Books I Read 2021
Maybe posting a list of the books I read is a case of self-indulgent pride, or simply a desperate attempt to break the blog seal for the new year, or perhaps some combination of the two. Matt Haig says "We are mysteries to ourselves", so even I can't be sure of my own motivations.
Reading is the equalizer of my days. Reading can make the pettiness of some passing days more palatable. Over the years I feel I've had less of a say in who or what I am. I've had to become someone different to keep the peace, and to keep relationships in tact. I've had to be something different to keep the bills paid and to keep the lights on. But, the more I read the more I get to be myself, the more I get to be what I want to be, or at least something like what I want to be. If nothing else I get to escape the masquerade for a while and blissfully forget the farce I feigned participation in living.
I'm one half of a two-person book club. In the mornings before work I read and speak to the better half of the duo. In evening, after work, dinner, and adulting, I read and write more. I speak to my partner again. And, in those spaces I feel like my life is more mine, that I have a voice and choice in some small part of what I am and what I do. And everything else is tolerable because of it.
With that being said, every year I set a loose reading goal. I keep a list of the books I read. Here's my "Books Read" list for 2021. In the coming weeks I may write a few short 'reviews' of my favorites from the list.
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle
Until the End of Time by Brian Greene
The Buddha and the Badass by Vishen Lakhiana
Everything is Spiritual by Rob Bell
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman
It's Great to Suck at Something by Karen Rinaldi
Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O'Connell
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Almost Everything by Anne Lamott
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Little Weirds by Jenny Slate
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Learning to Be by Juanita Campbell Rasmus
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler
The Second Mountain by David Brooks
I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A Monk's Guide to Happiness by Gelong Thubten
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Letters to a Young Poet by Nonfiction
The Dharma of Poetry by John Brehm
The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Broken (In the Best Possible way) by Jenny Lawson
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli
The Trouble With Being Born by E.M. Cioran
Dan Gets a Mini Van by Dan Zevin
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
The Upside of Being Down by Jen Gotch
Small Victories by Anne Lamott
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
Do you Mind if I Cancel by Gary Janetti
Radical Compassion by Tara Brach
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Love Kurt by Kurt Vonnegut
Grit by Angela Duckworth
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis