Books I Read in 2021

Every year I like to share the books I’ve read, along with my own rating system. While I read 57 books this year, or more than a book a week, I only had one new book I really loved – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I found the plot interesting, which is always the case with V.E. Schwab, but I also loved the writing style! It was reminiscent of The Night Circus (one of my all-time favorites), which I then needed to re-re-re-re-read.

This year actually featured many re-reads, starting with my complete re-read of the Starlight Archives (Brandon Sanderson), but also including Anna Karenina, and The Digital Doctor, the book that convinced me to focus my career in digital healthcare back in 2015.

And although they weren’t five-stars, the two most impactful books I read were Furious Hours: murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep, and She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey. I highly recommend both.

All that said, the headline of 2022 is probably that I put down a book without finishing it – and it wasn’t even a single star book! I would recommend The Company: A Novel of the CIA to anyone who is really, really interested in the Cold War and spy novels. But after finishing part one (of 6), which was 300 pages, I was satiated.

The Rating System

If you’re unfamiliar with my rating system, here’s how it works:

• * I couldn’t finish reading it, I hated it so much
• ** I finished the book, but I wish I had the hours back I spent on it
• *** It was about as expected, glad I read it but I wouldn’t recommend it
• **** I really enjoyed reading the book, and would definitely recommend it to others
• **** I MUST OWN THIS NOW! ! I want to reread it over and over and over

Looking for past years? Here’s 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

Books I Read in 2021

Without further ado…

• Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson**** (reread)
• Edgedancer, by Brandon Sanderson**** (reread)
• Oathbringer, by Brandon Sanderson**** (reread)
• Dawnshard, by Brandon Sanderson****
• Rhythms of War, by Brandon Sanderson****
• East of Eden, by John Steinbeck**** (reread)
• Piranesi, by Susanna Clark***
• The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante***
• Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy**** (reread)
• Lagoon, by Nneki Okorafor***
• Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown****
• Broken, in the Best Possible Way, by Jenny Lawson***
• The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut***
• A Deadline Education, by Naomi Novak****
• In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan***
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman***
• Fortunately, the Milk, by Neil Gaiman***
• Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman***
• Faithful Place, by Tana French***
• Get Well Soon, by Jennifer Wrght****
• Thrawn, by Timothy Zahn***
• Prisoners of Childhood, by Alice Miller***
• Womanist Midrash, by Wilda C Gafney***
• I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, by Joanne Greenburg***
• Atomic Habits, by James Clear**
• Furious Hours: murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep****
• Vicious, by V.E. Schwab***
• Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship, by Christine Ann Lawson***
• Thrawn: Alliances, by Timothy Zahn***
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie***
• The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age (reread), by Robert Wachter*****
• Vengeful, by V.E. Schwab**
• She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey***
• Are You My Mother, by Alison Bechdel***
• The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner**
• Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson***
• The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah***
• The Bone Shard Daughter, by Andrea Stewart****
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow**
• Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo***
• The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan****
• Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri****
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab*****
• The Only Woman In the Room, by Marie Benedict**
• The Company: a Novel of the CIA, by Robert Littell** (did not finish!)
• Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo***
• Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson***
• Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo***
• The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton***
• A Deadly Education, by Naomi Novak****
• The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novak****
• A Prayer for Owen Meaney, by John Irving (reread)****
• The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson***
• Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie****
• The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern (reread)*****
• Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty**
• Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia***