Not only is 2021 year two of the pandemic, it is also the year I sell or donate most of my belongings and move to another state. My books come with me. All of those heavy art books in the photo above? They move with me. I manage to read more books in 2021 than in 2020, which I thought a feat not possible.

However, as I look back at my Goodreads list of books read, there are some  I have absolutely no memory of; I could not tell you what they are about. I did a lot of distraction reading in 2021, more than normal, so I don't mind the missing memories. Because I have this website up and running again, I plan to slow down in 2022 and take in more of what I'm reading, in order to write about it. For now, I know the books I do remember must really be something or they wouldn't stick out. Here are a few of them:

Best easy-read, distraction series:

The Mirror Visitor Quartet by Christelle Dabos

Although this French series is labeled a quartet, my research tells me a fifth one is out in France and we over in America just have to wait for the translation to be done. This is story built in an imaginative, fantasy land where the main character, Ophelia, can put her hands on any object and read the feelings and memories of the object's owner, current and past. Of course there's murder, mystery and intrigue along the way, as forces bigger than Ophelia threaten her magical world.

Best non-fiction:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

I take a quiz and decide I'm a Highly Sensitive Person so, I do what any other HSP does and try to read a book about it. The one I want has a long hold list and the library suggested Quiet while I wait. I can't turn down the library. The best part of this book is the history given about how 'personality' became a thing, how salesman are born and how, all of a sudden, instead of proving they can provide for a family, men must rely on their wit and pick-up-lines in order to get women to fall in love with them. Cain also does extensive research into the Western way of valuing the loudest in the room, even though that often doesn't mean the smartest or best idea. Truly fascinating read on personality.

Best short novel:

So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away by Richard Brautigan

This is in one of my Brautigan collection books and a story I'd not yet read. I'm so glad I did. A very quick read, the story's narrator is a young man looking back on time leading up to a life-changing event that happened to him as an 11 year old. A cast of quirky characters like only Brautigan can provide, including a couple who arrives at a local fishing hole every night with a truck bed full of furniture that they unload each and every evening, fishing and eating dinner from their couch. There are many laugh out loud parts of this story, blended with Brautigan's unique way of sharing raw emotion.

Best classic P.I. novel:

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

As soon as I start reading The Thin Man, a series of images run through my mind and I realize I've watched the 1934 film version of the nove starring William Powell and Myrna Low as Nick and Nora Charles. I keep reading and am quickly drawn into the story, as I don't remember how the movie ends. It's a classic whodunit and Nick and Nora  are a witty, fun couple, although  certainly fueled in part by their all-day whiskey drinking habits. This genre isn't in my normal repertoire but I vow to read more. I pick up The Maltese Falcon, also by Hammett, but don't like it as well as The Thin Man. Open to suggestions!

Best memoir:

The Odd Woman and The City: A Memoir by Vivian Gornick

I first learn of Vivian Gornick on a podcast episode of The Librarian Is In, New York Public Library's podcast about "books, culture, and what to read next." In The Odd Woman and The City, Gornick writes about chance encounters in NYC, her twenty-year friendship with a gay man named Leonard, and bits and baubles from her past. I underline many passages, impressed by their truth and succinct sentiments and send the book to a friend who I think will connect to Gornick's wit. I also read Gornick's Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader and purchase The Story and The Situation: The Art of Personal Narrative. I have become a Gornick worshipper.

Best fiction:

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch's Heart tells the story of Angrboda, a banished, giantess witch to becomes the wife of Loki and the mother of three of his children, Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr, who all play pretty darn big parts in Ragnarok, the battle at the end of the world. Fenrir swallows Odin, which is kind of a big deal. ANYWAY...This story is told from Angrboda's perspective and the storytelling is magical. Gornichec does an amazing job describing the feeling of isolation even a giantess witch can feel as well as a mother whose children are not what she ever expected them to be.

I will admit I was very mad at Marvel by the end of this book because I thought Thor: Ragnarok was the real story. I've been lied to! And the original story is so juicy, why change it and put a "happy" ending on it. ANYWAY AGAIN. My bad for not being better educated on Norse Mythology. Which reminds me I did read Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, apparently having forgotten all about it.

Best angsty illustrated poetry:

Dandelion by Gabbie Hanna

In this collection, Gabbie Hanna is both author and illustrator. She gives us clever worded observations on everyday exchanges as well as deeper revelations of self-discovery. I read this over the summer and I take pictures and send messages with so many of these poems. It seems like every other page is riddled with words I connect with.

Best Biographical Novel:

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

I've saved the best for last. If there's one book I tell people to read this year, it's Everything Sad is Untrue. Told in the voice of an Iranian middle -schooler who goes by Daniel, I am laughing and crying all over the place. Daniel tells the story of how his family came to be refugees in Oklahoma and he uses Persian folklore to weave his past and present. Daniel uses an honesty in his story-telling not capable of adults. It's his middle-school perspective that makes this story harrowing and hopeful all at once. Please read this book!

I'm sure there are more good books on my list but this takes me to about July and that's as much as I can remember or give bandwidth to at the moment.

Here's to 2022 and continuing to slow down daily practices. Cheers!