Everything I Read in 2021

Reading is breathing to me. I always have a book in hand or more accurately, stashed in several key places in my life, including the car. Below is a list of the 60ish books I read this year and the ones I didn’t finish.

January-

1. The Selected Works of Audre Lorde. Edited by Roxane Gay.

2. The Practice by Seth Godin.

3. Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly

4. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

5. Eat a Peach by David Chang

   February-

   1. The Guest List by Lucy Foley.

   2. Radical Belonging by Lindo Bacon

   3. The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

   4. Fleischman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser

   March-

   1. My Answer is No…if that;s okay with You. by Nanette Gartrell, MD

   2. How To Say No without Feeling Guilty by Patti Breitman and Connie Hatch

   3. Down Under - Lenora Carrington

   4. Such a Fun Age - KIley Reid

   April-

   1. Think Again - Adam Grant

   2. What We Lose- Zinzi Clemmons

   3. Surviving The White Gaze- Rebecca Carroll

   May-

   1. Nobody’s Normal - Roy Richard Grinker

   2. Yellow Wife -Sadeqa Johnson

   3. Milk, Blood, Heat- Dantiel Montiz

   4. The Vanishing Half- Britt Bennett

   5. Heavy -Kiese Laymon

   6. You are Your Best Thing- edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown

   June-

   1. Song in a Weary Throat- Pauli Murray

   2. The Midnight Library- Matt Haig

   3. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

   4. Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol- Ann Dowsett Johnston

   5. The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free - Paulina Bren

   6. White Rage- Carol Anderson

   July-

   1. What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat- Aubrey Gordon

   2. Normal People- Sally Rooney

   3. How To Kill Yourself (And Others) in America- Kiese Laymon

   4. The Mothers- Brit Bennett

   5. The Addiction Inoculation - Jessica Lahey

   6. Thick- Tressie McMillam Cotton

   7. American Baby- Gabrielle Glaser

   August-

   1. What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing- Oprah Winfrey and Bruce Perry

   2. The Eating Instinct- Virginia Sole-Smith

   3. Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning Chris Colfer

   4. The Cancer Journals - Audre Lorde

   September-

   1. The Immortalists- Chloe Benjamin

   2. White is For Witching - Helen Oyeyemi

   3. Long Live The Tribe of Fatherless Girls- T Kira Madden

   4. Eva's Man- Gayle T. Jones

   5. Radical - Kate Pickert

   October-

   1. Somebody's Daughter- Ashley C Ford

   2. Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating- Christy Harrison

   3. everyman- M Shelly Connor

   November-

   1. The Love Songs of WEB DuBois - Honorée Fannon Jeffers

   2. The Trees - Percival Everett

   3. I, Tituba - Maryse Condé

   4. Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms- Chris Colfer

   December-

   1. The Warmth of Other Suns- Isabel Wilkerson

   2. Goldenrod- Maggie Smith

   3. A Lie Someone Told Me Once About Myself - Peter Hoe Davies

Books I didn’t Finish:

Feast by Hannah Howard - loved the writing about food, reading about her struggle with eating was a hard juxtapose.

Connect: The Ask, Gather, Do Method - Susan McPherson. Not interested in being told about listening more, asking how I can help more, and essentially “leaning in” more from someone with no partner, no kids. Feels dated and short-sighted. Also no acknowlegement of cultural expectations of women to do, be more and the systems (paid leave for new parents springs to mind) that need to change in order for us to be able to connect in meaningful, healthy ways.

The Day We Stopped Shopping- JB McKinnon- the lack of commentary on the social systems and laws that need to change feels like a huge miss to me. Not to mention the whole thing reeks of incredible privilege. It’s as if in McKinnon’s world, people who need to shop at Wal-Mart because it’s what they can afford don’t really exist.

This Will All Be Over Soon by Cecily Strong. A memoir about the death of her cousin and how it impacted the author, SNL comedic genius Strong. Just not compelling enough to stick with.

Telephone by Percival Everett. A scientist who gets a mysterious message in a piece of clothing he bought on ebay while at the same time dealing with a dying daughter. I can't do books about young children dying from a rare disease and it needed to go back to the library so I didn't finish.

Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner. I waited for this one for months. But I couldn't not notice how terrible Zauner’s mom was to her as a child. Whether it’s ignoring, minimizing and mocking her pain or injuries when Zauner gets hurt or the verbal abuse and emotional manipulation, it’s jarring to have mom’s behavior glossed over. But it also feels dishonest on the part of the author. Zauner had a mental break in high school but there’s no awareness, connection, mention of how mom’s parenting may have brought that on. It’s a rather wild disconnect. After 60 pages in, I’d had enough.

Matrix by Lauren Groff. Very well researched and an interesting idea but it didn’t go anywhere. I also very much want to feel something as I’m reading it and I didn’t. Reading this book is like looking through a glass at a specific moment in time and seeing people do and say things but I’m outside, looking in. Not connected, not feeling whatever they’re feeling.