New year, new reading list: The 10 best books of January 2021

January is nearly always a great month for books, as readers emerge from the holidays eager to dive into fresh piles of books. And this year is no different.  

1. Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson

Set in 1938 on a dude ranch catering to wealthy women seeking Reno divorces, Julia Claiborne Johnson’s novel channels Hollywood screwball comedies. Narrated 50 years later by a retired doctor whose job it was, in his 20s, to squire the guests, the book captures both the high jinks and heartache of his pivotal last summer there. Full review here. 

2. The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Sadeqa Johnson’s novel is a layered look at the journey of Pheby Brown, a biracial woman born into slavery and, ironically, privilege. Johnson probes deeply into the roots of color, class, and gender in the 1800s. The book strips bare what it means to struggle to survive as an “owned” woman. Full review here.

3. The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

This satisfying romantic comedy tells of two 20-something radio producers in Seattle. Shay already has 10 years of experience while Dominic, fresh out of grad school, is certain that he knows more. Natural adversaries, they’re assigned to host a program that offers relationship advice from the vantage point of two exes. Of course, they scramble to maintain the ruse when the animosity melts and their romance begins.

4. No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush

Keisha Bush weaves an “Oliver Twist”-like tale of pain and faith drawn partially on her experiences living in Dakar, Senegal. Ibrahimah is a boy living an idyllic life with his family. That all changes one day when he and his cousin are sent to Senegal’s capital to study the Quran. Bush poses essential questions about free will and liberation. Full review here. 

5. The War Widow by Tara Moss

In postwar Sydney, Australia, war correspondent Billie Walker reinvents herself from a bereaved widow to private eye when she reopens her late father’s agency. With a crackling plot and vibrant prose, Tara Moss concocts a first-rate noir detective mystery.

6. Featherhood by Charlie Gilmour

Charlie Gilmour describes with wit and tenderness his unplanned adoption of a baby magpie, which becomes an object of fascination. He uses the episode as a springboard to a discussion of family bonds, principally his relationship with his absentee biological father. This absorbing memoir is touching, painful, and honest. Full review here.

7. Long Time Coming by Michael Eric Dyson

Michael Eric Dyson excavates the centuries-old mechanics of white supremacy and lays them bare. Five chapters, written to Black “martyrs,” chisel out the bedrock of American mainstays such as police brutality. Dyson asks a necessary but difficult question: Are we really ready to talk about race? Full review here.

8. Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule

Ty Seidule, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, doesn’t just knock his boyhood idol off the pedestal. He issues an uncompromising, searing, full-throated indictment of Robert E. Lee as a historically misrepresented figure and denounces the many institutions that have given currency to the “Lost Cause” mythology through the years. Full review here. 

9. The Eagles of Heart Mountain by Bradford Pearson

Bradford Pearson delivers a meticulously researched and powerful history of Japanese American internment during World War II. He highlights the absurdity of the imprisonment with the tale of an undeniably all-American football team created at the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp in remote Wyoming. Full review here.

10. American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser

Gabrielle Glaser tells the heartbreaking story of Margaret Erle, an unwed teen coerced into surrendering her infant son to an adoption agency in 1961. The empathetic account alternates between Margaret and her son David, up through their poignant reunion, while also illuminating the disturbing history of adoption in postwar America. Full review here.