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2021 Best Books + Reading Challenge Recap
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Well done, Eric! I laughed at how ridiculous I was to read til 2am just to hit the goal, lol. Look forward to seeing yours and others’ recaps
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For the most part, I hit my targets (see below), although will try to increase non fiction and award winning authors in 2022.
Re favorite titles (in no particular order):
- Fiction: Writers & Lovers; The Night Watchman; Harlem Shuffle; Once There Were Wolves; The Lincoln Highway; Virgil Wander; Klara and the Sun; Stoner; Whereabouts
- Non Fiction: Start with Why; Caste; Think Again; Notes on Grief
- Series: Wolf Hall and Bringing Up The Bodies (Thomas Crownwell trilogy); The Black Widow and The New Girl (Gabriel Allon series); Summer ( Ali Smith seasonal quartet); Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie, 1st of Miss Marple mysteries)
For 2022, I’m starting by catching up on new books that were released in 2021 by some of my favorite authors; the spike in publications likely due to extra 2020 lockdown writing time. Examples include Bewilderment, Cloud Cuckoo Land and The Sentence. I will also read The Promise (Booker Prize) and Hell of a Book (National Book award). For Non Fiction, The Codebreakers and The Sum of Us are on my night table. Re Series, I’ll begin 1-2 new collections once I’ve completed The Mirror & The Light (Thomas Crownwell #3). John Updike Rabbit, James Ellroy Underworld and John le Carre George Smiley series are all on the short list.
Target 50/50
Fiction (38/35)
Non Fiction (12/15)
Categories
Fiction (38) * does not total due to overlap (-3)*
- Favorite authors (10/10)
- Award winners (5/10)
- Series (10/10)
- Other (16/5)
- New, 2020+ (10)
- Pre 2019 (6)
Non Fiction (12) * does not total due to overlap (-4)*
- Favorite authors (4)
- Business (4/5)
- Non Business (8/10)
New (29/20)
- Fiction (22/15)
- Non Fiction (7/5)
Mod
19 Non Fiction / 34 Fiction / 1 Graphic novel
31 Male / 24 Female
I am particularly happy with the variety of non fiction I read this year that includes memoirs, essays, history, art, business, psychology and nature. I highly recommend Ann Patchette's book of essays These Precious Days, she is very good (and funny) at telling stories from her own past.
I cheated a little towards the end of the year by adding to my list a few audio books which were dramatised, all were either originally a graphic novel, an essay etc except for one which is really just a radio drama written by a well known author (namely James Patterson).
Favourite fictions that I've read this year (4 of them were written by authors I really like and closely follow)
A Thousand Ships / Once there were wolves / Writers & Lovers / Klara and the Sun / Second Place / Killing Commendatore
I am also a bit ashamed with the number of (real) classics from my list last year so I started reading and listening to Middlemarch in December. Each chapter is around 20 mins long (according to Audible) and is fun to do a couple of chapters each night when I wind down. For 2022, I want to tackle a few more classics (hardcopies I have on my shelves) and also award winning novels from the past few years. For non fiction, I want to read more books on nature, especially those from personal experiences and historical/political books.
Happy reading everyone and thanks for all the reviews and recommendations as always!
I completed my original challenge if 52 books (1/week) this morning at 2am - fitting. Last year, I read 65 books but had considerably much more time on my hands with lockdown.
In 2021, my books are broken down as follows:
46 fiction / 6 non-fiction
38 female / 14 male authors
43 Caucasian/ 9 Minority, POC, Indigenous writers
11 books rated 5 stars, although in retrospect, I was generous with the ratings in Jan and would now rate Grady Hendrix’s Southern Book Club’s Guide to Vampire Slaying, and Miss Benson’s Beetle a high 4.5 stars
The books I most enjoyed in 2021 (chronological order):
The Push
Black Buck
We Begin at the End (originally 4.5 stars, up to 5)
American Dirt
People We Meet on Vacation
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - #1 Overall
The Four Winds
One Day in December
There were several releases I bought but didn’t get to this year that I’m looking forward to reading in 2022, including:
Project Hail Mary
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The Lincoln Highway
Harlem Shuffle
How Beautiful We Were
The Five Wounds
The Other Black Girl
Will
Empire of Pain
The Candy House - new release in April by Jennifer Egan, the sequel to A Visit from the Goon Squad (2011 Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my top books of all time)
This year, I read no classics (dreadful) and read about the same amount of female and POC writers. Next year, I aspire to read more non-fiction, balance out genders, and more Own Voices books.
Good luck with the reading challenges and best wishes for 2022!