I dived into a lot of books in 2021, more than ever. But finished only a few. Here are my favorite and most recommended books from the year, followed up by a fairly complete and ridiculously long list of books I spent a substantial amount time with.

My favorite and most recommended books of 2021.

Pity the Beautiful by Dana Gioia. Poetry, modern. Excellent.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Fantasy, long. Worth it.
The Model Thinker by Scott E Page. Math and epistemology. Phenomenal.
An Aristotelian Realist Philosophy of Mathematics by James Franklin. Math and philosophy. Excellent.
Economy and Nature in the Fourteenth Century by Joel Kaye. Economics, medieval philosophy, history, and Latin. What could be better?
The Wars of the Roses by Gillingham. I checked out every book on The Wars of the Roses; this is one is clearly the best written, even if a little more out of date. When history is well written I fall in love again. Highly recommended.
The History of Chemistry by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Isabelle Stengers. This is the best history of chemistry in print, and there is no coincidence that it is a translation from French.
Talmud: from Classics of Western Spirituality Series. The Classics of Western Spirituality is hit or miss frequently, but I am enjoying the the selections from the Talmud here.

Below are all the books from 2021 by category.

Fiction:

1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
2. The Napoleon of Nottinghill by G.K. Chesterton
3. The Ship of Theseus by V. Straka
4. Pity the Beautiful by Dana Gioia
5. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
6. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
7. Cenodoxus by Jacob Bidermann
8. The Golden Country by Shusako Endo
9. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Philosophy and Social Science

10. The Model Thinker by Scott E Page
11. On Commerce, by David Hume
12. The Use of Knowledge in Society, F. Hayek
13. The Wealth of Nations Book I by Adam Smith
14. Protagoras by Plato
15. Charter schools and their Enemies by Thomas Sowell.
16. Universal Economics by Armen Alchian (incomplete)
17. An Aristotelian Realist Philosophy of Mathematics by James Franklin
18. Saint Ignatius’ Idea of a Jesuit University by Ganss
19. Economy and Nature in the 14th Century by Joel Kaye
20. The Interests and the Passions: Political Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph by A. O. Hirschman
21. Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
22. Open Borders: the Science and Ethics of Immigration by Bryan Caplan and Zach Wienersmith
23. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
24. The Cult of Smart: How our Broken Education System Perpetuates Injustice by Frederick deBoeur
25. The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan
26. Jesuit Education in Light of Modern Educational Problems by Shwikerath
27. 10% Less Democracy, Why You Should Trust Elites a Little More and the Masses a Little Less By Garett Jones.

History

1. Viking-age War Fleets: Ship-Building, Resource Management in Maritime Warfare in 11th century Denmark by Morten Raven
2. Qumran in Context reassessing in the archaeological evidence by Yizhar Hirschfeld
3. The Wars of the Roses by Gillingham
4. Book Wars: the Digital Revolution in Publishing by John B. Thompson
5. Battlegrounds by H. R. McMaster
6. Keaton by Tom Dardis
7. The Letters of Alcuin by Rolph Barrows 1909
8. Kissinger: The Idealist by Niall Ferguson 

STEM

9. The History of Chemistry by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Isabelle Stengers
10. Calculus for the Applied, Life, and Social Sciences
11. Introduction to Chemistry by John D. Mays
12. The Richness of Life the Selected Writings of Stephen J. Gould
13. The Double Helix: a Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D Watson.
14. Biotechnology 101 by Brian Robert Shmaefsky
15. Vectors and their Applications by Anthony Pettifrezzo
16. The Molecular Biology of the Cell by various authors (sc. Not all)

Religion

1. Jesuits: A Multibiography
2. Decreation the End of all Things by Paul Griffiths
3. The Life of Brother Jordan of Saxony by anonymous
4. Super Boethius de Trinitate by Thomas Aquinas
5. The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola
6. A Rabbi Talks With Jesus by Jacob Neusner  (incomplete)
7. Talmud Classics of Western Spirituality Series