2021 Best Reads So Far

2021 has been an interesting reading year. There’s still a half of year for things to go crazy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up reading more this year than I ever have before. I’ve even enjoyed a healthy stack of chunksters. I’m not sure if this is me settling into a post-Covid world or if my efforts to move away from my phone are working. Probably a combination of both.

So far I’ve rated 8 of my 114 reads as 5 stars. Five were new to me, and 3 were re-reads. I’m sharing them here in no particular order. I can’t wait to see which of these end up on my best reads list at the end of the year.

5-Star Reads That Are New To Me

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil I absolutely loved this book of nature essays and accompanying illustrations. Loved it. I read a library copy, and now I need my own copy so I can flag and highlight.

I put off reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee forever, and I can’t figure out why. I absolutely loved this chunky story about a Korean family in Japan. It was everything I want in a book: sweeping, multi-generational, wistful, and touching.

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese - This was such a beautiful book. It was a chunkster - 23 hours on audio - but there’s not a second of it I would cut out. In Ethiopia Marion and Shiva Stone are the twins of a mother who died in childbirth and a father who ran away. They are adopted by hospital staff and come of age surrounded by medicine.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson This memoir in verse was amazing. What took me so long to read a book by Jacqueline Woodson? (This was also the book I read while I was waiting for my second vaccine side effects to go away, so I will always remember it fondly for that.)

Gone Crazy In Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia - When I found out I would be driving from Cleveland to DC with my kiddos I knew I had to have this audiobook to get me through. We all love this series about three sisters just trying to grow up. This is the third and final (for now?) book in the series, and I think it was the best. You can tell kids what it was like for African Americans in the 60’s but these books show in a way that is humorous and engaging for them, and powerful and sobering for adults. I can’t recommend these books enough no matter what your age.

5 Star Re-Reads That Held Up

Emma by Jane Austen - I love the small town and all of the CHARACTERS in this book. I really feel like this is Jane Austen at her best. I remain #TeamEmma

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng This book has so much: WWII from a non Western perspective, gardening, tea, grief, forgiveness, and so much more. It starts in the highlands of Malaysia where former war prisoner Yun Ling approaches Japanese gardener Arimoto to help her create a garden in memory of her sister who didn‘t survive the war. It‘s a beautiful book and I highly recommend it.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi - Two women separated by 100 years in Afghanistan. This book will punch you in the gut. It’s long, but I could have kept reading for another 200 pages.

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Favorite Reads of 2020

Usually my favorite books are those that grab my heart and twist it in a good way that keeps me up after my bedtime. This year my favorite books are different. I didn’t have a lot of heart twisting feelings this year. The whole world is a heart twist, and if I stop too long to think about it my heart will be wrung dry. Heart twisting was not what I looked for in my books for most of 2020. Instead I looked for books that explained the world to me.

My favorite was Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. I’ve never read anything that made the Vietnam War feel so real. It wasn’t always a pleasant experience- I had to read it slowly from November 2019 to May 2020. I started it right around the same time I read The Great Alone, and I could see a straight line from the soldiers in Matterhorn to the troubled father in The Great Alone. As a child of the 80’s I felt like I better understood a lot of the men I knew growing up after reading this book.

When I read it in May I wrote:

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes - This novel about the Bravo Company, a unit of young Marines during the Vietnam War, is unforgettable. Karl Marlantes is a veteran himself, and the details he incorporated into this book were visceral and captivating.

Clever Books I’m Still Thinking About

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld - What if Hillary had never married Bill? This book got me through some dark days this summer.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - Two half sisters in Ghana separated by circumstances. Each chapter skips a generation until it all comes together spectacularly in the end.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid - The part that struck me the most was how everyone was talking, but no one accurately heard what the other person was trying to say.

Books That Made It Seem Like Maybe Everything Will Be Okay?

Devotions by Mary Oliver - I never thought I’d be a person who reads poetry, but in the last few years I’ve become one. Mary Oliver is my favorite.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker - There are some hard things in this book, but also beautiful things about found families and purple flowers.

All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny - This was a really satisfying continuation of my favorite series.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - Sad, dreamy, and magical. I’m so glad I finally got around to this one.

Even Better The Second (Or Third) Time

11/22/63 by Stephen King - If you think Stephen King is all about horror and killer clowns I invite you to read this book that shows the dangers of political extremism.

A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - I’ve loved this play since my Mom brought me to see it in high school. Seeing it on stage again is one of my post Covid to dos. Until then I’m glad I got to read it again this summer.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - This was a sacred text in my 20’s, and reading it again this year reminded me of how wonderful it is.

So, that’s 2020. I’m hoping for many things in 2021, one of which is that reading feels normal again.

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My 2020 Mid Way Reading Favorites

My favorite book of 2020 so far

I’ve read some great books in 2020 so far, but the one that I liked the best, the one that reminded me why Iove/need to read was Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. This book is truly unforgettable.

Best Re-read of 2020

I started The Stand on the beach last July, and finished it in February of this year, just before everything fell apart. It was a pretty weird experience to feel like I was living the Stephen King book I just read.

My favorite audiobook so far

This is another book from early this year. I really hope that after this mess is over we consider how our low wage workers are being treated, and how much we need them.

A great 2020 non-fiction read

This spring and summer it’s been all the books from and about the 60’s and 70’s that have appealed to me. Travels With Charley is one of those. I’s amazing to me how many battles we’re still fighting now that our parents were fighting then.

I’m nervous to see what the rest of this year brings, but I’m interested to see what turns my reading life will take. I wonder if any of these will be on my best of 2020 lists?

My Recommendations for the Best Books of the Decade

Two things happened this month. First I decided I should really do over my recommendations page. Then I started seeing lists of the best books of the decade. The two came together in my mind, and I started in on a project to re-read all of my favorite books from the last decade to see if they held up enough to recommend.

Luckily I’ve kept pretty good track of my reading, and was able to find one or many books from each year in the last decade.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

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My Top 5 Reads of 2019 (So Far...)

In 2018 I suffered a major reading slump that I didn’t come out of until somewhere around September. In 2019 I started reading again in earnest, and have read some really great ones this year. Of the 91 books I’ve read so far this year, these are the top five. I’m interested to see what will still be on my list at the end of 2019.

In no particular order…

50 Great American Places by Brent D.Glass — This book is solely responsible for bringing back my wanderlust and the many miles I’m planning on putting on my car this summer.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Graphic Novel) — I love that so many classics are being turned into graphic novels. I finished this and immediately handed it to my 11 year old history lover.

Betty Ford by Lisa McCubbin - You know when an intro makes you cry you’re in for a good book. I picked this up because Betty Ford and I have a neighborhood in common, but ended up being so impressed by Ford and what she accomplished in life. Highly recommend.

Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice McFadden - The most hopeful book about child slavery you will ever read.

the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur - Once I started reading this I couldn’t stop. I never thought of myself as a poetry person, but this book proved me wrong.

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