books to read 2021

Happy New Year and thank you for reading my blog! I hope you consistently find things here to read, ponder, share and discuss.

I’ve already collected a good group of potential reads from various ‘best of 2020’ lists. But I also looked at last year’s running list, and there’s so much there I still want to read including Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich and Slave Day… Another one on the list, Badass Habits by Jen Sincero is my first read of the year, along with Don’t Turn Around by Jessica Barry which looks like a harrowing thriller.

Here are the first few, with handy links this time. What grabs you?

These two were recommended in Essence magazine.

• Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory – This is apparently part of a series and sounds like a fun romance. If like it I’ll be compelled to go back and read the series from the start 🙂 Update: SO. MUCH. FUN. Flirty, sexy, smart. Perfect summer read. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622535/party-of-two-by-jasmine-guillory/
• When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole – This sounds like a smart thriller / mystery with something to say. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/when-no-one-is-watching-alyssa-cole?variant=32129854701602

Here are some recs from Esquire magazine:

• My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell – Sounds intense. (Jan. 28 update: I just picked this up from the library!) https://www.harpercollins.com/products/my-dark-vanessa-kate-elizabeth-russell?variant=32126599266338
• Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam – This is on just about every list out there! https://www.harpercollins.com/products/leave-the-world-behind-rumaan-alam?variant=32123411365922
• Luster by Raven Leilani – Race, class, sex. Update: I tried to like his book, but it was not for me. Too real and raw? No, just not the real or raw that I like to read. She’s won awards for it, though, so it might be good for you?
• These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore – Updated American history. (Jan. 28 update: Um, I put this on hold, picked it up, realized it was 900 pages, and I turned it back in. I can’t read a 900 page book right now.) https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393357424
• Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas – This was made into a movie, didn’t see it. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249784/concussion-by-jeanne-marie-laskas/
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen – 2016 Pulitzer winner! https://groveatlantic.com/book/the-sympathizer/
• The VBA Book of Color in Design edited by Tim Travis. Found this in Interior Design‘s Books column. I’m not a designer (except of my life) but I love design, design thinking, color. VBA stands for London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the book is chock full of artifacts https://thamesandhudson.com/the-va-book-of-colour-in-design-9780500480274#gallery

It’s January 28th and I’m back with more book titles I’ve collected here and there. I’m trying to keep track of where I hear about each book, it’s interesting to me anyway, not sure about anyone else?

That being said, this first book / author was on a scrap of paper with no other info.

• The Highway by C.J. Box. This inspired the new tv series Big Sky (I’ve seen the commercials but not the show itself. It reminded me of Big Little Lies only ABC not HBO. So, upon googling for a link I found out Box won an Edgar Award for an earlier book called Blue Heaven. So now I want to try that one first. https://www.cjbox.net/the-highway

This book rec came from a past issue of UF’s J-school magazine, Orange and Blue http://www.oandbmagazine.com/

• The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins sounds like something I’d read. The five seconds refer to a time to push yourself. It reminds me of Urban Meyer’s mantra when he was the Gator’s coach. All he wanted each play was “Four to six seconds of relentless effort.” I’ll check out the TED Talk first. May update – I got this from the library and can summarize it here: before you start anything, count down to yourself (5…4…3…2…1) and then just do it. Yeah, if only it were this easy!

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Here’s one from the Washington Post:

• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris. WaPo said it’s a “A thrilling, edgier Devil Wears Prada that explores privilege and racism.” . https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Other-Black-Girl/Zakiya-Dalila-Harris/9781982160135

May updates!

Colors in Nature by Jana Sedlackova and Stephanka Sekaninova

The Boy Who Would Be King by Ryan Holiday

Young Money by Kevin Roose

Unpacking My Library by Leah Price

Phase Six by Jim Shepard Update: my sister read it and loved it!

How Lucky by Will Leitch

SEPTEMBER – updating this list with titles I’ve written down over the summer…

Principles of Success (children’s book) by Ray Dalio

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson

Saboteurs by Michael Dobbs

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

The Affair by Sheryl Browne

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (science fiction)

The Overstory

The Happiest Man on Earth

The System by Ryan Gattis

The Madman’s Library by Edward Brooke Hitching

You Don’t Know Me (YA)

How The World is Passed by Clint Smith

The Choice: Embrace The Possible

The Premonition by Michael Lewis (Review coming! Read this book!)

Geiger by Gustaf Skordeman

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby

Our House by Louise Candlish

The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump by Rob Sears

Vladimir Putin: Life Coach by Rob Sears

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Dowling

Six Drawing Lessons by William Kentridge

A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan

The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman

Virtue by Hermione Hoby

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Sommerscale

The Tiny Bee That Hovers at the Center of the World by David Searcy

That Weekend by Kara Thomas

You Were Never Here by Andi Bartz

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman

The Failed Promise by Robert S. Levine

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Possession by A.J. Byatt

The following came from a US Air Force reading list I stumbled across

• Focus by Daniel Goleman
• The Art of Significance by Dan Clark
• Blind Spot by Banaji and Greenwald
• The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner
• The All Americans by Lars Anderson
• The Words We Live By by Linda R. Monk
• The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
• The Go-Giver by Burg and Mann

Instant Replay edited by Dick Schapp

Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion

To Be A Slave by Julius Lester (children’s)

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Cloud Cukoo Land by Anthony Doerr

The Guide by Peter Heller

Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman

DeNiro’s Game by Rawi Hage

11/21/21 update. More books I’ve scribbled down here and there, while listening to NPR or reading reviews in the NY Times or Washington Post. Or found through a google alert or interview with an author. So many recommendations and so many books, we’ll never get to all of them!

The Bad Seed by William March

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

The Little Drummer Girl (Stephen King’s favorite Le Carre)

Mr. Putin by Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy

White But Not Quite (2022)

The Words of My Father by Yousef Bashir

Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf

Vexy Thing by Imani Perry

Goring’s Man in Paris by Jonathan PetroPoulos

Blue by Kai Kupferschmidft

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons

Mariana by Monica Dickens

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell

The Flower Yard:: Growing Flamboyant Flowers in Containers by Arthur Parkinson

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

How to Find Your Way in the Dark: by Derek B. Miller

Psalms: The Character of God