2021 Reading List
“She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.” (Annie Dillard).
I am so excited about the books I have read this year! I made it to my goal of 52, and have read such a variety of books this year. Here they are:
> Fictions Books
4: Station Eleven
By Emily St. John Mandel
This post-pandemic novel might be trigger for some on COVID times, but if you can get over that the story is so good.
5: Blessings
By Anna Quindlen
A quiet novel I picked up at a little bookshop in LaGrange, Georgia. Writing is good!
9: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
By John Boyne
SO good. Quick read about a boy whose dad is a Nazi that will haunt you for a long time.
10: The Body Artist
By Don DeLillo
Very strange read, like all DeLillo! I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure I understood what was real and what was not.
12: The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living
By: Louise Miller
My favorite fun novel I have read this whole year! So feel-good.
13: The Late Bloomers’ Club
By Louise Miller
Not as good as The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living, but still a cute read.
17: Forty Rooms
By Olga Grushin
This book has the fascinating premise that a woman’s life takes place in approximately forty rooms (childhood bedroom, dorm room, first apartment, etc.), and each chapter is a vignette in one of those settings.
18: Milk and Honey
By Rupi Kaur
Beautiful poems.
19: The Sun and her Flowers
By Rupi Kaur
More beautiful poems.
21: Tenth of December
By George Saunders
I have decided George Saunders is just not for me! This book was unappealing and something about it was so harsh and crude.
28: Silver Sparrow
By Tayari Jones
Tayari Jones is an incredible author, and her book An American Marriage, is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Silver Sparrow was also a great read. This book is about a girl growing up in Atlanta with her mother and father. She goes through the woes of teen life including boys, school, and friends, but she has one big difference than other kids. Her father is a bigamist, and he has another wife and another daughter, who have no idea she exists. Couldn’t put this one down!
33: Sorrow and Bliss
By Meg Mason
A new all-time favorite. Such a good book that is funny and heartbreaking and real about mental illness, family drama and figuring it all out!
34: Sorry I Missed You
By Suzy Krause
Silly Canadian novel about three random women renting an old haunted house. Fun, but not earth-shattering.
35: When the Stars Go Dark
By Paula McLain
36: The Magic of Found Objects
By Maddie Dawson
37: The Glass Hotel
By Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel is such a good and imaginative writer. This book is worth a read.
38: The Guest List
By Lucy Foley
A fun and glamorous mystery.
39: The Silent Patient
By Alex Michaelides
Dark and twisty. A mind f*ck.
40: The Book of Longings
By Sue Monk Kidd
A very thought-provoking book of Jesus’ wife, Ana, and her life of finding her own calling while also loving a humble man who later evolves into the Jesus we know.
42: Good Neighbors
By Sarah Langan
Weird and dystopian. Really dark. Don’t recommend.
44: The Madness of Crowds
By Louise Penny
A funny mystery set in Quebec. The protagonist, Armand Gamache, is very endearing.
45: Writers & Lovers
By Lily King
This book was good and poignant about figuring out how to trust yourself and get on your feet when a lot is stacked up against you, particularly in relationships and creativity.
46: Model Home
By J. Courtney Sullivan
Short story about the dysfunctional family behind a seemingly perfect reality show.
47: Never Have I Ever
By Joshilyn Jackson
Dark and sexual book about a woman’s childhood mistake coming back to haunt her.
48: Beautiful World Where Are You
By Sally Rooney
Loved. Even more than Normal People. She is so good at capturing the social awkwardness of our generation.
49: Tunneling to the Center of the Earth
By Kevin Wilson
Quirky short stories by Kevin Wilson. His book Nothing to See Here is a favorite of mine, so I thought I’d give these stories a try and enjoyed them.
50: Leave the World Behind
By Rumaan Alam
Really weird book that never really climaxes, but instead builds to an unknown world crisis that is unfolding while two families unknowingly are stranded in a country house together.
51: Small Things Like These
By Claire Keegan
A beautiful, short Irish book based on the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland that were part of the government and the Catholic Church that horribly mistreated down and out women and their babies and nobody really did anything about it even though they knew abuse was happening.
> Memoirs/Biographies
1: Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
By Christie Tate
This is definitely a new all-time favorite book. I laughed out loud, I cried through entire chapters, and I appreciated the healing journey Tate so vulnerably shared so very much.
20: I Feel Bad About My Neck
By Nora Ephron
A very quick airplane read all about the woes of aging as women. This book is a little dated, but I think the reminder to not be hard on ourselves on our journeys and be grateful for every life stage is a good one.
24: A Promised Land
By Barack Obama
I am glad I read this book even though it was a dense read, because I did learn a lot, and I somehow deepened my respect for and desire to have a beer with President Obama, (which were already at what I thought was the max level).
It is a memoir chronicling his rise in politics and then his first presidential term. It is honest, thoughtful, and very detailed. Although I can’t imagine picking this book up again for light reading anytime soon, I liked Obama’s voice and wanted to share a favorite passage:
The truth is, I’ve never been a big believer in destiny. I worry that it encourages resignation in the down-and-out and complacency among the powerful. I suspect that God’s plan, whatever it is, works on a scale too large to admit our moral tribulations; that in a single lifetime, accidents and happenstance determine more than we care to admit; and that the best we can do is to try to align ourselves with what we feel is right and construct some meaning out of our confusion, and with grace and nerve play at each moment the hand that we’re dealt.
29: Empty
By Susan Burton
Honest, heart-wrenching book about the author’s lifelong struggle with binge eating and anorexia.
> Nonfiction Books
2: Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
A dense, textbook-like read, but if you are interested in what makes us creative and the creative process it is an insightful book.
3: Caste
By Isabel Wilkerson
Thought-provoking and disturbing, Caste compares the treatment of black people in America to the operations of the caste systems in India and Nazi Germany.
14: Cosy: The British Art of Comfort
By Laura Weird
A cute little book about the joy of being cosy. As Weir writes: “Life can be as wild and precious in the quiet as it is in the noise.”
22: Lean In
By Sheryl Sandberg
This book was the perfect read as I transitioned out of an unsupportive work environment that did not lift women up, (instead I actually experienced comments like “wow, I guess girls are smart”), into my coaching work full-time that EMPOWERS the already incredibly strong women that I work with to reach their full potential and to believe in themselves. I am so glad I stepped away from that toxicity, but before I left I did share my feelings with my boss and gave him a copy of this book!
25: Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes
By Jessica Pan
As an introvert, I was drawn to this book because the title is just so good (and relatable). This book is an honest journey of an expat American introvert living in London and trying to figure out how to break out of her shell and connect with new people.
27: The Year of Less
By Cait Flanders
Such a pleasant book about the author’s choice to simplify her life and figure out what matters to her. It was the perfect time to read this as we prepare to move. As we are planning to pack our home, I loved the reminder to only keep what adds value, and to be conscious in the ways we invite things into our lives.
43: House of Gucci
By Sara Gay Forden
A little too detailed and dense for me, but interesting if you really want to know the true history of the Gucci brand and the Gucci family.
> Personal Development Books
6: The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life
By Edith Eger
Against all odds, and even as a Holocaust survivor, Edith Eger is an uplifting writer and a brilliant psychologist specializing in work around healing trauma and the power of conscious choice.
7: The Café on the Edge of the World: A Story About the Meaning of Life
By Joh Strelecky
A strange but thought provoking little book that all takes place one night at a roadside cafe. Strelecky gets at the existential question of how do we make life meaningful?
8: I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t)
By Brene Brown
I think anything by Brené Brown is worth the read, and reread for that matter, and this one is no different. Brown explores how to build shame resilience so we can recognize our triggers, use them productively, heal old wounds, be kind to ourselves, and in turn share with and support others. ♥️
11: Mating In Captivity
By Esther Perel
I have heard Esther Perel many times on podcasts and read her quoted in articles, so I decided to pick up one of her books. Perel is a famous Belgian relationship therapist and expert who explores love, sexuality and modern romance. In this book I loved how she explains the duality of partnership and individuality. It is a fine balance to be our independent selves and also committed to another.
15: Judgement Detox
By Gabby Bernstein
Part of my own personal growth journey is working on being less judgmental, and noticing when I’m judging someone else what insecurity in myself is getting triggered. This book was a great place to explore why we judge and how to work toward peace and acceptance.
16: The Path Made Clear
By Oprah Winfrey
A compilation of wise words from many celebrities and teachers about finding our paths.
23: The Gift of Forgiveness
By Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt
This is a compilation of stories from people about their journeys to forgiveness including someone who had been held hostage by kidnappers, someone whose family was killed by a drunk driver, the mom of one of the Columbine shooters, and more. KSP’s insights were lacking I thought, but the stories were powerful. Forgiveness is something that comes up a lot in my coaching work - particularly for people who are having trouble forgiving themselves. If you feel like you are struggling to forgive yourself or someone else in your life, this book is worth a read.
26: The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are
By Dr. Kevin Leman
If you are curious about how your birth order has affected your personality (oldest child, youngest child, middle child, only child), read this!
30: The Sacred Enneagram
By Christopher L. Hueuertz
Do you know your Enneagram type? Take the test here.
31: Dusk, Night Dawn
By Anne Lamott
Not her best book, but a few nuggets of wisdom.
41: The Mountain Is You
By Brianna Wiest
This is a new favorite. Seriously shifted some of my thinking about pattern awareness and conscious choice.
52: The Power of Now
By Eckhart Tolle
So much wisdom about how and why to train yourself to live in the present, because that is really all we have. “Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”
Cheers to another year of reading!!! Let me know what you read this year, friends. Can’t wait to read along with you in 2022.