Auntie Di’s Final Book Report for the Year
I expected to post this before Christmas, hence, the photos, but oh well…still amusing.
Gosh, I read so many books I ended up loving this year. Full disclosure though: I don’t read very far into books that don’t capture me by 3 or 4 chapters (much less right away, which all of these books listed DID). So if I get all the way through a book, it’s because I was enjoying it. These were ten of my favorites in 2021, though definitely not an inclusive list. There were so many good ones.
Just finished Holly Jackson’s Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Probably outrageous in its believability, but what a plot and what a uniqueness. View from a 17-year old out to solve an old murder as a senior project. A few twists, and not to the last few pages is the mystery revealed.
You should read B.A. Paris’s, The Therapist. It’s good. I couldn’t put it down, wondering who the villain actually was.
C.J. Box, Dark Sky. I’m a fan of this author. I also read the newest Jonathan Kellerman, Jeffrey Deaver, and liked them all, mystery lover that I am. But I especially like Joe Pickett, a game warden in Wyoming. Box writes unPickett mysteries, too… haven’t found one I didn’t enjoy, and this one was a goodie. (P.S. I also read and enjoyed Long Range, another fairly recent Pickett novel. Box is a prolific author.)
August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones. LOVED this book, loved the protagonist, loved the setting. I also liked Dead of Winter, the third in the August Snow series.
People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry. I think I already raved about this one in a previous post.. I so enjoyed the wit and conversations of the two main characters. Wanting more of Henry’s writing, I just also finished Beach Read. It was fun, a little more “romancy” but not nearly the joy of People, in my humble opinion. Lots of travel in the People, perhaps another reason I enjoyed it so.
Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger. This goes down to my top ten favorite books. I ate up every page. Beautiful dialogue, lots of humor and wit, a “retro” spirit to it, and just tells a darn good story. Some sadness, as is true in life, but mostly an uplifting book. Perfect for these days.
Landslide, Susan Conley. Could not put it down. Wonderful prose. Everyday challenges. Maine setting.
A Promised Land, Barack Obama. Actually, still reading this book, which I read in spurts. The man writes so well that I find myself going back to re-read sections. I read it slowly and deliberately. I will often pick it up in the evening and read a bit before bedtime, or grab a few minutes while I wait for cookies to bake.
I liked The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave.
The Distance Home, Paula Sanders, worth a read.
Yeah, okay, I realize I slipped a few more than ten in there.
And not only that, here are my honorable mentions:
The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz
Transient Desires, Donna Leon. I love everything she writes.
Midnight Library, Matt Haig. Not sure if I liked the writing or the plot better. Both comforting.
The Paris Librarian, Janet Skeslien Charles
In my stack, yet to read, but soon…Passing, by Nella Larsen, which I promise myself to read before viewing it on Netflix, and…
Michael Connelly’s new Bosch, The Dark Hours, for which the library waiting list was too long for my patience, so I just bought it, bam, because, well..Bosch.
Transcendent Kingdom, Yah Gyasi
The Survivors, Jane Harper. Love this author of The Dry, a favorite of mine.
Am reading and thoroughly enjoying The Red Lotus, by Chris Bohjalian, (who wrote one of my all-time favorite Before You Know Kindness),
and The People We Keep, by Allison Larkin
Lastly. Among the books I read this year were several political ones, and I admit to choosing to read those books that speak to my sentiments about what’s happening in our country right now. It worries me greatly, and I suspect reading about it doesn’t help quash those worries. It’s a topic for another day and another place. However, of all of them that I read all or most of, the one I would recommend regardless of your interest in politics in general is Why We Are Polarized, by Ezra Klein. Lots of background information and history that I found enlightening.
I encourage you to share some of your recent favorites. We all want to know the good books out there!
What in the world would I do without a library? Has to be mankind’s greatest invention.
about the nature of all kinds of love, about the deep pleasures and frequent exasperations of small-town life, about thejoys and frustrations of families and domesticity, and about what, in the end, constitutes happiness.
‘Kathryn Heini….one of those books I hat,ed coming to the end of and couldn’t read anymore.