Well not sure what it means that the last book I’m reading for 2021 is one that has me stumped. This book is hard to explain and has multiple genres and there are things I really liked about it and things I really didn’t. So I’m a bit all over the place about it. Glad I read it, though I do think it could have used a better editor.
My favorite read of the year was: Sorrow and Bliss
My favorite SciFi (sortof) read of the year was: Project Hail Mary and Sea of Tranquility
My favoriteFantasy read of the year was: Under the Whispering Door
My favorite nonfiction read of the year was: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
My favorite Historical Fiction read of the year was: The Magician
My favorite Mystery read of the year was: A Line to Kill
My favorite poetry read of the year was: What Kind of Woman
My favorite horror read of the year was: The Last House on Needless Street
Here are all my five-star reads for the year:
Sea of Tranquility
Three O’Clock in the Morning
The Color Purple
The Lowering Days
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting
This Close to Okay
Sorrow and Bliss
Klara and the Sun
What Kind of Woman
Revival Season
The Power of Vulnerability
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Project Hail Mary
The People We Keep
The Last House on Needless Street
Once There Were Wolves
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
Under the Whispering Door
Fresh Paint
The Magician
Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness
Oh William!
A Million Things
Mixed Media Color Studio
A Little Hope
The Heart Principle
Unconditional Confidence
The Lightmaker’s Manifesto
Unbound
French Braid
A Line to Kill
Yerba Buena
Inward
Burnout
Lessons in Chemistry
And here are all 229 of my reads from 2021 in reverse order. You can find all the reviews here and some of my drawings with reviews on instagram here.
The Other Black Girl
End of the World House
Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships
The Girl I Was
Greetings From Asbury Park
Confess
Sea of Tranquility
Imaginable
Small Things Like These
A Ballad of Love and Glory
The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
Firekeeper’s Daughter
Wish You Were Here
Drawn on the Way: A Guide to Capturing the Moment Through Live Sketching
The Island of Missing Trees
Just Haven’t Met You Yet
Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home
Lessons in Chemistry
Beneath the Stairs
Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life
Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within
Like a House on Fire
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Clarity & Connection
I Hope This Finds You Well
The Sentence
The Younger Wife
Inward
Always Only You (Bergman Brothers, #2)
Ever After Always (Bergman Brothers, #3)
The Night She Disappeared
Off Season
Yerba Buena
The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)
The Lincoln Highway
Cackle
A Line To Kill (Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery, #3)
No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear
Already Enough: A Path to Self-Acceptance
French Braid
Out of Love
The Suite Spot (Beck Sisters, #2)
The Golden Couple
The Selfless Act of Breathing
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement
The Love Hypothesis (The Love Hypothesis, #1)
The Last House on the Street
Apples Never Fall
The Arrangement
Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
Take Me with You When You Go
Rock Paper Scissors
The Maid
Heart Smart (Work For It #2)
Gone By Morning
The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self
A History of Wild Places
O Beautiful
The Wonder Test
Matrix
The Lightmaker’s Manifesto: How to Work for Change Without Losing Your Joy
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Dark Roads
Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage
The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self
The Heart Principle (The Kiss Quotient, #3)
Tin Camp Road
A Little Hope
Zen Wisdom for the Anxious: Simple Advice from a Zen Buddhist Monk
To Sir, with Love
Get Messy Art: The No-Rules, No-Judgment, No-Pressure Approach to Making Art – Create with Watercolor, Acrylics, Markers, Inks, and More
Drawing Is for Everyone: Simple Lessons to Make Your Creative Practice a Daily Habit – Explore Infinite Creative Possibilities in Graphite, Colored Pencil, and Ink
Mixed Media Color Studio: Explore Modern Color Theory to Create Unique Palettes and Find Your Creative Voice–Play with Acrylics, Pastels, Inks, Graphite, and More
Where the Truth Lies
Cloud Cuckoo Land
A Million Things
Dear Me
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
Oh William!
No Hiding in Boise
Jacket Weather
The Break-Up Book Club
Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness
Nothing More Dangerous
The Shimmering State
Not a Happy Family
All Together Now
The Stepsisters
For Your Own Good
Listening Still
The Magician
Rock the Boat
Eight Perfect Hours
Create Beautiful: A Glam Creativity Workbook for a Vibrant Life and Home
Fresh Paint: Discover Your Unique Creative Style Through 100 Small Mixed-Media Paintings
Maybe This Will Help: How to Feel Better When Things Stay the Same
The Five Wounds
The Maidens
Under the Whispering Door
What a Happy Family
Notes from the Burning Age
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
The Layover
One Last Stop
Hostage
Who Is Maud Dixon?
We Are the Brennans
The Guncle
Malibu Rising
The Husbands
Rabbits
What If You & Me (Say Everything, #2)
Once There Were Wolves
Yoga Pant Nation (Class Mom, #3)
You’re Going to Survive
Razorblade Tears
A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram, #2)
The Last House on Needless Street
Several People Are Typing
Heartbreak for Hire
Exit
The Guide
Instructions for Dancing
The People We Keep
Colorful
If Only
The 22 Murders of Madison May
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead
The Road Trip
Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things
How Lucky
How to Save a Life
Competitive Grieving
Together We Will Go
Morningside Heights
That Summer
What You Can See from Here
What Comes After
Girls with Bright Futures
Life’s Too Short (The Friend Zone, #3)
The Last Thing He Told Me
Mary Jane
The Perfect Daughter
People We Meet on Vacation
Project Hail Mary
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Early Morning Riser
The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3)
The Last Goodbye
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Exodus (The Ravenhood Duet #2)
Flock (The Ravenhood, #1)
One Two Three
Second First Impressions
When the Stars Go Dark
When I Ran Away
The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton
Every Vow You Break
Perfect on Paper
The Good Sister
Gold Diggers
The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage
Revival Season
A Town Called Solace
A Million Reasons Why
The Intimacy Experiment (The Roommate, #2)
Her Here
On Hampstead Heath
What Kind of Woman
Everything After
Only When It’s Us (Bergman Brothers, #1)
Brood
The Plot
The Power Couple
Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage
Meet Me in Another Life
The Kitchen Front
The Soulmate Equation
Infinite Country
It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake
Klara and the Sun
Every Last Fear
No One Is Talking About This
Sorrow and Bliss
We Run the Tides
The Echo Wife
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
Faye, Faraway
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1)
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
The Kindest Lie
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
Keeping a Nature Journal: Deepen Your Connection with the Natural World All Around You
Switch
This Close to Okay
The Ex Talk
The Push
The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
Winterkeep (Graceling Realm, #4)
Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children, #6)
Black Buck
Love Poems for the Office
Happy Habits: 50 Science-Backed Rituals to Adopt (or Stop) to Boost Health and Happiness
How to Figure Out What to Do with Your Life
The Anxiety and Depression Workbook: Simple, Effective CBT Techniques to Manage Moods and Feel Better Now
Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles
Dear Child
Blacktop Wasteland
The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
Mother May I
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting
The Lowering Days
Good Company
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
The Color Purple
The Lost Apothecary
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Three O’Clock in the Morning
Take It Back (Zara Kaleel, #1)
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett
How to Fail at Flirting
Just Work: Get Sh*t Done, Fast & Fair
Float Plan (Beck Sisters, #1)
Enneagram Empowerment: Discover Your Personality Type and Unlock Your Potential
I liked this sweet novel about an aunt whose nieces come to stay with her for the summer as a way to give her sister and husband to recover from the loss of their third child. It’s sweet and there’s a romance but there are also some major issues in this book around death, loss, abandonment, and belonging. All of them are explored and taken seriously but still handled lightly. It was a fun read.
I might have read too many Hoover stories. I can tell where they will go, I can tell what will happen and I just don’t think the characters are as well developed or complex as I wish they were. I liked the idea of confessions and the paintings but the evil characters are too evil and the good are too good.
I read a lot of mixed reviews about this book and several people said the first part was very boring. I totally didn’t feel that way. I listened to this on audio and the narrator was excellent. I was recently in the Galapagos so I really enjoyed hearing about that amazing setting again and true to form I didn’t see the twist coming and Picoult took it to some interesting places. I enjoyed this one.
This is absolutely, undeniably and unequivocally one of my favorite reads of 2021! I cannot wait until it comes out so I can recommend it to people who I know will appreciate it, too. I know some will dislike this book and even as I was reading it and tried to recount the premise to my kids and husband, they thought it was reductive and done because it’s such a hard to premise to explain but they are so wrong. It is excellent.
“Everything offended Jessica, which is inevitable when you move through the world in search of offense.”
First of all, Emily St. John Mandel’s writing is exquisite. It’s quiet and descriptive and delicate and a pure joy to read. When I first started the novel, I wasn’t sure where it was going and I wasn’t sure it was going to hold my attention. But her writing was so good and her characters drew me in immediately. I felt connected to every one of them and I was rooting for them.
“( We were still thinking in terms of getting work done. The most shocking thing in retrospect was the degree to which all of us completely missed the point.)”
Bits and pieces of how the future unfolds were also interesting to me. There was just enough to make it interesting and not so much to make it totally scifi or fantasy. The parts around the pandemic were also just enough there to be relatable and interesting but not enough to be suffocating (since we’re still in this pandemic, i am not finding enjoyable to read pandemic books.)
And then there were the amazing connections, twists or whatever else you call them. I figured one out way sooner than the second one which by the time I figured it out, I was so excited by how clever it was that I actually laughed out loud. I understand that different people might go different ways on this book but, for me, it worked 100% and I loved every single minute I spent with it. I cannot stop thinking about it and smiling.
with gratitude to netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
“There was comfort in knowing that you could say just what you wanted and not worry about what the words meant because in the morning they would be gone and so would you.”
I did not connect with this book, no matter how much I tried. I picked it up and put it down at least twenty times in the month of December. I liked the idea of three siblings connecting through the death of their father. Two of which are from other mothers and two of which didn’t know about each other. I liked the premise but the execution didn’t work for me.
“Maybe he was really sorry and it was possible to believe that somebody had wronged you but still not really wish them to be dead. Maybe there were sort of gradations to revenge that should exist and some things you shouldn’t do.”
I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters which makes it hard to read what’s mostly a character-driven story. I found the story to be quiet but not in a peaceful way. So my attention kept drifting. I still managed to make it all the way to the end but this one will not stay with me even though parts of the writing and descriptions were really beautiful.
with gratitude to netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
This book totally didn’t do it for me. I didn’t really understand what the author was trying to say and I didn’t connect with any of the characters or the plot, I’m sorry to say. I am confident that others will understand more than I did and will enjoy the book more than I did.
Some of the pieces I liked were the connection of the two women and some of the work scenes and the descriptions of the world. I liked the descriptions of the Louvre and the drawings Bertie did.
This one was just not my cup of tea.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed reading about a part of history I knew absolutely nothing about. This is about a nurse and an Irish deserter during the Mexican-American War. It recounts the suffering of the Mexicans and the horrible ways in which American soldiers treated the Irish (and other immigrant soldiers.)
I felt that the character development and writing could have been deeper. The subject matter was harrowing and eye opening and the history itself made the book completely worthwhile to read.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Normalcy bias is a result of the brain’s preference for stable patterns.”
I have taken several courses by and read all the books of Jane McGonigal’s twin sister, Kelly. Even though I’d watched her TED talk, before this, I’d never read Jane McGonigal’s work and didn’t know anything about her work with Institute for the Future. When I saw this book, I thought it was remarkable and decided I wanted to learn more.
The premise of this book is about practicing ways to start imagining different potential futures. She introduces different ways to stretch your mind and many, many different scenarios of what possible futures could look like. They are far ahead enough to make most of these scenarios plausible (all are based on some type of fact or development from today) but not so far that you can’t connect to the timeframe.
“Nearly fifty years ago, psychology researchers discovered something remarkable: if you want someone to believe that a future event is likely, you just have to ask them to imagine it happening, in as much vivid detail as possible.”
She presents many different scenarios and then asks a lot of questions to help you imagine it. If this scenario were true, what would you do? There are many different areas where she encourages you to stretch your mind, your thinking and of course your imagination. Some scenarios resonated more with me than others, of course, but I found myself caught up in almost all of them. It didn’t take me long to visualize them and almost viscerally feel many of them.
“Collect and investigate “signals of change,” or real-life examples of how the world is becoming different. Let these signals spark your curiosity. Follow the trail of clues wherever it takes you.”
I loved this idea of collecting “signals of change” because it really enhances your ability and willingness to pay attention to the world. I love how she talks about the ways in which she challenges her students to come up with things that they think are absolute truths and then goes hunting for signs that those “facts” could in fact change.
This book will stretch your mind. Jane’s playful and really inspiring tone is hard not to get swept up in. It’s encouraging, motivating and a really mind-opening book to read.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Spiegel & GrauIngram for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
