My year in books: 21 in ’21
2020 was a complete wash out for reading, but at the start of 2021 I decided to challenge myself to get back into it and to read at least 21 books. The reading year began with a handful of books recommended by my English teacher sister – and it was a great way to restart –
First up was the very moving Educated by Tara Westover (much better than Hillbilly Elegy), along with Mothering Sunday, Graham Swift – which was recently released as a movie. Played for laughs, and a throwback to my past London life was The Best a Man Can Get, John O’Farrell.
I was hitting my stride by early Spring and greatly enjoyed Jung Chang’s Empress Dowager Cixi – an epic tale of how an unlikely concubine ended up being the power behind the Chinese throne for decades. Back in 1992 Jung Chang kept me reading all day and night with her family memoir Wild Swans and Cixi’s story is equally compelling. Another great history, and the fictionalized recounting of what happened to Spanish refugees after the Spanish Civil War is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende. This is a harsh and gritty tale of escape and dislocation. The title refers to Neruda’s poem describing Chile.
In 2021 I moved full time to The Sea Ranch in Northern Sonoma and found This is Where you Belong by Melody Warnick very thought provoking – this non-fiction work looks at how we put down roots and analyzes what it takes to build a sense of community. Warnick also examines how much we each need to invest in local businesses for them to survive (about $156 a month), and discusses how to make friends and feel part of things.
The house move consolidated all my belongings into one place created a mountain of stuff and clutter and I ended up with duplicates of many things and a lifetime supply of random things like cotton wool circles. I read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning written by Margareta Magnusson. The idea of this book is to clear as much of your stuff before you die, so that you don’t leave it to your family or friends to do it after you’ve gone, I found it a bit silly in places but perhaps it helps families have difficult conversations.
Beach books I read throughout the year were a mixed bag – the weakest book was The Bookstore on the Beach by Brenda Novak which wasn’t about a bookshop and said beach was pretty irrelevant too! Slightly more compelling was The Things We Do for Love, Alice Peterson, which ends on a beach. Much better than these were Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman, set on The Big Island during WWII and Love in Case of Emergency by Daniela Krein – a German novel where each chapter was narrated by a different character all of whom are part of an extended circle of friends. Eight Perfect Hours, Lia Lewis was very OK – good as an audio book. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (Normal People) is a perfect example of why an audio book, ready by a narrator with the accent that matches the author’s and the setting of the book, can be the best way to get the most out of the story.
I loved listening to Barack Obama reading his book A Promised Land – he’s very professional and discrete, but his voice often reveals what he thought about other people and situations through his tone and delivery.
Due to the quirks of quarantine and immigration (long story), we ended up taking a vacation in Antigua in the Caribbean – I’d never been to the region before and absolutely loved where we stayed overlooking English Harbour. This break resulted in me reading Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala – a wonderful book about racism in Britain and it struck many notes for me as I went to school with many kids who were children of the Windrush Generation. How racism plays out is quite different in the UK compared to the USA and this book helped me get context on the things I’ve seen over the years. It seemed especially pointed reading this within a stone’s throw of Nelson’s Dockyard which was built by slaves in the 1700’s.
Antigua was also the springboard to more island and ocean related reading. I read Arthur Grimble’s A Pattern of Islands and then was delighted to find online a secondhand copy of his more obscure sequel Return to the Islands. Both volumes are focused on early 20th century island life in the Gilbert Islands (today’s Kiribati). It felt like a natural segue to then read Simon Winchester’s biography of an ocean Atlantic– so good! I plan to read his Pacific biography in 2022.
By late summer I had hit my stride reading-wise and wanted to find some different ways to have fun with my Mum back in England – she, along with both my sisters, really enjoyed The Foundling by Stacey Halls and after I read it we had a wonderful conversation about the book – this led to us both reading The Other Bennett Sister – a Pride & Prejudice spinoff that really delivers – it’s about Mary Bennett who in the original novel is presented as pompous and patronizing but Janice Hadlow turns the lens around and we ended up following her story with great enthusiasm, the end is really moving. After that we gobbled up Richard Osman’s novels The Man Who Died Twice and The Thursday Mystery Club (I read them out of order and preferred The Man Who Died Twice as the characters are more established and I found the plot a lot stronger). I hope we can continue our book club of two!
Not a mystery fan but I do have loyalty to the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear – this year I listened to The American Agent, and The Consequences of Fear, already looking forward to her next installment A Sunlit Weapon which will publish in 2022.
In a final turn of events my former employer asked me to come back and work on a business book! In the last few months, I’ve learned such a lot about the publishing process and can, hand on heart, say that I have read Empathy in Action many times as we did the final read throughs of the manuscript. Dr Natalie Petouhoff and Tony Bates have done a great job creating a manifesto for better customer and employee experiences – something we all care about.
You can find me on GoodReads – looking forward to your recommendations!