My 2021 reading list

Plus why I’m no longer trying to impress you with my jazz CDs

I’ve always loved to read but 2021 took it to a whole new level. Because of the pandemic, reading has become my only form of entertainment besides mindless TV, of which I am also a connoisseur (*chef’s kiss.) It’s also easier to ignore my family if I’m reading a book rather than scrolling my phone. 

I made it through a long list of books this year; 74 in fact. If you’re looking for something to read/hide from your family over the holiday break, feel free to borrow some of my suggestions.

My top five books of 2021 in no particular order:

1. Sorrow and Bliss

2. My Dark Vanessa

3. The Four Winds

4. Punching the Air

5. I’ll Give You the Sun

I also started but didn’t finish:

1. The Topeka School

2. Somebody’s Daughter

3. No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame

4. The Maidens

I know not finishing books is controversial. I used to feel guilty about not finishing books that I thought I “should” read. I would agonize over getting to the end just so I could say I did. In the same way, I used to buy obscure jazz CDs that I didn’t like in hopes that someone would come over and admire my taste in music. Can you tell I was a cerebral young adult who always craved validation? I was so much fun to be around.

In the last few years, I’ve decided only to read and listen to what I like and try not to attach any sort of shame or pride. So page turners, Taylor Swift, and The Real Housewives are now welcome in my home. 

The other 68 books in the order I read them:

1. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

2. The Summer of ‘69

3. Long Bright River

4. The Book of Longings

5. Home Before Dark

6. The Midnight Library

7. Being Various: New Irish Short Stories

8. The Vanishing Half

9. The Passage

10. The Sky is Everywhere

11. The Summer That Melted Everything

12. Beach Read

13. The Giver of Stars

14. Euphoria

15. Winter in Paradise

16. Wow, No Thank You.

17. The Lying Game

18. A Good Hard Look

19. The Arsonists’ City

20. The Twelve

21. White Fragility

22. Red, White & Royal Blue

23. What Happens in Paradise

24. The Sun Down Motel

25. The City of Mirrors

26. A Little Life

27. Troubles in Paradise

28. The Push

29. The Boy from the Woods

30. The Wives

31. A Long Petal of the Sea

32. The Cold Millions

33. The Grace Year

34. A Million Junes

35. Black Widows

36. The Jane Austen Society

37. In the Dream House

38. The Water Cure

39. The Stranger

40. Leave the World Behind

41. Luster

42. When No One is Watching

43. Transcendent Kingdom

44. People We Meet on Vacation

45. Caught

46. Gold Diggers

47. Daddy

48. The Perfect Couple

49. Crying in H Mart

50. The Island

51. Beautiful World, Where Are You

52. A Slow Fire Burning

53. The Anthropocene Reviewed

54. The Guide

55. Malibu Rising

56. Northern Spy

57. The Searcher

58. Here’s to Us

59. It Ends with Us

60. The Pull of the Stars

61. Nightbitch

62. 28 Summers

63. The Girls

64. The Last House Guest

65. Homegoing

66. The Husbands

67. Golden Girl

68. The Turnout

I’m looking for recommendations for my 2022 book list. What did you read and enjoy this year? Please let me know on Instagram.