The One with the 2021 Book Lists

2021 Reading Goal: 60 books

Books Read: 61

It was a big year for reading and much time was devoted to meeting my goal. The following lists are rated in order of date read. 

Best:

1. Britt-Marie Was Here - Fredrik Backman

“Soccer forces life to move on. There’s always a new match. A new season. There’s always a dream that everything can get better. It’s a game of wonders.”

2. Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi

“This is what death sounds like… you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but you should know it. You should know it when you hear it, because it is the last sound and we all make it.”

3. The Four Winds - Kristin Hannah

“There’s no why to trust. It either is or isn’t.”

4. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 

“Waiting is the rust of the soul .”

5. Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey

“ The road less traveled may not be a dirt road; for some, it may be the autobahn. Robert Frost was right, taking the road less traveled can make all the difference.

But that road isn’t necessarily the road with the least traffic.

It may be the road that we, personally, have traveled less.

The introvert may need to get out of the house, engage with the world, get public.

The extrovert may need to stay home and read a book.

Sometimes we need to get out there, sometimes we need to get in there. Some days our road less traveled is a solitary dirt trail.

On others it’s the subway on the 7 line.”

6. People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry

“Sometimes we put on music in the kitchen while we’re cooking, and we dance. Not a sweet, swing embrace like we’re in some romantic movie, but ridiculous writhing, twirling until we’re dizzy, laughing until we’re snorting or crying.”

7. Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson

“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

8. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird - Josie Silver

“There isn’t a handy grief blueprint. You don’t get over losing someone you love in six months or two years or twenty, but you have to find a way to carry on living without feeling as if everything that comes afterward is second best.”

9. The Beauty of What Remains - Steve Leder

“Create your own kind of Sabbath in your heart and your life. Spend a seventh of your life gathered around the candlelit table, then snuggle beneath the covers. Stroll, listen, think, breathe, and relish your most sacred, finite, and beautiful blessing- time.”

10. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

“That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.”

Worst:

1. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam

2. How Lucky - Will Leitch

3. Group - Christie Tate

4. The Maidens - Alex Michaelides

5. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley

Honorable Mention:

1. Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano 

“ Humans need community, for our emotional health. We need connection, a sense of belonging. We are not built to thrive in isolation.”

2. Outlawed - Anna North

“ Knowledge can be very valuable... but only if people want it. If they don't, it can be worse than useless.”

3. The Ickabog - J.K. Rowling

“ Lies upon lies upon lies. Once you started lying, you had to continue, and then it was like being captain of a leaky ship, always plugging holes in the side to stop yourself sinking.”

4. Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

“Intimacy requires the repeated experience of being responded to.”

5. The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave

“This is the thing about good and evil. They aren’t so far apart- and they often start from the same valiant place of wanting something to be different.”

6. Open Book - Jessica Simpson

“ All of us are so much more alike than we want to accept.”

7. Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

“ History is a merciless judge. It lays bare our tragic blunders and foolish missteps and exposes our most intimate secrets, wielding the power of hindsight like an arrogant detective who seems to know the end of the mystery from the outset.”

8. Behind Her Eyes - Sarah Pinborough

“The truth is different to different people.”

9. Kindred Spirits - Rainbow Rowell

“ And the thing about nerd culture being mainstream culture now means that there's no place to just be a nerd among other nerds - without being reminded that you're the nerd.”

10. Thursday Murder Club - Richard Cohn

“In life you have to learn to count the good days. You have to tuck them in your pocket and carry them around with you. So I’m putting today in my pocket and I’m off to bed.”

Here’s to another year of good reads.

The One with November 2021

November started with a belated birthday celebration for our old man pup. He enjoyed a car ride, a walk around the Country Club Plaza, and treats from Three Dog Bakery. 

Forever thankful for fun fire nights and for a best favorite who enjoys chorin’. 

This friend came home and our time together included books, tea, and holiday music. It was magical.

Book tally for the year: 55 

Although I have surpassed my reading goal for the year there are still a few books I have on my list to finish. 

The pups got in plenty of snuggle and play time. 

My best favorite and I went to Colorado to be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We saw Grandma first to kick things off.

We walked a lot, ate a lot, played a lot, and laughed a lot on Thanksgiving day. 

My best favorite and I go to Glenwood Springs every other year and this was our year to go. 

Iron Mountain Hot Springs, as always, was magical and memorable. 

Although Juicy Lucy’s, our favorite restaurant in town, was closed for renovations we still enjoyed a nice dinner at CO Ranch House. 

Walking around town and rummaging through random shops is always an adventure and this one was so festive with all the twinkle lights and holiday decor. We even caught a Christmas show in front of The Hotel Colorado-complete with fireworks. Perfect. 

A friend from ages ago now lives in Glenwood Springs and met us for specialty tacos and drinks! 

To end our Colorado trip we stayed with more family not too far from Colorado Springs. With them we enjoyed fires, food, views, and a drive through Pike National Forest in their mountain machine. I even, accidentally, trapped myself in the bathroom with a hissing cat. Even with the hissing cat our family time ended too quickly. 

I started my next class on the last day of vacation and the views during that time were just the right motivation to keep me wanting to work hard to have a view like this to call my own someday. 

“Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.” - Alice Hoffman, Magic Lessons 

Here’s to mountains, magic, and memories.