{"id":9027,"date":"2022-01-04T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T16:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=9027"},"modified":"2022-01-04T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T16:57:43","slug":"book-list-2021-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-list-2021-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"Book List: 2021 Favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Monster Librarian’s staff reviewed over 100 books in 2021. These included fiction, nonfiction, anthologies, short story collections, poetry, novels, graphic novels, and novellas of all kinds, for adults, teens, and middle graders, both traditionally and independently published. While many excellent books came our way, the following titles received the designation of “highly recommended” from our reviewers. With the exception of seven books on this list, these can all be purchased from our storefront at Bookshop.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I really hope that you will choose to support Monster Librarian by making your purchases though our storefront at Bookshop.org<\/a>. or through the links provided with publication information in our reviews. We received almost no funding this year and were lucky to cover our hosting fees.<\/p>\n

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Novels:<\/p>\n

The Final Girl Support Group\u00a0<\/em>by Grady Hendrix
\nLakewood\u00a0<\/em>by Megan Giddings
\nWhisper Down the Lane\u00a0<\/em>by Clay McLeod Chapman
\nSeeing Evil (Cycle of Evil #1)\u00a0<\/em>by Jason Parent
\nMexican Gothic<\/em> by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
\nChildren of Chicago <\/em>by Cynthia Pelayo
\nNeptune’s Reckoning\u00a0<\/em>by Robert J. Stava
\n(Con)Science<\/em> by PJ Manney
\nFinal Girl\u00a0<\/em>by Wol-vriey
\nThe Between<\/em> by Ryan Leslie
\nConstance\u00a0<\/em>by Matthew Fitzsimmons
\nTo Dust You Shall Return\u00a0<\/em>by Fred Venturini
\nDevil’s Creek\u00a0<\/em>by Todd Keisling
\nThe Deep\u00a0<\/em>by Alma Katsu
\nGoblin: A Novel in Six Novellas\u00a0<\/em>by Josh Malerman
\nThe Burning Girls\u00a0<\/em> by C.J. Tudor
\nThe Last House on Needless Street<\/em> by Catriona Ward
\nThe Other Black Girl\u00a0<\/em>by Zakiya Dalila Harris
\nOf One Blood\u00a0<\/em>by Pauline Hopkins<\/p>\n

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Young Adult:<\/p>\n

Clown in a Cornfield\u00a0<\/em>by Adam Cesare
\nBeasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales\u00a0<\/em>by Soman Chainani<\/p>\n

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Middle Grade:<\/p>\n

The Girl and the Ghost\u00a0<\/em> by Hanna Alkaf
\nRoot Magic\u00a0<\/em>by Eden Royce
\nThe Year I Flew Away\u00a0<\/em>by Marie Arnold
\nAmari and the Night Brothers\u00a0<\/em>by B.B. Alston<\/p>\n

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Graphic Novels:<\/p>\n

Road of Bones<\/em> by Rich Douek and Alex Cormack
\nElvira: Mistress of the Dark (vols 1 and 2)<\/em> by David Avallone, art by Dave Acosta
\nThe Shape of Elvira\u00a0<\/em>by David Avallone, art by Fran Strukan (issues 1-3) and Pasquale Qualano (issue 4)
\nThe Masque of the Red Death: Fine Art Edition\u00a0<\/em>by Edgar Allan Poe<\/p>\n

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Collections:<\/p>\n

Coralesque: And Other Tales to Disturb and Distract\u00a0<\/em>by Rebecca Fraser
\nFrom the Depths: Terrifying Tales <\/em>by Richard Saxon
\nChildren of the Fang and Other Genealogies\u00a0<\/em>by John Langan
\nBurning Girls and Other Stories\u00a0<\/em>by Veronica Schanoes
\nGrotesque: Monster Stories<\/em> by Lee Murray<\/p>\n

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Anthologies:<\/p>\n

Attack From the ’80s\u00a0<\/em>edited by Eugene Johnson
\nHowls from Hell: A Horror Anthology\u00a0<\/em>edited by HOWL Society
\nNot All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror<\/em> edited by Joanna Roye and G.G. Silverman
\nWicked Women: An Anthology of the New England Horror Writers\u00a0<\/em>edited by Jane Yolen and Hilary Monahan
\nMiscreations: Gods, Monstrosities, and Other Horrors\u00a0<\/em>edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey<\/p>\n

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Poetry:<\/p>\n

Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken.\u00a0<\/em>by Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith
\nA Complex Accident of Life\u00a0<\/em>by Jessica McHugh
\nCradleland of Parasites\u00a0<\/em>by Sara Tantlinger<\/p>\n

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Nonfiction:<\/p>\n

Cult Cinema <\/em>by Howard David Ingham
\nEncyclopedia Sharksploitanica <\/em>by Susan Snyder
\nThe Devil and His Advocates <\/em>by Nicholas Butler
\nWomen Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre <\/em>by Alison Peirse
\nThe Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films <\/em>by Kelly Florence and Meg Hafdahl
\n1000 Women in Horror: 1895-2018 <\/em>by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
\nGlamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi <\/em>by Sandra Niemi
\nWriting in the Dark\u00a0<\/em>by Tim Waggoner
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monster Librarian’s staff reviewed over 100 books in 2021. These included fiction, nonfiction, anthologies, short story collections, poetry, novels, graphic novels, and novellas of all kinds, for adults, teens, and middle graders, both traditionally and independently published. While many excellent books came our way, the following titles received the designation of “highly recommended” from our<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5073,309,2092,188,83,5074,2172],"class_list":["post-9027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2021-favorites","tag-book-lists","tag-dark-poetry","tag-graphic-novels","tag-horror-fiction","tag-horror-nonfiction","tag-monster-librarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9027"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9035,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions\/9035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}