A new year, a new reading roundup. In 2021 I read 60 books, and while I'm not breaking any records, I'm happy with the accomplishment.
2021 wasn't my worst reading year but not one of my best. I'm so easily distracted by Facebook in the evenings and that definitely cuts into my reading time. My yearly average since I've been keeping track is 66 books so I definitely have what to aspire to.
The breakdown by format shows that I read and listen to almost the same amount of books. I thought my audiobook listening took a hit since during this second pandemic year I continued to work from home at least half the week and while it is down substantially from my high of 46 in 2019, it's comparable to 2015 and 2016. I wish I remembered what was going on in 2017 that I only listened to 11 books.
In 2021 I read 12,920 pages and listened to 331 hours and 58 minutes of books. The longest book I read was The President's Daughter at 528 pages and the shortest was Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose at 260 pages. Coincidentally, both authored (or at least co-authored) by a U.S. president. The longest book I listened to was The Weight of Ink, 23 hours and 19 minutes and the shortest was This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident, 5 hours and 47 minutes.
I read an average of 5 books a month, with a high of 7 in August.
Some of the non-fiction books I really enjoyed and found intriguing were People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race (fascinating, and a must read for anyone who thinks the Covid vaccine was developed too quickly as you learn that it was based on years of scientific research and the best scientists coming together to share data and information), Bad Medicine: Catching New York's Deadliest Pill Pusher and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (yes, still on my Opioid epidemic binge). I also liked The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine (useless trivia fact: I was born in the hospital started by Elizabeth Blackwell), This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident (finally listened to it), Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, and Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries (okay, I'm a geek).
The two ALCs I listened to and loved were Mary Jane and One Two Three. I also loved the young adult novel Words on Bathroom Walls. Some of my other favorites in 2021 were Hamnet, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Faye, Faraway, A Guide for the Perplexed, Apples Never Fall, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, The Underground Railroad, and The Four Winds (I almost abandoned it). You can see my ratings above.
The Midnight Library got so much hype and everyone loved it. It just did not do it for me. I found it predictable and trite.
I can't believe I resisted reading The Underground Railroad till now. It was a difficult but satisfying read.
As always Daniel Silva did a great job with Gabriel Allon in The Cellist, Prodigal Son was a worthy read, and The President's Daughter was better than the first book Patterson and Clinton wrote together.
I like this quote from Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave: “In the end I suppose we lay flowers on a grave because we cannot lay ourselves on it.”
I've already got my first book of 2022 finished and I'm almost halfway done with a LONG audiobook which I'm not really loving but I'm committed.
I'm going to end with these fun prompts Life According to Literature 2021 by Annabookbel.
Using only books you have read this year (2021), answer these prompts. Try not to repeat a book title.
- Describe yourself: The
Searcher
- How do you feel: Better
off Dead
- I will never be: The
President's Daughter
- You Fear: When Ghosts Come Home
- Describe Where you currently live: Between
Two Kingdoms
- If you could go anywhere, where
would you go: The Midnight Library
- Your favourite form of
transportation: The Four Winds
- What’s the weather like: Salt Houses
- Your best friend is: Faye,
Faraway
- You and your friends are: Anxious
People
- My family reunions are: Calling
Me Home
- At a party you’d find me with: The
Secret of Magic
- A happy day includes: A
Walk in the Woods
- What is the best advice you have to give: Have a Little Faith
- Motto I live by: Everyone Brave is Forgiven
- Thought for the Day: People Love Dead Jews
- How would I like to die: One Two Three
- In my next life, I want to: Win
