Books I Read in 2021

Oh hey I'm alive! This blog has not seen much love this year as I spent the first half of the year busy being pregnant and the second half with a new baby. Still managed to get some reading in, though. I can't wait for Diana to get older so we can go to story time at the library, and takes stacks of books home like I did when I was a kid. At her first trip, she didn't seem that impressed...

Totals: 92 books,  47 nonfiction/45 fiction

Page count:  13,676 nonfiction/15,675 fiction 

My Top Ten Books of 2021

1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Stunning. A strange flu has arrived from overseas and it's very contagious... If you're not all pandemic-ed out by the last two years, this is a fantastic read. (If you are, I can't blame you.) It follows protagonists in three time periods: prepandemic, mid pandemic, and afterwards, I expected this to be depressing. It has those dark moments, but has hope as well. Overall I would describe it as full of humanity: the good, the bad, and the ugly. You never know how your life and art will affect others. And I can never resist a troupe of traveling actors. This is a book that I wanted to start over as soon as I finished.

2. The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

I don't even know where to start with this one. Also told in three different time periods, and sort of an end of the world novel as well. It's a fantasy novel (which won the Hugo award), and the world building is impeccable. Again, chock full of humanity. (This proves to be a theme with this year's favorites.) It's the first of a trilogy, and I can wait to read the others. I won't try to offer a plot description, but the dedication sums up the theme nicely: "For all those who have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question."

3. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

I've been working my way through presidential biographies, greatly enjoying most. (See Ron Chernow's Grant from last year's list.) This was a double biography of President James Garfield and his assassin (but maybe not killer) Charles Guiteau. I loved it. Garfield is one of those presidents I knew little about but I left the book really liking him and sad that he was killed before he could enact much legislation. Guiteau saw their fates as entwined, and this is the dark side of the "you never know how your life will affect others" coin. Also, as a tribute to the great Stephen Sondheim whom we lost this year, check out his musical depiction of Guiteau in a lesser known musical, Assassins.

4.  The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

For a long time I assumed Asimov would be boring, full of space lingo, and hard to understand, because that was my view of midcentury science fiction. But wow was I wrong, and happy to be proven so. This book was so good that I held off on formalizing my top ten list because I was only partly through it but knew it was going to be on here. 3000 years in the future, New York City, and all other major cities (I was happy to see Philadelphia get a shoutout) are now entirely underground. No one goes out into the open air except robots, who mostly look like the clunky machines humans view them to be. But a murder brings together a human detective and a new, humanoid passing robot, who work together to solve the crime, and possibly the future of humanity as well. Clever, funny, five stars.

5. This is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are by Melody Warnick

I'm the kind of person who on a road trip will imagine who'd I be if I'd grown up in Albuquerque or Chicago or where have you. Would I have a flower garden? Play baseball? Rock climb? My cross country move in 2019 made it clear that wherever you go, there you are. It also made clear that although I'd wanted out of Utah, I missed it when I was gone. And now I miss Philadelphia. Melody Warnick has moved many times, and set out to discover if you can decide to belong somewhere. Conclusion? It takes work, but yes.

6. Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Shillace

Unrelated to the main story, but this book has the distinction of being the first time I saw "Covid-19" in a printed book. I logically knew that I was going to be reading mentions of coronavirus for the rest of my life, but this hit me. We are living through a historical event. In the style of Sam Kean's science writing, this is a medical biography of Robert White, who pushed the limits of what medicine could (and maybe should) do. If you get queasy about medical stuff, this is not the book for you. Besides just the facts of Dr White's life there are questions of morality and ethics that don't have clear answers, but left me thinking.

7. Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman by Lindy West

Lindy West's book of essays made me literally laugh out loud. It's hard to be a woman on the internet, especially a fat woman, but Lindy has come out of it that much stronger and passing on her wisdom to the rest of us. I first heard of the author through her story on This American Life, and it's also recounted here, but with many other essays on being fat, feminist, and funny. I haven't watched the Hulu series based on it, but if they captured the vulnerability and character growth that is here, it's probably pretty good.

8. Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

A classic. I was intimidated by the size and seriousness of this story that begins with Kunta Kinte in 1750s Africa and ends with the author in 1970s America, with all the generations in between, but it moved pretty fast and packs a big punch. Obvious content warning for all the violence, rape, and inhumanity that comes with slavery. It's heartbreaking to meet people just to be ripped away from them as the narration changes and moves on. This one lingers after it's done. Also, Alex Haley wanted it to be classified as nonfiction but the consensus today is fiction. 

9. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K Eason

And now for something completely different....

Rory Thorne was blessed by a fairies at her birth. There hadn't been a girl child born to royalty in a long time, and it was assumed she'd take her father's throne. But then a brother is born, a parent dies, and an engagement emerges, as well as treacherous advisers and the threat of galactic war. Rory will have to use her wits to rescue the prince, and she's running out of time. One reviewer called it "Princess Bride meets Princess Leia" and that's captures its fun subverting of fairytales. I liked almost every character in this book, which is high praise as I'm notorious for disliking main characters. Can't wait to read the sequel.

10. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by CA Fletcher

ANOTHER apocalypse novel?? It's like something happened in the world to turn our minds toward mortality. This one is simpler than the other two I've listed, but has a lot of heart. How far would you go to get a stolen dog back? The child narrator of this one would go pretty far. If this book had stuck the landing with the end it would have been higher on the list, but I still recommend it.

Honorable mentions

Nonfiction-- Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson

Fiction-- The Big Door Prize by MO Walsh

And now, all the rest! As always, recommendations are bolded and rereads are marked with *** and books are listed alphabetically by author. 

Nonfiction

• The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age America -- Karen Abbott
• The Genius of Birds -- Jennifer Ackerman
• Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair With China Gone Wrong -- Susan Blumberg-Kason
• Einstein's Greatest Mistake: A Biography -- David Bodanis
• All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir -- Nicole Chung
• A Map is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home -- Edited by Nicole Chung and Mensah Derrary
• Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery -- Paul Collins
• The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age -- Tom D Crouch and Peter L Jakab
• American Sherlokc: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI -- Kate Winkler Dawson
• Over the Hills and Far Away: The Life of Beatrix Potter -- Matthew Dennison
• Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots -- Deborah Feldman
• The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me -- Paul Joseph Fronczak
• The View From the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction -- Neil Gaiman
• Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown -- Anne Glenconner
• ***Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin -- Nicole Hardy
• The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir -- Michelle Harper
• Would You Rather?: A Memoir of Growing Up and Coming Out -- Katie Heaney
• It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree -- AJ Jacobs
• Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt -- Steven Johnson
• Life of the Party: The Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built, and Lost, a Tupperware Party Empire -- Bob Kealing
• Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero -- Kate Clifford Larson
• Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things -- Jenny Lawson
• Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Story of War, Exile, and Love Reclaimed -- Leslie Maitland
• Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice -- Ellen McGarrahan
• Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President -- Candice Millard
• In the Heights: Finding Home-- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Jeremy McCarter
• Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown -- Anais Mitchell
• The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial -- Maggie Nelson
• A Promised Land -- Barack Obama
• Rutherford B Hayes -- Steven Otfinoski
• In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom -- Yeonmi Park
• Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World -- Matt Parker
• Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars -- Linda Porter
• The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World -- Nichola Raihani
• What's a Lemon Squeezer Doing in My Vagina?: A Memoir of Infertility -- Rohini S Rajagopal
• One Life -- Megan Rapinoe
• Congo: The Epic History of a People -- David van Reybrouck
• True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant -- Brad Ricca
• *** Me Talk Pretty One Day -- David Sedaris
• Mr Humble & Dr Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul -- Brandy Shillace
• Hidden Figures -- Margot Lee Shetterly
• Here, Right Matters: An American Story -- Alexander Vindman
• This is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are -- Melody Warnick
• Persist -- Elizabeth Warren
• Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus -- Bill Wasik & Monica Murphy
• Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman -- Lindy West  

Fiction

• Midnight Riot -- Ben Aaronovitch
• The Goblin Emperor -- Katherine Addison
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -- Sherman Alexie 
• The Caves of Steel-- Isaac Asmiov
• Falling Free -- Lois McMaster Bujold
• Swimming at Night -- Lucy Clarke
• The Red Badge of Courage -- Stephen Crane
• Well Behaved Indian Women -- Saumya Dave
• Sister of My Heart -- Chitra Banerjee Divarkaruni 
• The Sweeney Sisters -- Lian Dolan
• Death at Wentwater Court -- Carola Dunn
• How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse -- K Eason
• A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World -- CA Fletcher
• Motherland -- Leah Franqui
• All the Lonely People -- Mike Gayle (This was SO CLOSE to being good but in the end it just made me want to reread A Man Called Ove)
• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing -- Hank Green
• The Midnight Library -- Matt Haig
• Roots: The Saga of an American Family -- Alex Haley
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James -- Emma Hooper
• Never Have I Ever -- Joshilyn Jackson (content warning: child abuse)
• The Fifth Season -- NK Jemisin   
• Searching for Sylvie Lee -- Jean Kwok
• The Broken Gun -- Louis L'Amour
• ***The Never War -- DJ MacHale
• The Great Believers -- Rebecca Makkai
• Station Eleven -- Emily St John Mandel
• Atonement -- Ian McEwan 
• The Song of Achilles -- Madeline Miller
• The Red House Mystery -- AA Milne
• Nine Perfect Strangers -- Lianne Moriarty
• 1984 -- George Orwell
• Crocodile on the Sandbank -- Elizabeth Peters
• A Woman is No Man -- Etaf Rum
• The Midnight Lie -- Marie Rutkoski
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe-- Benjamin Alire Saenz
• The Power of the Dog -- Thomas Savage
• What If It's Us -- Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli
• The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes -- Elissa R Sloane
• Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English -- Natasha Solomons
• Something in the Water-- Catherine Steadman
• Roadside Picnic -- Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
• Veronica Mars & the Thousand Dollar Tan Line -- Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham
• The Big Door Prize -- MO Walsh
• The Woman in Cabin 10 -- Ruth Ware
• All the King's Men -- Robert Penn Warren