Books I read in 2021 #MyYearInBooks

The books just keep coming, people, and we'll never catch up. There are always more books to read than hours in the day and I know every time I pick up a book (kindle) that I'm NOT choosing several others in that moment! But...I really liked almost everything I read this year! 

As usual, a lot of mishmash here - I've decided that I'm definitely a fan of romance novels (yep, that's an announcement) and I still love YA and middle grade books so much. I can't gush enough about how wonderfully diverse these books have become, especially in the way of LGBTQ representation. Lots of Jewish books here, no surprise. I've also found some fun things over on TikTok's "booktok" - I love seeing how people put their favorite passions (reading! books!) into every form of social media. (You can find me on TikTok at imabima613)

Two final notes: I missed a book! I realized that I had never recorded that I read The Guncle, so I never wrote a review, and it never made it onto my list, until about a week ago. So...oops. Also, I decided to stop at 99 rather than get myself to the 100 mark and then feel like I could never reach it again. So....here's to reasonable and attainable goals! Also, everyone was posting their lists already and I felt a little bit of FOMO so....

Okay, so here's the list:

1. When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
2. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn
3. Sea Wife by Amity Gage
4. It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn
5. Admission by Julie Buxbaum
6. On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
7. You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman
8. Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
9. Dear Martin by Nic Stone
10. The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty
11. Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum
12. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
13. A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
14. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel
15. The Way Back by Gavriel Savit
16. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
17. The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly
18. The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan
19. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
20. The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin
21. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
22. Send for Me by Lauren Fox
23. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
24. The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
25. Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit
26. Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
27. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
28. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
29. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
30. The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear
31. Adulting by Liz Talley
32. The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
33. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
34. The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
35. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
36. Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan
37. Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon
38. Rebel Daughter by Lori Banov Kaufmann
39. Majesty by Katharine McGee
40. The Lines Between Us by Rebecca D'Harligue
41. Evening by Nessa Rapoport
42. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
43. While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams
44. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Duchess Goldblatt
45. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
46. And the Bride Closed the Door by Ronit Matalon
47. Raising A+ Human Beings by Dr. Bruce Powell
48. Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland
49. The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff
50. To Be A Man by Nicole Krauss
51. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
52. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris
53. How to Disappear Completely by Ali Standish
54. The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia
55. Float Plan by Trish Doller
56. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
57. The Cellist by Daniel Silva
58. The Assignment by Liza Wiemer
59. That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
60. While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory
61. Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith
62. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
63. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
64. Verity by Colleen Hoover
65. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez
66. The Queer Principes of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian
67. When the English Fall by David Williams
68. Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
69. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
70. Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
71. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
72. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
73. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
74. The Book of Jeremiah: A Novel in Stories by Julie Zuckerman
75. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
76. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
77. I, Sarah Steinway by Mary E. Carter
78. The Song of Achilles by Madeline miller
79. The Best Place on Earth by Ayelet Tsabari
80. Motherland by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
81. Beach Read by Emily Henry
82. Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee
83. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
84. People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn
85. How to Find What You're Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani
86. Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
87. Israel by Noa Tishby
88. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
89. Linked by Gordan Korman
90. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
91. The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
92. We are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
93. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
94. Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
95. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
96. The Lost Things Club by J.S. Puller
97. Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden
98. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
99. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

It's always really hard to choose favorites, but here are some of mine from the list above (I picked 1 per month) and I made a tiktok of them (I was going to write "cuz I'm cool that way" but I think if I'm writing that, I'm probably definitely not cool.) They might not be your favorites, but I liked them!

You Asked for Perfect
The Four Winds
The Rose Code
Firekeeper's Daughter
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
The Matzah Ball
House in the Cerulean Sea
Hour of the Witch
Dictionary of Lost Words
The Reading List
Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Special mention: I have to put People Love Dead Jews on this list of "best" books I've read this year even though I might not say "favorite" to describe it. As you can see, I mostly read fiction but this one stood out and I can't stop thinking about it.  

Here are my monthly review posts:

January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books
August Books
September Books
October Books  

November Books  

December Books

I'm looking forward to starting new lists for 2022...I keep track of my books on Goodreads - follow me there. What do you think I should read in 2022? What are you going to read? What was the best book you read in 2021?

Previous years' book lists are here:

Books Read in 2020

Books Read in 2019

Books Read in 2018
Books Read in 2017
Books Read in 2016
Books Read in 2015
Books Read in 2014
Books Read in 2013
Books Read in 2012
Books Read in 2011
Books Read in 2010
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008

December 2021 Books #MyLifeInBooks

Oops, I didn't really read The Guncle this month. I read it....an indeterminate number of months ago and I forgot to record it. So it never got a review but I loved it.

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin - I loved this sweet story of an unlikely friendship between three total strangers with an environmental storythread. I was fascinated by the beekeeping and happy with the loveliness of the overall story. (And then I saw a beekeeper on TikTok and it was so cool to watch...but I'm still staying far away from the bees myself.)

Israel: A Simple Guide to the World's Most Misunderstood Country by Noa Tishby -  This book has been fairly controversial in that people of all stripes have said it's "biased" or "propaganda" and therefore I'm pretty sure that means it's probably not. That said, it is clearly written by an Israeli who loves Israel. Full of facts and history, it's written clearly and in a light tone. A great place to start if you want to understand more about what's going on in that little strip of land in the Middle East. *note that Goodreads only had a link to the audiobook, which is not how I read this book

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner - This book has made so many best-of-the-year lists! It's certainly a love letter to Korean food, and it made me hungry each time I picked it up - even when I didn't even know what a particular food was, I wanted to try it. It's a very personal story of coming-of-age, and grieving, and family dynamics - and I'm not sure that I loved it as much as so many others. I did feel like it was a really powerful read, however. 

Linked by Gordon Korman - A middle grade novel about a small town with a swastika problem. It was readable and interesting, and the twist at the end made it really powerful. It felt a little like the middle-grade equivalent of The Assignment, which I read in July. I highly recommend for all my young friends!

The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante - I know people LOVE the Neopolitan books but I could NOT get into them and I found the writing style too vague for me. This one's coming out in a movie and I decided to give it a shot. Totally disliked it entirely. Maybe I just didn't get it? Also, I can't even imagine how this is going to make a movie. But it has a great cast. So....?

We Are Not Like Them by Christina Pride and Jo Piazza - I liked it. It was interesting, emotional, and powerful. I was pretty sure where things were going and I did find it a little bit preachy. A worthwhile read but not at the top of my list.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - I liked this YA book that flirts with the allegorical idea that children who are "different" are in some way really from other worlds, in other dimensions. Interesting, a little creepy....I liked the world-building but thought the mystery was wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. 

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff - I loved this ghost-story-coming-of-age-grief story. Yep, it's all that and it wasn't confusing and it was really lovely. This is a middle-grade novel and perfect for a thoughtful young person or a grownup who works with young people. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - wow, I loved this beautiful and simple book about time travel with a little twist. We can't change the past, we can't change the present, but we can change ourselves....

The Lost Things Club by J.S. Puller - This was a heartbreakingly sad book about a child healing from a terrible trauma, and also a reminder to adults that our language matters. Telling a child that a loved one who died is "lost" can be a euphemism that leads to tremendous pain. (Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.) I love the relationships in this book, though, and overall was a good and powerful read.

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden - Four kids and a ripple-effect healing/kindness movement made this a wonderful and fulfilling read. Beautifully written and a strong look at different kinds of kids and how they really will heal our world. 

The Keeper of Lost Things - A sweet story, with a somewhat predictable ending. I liked seeing it all come together...

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling - when you ask your young friends for their favorites, and then you read them. This is a story about a girl born without arms, and how she makes her way in the world. Maybe a little heavy-handed (it is middle-grade, though) but really delightful and creative book!

January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books
August Books
September Books
October Books
November Books

November 2021 Book #MyLifeInBooks

The Best Place on Earth by Ayelet Tsabari - I loved this short story collection, all about mizrahi Jews, mostly Yemeni. It was beautifully written, and the stories were riveting. I keep saying I don't like short stories, but maybe I do. I liked this one!

Motherland by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan - I read this book because my daughter was reading it for English class, and it was really good. It felt "out of my box" but also very familiar - a story about an American young woman, born in India but raised in the US, who doesn't feel like she belongs in India when she's there and feels out of place in the US often too. I also kept looking up different food and clothing items, and so it was a fun learning process!

Beach Read by Emily Henry - I liked this predictable romantic comedy!

Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee - A book mostly about design and spaces, but helped me think about how we bring joy to lots of parts of our lives. My teachers always hear me talk about "joyful Judaism" and so I liked seeing this from another joyful angle too.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams - This is a wonderful novel about the power of books to bring people together. An unlikely friendship and a library. What more do you need?

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn - wow. I appreciate so many of these chapters putting into words all of the frustration and anger that I often feel when reading the news or a Holocaust novel. I know I plan to re-read some of these chapters, and the world looks different now. Thank you, Dara Horn, for this gift of a book.

How to Find What You're Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani - An interesting follow up to People Love Dead Jews, this book was one of my favorites of the year so far. Historical fiction set in the 1960s about a Jewish family. Add in an undiagnosed learning disability and a sister who runs off to marry a Hindu man, and it all really came together. The style was so interesting and I couldn't put it down. 

I feel so accomplished when I see this list growing from month to month:
January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books
August Books
September Books
October Books

October 2021 Books #MyLifeInBooks

 

The Book of Jeremiah by Julie Zuckerman - I really liked this book of linked short stories about a guy named Jeremiah - and I think the book discussion group enjoyed it too. My favorite part was how the stories were actually told completely out of order, but it just worked.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - just a delightful read. What a great author. I loved the characters, loved the story, and I didn't want this one to end.

Dictonary of Lost Words by Pip Williams - I never really thought about the development of the Oxford English Dictionary but it made for a great read. I loved the way the words in (and not in) the dictionary were really like their own character in the story. 

I, Sarah Steinway by Mary E. Carter - Someone described this book as "charming and quirky" and I'll agree with the quirky part. I did like Sarah and the style of writing, but I like a little more plot in my stories. The post-apocalyptic setting made my hair stand on edge because it felt so possible. Sarah's method of coping with a flooded world is to turn to Torah, and it definitely made for a quirky, quick read.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - I will fully admit that I didn't remember the story of Achilles as told in the Iliad. This was a particularly readable and wonderful adaptation of the story, and I so appreciated the love story between Achilles and Patroclus. 

January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books
August Books
September Books

Books in September '21 #MyLifeInBooks

 

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - what is humanity? what does it mean to love? This is a lyrical book that explores those questions. Did I like it? I'm not sure. Am I thinking about it still? Yes. 

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian - I've never read a book that had so much to do with forks. My whole family heard me talking about "the fork book." Other than this oddity, I really enjoyed this one!

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang - I really like these romance stories by this author. There's always such a different and interesting perspective. I found myself aching for the main character, and so happy for her too. 

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - I'm a little bit over books that bounce between modern and historical. This one had a good concept but was a little boring, predictable, and a little annoying.

The Thousandth Floor by Katherine McGee - Basically "Gossip Girl" in a futuristic setting...I didn't realize that it was the first of a trilogy but let's just say that I don't even feel like I need to read the rest of the series. 

January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books
August Books

Books in August #MyLifeInBooks

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - I really loved this story, which felt both real and allegorical all at the same time. What a beautiful way to talk about loving people for who they are. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Reid Jenkins - Great family drama story, breathlessly waiting to find out how it all came together. 

Verity by Colleen Hoover - people LOVE this book but I did not. I do like romance novels, but this was a "romance thriller" and let me tell you, those two things did not marry well for me. I had a pretty good idea of how the twist might play out, and I was just reading to find out if my hunch was correct.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez - An interesting look at an immigrant family struggling to find their place in Chicago. A tough story that felt full of truth.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian - This one somewhat underwhelmed me. I think I kept wondering "is that historically right?" and some of the story lines felt a little too modern for the 18th century setting. The love story was interesting but the rest of the plot was a little plodding.

When the English Fall by David Williams - File this under "TikTok made me do it" since I saw a review of this one on that platform (yep, just outed myself there). I have always read dystopian-world-ending literature but tried to put it on hold during the whole ACTUAL pandemic scenario, but I picked this one up because the premise was so interesting. What would happen to the Amish community if the world ground to a halt? Interesting, sad, and a good read. 

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand - I have not read ALL of her books, but I have read several. This one was a little....odd. I'm not sure this book needed the paranormal element. Without it, it might have still been an interesting family drama. The paranormal just felt...unnecessary. Okay, I said it. 

January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
June Books
July Books

February 2021 books #MyLifeInBooks

 

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum - Powerful story about generations of Arab women living in America. It was very difficult to read, and to imagine how this story was received within the author's own community. Much to discuss in here! 

Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel - a young adult thriller set in Chicago, it was appropriately creepy, scary, and riveting.

The Way Back by Gavriel Savit - This was one of the Sydney Taylor Award winners (Notable Book) and I try to read as many of those as I can! It falls into the category of magical realism, which I usually like, and this was good. I got a little tangled up in the allegory and metaphor near the end, but overall it was enjoyable. The shtetl setting, the ton of Jewish supernatural imagery, it all made for a rich world!

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah - a story of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, WOW. I'm a big fan of her books, and especially her historical fiction (read Winter Garden, please). Also, it feels like everyone I know is reading this book. Definitely a winner.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly - Three different time periods, one garden. I really liked each time period, and I liked seeing how they came together to create a lovely story. I may have glossed over some of the gardening details, but the rest was enagaging.

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan (I read an advance copy of this book, it's not out yet) This is a funny premise for a book - a young rabbi brings a former-sex-worker-turned-internet-sex-educator to speak at his synagogue. You can imagine what happens next. I thought it felt like a balanced portrayal of some of the challenges faced by rabbis AND sex workers! It's a romance novel, so buyer beware, but a fun read. (A tiny bit preachy at the end, but what can you expect from a book about a rabbi?!)

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - did NOT expect for this to be as good, powerful, and message-driven as it was. I honestly thought it was just a sweet romance novel until I was deeply invested. A really important story about how relationships are cyclical and how we can break out of patterns to stop domestic violence. 

The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin - loved this book - it seemed, at the beginning, to be a re-told fairy tale. But it's so much more - so many threads and so many ways that the reality and fairy tale are woven together. It was a little breathtaking. (P.S. except for the mice. I didn't get that part and basically just skipped through that.)

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson - So many great elements in this book that surround a town obsessed with their prom. I giggled at the internal gossip-girl-style social network and the way that it was integrated into so many aspects of the life of the school. My goodness, high school stories are so much richer than they ever were in the past, and I am so grateful for the wonderful tapestry of YA literature! 

Send for Me by Lauren Fox - A short, readable story of mother-daughter pairs. There's not much that's new here in terms of pre-war Germany story, but I still found it compelling and readable. Plus, I liked the Milwaukee connection.

January 2021 Books #MyLifeInBooks

 

Last year, I decided to write monthly reviews of the books I've read and I enjoyed doing that so much that I am hoping to continue into this year! Oh, and this month, I also drew all the covers. We'll see if that lasts from month to month...

So here's the January list. What are you reading?

To Sir Philip with Love by Julia Quinn
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
On The Way To the Wedding by Julia Quinn
It's In His Kiss by Julia Quinn - apparently, sometimes I can be a completionist, because I felt a strong need to finish the Bridgerton series. Although they were somewhat formulaic and predictable, they were also delightful reading candy. 

Sea Wife by Amity Gage - as a "family at sea" in the current world, I felt such a draw to this actual family at sea story. I get terribly seasick but I even found myself wondering what it would be like to spend a year on a boat. It was beautiful and terrible and gorgeously written. 

Admission by Julie Buxbaum - A re-telling of the Varsity Blues scandal, from the viewpoint of one of the teens. The character felt a little too blind to her own privilege, and yet that blindness felt pretty real and true, also. One of my favorite authors. 

Caste: The Origins of our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson - wow. Can't stop thinking about this one, if only for the commitment to changing our linguistic patterns around some of the biggest ideas / issues in our country. Looking forward to her keynote at the CCAR convention!

Dear Martin by Nic Stone - Important and gut-wrenching read. I appreciated that the author did not overuse the letter-writing and the growth of the characters was remarkable. I am grateful to live in a world in which all stories get told. 

Hope and Other Punch Lines by Julie Buxbaum - One of the few 9/11 books I've read, and this one examined grief, survivors' guilt, with a dose of teenage humor. Apparently, I've had this one on hold for a little while (I forgot) and it came up shortly after I finished reading Admission! 

You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman - a recommendation of my Confirmation students, I loved this book. It felt like such an interesting counterbalance to Admission, since this was about a student who was working very hard and worrying about their admission to school in a different way. I am so appreciative, aware, and fascinated by the amount of LGBTQ love stories in YA literature today. 

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty - I just finished reading this one aloud to Solly. We enjoyed it, even though I think it was a little slow-going! It was a fun alternative-history re-imagining of New York City with magic. And there's a sequel! So we'll read that one next. (Also this was a PJ Our Way selection, but I think it would have been hard as an independent read for Solly, a 4th grader)

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet - So this is the time of year that I'm reading off of all the lists of books recommended at the end of the previous year. I have no idea who recommended this book, and I knew nothing about it as I started reading it. It was weird and chilling, and it definitely kept me up at night. It's a combination coming-of-age, generational divide, and climate change cautionary tale all in one. A really great book, even though it totally gave me nightmares.