasis
2021