55 Books in 2021

I began the year with no reading goal and I hoped that along the way I would read some good books and boy did I. Also, I read some duds along the way and by about September, I figured that I might hit a book a week target – this I did and surpassed slightly. Previous year lists are available here: 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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Some overall thoughts, I got into audio books for the first time and since I also read ebooks, I don’t really care how the material is presented, books are books. I got into some new Australian authors (and podcasts but that’s another post altogether). I tried to read the Women’s Prize shortlist and got through 4.25 out of 6 of them. I also read some non-fiction, sometimes for work and others just out of interest.

Key: *** Highly Recommend ** Yeah, why not read it *Nah, only read if you have nothing else (No star) I have no feelings on the book

See the chronological list below and some thoughts I had as I finished the books.

1. Sex and Vanity – Kevin Kwan *
2. Destination Wedding – Diksha Basu – **
3. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows: A novel – Balli Kaur Jaswal ***
4. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters – Balli Kaur Jaswal **
5. Dreamland – Sam Quinones ***
6. A Bollywood Affair – Sonali Dev
7. Pride and Prejudice, and other flavours – Sonali Dev **
8. The Wedding Party – Jasmine Guillory *** LOVE ALL HER WORK
9. Recipe for Persuasion- Sonali Dev **
10. The Prenup: A Love Story – Lauren Layne
11. The Windfall – Diksha Basu. HARD PASS. The book did not start, get better or finish. The only interesting side note is that she is the daughter of a superstar Economist, Kaushik Basu.
12. Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell. Look I love Malcom’s books, all of them but this is THE WORST of his books. Wouldn’t recommend it.
13. Nothing Ventured – Jeffrey Archer
14. Hidden in Plain sight – Jeffrey Archer
15. The Family Gift – Cathy Kelly
16. The Fifth Letter – Nicola Moriarty ***
17. Those Other Women – Nicola Moriarty ***
18. Becoming Men – Malose Langa ***. Possibly one of the best non-fiction reads for 2021.
19. The Perfect Mother – Aimee Molloy **
20. The Hundred Wells of Salaga – Aysha Harun Atta **
21. Grown Ups – Marian Keyes ***. LOVED IT. Therapeutic.
22. Manchester Happened – Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. *** Best Short Stories.
23. Eating from one Pot: dynamics of survival in poor households in South Africa – Sarah Mosoetsa ***.
24. How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House – Cherie Jones*. Didn’t like or get the story. I also think it could have been a short story.
25. The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman ***. Lovely little read.
26. Yellow Means Stay: An Anthology of Love Stores from Africa. DO NOT READ. Problematic collection that included a paedophile’s “love” as one of these love stories. Yuck, yuck and yuck. Reached out to the editors and their response was lukewarm at best.
27. Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi ***
28. Unsettled Ground – Claire Fuller ***. Loved it! Finished it and immediately smiled. The book starts so slowly and there is build up but you can’t quite see it. I was rooting for Jeanie all along and it was nice seeing her develop through the course of the book.
29. The Wives – Tarryn Fisher *. It’s like two books in one. First half great! The second, confused, hurried. Still not sure what actually happened at the end there.
30. That Summer – Jennifer Weiner ***. It really got under my skin in a good way.
31. Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn *** This book sat in my heart really painfully. It was tragic, it felt like poverty porn, relentlessly painful.
32. Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at Saint Paul’s School – Shamus Rahman Khan *** . A serious contender for Best Non-Fiction.
33. The Weekend – Charlotte Wood ***. WOW. I did not expect to be enchanted by this book as much as I was. Please read it.
34. Good Company – Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney ***
35. The Nest – Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney *
36. Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments – Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler ***
37. Love in Colour – Bolu Babalola *. This was one of those Bookstagram made me read this and it was honestly CRAP.
38. People we meet on vacation – Emily Henry ***
39. The Other Black Girl – Zakiya Dalila Harris *. I wanted to love this book but nah, I don’t get the hype.
40. The Kindest Lie – Nancy Johnson *** READ IT, JUST READ IT.
41. 491 Days – Winnie Madikizela Mandela. Another non-fiction read that was a total education for me, I realised I never understood or made up my own mind about Winnie Mandela.
42. The Rose Code – Kate Quinn ***
43. Snapped – Alexa Martin **
44. The Huntress – Kate Quinn *
45. Other Women – Cathy Kelly
46. All Gomorrahs are the Same – Thenjiwe Mswane **
47. How we get free – Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor *
48. Apples Never Fall – Liane Moriarty *** (Definitely a top read contender)
49. Party of Two – Jasmine Guillory ***
50. The Mother In Law – Sally Hepworth ***
51. The Secrets of Midwives – Sally Hepworth *
52. The Man who Died Twice – Richard Osman
53. The Family Next Door – Sally Hepworth **
54. The Alice Network – Kate Quinn ***
55. The Evening and the Morning – Ken Follet *** WOW

TL:DR version

Top five fiction:

• The Evening and the Morning
• Manchester Happened
• Unsettled Ground
• The Weekend
• The Kindest Lie
• The Rose Code

Still being read

1. No one succeeds alone – Robert Refkin
2. The sum of small things – Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
3. Long Bright River – Liz Moore
4. Disappearing Church – Mark Sayers 

Couldn’t finish

1. No one is talking about this – Patricia Lockwood. I do not get the writing style of this book and DO NOT UNDERSTAND how it made it onto so many long and short lists. AVOID.
2. Black Buck – Mateo Askaripour. I HATED the narrator’s voice and could not get past the first ten pages.

Any books you read last year that stood out to you?

21 books in 2019

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I read 38 books in 2018 but with the birth of my daughter I only made it to 21 last year which I am very proud of.

See the full list below.

Key: *** Highly Recommend ** Yeah, why not read it *Nah, only read if you have nothing else (No star) I have no feelings on the book

1. The Believers – Rebecca Makkai ***
2. Becoming – Michelle Obama *** I initially feared that the hype would be larger than the content of the book so I read it much later and I loved it. My only regret was by then all the book clubs had already met and discussed it.
3. The Year that Changed Everything- Cathy Kelly. First of her reads and I loved it.
4. It Started with Paris – Cathy Kelly.
5. The Storyteller- Jodi Piccoult **Do terrible deeds define us or can we be someone else with time?
6. Secrets of a happy marriage – Cathy Kelly
7. Homecoming – Cathy Kelly.
8. Dead to Me – Lesley Pearse. Love that it was about strong female friendships and personal endurance.
9. Without a Trace – Lesley Pearse
10. Just Mercy- Bryan Stevenson *** There is now a movie being made on this book, check it out.
11. A River of Stars – Vanessa Hua. What a dud, don’t bother.
12. Me and my Sisters – Sinead Moriarty
13. The Secrets Sisters Keep – Sinead Moriarty
14. Between Sisters – Cathy Kelly
15. This Child of Mine – Sinead Moriarty. Skip it at all costs, this could have been a short story or a novella at best.
16. Our Secrets and Lies – Sinead Moriarty
17. Unnatural Causes – Richard Shepherd. This helped with my morbid fascination with dead bodies.
18. The House on Willow Street – Cathy Kelly
19. I owe you one – Sophie Kinsella
20. Washington Black – Esi Edugyan. This was certainly an over hyped book, I wouldn’t recommend it.
21. Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie ***  I simply loved it, check it out.

My book of the year was The Great Believers. This book deals with the burden of being left behind to confront the memories of a sad time. Also, just how far we have come since the first days of the AIDS scourge. Please do yourself a favour and also read it.

Notable mentions were: Home Fire: A Novel and Becoming.

Books I wanted to like but just.did.not: Washington Black

How many books did you get through last year?