2021 may not have been the best year thanks to the continuation of the pandemic, but with regard to my reading, I am very pleased. I met my goal on Goodreads, completing 63 books (my goal was 60) and surpassing the past two years' numbers by 8 books. Once again, I participated in three reading challenges (20 Books of Summer, RIP XVI and Nonfiction November), which helped to motivate me to read more of my own books.
Books Read: 63
Print: 41
Audio: 21
Ebook: 1
ARCs: 5
Rereads: 4
Fiction: 45
Nonfiction: 14
Poetry: 4 (I never know how to categorize this!)
Mystery/Thriller: 17
SciFi/Fantasy: 3
Classics: 1
Teen/YA: 1
Memoir: 6
Travel Memoir: 2
Self-Improvement: 1
History: 1
Books in Translation: 1
Male Authors: 12
Female Authors: 51
New Authors: 27
From My Stacks: 51
Borrowed: 12
Ratings:
5 stars: 6
4.5 stars: 8
4 stars: 19
3.5 stars: 2
3 stars: 14
2 stars: 10
1 star: 4
Top Reads of 2021:
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (5/5)
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (5/5)
Circe by Madeline Miller (5/5)
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (5/5)
Bear Town by Fredrik Backman (5/5)
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (5/5)
Writers & Lovers by Lily King (4.5/5)
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin (4.5/5)
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand (4.5/5)
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo (4.5/5)
Testimony by Anita Shreve (4.5/5)
Still Me by Jojo Moyes (4.5/5)
House Rules by Jodi Picoult (4.5/5)
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (4.5/5)
Honorable Mentions:
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny (4/5)
Falling by T.J. Newman (4/5)
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (4/5)
The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz (4/5)
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano (4/5)
On Island Time by Hilary Stewart (4/5)
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (4/5)
The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon (4/5)
Mourn Not Your Dead by Deborah Crombie (4/5)
And Justice There is None by Deborah Crombie (4/5)
Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie (4/5)
A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie (4/5)
#1 Book of 2021: The Splendid and the Vile
Find my complete 2021 list (including all reviews) here.
Find my previous Year End Surveys and Top Ten Lists here.
How I kept track of my reading:
I LOVED the visuals for your 2021 favorites. Congrats on clearing many books off your shelves. I need to read Circe and Splendid and the Vile - both seem so well loved by many. Your hand-tracked log did the job (mine was similar but, maybe I'll try something as a google doc. this year.) Happy Reading Les
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane! I'm having fun creating collages on Ribbet. My shelves are getting a little more crowded again now that my mom has passed a lot of her books my way, but I did get rid of a few the other day when I was trying to organize some of the shelves. I'm probably using the same google.doc as you, which I found on someone's blog. It's a lot more detailed and I probably won't use a lot of the categories, but it should be easier when it comes time to do this again at the end of the year.
DeleteGlad that you shared your top books with us. I've only read 2 from your 'top reads' list - House Rules and All The Devils Are Here - both very good. As to your 'honorables', I've read 7 - all the Crombie books, Madness Of Crows, Pigs in Heaven (long ago) and the Jennifer McMahon book. Hope this next year is just as good for you and I think a spreadsheet would work well.
ReplyDeleteKay, I had a lot of honorable mentions since I included everything with a 4/5 rating. Somehow, though, I forgot to include the collections of poetry that I had read, but I don't feel like going back and editing this post. Oh, well.
DeleteCirce is so good! I was on a bit of a Fredrik Backman kick prior to resurrecting my blog but I somehow haven't gotten back to him since then. I need to correct that. It's been years and years since I read Pigs in Heaven but I remember that I loved it. I didn't care for The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver, but I've enjoyed all her other works I've read. Erik Larson is another author whom I've lost track of.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to write up my in-depth yearly wrap-up post but it always takes me a long time to do. I go into too much detail but I like looking at my reading in depth!
Jen, I really enjoyed Circe. My husband just finished The Song of Achilles and said it wasn't as good as Circe, but I'm still looking forward to reading it. Pigs in Heaven was a reread for me and it was just as good as the first time I read it. I know a lot of readers didn't care for The Poisonwood Bible, but I loved it (up until the final chapters, which got a little preachy). I hear she has a new book coming out this year!
DeleteYes, these summaries always take a lot of time and effort, but I do enjoy reflecting on my year of reading (and looking back on the past years' summaries). It helps that I kept up with reviews and my reading log this year.
Very nice indeed. It's quite a coincidence that we both finished 63 books this year. I was trying for 70 but didn't pull it off. It's cool that Splendid and the Vile was your top book ... but now what was your top novel? Was it the Hannah Tinti novel? You seemed to like that one a lot and I hope to get to it. I also just posted my favorites ... and now I feel I can move on to 2022. Hopefully it'll be a better year ahead ... and more reading too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. That is quite a coincidence that we read the same amount of books. I didn't make a notation about my favorite novel because I can't decide! If I go by my ratings, I'll say The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, but if I include the 4.5 ratings, it's too difficult to pick just one book. They were all very good.
DeleteWe're almost halfway through January and I'm still reading the same two books. Ugh. I blame jury duty on my slow start.
I haven't read an Anita Shreve book in soooo long, but I really liked the ones I've read. I'll have to give her another go.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I think I've given up on some of Shreve's more recent books, but Testimony was really good. Do you have any that you would recommend?
DeleteNineteen Minutes is a chilling book and while Picoult wrote it years ago, the events of todays world make that so real. Haven't tried Circe, I liked A Homemade Life and made a load of recipes from that one.
ReplyDeleteTina, I agree about Nineteen Minutes. I almost wasn't going to read it, but her writing is so compelling. Circe is a marvelous story. Give it a try! I need to go back to my copy of A Homemade Life and start trying the recipes that I marked. I know there were a lot!
DeleteFalling was my #1 favorite of 2021. I like the idea of keeping a chart.
ReplyDeleteVicki, it was certainly an entertaining audiobook.
DeleteI'd be so lost at the end of the year, without some sort of a chart to create my end of year summary. It really helped speed things up.
I tried a spreadsheet last year and made it a little further than usual (into early April) before quitting! I'm trying again this year.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't managed a year-end post yet, so am very impressed by your stats. Writers & Lovers would definitely be in my top ten of 2021, though! Probably the latest Louise Penny book, too, although the last couple haven't been my favorites.
Laurie, I have to admit that I had to go back and catch up on my chart at the end of the year. I think I stalled in early November, but it helped to tally all my stats once I filled in all the blanks. I really enjoyed Writers & Lovers and hope to read more by King later this year.
DeleteYou had a great year, Les! I've enjoyed many of your favorites and HMs. Most notably The Most Fun We Ever Had, The Splendid and the Vile, 28 Summers, Writers & Lovers and more. Still more I want to try, especially The Twelve Lives of Samual Hawley. I tried a spread sheet in 2021 and it was helpful, but I need to do a better job keeping track of where recommendations come from. Your notebook idea should help!
ReplyDeleteThanks, JoAnn. I read so many wonderful books this past year. Thanks so much for all your recommendations. As you can see, there are several on my lists that I read because of your glowing reviews. As far as my notebook idea for recommendations, I switched to a note in Google Keep. I'm trying to get away from all my handwritten notes, which get very disorganized after time.
DeleteYou had a great reading year, Les. I loved Splendid and Vile. Part of it was that I was reading it at the beginning of the pandemic, and I was so impressed with the leadership of Churchhill.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking about reading Bear Town, but I know nothing about sports.
I really did have a good year, Deb. I glanced at my numbers for last January and I doubt I'll come close this month. I'm still on my 2nd and 3rd book of the month and they're taking a long time to finish up with.
DeleteI was also very impressed with Churchill's leadership. I'm looking forward to reading In the Garden of Beasts, which my husband is currently reading.
You do not need to know anything about sports or hockey to appreciate the writing in Bear Town. I love baseball and can tolerate football, but I know nothing about hockey. It wasn't important for me to understand the sport in order to enjoy the book.
Sounds like a great reading year!
ReplyDeleteOf your favourites I have only read Circe and it was definitely a fantastic read!
Marg, Circe was such a great read. I'm looking forward to reading The Song of Achilles.
DeleteLove seeing the spreadsheets! What a great way of keeping track. I do keep an excel spreadsheet and I also classify Poetry separately. I hope you have a fabulous reading year! I have several of your favorites on my shelves and I'm excited to hear they were 5 star reads for you!
ReplyDeleteThose written spreadsheets took a lot of work to set up, but they were very helpful. Now I'm using a Googles Sheet, which is a little bit easier. We'll see how it all works out at the end of the year. :) Happy reading, Iliana!
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