Sally Rooney, Lauren Groff and other 4-star reviews

A convent full of witchy, medieval nuns. A haunted Minneapolis bookstore. A romance between two enslaved Black men. A cult preparing for the apocalypse. They've little in common, except they're all subjects of some of this year's best books.

While we've got plenty of gripes with 2021, one thing the past year got indisputably right is books. The year delivered an embarrassment of literary riches: Jonathan Franzen returned to form with a Midwestern opus for the ages; Irish phenom Sally Rooney continued her hot streak with her best novel yet; Humorist Jenny Lawson mined her mental health for much-needed laughs and insight; and master of the form Joan Didion even released a freshly gathered collection of word-perfect essays.

They are among the 17 books USA TODAY critics gave perfect ★★★★ (out of four) reviews. Here's the complete list of this year's best reads.

By Kevin Cook (Henry Holt & Co., nonfiction): On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded. What really happened that ill-fated day? Cook revisits the tragedy, centering the story on America’s “Teacher in Space,” Christa McAuliffe. "Cook’s crisply crafted journalism and perceptive take on the personalities that shaped the Challenger mission – along with NASA’s struggles and failures – make for a riveting narrative and complex cross-weave of themes."

By Joan Didion (Knopf, nonfiction): In this newly gathered collection of 12 essays, organized from 1968 to 2000, Didion offers insight on everything from a Gamblers Anonymous meeting to Martha Stewart. "Slim and elegant as Didion’s public persona remains at age (87), the book traces her journey and development as a writer of magisterial (a word she would never use) command and finely measured style."

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By Michael Dobbs (Knopf, nonfiction): Drawing on thousands of hours of newly released recordings, Dobbs offers a tragic, dramatic account of the crucial days and hours of the Watergate conspiracy and its toppling of President Richard Nixon. "This fast-paced opus would be a rollicking fun read, a beach book even, if it weren’t so doggone real – and if it wasn’t so reminiscent of recent machinations in our nation’s capital. But fun or not, this is an important book at this moment in our tortured political history."

By Louise Erdrich (Harper, fiction): From the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of “The Night Watchman” comes a story about a Minneapolis bookstore haunted by its most annoying customer, Flora, who refuses to leave even in death. "Erdrich has crafted a hard-won love letter to readers and to booksellers, as well as a compelling story about how we cope with pain and fear, injustice and illness. One good way is to press a beloved book into another’s hands. Read 'The Sentence' and then do just that."

By Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (Simon & Schuster, fiction): Two former best friends at their college reunion discover they're being targeted for revenge for something they did 10 years before. "'The Girls Are All So Nice Here' kept me up all night – literally. I tore through the book in less than 24 hours, forcing my eyes to stay open as if the remaining pages wouldn't be there in the morning."

By Glenn Frankel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, nonfiction): A detailed film history of the groundbreaking 1969 X-rated Oscar winner starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. "A masterfully structured study bursting with detail and context... Frankel puts it all together with narrative verve, telling a propulsive tale about creativity, commerce and loss."

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By Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, fiction): Franzen tells the story of a Midwestern family in the 1970s at a pivotal moment, the action largely unfolding across a single day. “Crossroads” is a hefty experiment: How far can you get exploring American ordinariness with a Tolstoyan depth? Quite far, it turns out."

By Lauren Groff (Riverhead, fiction): Seventeen-year-old Marie de France is cast out of the royal court to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey in medieval Europe and finds purpose and love in her newfound devotion to the sisters. Matrix is "a relentless exhibition of Groff’s freakish talent. In just over 250 pages, she gives us a character study to rival Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell or Robert Caro’s Robert Moses."

By Faith Jones (William Morrow, nonfiction): Raised in the Children of God cult to be part of a religious army preparing for the apocalypse, Jones recounts her time in the oppressive group and her story of liberation. "Jones bridges entertainment and empathy by penning a page-turning memoir that is not just a fascinating and heartbreaking look at life inside a cult, but ultimately an empowering story of resilience."

By Robert Jones Jr. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, fiction): Jones’ powerful debut novel centers on a forbidden love between two enslaved gay men on an antebellum Mississippi plantation. "'The Prophets' is packed with otherworldly and supremely artful storytelling, and readers will surely get lost in a radiant romance."

By Jenny Lawson (Henry Holt and Co., nonfiction): With humor and honesty, Lawson takes readers on her mental and physical health journey as she grapples with anxiety and depression. "'Broken' is Lawson at her best. The blogger, humorist and author – whose books include 'Let’s Pretend This Never Happened,' 'Furiously Happy' and 'You Are Here' – has written a collection of essays that beautifully balances belly laughs with gut-wrenching truths."

By Susan Orlean (Avid Reader Press, nonfiction): A collection of stories from the author of “The Orchid Thief” and “The Library Book” about how humanity lives alongside animals, including the chickens in Orlean’s own backyard. "('On Animals') tends to build, novelistically, through its individual pieces into a broad meditation on how the connections we make or fail to make with animals mark us profoundly along our human journey."

By Ann Patchett (Harper, nonfiction): From the revered author of “State of Wonder” and “The Dutch House” comes a collection of essays that turns the writer’s eye inward on her own experiences. "A writer’s life is by definition one of solitude, but Patchett, perhaps more than others, appears determined to wrest incident out of the random details of her busy life as an A-list writer and advocate for independent bookstores."

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By Trent Preszler (William Morrow, nonfiction): After years of estrangement, Preszler is called back South Dakota – and to his father, who is stricken with terminal cancer. In his ensuing grief, he decides to make use of his one inheritance: an old wooden toolbox. With no experience in woodcraft, he sets out to build a canoe. "'Little and Often' proves to be a rich tale of self-discovery and reconciliation ... a profound father-and-son odyssey that discovers the importance of the beauty of imperfection and small triumphs that make extraordinary happen."

By Sally Rooney (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, fiction): A coming-of-age story about four young adults – novelist Alice; her romantic interest, Felix; her best friend, Eileen; and her friend Simon – and the life that’s catching up with them. "An intimate and piercingly smart story about sex and friendship that finds the profound in the everyday."

By Brandon Taylor (Riverhead, fiction): The Booker Prize finalist and author of “Real Life” returns with a collection of linked stories set among complex young creatives in the Midwest and observing their fraught relationships. "Taylor is an important literary talent, not least for his ability to render the familiar into the shockingly unfamiliar. Full of beauty and harshness, the complex and startling stories of 'Filthy Animals' will stick with readers long after the pages are read."