What I Read in 2021

2021 was certainly an interesting year – coronavirus variants popping up everywhere, political tensions increasing both domestically and abroad, and climate change heating up (hah!). 

While I didn’t get to read as much as I would have liked due to difficult circumstances, I did get through quite a few novels. I’ve chosen the ones that stood out to me as particularly noteworthy.

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Richard K Morgan – Thirteen

Morgan’s writing is brutal – it’s a no-holds-barred, raw exploration of the worst parts of the human experience – and that’s what makes it so damn fun to read.

Thirteen (originally Black Man) follows Carl Marsalis: a genetic experiment cum hired gun, designed to embody the naked aggression that humanity has spent thousands of years running from. Branded as a freak by the general public, most Thirteens end up living a life of exile in the backwater colonies of Mars. Marsalis’ new job is a tough one though – he is asked to bring in a mark, this time another Thirteen, who is every bit as violent and savage as he is.

It’s difficult to find someone who writes cyberpunk thrillers as well as Morgan. With roots in Gibson’s expansive catalogue of work, Morgan takes the noir elements, throws in some ultraviolence, and turns it up to eleven. 

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Iain M Banks – Use of Weapons

A re-read for me, but one that I keep coming back to.

Banks’ Use of Weapons is a tour-de-force. Structurally, it’s pretty unique; written in interwoven chapters, there are two narrative streams – one moving forwards chronologically, denoted by Arabic numerals, and the other moving backwards, using Roman ones. Both streams centre on Cheradinine Zakalwe, a Culture agent hired by Special Circumstances (think clandestine black-ops, only cooler) to solve problems that can’t be handled by anyone else.

Moral ambiguity and ethical calculations are the name of the game here, and Banks uses Zakalwe to examine the nature of influence, psychotic breaks, and how the past defines us as people. The climax of Use of Weapons is executed masterfully and I keep picking up subtle hints each time I read it.

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Gareth Powell – Embers of War

I only discovered Powell’s work in 2020 during the first of many lockdowns, and I can safely say it was one of the best things I did all year.

I’m a big fan of sentient starships and omniscient AIs in my science fiction. Trouble Dog, a retired warship, is dealing with unresolved trauma from her part in an atrocity some years prior to the main story, and Powell has written the character exceptionally well. He also has a cast of believable female characters – ones that sound like they could be women, not just men with breasts. The camaraderie between the crew, each of whom is dealing with their own inner struggles, is fun to read, while the overarching narrative has enough mystery and big-concept sci-fi elements to keep me entertained.

Embers of War, and indeed the rest of the trilogy, read like a movie – exciting set pieces, explosive action, fun characters that should be brought to life on the big screen. To me, that’s a good thing.

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Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, is the violent pillar upon which McCarthy’s contribution to the American gothic canon rests.

‘Violent’ may be an understatement. It’s grotesque – not in the slasher-film sense where a director is trying to show just how much fake blood they can fit into their budget, but more in the Attenborough documentary sense. It feels like watching a lion chase down and devour a gazelle, ripping out entrails and viscera without a second thought. This is an evaluation of human nature, war, competition and ego, all written in blood. 

I’ll write a post about Blood Meridian in full when I’ve had enough time to digest it, but at this stage I can say it is a brilliant novel with all the McCarthy hallmarks, including a vocabulary that paints vivid pictures of American landscapes, frontiersmen, and the vicious crimes they enact upon each other. 

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Haruki Murakami – Sputnik Sweetheart

I love Murakami for his ambiguous, vague, and yet somehow nostalgic writing. He never ceases to make me yearn for a time and place that I’ve never personally experienced.

Sputnik Sweetheart is a love triangle that, in true Murakami fashion, spirals into a mystery that borders on either the metaphorical or supernatural, depending on how you read it. K., the narrator, has fallen for Sumire, who in turn loves Miu, an older woman without affection for anyone. Throw in a Greek island getaway, a disappearance to ‘the other side’, and you have yourself a diverting reading experience.

I’ll probably explore Murakami’s catalogue in-depth at a later date, but Sputnik Sweetheart is definitely a classic example of his work, if that’s what you’re after. 

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Elliot Perlman – Seven Types of Ambiguity

I can’t get away from this book no matter how hard I try. A former colleague of mine recommended it to me after I finished reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, and now it’s burned into my brain indelibly.

Seven Types of Ambiguity is a psychological thriller written by an Australian author, so in a patriotic sense I was obligated to give it a go. I’m very glad that I did.

The story is told in seven parts, by six different narrators, whose lives are entangled by a single event. It’s a story of unrequited love, emotional damage, intellectual dishonesty, avoidance and insecurity, set against a backdrop of first-world consumerism. It’s also deeply moving, and it’s a book that feels heavy to read, as though you can feel the weight of the words just holding it in your hands. 

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