2021 Book Wrap up

 I know you have all been waiting anxiously for this post, I know I have. JK, it's been so long since I did a book post, I'm not really sure where to go from here.

So, numbers usually work for me, so I guess I'll start with the numbers.  I have been keeping track of the books I've read for years and years. Unfortunately, anything prior to 2017 is lost because I didn't think it was important to keep at the time. Now I'm curious and wish I had kept those records.

So from 2017 forward I have read

2017        63 books

2018        74 books

2019        94 books    

2020        85 books

2021        120 books

Now that i have broken the magical threshold of more that 100 books in a year, how do I feel about it?

Well, I only feel so-so. It's not like I read 120 equivalents of War and Peace or The Bible. I read mainly easy, escapist books because that's where I am in my life. I don't want to read about COVID, or BLM, or climate change. I hear enough about that in my daily life. So I look for books to take me away. I hate to admit it, but a lot of it is probably considered Rom-Com.  But it makes for a nice trip to the beach when it is snowing in Cleveland.  

Some more numbers: 120 books = 110 fiction, 10 non-fiction. That's pathetic even by my standards. Out of those 120 books, 29 were written by male authors, 91 by females.  Probably need to work on that too to become more well rounded.

I did tend to glom onto some writers and read several of their books. Not all in a row, but throughout the course of the year. One such author was Charles Martin. The first book of his that I read was called When Crickets Cry. It was a book club selection and everyone LOVED this book. I really liked it but didn't love it. I proclaimed that the author may be a little too religious for me as there were often scriptures quoted and faith challenged in the book. But, I took it with a grain of salt. So much so that over the course of the year I ended up reading 9 books by Charles Martin! Something about the way he writes, the kindness of his main characters and the relationships they form with others and, yes, God, pulled me right in. To date he has written 17 books. I'm pretty sure a few more of his titles will hit my 2022 list.

Another author who I tended to listen to a lot on audiobooks is Rachel Hanna. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this but she makes no bones about the fact that she is a contemporary, chick lit, romance novelist with southern charm. I listened to 6 of the Seagrove series while driving back and forth to Pittsburgh to see my grandchildren. You don't have to think while listening, just sit back and listen to the story. Almost like gossiping with friends at the local coffee shop.

So, out of all those books, I rated 15 with an A meaning I really loved it, would recommend it and would read it again. (I actually read one twice.) A few of them are:

Non Fiction

Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller about the Stanford rape case. It was heavy reading but well told and I am glad she was able to get her name out.

 

Another non fiction that I really enjoyed {in audio format as it was read by the author} was Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I'm not sure his southern charm would have come through if I was just reading it instead of listening to him tell the stories of his life. Matthew McConaughey is more than just a pretty face.

 

The Sun is A Compass by Caroline Van Hemert "chronicles a 4,000-mile human-powered expedition from the Pacific rainforest to the Arctic coast." That line is a quote from her website about this book. I read with amazement and awe what she and her partner accomplished to achieve the goal they set for themselves. (When sometimes going to get the mail is too much for me.) 

On the fiction side I really enjoyed West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. I liked it so much that when it was selected as a book club selection after I had read it, I read it again. It's a feel good story set during the dust bowl and the depression - two things you wouldn't think belonged in the same sentence.

A couple of other quick mentions for fiction I rat3ed as A.

Sooley by John Grisham

The Day the World Came to Town:9/11 in Gander Newfoundland by James DeFeade.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

So that's a quick wrap up.  

Thanks for reading!