AH! 2021 was a huge year for me, reading wise. I surpassed my reading goal of 25 books by reading 47 books. I couldn’t get enough this year and I found some really amazing books.
Libby was the MVP again this year. I was able to find such fun and engaging books that I would never have found in the library. Once the library opened back up, I still choose Libby over an actually book. There were a few books I got from the library since they were not available on Libby.
A fun discovery with books I found this year was audiobooks. I’ve listened to some audiobooks in the past that were on cds but let me tell you, audiobooks were game changers this year. I listened to them on walks, at the gym and where ever else I could. Between Libby and my wireless earbuds, it was perfect.
I previously posted here about the first 6 books of the year. They were:
How to be an Artist by Jerry Saltz⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silcon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Southern Lady Code: Essays by Helen Ellis*⭐⭐⭐⭐
(*audiobooks)
Here are the rest of the books I read in 2021:
You Know I’m No Good by Jessie Ann Foley⭐⭐⭐⭐
Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent⭐⭐⭐⭐
To Siri With Love: A Mother, Her Autistic Son and the Kindness of a Machine by Judith Newman⭐⭐⭐
The Inheritance Games by: Jennifer Lynn Barnes⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ask Again, Yes by: Mary Beth Keane⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Single On Purpose: Redefine Everything. Find Yourself First by John Kim⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Twenty by James Grippando⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Rationing by Charles Wheelan⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner⭐⭐⭐⭐
Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith⭐⭐⭐
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult⭐⭐⭐⭐
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn⭐⭐⭐⭐
Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins⭐⭐⭐
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hola Pai: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer⭐⭐⭐⭐
We Can Only Save Ourselves by Alison Wisdom⭐⭐⭐
With You All The Way by: Cynthia Hand⭐⭐⭐
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten⭐⭐⭐
Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living by: Robert A. Jensen⭐⭐⭐
Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11 by Joseph Pfeifer⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fault Lines by Emily Itami⭐⭐⭐⭐
Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight⭐⭐⭐⭐
The following books were all the audiobooks I listened to. I highly recommend these books to be listened to- they really bring the story alive and I don’t think I would have liked these books if I had read them.
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite⭐⭐⭐⭐
No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy Seal by Mark Owen⭐⭐⭐
Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry⭐⭐⭐⭐
Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang⭐⭐⭐
Ring Shout by P. Djli Clark⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by 50 Cent⭐⭐⭐⭐
Influence by Sara Shepard⭐⭐⭐
Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage & Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere: Ree Drummond⭐⭐⭐
11/22/1963 by Stephen King⭐⭐⭐⭐
The First Husband by Laura Dave⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Husbands by Chandler Baker⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Still Lives by Maria Hummel⭐⭐⭐
Instamom by Chantel Guertin⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cul-de-sac by Joy Fielding⭐⭐⭐
Phew! That is a lot of books read (for me!)-22 audio books and 25 books
I truly read a wide variety of genres- YA, romance, Nonfiction, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Humor, and Self help. I love finding books that I wouldn’t necessarily pick up but end up really loving!
If I had to choose a top 5 for favorite books I read in 2021 they would be: (in no particular order)
1. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
2. Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne
3. The Husbands by Chandler Baker
4. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
This was really hard for me to pick because I truly did love all the books I read this year- thy were so diverse and intriguing. I struggled only through a handful, some of the story lines were dry but interesting enough that I decided to keep reading. Some of those “dry-er” books actually ended up being really awesome, others not so much.
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How many books did you read this year? Which one was your favorite?
[[Reading allows you to be transported to a different world, from the comforts of your home]]
