Top 3 Reads of 2021

PLUS: A few 2022 releases we're looking forward to

In 2021, my personal goal was to read/listen to 30 books. While I missed the mark—I completed 23 books—a few of my 2021 selections quickly became favorites. If you're planning your 2022 reading list, you may want to consider a few of the books that topped my 2021 list.

The Lincoln Highway

Amor Towles

If you want to get technical, I actually finished this book in 2022, but I started it in mid-December 2021. A New York Times notable book and chosen as a best book of the year by Time, NPR, The Washington Post and others, The Lincoln Highway is the story of Emmett and Billy Watson. The brothers, recently orphaned, set across the country in the early 1950s on an adventure to start a new life and reconnect with the mother who deserted them years before. Recently released from a work farm in Salinas, Kansas, Emmett takes his responsibility for his younger brother, but is forced to make a number of decisions during the cross-country trip that put Billy's life in danger. Two of Emmett's friends from the work farm show up to complicate matters—and reroute Emmett and Billy's trip.

Towles is masterful in setting a scene and creating complicated characters who alternately endear themselves to you, then reveal deeply devastating flaws. The descriptions of people and places are rich, helping you to see them in your mind's eye. I listened to the audio version, which was enhanced by various voice actors reading the chapters narrated by the various characters.

The Lincoln Highway is part adventure and coming-of-age story, borrowing from Greek mythology and hero tales. You will laugh, cry and leave the book with a more than a few questions, but it's a beautiful ride and one you don't want to miss. Note: There is a little rough language/obscenities in the book, if that is something you prefer to avoid.

The Book of Lost Friends

Lisa Wingate

Previously mentioned in our "5 Favorite Listens" article, The Book of Lost Friends was also one of my favorite books of 2021. Like The Lincoln Highway, Wingate's novel uses multiple narrators who allow you to experience the plot from various points of view. The Book of Lost Friends tells the story of three women whose stories intertwine across centuries: Hannie, a freed slave in the post-Civil War South, and her Creole half-sister, Juneau Jane, and Benedetta Silva, a teacher in Louisiana in 1987.

Wingate says she got the idea for the book after reading "Lost Friends" advertisements that appeared in newspapers following the Civil War, as newly freed slaves tried to track down wives, husbands and children who had been sold away from them—and real ads are included in the book, heartbreaking in their poignancy.

Exploring themes such as slavery, poverty and the power of secrets, Wingate creates a beautiful story that can't be missed.

The Giver of Stars

JoJo Moyes

I'll be honest, I added this book to my 2021 reading list with a healthy dose of skepticism. Sometimes, when a book is as popular as this one was, some part of me discounts the hype. As it turns out, The Giver of Stars was worth it.

The Giver of Stars is the story of Alice Wright, a young English woman who marries American Bennett Van Cleave and finds herself stifling in small-town Kentucky where she doesn't fit in and the excitement of her whirlwind romance quickly cools. But everything changes when Alice joins a group of women who plan to become a part of Eleanor Roosevelt's traveling library, delivering books and magazine by horse to the families in the hills and hollers of Kentucky.

It's a beautiful story about the power of true friendship, and you'll find yourself crying, laughing and gasping in surprise. Plus, apparently there's a Netflix movie in the works, thought I've been unable to track down a release date.

A few books we're looking forward to in 2022:

• The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, releasing Feb. 1, a historical fiction novel based on Agatha Christie's 11-day disappearance in 1946.

• One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, releasing in March 2022, is the story of a young woman mourning her mother's death in Italy inextricably meets a younger version of her mother.

• The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand, releasing in June 2022. A novel with a ghost story? What's not to like!