Book List for 2021

Let’s face it, we read far more than actually seems productive. Labels. Newspapers. WebMD. Magazines in waiting rooms. School supply lists. Articles on parenting. Emails. Progress reports. And countless books to our children. Sometimes I roll into bed too tired to indulge in another reading of Dinosaur Wrestling or a Goosebumps book. Sure, we read Front Desk and it was probably one of the best all around books I read this year. My children loved it. I loved it so much I read ahead on our first night and couldn’t stop. It’s good and relevant. It’s important to help children under the race riots that happened in LA in the 90’s, not because they happened but less than 30 years after the Civil Rights Movement, were still happening, the wounds were raw still for many. And because there are other ways this shows up in our lives, namely with politics and religion currently, but erasing hate means being informed.

My daughter was so excited when we went to the books store and she saw the sequel to Front Desk, Three Keys. I am never going to be disappointed when my children ask for books. I feel differently about LOL Dolls but these too have entered my house.

Did any of you read The Turtle of Oman?

Sometimes I think our children are receiving the best writing. Or perhaps I am just absorbed in the children’s literature/picture book realm?

Either way, I do keep a running list of books I want to read in the notes section of my phone, otherwise I would completely forget. Goodreads is helpful, but I add more books just because I see other people reading them and not because I actually got a recommendation or because I read a review or came across it in a bookstore. I know, they still exist and it’s amazing!! We have a great one in our town and we’ve been going as the covid restrictions allowed, we also use the library.

Here’s my current list. Please add a comment with your running list or books you think are must reads.

On Writing - Eudora Welty

Edge of Awe -

The Gift

The Choice

The Body Keeps the Score

How to Catch a Leprechaun

Firefly Lane

The Nightingale

The Story of Edger Sawtell

Memorial Drive

If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now

Tightrope

From Islam to Christian

The White Nights of Ramadan

Time to Pray

One World Many Religions

Soul of an Octopus

Facism

Elenor Oliphant

White Trash

On Having No Head

When Stars are Scattered

Birdie and Me

The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything

Bastard Out of Carolina