When I look over this list of the best books of 2021, I see what's not there, what didn't make the final cut and deserved the hosannas. Rebecca Solnit's discursive biography "Orwell's Roses." Clint Smith's sobering travelogue "How the Word is Passed." Matt Bell's climate-change epic "Appleseed." Even Seth Rogan's "Yearbook," a consistently thoughtful collection of essays on the strangeness of Hollywood, was not to be taken lightly. It's been a great time to read widely and often, and considering the nearly 1 billion books sold in 2020 -- and the probable record coming for 2021 as publishers saw double-digit sales leaps for much of the year -- settling on 10 favorites for the year was tough.