Dear reader, what books did you read this year that you really enjoyed or found most meaningful? Which books had really great writing?
Books I read this year which I rated “excellent”.
Excellent Non-fiction
Stitches: A Memoir, by David Small (graphic memoir) © 2009. 329 pages.
Do not read the liner notes unless you love spoilers! Do not even look!
This book was quite moving and excellent. Adult themes.
Eleanor by David Michaelis, © 2020. 536 pages of text. Including footnotes & index: 698 pages.
A biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. The author tells the story of this amazing woman in an engaging way. I still think about her house with the moveable walls.
I had time to read this book, which was given to me following the Nov 2020 election, because we did not go anywhere at Christmas-New Year's. A little bit of a benefit in the midst of the pandemic taking things away.
Excellent Fiction:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. © 1937. 219 pages.
The dialect is hard for modern readers, but to me it’s important that the main character tell the story in her own way. This is the first (only?) novel I recall reading in which there is an independent town populated and run entirely by people of color.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore. © 2020. 492 pages
Excellent plot, compelling characters.
Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. © 2020. 384 pages.
I made it about half-way through, but did not finish this book. I am including it here because it has truly excellent writing and characters. I could not handle the subject matter.
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. 464 pages. © 2020. (Pulitzer prize winner)
And some others I enjoyed quite a lot:
The Boy in the Field, by Margot Livesey. © 2020. 268 pages. Fiction.
Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool (children’s lit). Published 2011. 365 pages. Fiction.
Letters from Father Christmas, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Published 1976. Letters originally written 1920-1943. 128 pages (many drawings). Fiction.
The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP , by Alex Tresniowski. © 2021. 335 pages. Non-fiction.
Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. © 2020. 272 pages. Non-fiction.
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. © 2014. 257 pages. Non-fiction.
Second readings:
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? By Roz Chast. Graphic memoir.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. © 2017. 331 pages.
The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James Cone. © 2011. 158 pages.
Stats
In 2021 I finished 62 books, of which:
10 were children/YA books
1 play
1 legislative bill (I do not recommend)
1 book of the Bible
3 comments:
I enjoyed Stitches, too! So pleased you liked the Erdrich book, her novels are so rich with history, culture and characters that feel real.
Check out Belonging by Nora Krug, I think you'd enjoy it.
And The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is another book I've read with an entire town populated by only people of color.
Thanks for more suggestions for my reading list!
I have put Stitches on hold at the library and will follow your advice. I loved Hamnet, but I can completely understand not being able to read it at a point in one's life, or ever. I really liked the one Erdrich book I read, and have been meaning to read more. Same with Zora Neale Hurston.
Hamnet is on my to be read list. Now I'm scared to read it, lol.
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