I can’t help calling this best books even though in fact I just list all the books I read last year. I guess that makes them the best. My reading seems to have dwindled a bit though I have been reading more nonfiction which I’ve included as well. Those marked with * are book club reads. I also put off doing this list because honestly I can’t remember what I thought about a couple of them. I had intended to update this list with each book I read so it would be fresh but well, the best laid plans. Maybe for 2022.

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride* – We might have read this because everyone wanted to read Deacon King Kong which was only in Hardback, I now own it in paperback but haven’t gotten to it (we make exceptions but for the most part do paperbacks), I also don’t get Showtime but heard that at least Ethan Hawke was good in the series (I honestly can’t recall overall reviews) ok so this book as I recall had a good voice and journey of the characters and battle against slavery.
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett* – Book club overall was not a fan of this one though I thought it definitely had some fun elements and humor in the world of a not so typical family that owns a taxidermy shop.
• Modern Lovers by Emma Straub – A fun little romp looking at former bandmates living in Brooklyn as they try to move forward and look back.
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones* – I think book club liked this a bit more than I did, I was a little hung up on some of the logistics of the horror tale but appreciated the writing, characters, and American Indian culture.
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu* – Overall a real crown pleaser, the format of this book was really so much of the story (for good and for bad) but enjoyed the light and heavy take on pop culture and Asian American experience.
• Chances Are… by Richard Russo – I’m generally a big Russo fan, Empire Falls one of my all-time faves, and this visit with three old friends reuniting and stirring up the past with a little mystery was an enjoyable one.
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel* – Book club and I loved Station Eleven, so happy to revisit Mandel, though this didn’t garner quite the same raves lots to enjoy, and my limited cable also kept the well reviewed Station 11 series off my radar.
• If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha* – Really interesting perspective from various South Korean women on the pursuits of beauty and life.
• Fool by Christopher Moore – We had picked this for book club at one point and dismissed for some reason, but I had bought it and hadn’t read any others from Moore, and while this retelling of Lear going for funny wasn’t my fave, I’m curious to dabble in his other sort of genre approaches.
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich* – I’ve read and appreciated much of Erdrich’s earlier works and while this also strong Native American experience with rich characters was much more expansive in scope which it benefitted and suffered from.
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune* – I thought this slightly YA feeling story of a man observing a school for the ‘gifted’ was a heartwarming delight.
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong* – Better in some parts than others but this less direct narrative style brought some powerful moments and kept me engaged.
• Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey – Can’t recall who loaned/gave this to me (let me know if you want it back) but thought this translator going to Brazil to find her missing author was a fun endeavor.
• When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole* – Gentrification just got a little more serious, had a few quibbles but overall loved following these two protagonists on their unreal journey trying to keep a neighborhood together.
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King* – I don’t normally love when writers write about writers but totally enjoyed this look at a woman trying to get her life and her writing career together, also a fan of author’s Euphoria.
• White Tears by Hari Kunzru – This book was weird though compelling as we start with two friends and their passion for music and head into a surreal psychological look at race, music, class, history and maybe a ghost story of sorts.
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett* – Big fans of Ann Patchett and this didn’t disappoint, a few quibbles on plot but rich characters and a great place created for these siblings and their relationship to this home.

And for nonfiction:

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – One of my various attempts to focus on topics like race and raise my knowledge and vocabulary, appreciated her approach and personal perspective.
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier – I heard MBS speak and really liked his approach, this book was a helpful list of seven questions that mainly managers could use to coach their employees to greater success, very in sync with the coaching I do and great to see those skills being embraced.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear – I’m a huge habit fan and had been following Clear for a while, finally going through his deeper look which was much appreciated, lots to revisit here as I work on my own habits and with my clients.
• High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard – A different take on habits, in this he breaks down the six habits that make people a success, lots of info here to revisit.
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks – This had been recco’d by a few and while not all of this resonated with me I appreciated the approach to upper limit problems and getting in your zone of genius, not just excellence.
• Decoding Greatness by Ron Friedman – Another person I follow and appreciate, this book ends up being a good take on how not to reinvent the wheel and tips and info on what to do instead.

For critics faves of actual 2021 check here. What were your faves last year?

While these are the best of what I read, in honesty this just continues to be a list of books I read last year. I left them in mostly chronological order and there’s an * next to those that I read for book club, we do a lot of picking from previous year’s top reviewed. This year for book club my one miss was Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo which I bought but just couldn’t get to but the group liked it so in the backlog.

• The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin* – A much acclaimed sci-fi selection, and I enjoyed it and liked the world created but it felt too much like a setup of the trilogy than a complete first book, and while intrigued my backlog is too great to read on.
• Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – I started this epic 1866 New Zealand prospecting tale on my trip to New Zealand in 2019 but didn’t finish it at the time, interesting twists of various characters but not the most compelling (I’m sure hindered by my mid book break).
• Circe by Madeline Miller – A holdover from a missed 2019 book club reading, I found this an enjoyable trip through the stories of the Gods from our protagonists’ POV, and liked the new view on an old tale.
• Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett* – A depressing but engaging look at family dynamics and the impact of mental illness.
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward – This was much discussed for a book club pick but various people ended up reading on their own, glad to pick it up in between for a tough and interesting portrait of Mississippi family road trip/ghost story, though it didn’t totally pull me in.
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – I actually bought this book for my sister years ago after hearing her speak, and glad I finally picked up her loan back to me for a captivating tale of the young and in love starting in Nigeria, journeys together and apart, with looks at race through relations and locations.
• Normal People by Sally Rooney* – Some in the book club loved this one (fave of the year), and while I liked this complicated relationship tale, and the tv series that followed, I wasn’t fully drawn in.
• Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson – This was a pick in book club from before I joined that had come up repeatedly as a fave and I found it incredibly compelling and tough as our social worker and father deals with spiraling personal and professional drama.
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons* – A good smart, fun and funny take from 1932 on a heroine cleaning up her extended family as she heads to a more rural location.
• Where’d You Go Bernadette – I had heard this book often referenced when people were saying that I want to read something like this, so I felt I should go to the source, and was greatly rewarded by this fun page turner where the what happened format really worked as did the subject layers.
• Dare Me by Megan Abbott* – I had actually watched the series first, which sadly was canceled, but still enjoyed the source more for the fun of the cheerleading cult than for the mystery.
• Lucky Alan & Other Stories by Jonathan Lethem – I always enjoy a Lethem though you never know what you’re going to get, his short stories offered a fun look at multiple options.
• Girl, Woman, Other by Benardine Evaristo* – Some very good elements but a little distracted by less than strong connections and quantity of interrelated stories.
• Songbook by Nick Hornby – I bought this ages ago and flipped through the music essays, and listened to the included cd, but finally sat down and read through, it holds up and would love more from music fans on music/moments.
• There There by Tommy Orange – Another book club catch up, for an absorbing ensemble of connected Native Americans, though maybe a little too connected.
• The Whites by Richard Price* – Enjoyed the place and characters and while I could quibble with a couple of plot elements overall engaged by the cop revenge tale.
• Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akkner* – This ended up being more depressing than funny, the original goal of this pick, though there were amusing characterizations of the elite, dating apps, and yoga tank slogans.
• Nickel Boys by Colton Whitehead*– Pretty unanimous enthusiastic recommendation from book club and while it’s a tough, heartbreaking subject the tone and balance make it so readable.
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett – I’m a fan of her earlier work and this does not disappoint, what an captivating and intriguing tale of a pharmacologist’s trip to drug research in the jungles of Brazil.
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson* – I thought his earlier work The Family Fang was a lot of fun and this was no disappointment as a follow up, two kids who spontaneously combust and their new caretaker, what a fast and fun and flammable pick.
• Inland by Tea Obreht* – Two parallel narratives that one could argue either add to or detract from the other, a frontierswoman dealing with drama and the lack of water and an immigrant Muslim and outlaw haunted by ghosts, while I enjoyed many of the parts of this the sum of things didn’t totally capture me.

For this year’s top reviewed you can find a list here. What were your favorites?

Some good picks again this year at a time when one might need a little something to read, mostly from book club options (marked with*). I did skip one book club pick this year, Circe, but picked it up in 2020 (spoiler alert, I liked it). I think the following are noted in the order read, or close to it. Some of the specifics get a little forgettable, this year I am vowing to write this as we go, or closer since it’s already March, which could also help me be timelier.

• Who Is Vera Kelly* by Rosalie Knecht – A fun take on spy drama though not quite a traditional mystery we follow our protagonist into Cold War infiltration of a student group in Argentina.
• Asymmetry* by Lisa Halliday – Two of the three distinct sections were more compelling but overall worthwhile to look at these stories of people, from a young editor and her relationship with an older known author and an American man detained on a visit to see his brother in Kurdistan, from the relationships themselves to relationship between the various stories.
• Freshwater* by Akwaeke Emezi – An interesting and very odd take on the many selves within a woman (literal or psychological?) as we see her raised from Nigeria to the US.
• The Witches of Eastwick* by John Updike – This was a holdover from 2018 which I honestly had trouble getting through, though the witchiness will always have an appeal.
• The Barbarian Nurseries* by Hector Tobar – This one was also a slow start for me, and I ended up picking it back up after book club, eventually enjoying the tale of a family and their maid’s personal and societal drama and their quest to find family across cultural lines.
• An America Marriage* by Tayari Jones – One of my favorites of the year this heartbreaking tale of a newlywed couple where the husband is sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit, we get to know each through their journey together and apart.
• The Mars Room* by Rachel Kushner – I appreciated much of this book but never completely engrossed by the relatively brutal story of a woman incarcerated with extenuating circumstances as it goes through multiple POVs that sometimes add and sometimes detract.
• Lake Success* by Gary Shteyngart – A novel that is very of the time following a hedge-fund manager at a midlife crisis point that although at times amusing I found our unsympathetic narrator a little off putting.
• Transcription* by Kate Atkinson – More espionage, this time our also female protagonist gets involved with MI5 and we see various points of time in this fun enough British WWII and beyond spy novel, told from a nice POV but didn’t fully drawn me in with twists and characters over the years.
• My Sister the Serial Killer* by Oyinkan Braithwaite – Oddly light in tone this story of two very different sisters both enmeshed in each other’s lives, one of which has a tendency to kill her boyfriends.
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation* by Ottessa Moshfegh – The group was so put off by the earlier reading of Eileen that this got raised a few times before folks agreed, but well worth the push for the dark yet comic protagonist drugging herself through depression.
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – Having really enjoyed Everything I Never Told You I was very intrigued by this follow up two families crossing in a suburban community bringing great themes together, very well done (now a Hulu series).
• My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent – Compelling even with the tough subject matter it creates a world and characters that draw you in hoping for our tough young protagonist.
• Tell the Wolves I’m Home* by Carol Rifka Brunt – I quite enjoyed this coming of age tale with a young girl dealing with her favorite uncle’s death from AIDS and her new relationship with his unknown, to her, partner.

For critical picks I’ve gravitated to the consolidated LitHub list, and since we’re at a decade digging into their best novels of the decade. All good fodder for reading in 2020. What were your favorites?

Another good year with book club as well as additional titles I was able to fit in. Book club options noted with* (I only missed There, There this year which was supposed to be quite good) and mostly listed in order read.

• Rules of Civility* by Amor Towles – A great way to start the year we all really enjoyed this tale of a woman’s life in NY taking a turn in the year of 1938, many went on to also enjoy A Gentleman in Moscow.
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware – Underwhelming if entertaining enough mystery.
• Pachinko* by Min Jin Lee – Very enjoyable Korean drama starting in 1910 in a small Korean village and through into Japan and beyond.
• The Heart’s Invisible Furies* by John Boyne – A little uneven but overall engaging look at 1940s to present day Ireland through the life of an adopted boy and his surrounding ‘family.’
• Moonglow by Michael Chabon – Enjoyed the latest fictional autobiography as he listens to his grandfather’s story.
• Exit West* by Mohin Hamid – Really pulled into this magical realism story of two young lovers who meet and are swept up by unrest in their city and escape through doors to other places.
• Euphoria by Lily King – Three young anthropologists in the ’30’s caught me up in both their study of other cultures but their love triangle that threatens more than their work.
  
• A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin – I can’t believe I had never ready any of her work, the stories gathered here are compelling and heart breaking and humorous.
  
• Maps & Legends Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon – This collection of essays goes a little more in detail on subjects that are clearly favorites of the author’s but maybe not for everyone.
• Elmet* by Fiona Mozley – This was one of two books we picked this year that we questioned the balance of good to bummer as the story of a family living basically off the grid in Yorkshire and let’s just say it doesn’t go well.
• Eileen* by Ottessa Moshfegh – This was the other but bummer, and it’s making us a little dubious about My Year of Rest and Relaxation getting lots of buzz for this last year.
• Less* by Andrew Sean Greer – I’ve mostly enjoyed the rest of Andy’s work I’ve read but this latest really pulls it all together as a struggling author travels the world to avoid a wedding is mostly amusing in its mishaps but also a little poignant.
• How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely – Slacker decides to game the system mostly to get back at an ex has some amusing areas but a little too turned off by the protagonist.
• The Good Girl by Mary Kubica – Ditto The Woman in Cabin 10.
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld – A woman’s present and past are told with a bit of sheep shearing has some interesting aspects but overall might not add up to a whole lot.
• Manhattan Beach* by Jennifer Egan – While overall I enjoyed this book it covered a lot at maybe some expense and our discussion turned more toward the three versions of the book we might have liked better.
• Floating in My Mother’s Palm by Ursula Hegi – Another on my Hegi backlog this was a lovely story of the characters of small town in Germany where we met many in Stones From the River.
• Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham – This collection was a gracious gift from my City Arts & Lectures attendance but I enjoyed hearing her speak more than I enjoyed the personal essays.
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan – I loved the idea of the culture, food, and fashion that make up the ingredients of this book but overall the story and characters didn’t make it for me.
• This is My Best: Great Writers Share their Favorite Work – Fun to ready a bunch of stories from a wide range of authors, not all my favorites but a lot of great gems.
• Sourdough* by Robin Sloan – A fun fictional look at food and culture though maybe not as satisfying as a loaf of sourdough.
• The Man Who Fell In Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer – This book wasn’t quite my jam as we followed a western feeling group of whore house protagonists.
• The Perfect Nanny* by Leila Slimani – Not everyone loved the book for various narrative and nonfictional reasons but some good ingredients for a good discussion.
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles – Recommended to me by lovers of this book from page one, and while it took me a bit to get into I ended up won over by this Civil Wartime reader of the news and his goal to reunite a young orphan with her fam after being raised by Indians.
• The Witches of Eastwick* by John Updike – I’m technically still not quite done with this and most of our group didn’t finish this tough to get into lengthy descriptions.

We’ll keep our eye on Lithub list as these come out in paperback and for a more comprehensive list of best book lists you can check Large Hearted Boy.

What were your favorite picks?