Alright, here we go. My reads in 2021: a thread.

First up, Spillover by David Quammen. I keep saying how great this book is, but once more for good measure... An enthralling read on zoonotic diseases, in equal parts fascinating, frightening and funny. I was hooked from page one.

Next, Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror. My friends raved about this essay collection, and I really like Tolentino’s work in The New Yorker, but these pieces didn’t grab me. I kind of felt like I’d read it before? ‘The Cult of Difficult Women’ is good, though, and I enjoyed ‘Ecstasy’.

Late to the party on Girl, Woman, Other, but I got here in the end. Definitely an enjoyable read. I felt like I’d have preferred Evaristo to go deeper, rather than wider, but I did enjoy piecing the characters together through their story strands.

A friend bought me Dorthe Nors new short story collection as a gift. I haven’t read any of her work before, but I wolfed this down in two bites. Might come back to it again later in the year. My favourites were ‘By Sydvest Station’ and ‘On Narrow Paved Paths’.

Guardian and New York Times reporter Declan Walsh’s chronicle from his years covering Pakistan. Not quite the thriller some claimed, but a well-paced overview of modern Pakistan told through a collection of colourful characters.

First up for February, journalist Lisa Taddeo’s astonishing account of female desire — Three Women. The kind of lyrical nonfiction that takes years of intense reporting and inherent artistic skill. Deeply moving.