It wasn’t a good year for much, but it was a good year for reading. The last few days could have been a downer (I was quarantined with Covid), but thanks to lots of cancelled plans I had time to read one of my favorite novels of the year. Silver linings, right? Here were my favorites from 2021, in no particular order:
- The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
This is the life story of a young woman with a passion for airplanes and flying, and her incredible life. There’s a bit of jumping around from past to present and the ‘present’ story isn’t where the meat is (it’s rather like the love affair in James Cameron’s Titanic – it serves a narrative purpose but isn’t the most interesting storyline). You don’t always find this level of writing (superb) with such a compelling story. I just loved it.
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The narrator’s voice alone made me laugh out loud, re-read lines, and just sigh with gratitude that such fun writing exists. Set in the 1940’s NYC theater scene, this is the story of a young woman defying all conventions and learning to be OK with that.
- Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
I started reading Alice Hoffman’s novels after hearing her speak locally at a fundraiser for breast cancer (she is a survivor and now dedicates considerable time and talent raising money for the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt Auburn Hospital). Her book set in WW2 (The World That We Knew) was one of my favorites last year. I loved this novel because I’m fascinated by the way unconventional women attract “witchcraft” accusations. If you like that genre, you may also like The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, which almost made this list.
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
I don’t always read new releases because I’m a library reader, but this one was worth waiting for. I also loved her debut novel Homegoing, but this one was better (in my opinion). Reading books by non-American authors (she’s from Ghana) is very important to me and you can’t do better than Gyasi. She’s only like 32 so hopefully has many more books in her!
- She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
This book is BIG. Not so much in length (though it’s not a quick read), but in content. This is an epic, gender-bending historical fiction that imagines the path of the first emperor of the Ming dynasty – a girl who becomes a monk who becomes a warrior who becomes a ruthless leader. It’s like nothing else I read this year and is absolutely gorgeous.
- 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
I debated putting this on the list because Hilderbrand writes the kinds of books I call “guilty pleasures.” But I’m going to give her credit where credit is due, because they are pleasures indeed and I’m always sad when they end. She’s a prolific writer and the plots/characters do seem the same after a while, but her love of place is so genuine. Most of her books are set in Nantucket, and reading one is like going there in your head. I liked this one better than most of hers (another favorite: The Island). I can also recommend her “Paradise” series which is set on St John. She makes me want to visit every one of the places she writes about.
- A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
This nonfiction book made the list because I enjoyed going on this faith exploration journey with her – she documents her attempts to live strictly according to Biblical directives for women, and it’s funny as heck. She could get away with this and because of the respectful yet unflinching way she approached faith and norms. She passed away unexpectedly and that’s awfully sad.
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
The subtitle says it all. This book got heaps of praise this year and for good reason. And if you haven’t read The Warmth of Other Suns, I can’t recommend it enough.
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
This book was on my “to read” list for a long time before I finally got to it, and wow, what a revelation. You’ll never think about our justice system the same way again. Years ago, I read Slavery By Another Name by Douglas Blackmon and it completely changed the way I understood racial disparities in this country. Honestly, a lot of the books on anti-racism reading lists will make you realize that the K-12 education we receive in American history is woefully insufficient. We all suffer for it. Reading this book can be part of the path forward.
- The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
A summary of this book in one sentence: racism hurts white people, too (but is that why we should care about it? Geez, what a sad – and sadly accurate – commentary on white people). The most poignant example: thousands of communities throughout the United States used to have municipal swimming pools. During the civil rights movement when white people were told to integrate them, most communities decided to fill the pools with concrete rather than share them. No pools for anyone! This book manages to have an optimistic arc and a “win-win” attitude, for which I credit the author immensely.
- Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in WW2 by Daniel James Brown
In case anyone thinks I only read books by female writers this year…I was anxious to read this one by Brown, who also wrote the incredible Boys in the Boat. This did not disappoint. I love WW2 history, especially when told through a new lens. Japanese Americans who fought in WW2, despite being mistrusted and imprisoned by their own government, were real patriots.
- Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett by James Sullivan
WW2 history AND nautical disaster? My kind of book! It’s nonfiction that reads like a thriller, and it filled in some of the gaps in my American history knowledge. This is the book to get your dad. But read it yourself first.
Happy reading in 2022, everyone!
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