The 100 Books I Read in 2021

Jan 4, 2022

As I’ve said before, for more than a decade I’ve set reading goals each year.

For many years that goal was 100, and I’d usually exceed it by a dozen or so. In 2012, I decided to up the goal to 150, and in 2013 I upped it further to 200 (and exceeded it!). In 2014, I had my first kid, so bumped my goal back down to 150. In 2015, I tried for 200, but didn’t quite hit it. In 2016, I had two more kids, and immediately saw the effects on my reading;) For the last few years, I’ve tried for 100 — and been lucky to get there! This year I did NOT get there, but that’s cool, because #life.

One more FYI that I generally don’t finish about 20% of the books I start, which means that my list actually has about 120 books on it this year. For the most part, I didn’t include the early abandons. I used to try and hang on to dear life until the last page, but I’m getting wiser. In the below list I’ve only included ones I didn’t finish if I read a substantial amount.

Finally, find me on Goodreads for on-going progress!

Past Reading Lists

Want to check out my past lists?

Ratings

In 2021 (as in past years), I will rate some of the books I read. Not every book, but some. Here’s how the ratings go.

Ratings:

* {eh.}

** {useful information, but likely not something the general masses will fawn over.}

*** {good, but with the caveat that I have eclectic tastes and this may not be mainstream}

**** {darn good. worth buying a hard copy of to put on a nice shelf.}

***** {love! top-10 placement! life-changing! gold stars 4eva!}

Top 11 Books Read in 2021:

  1. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant ***** Another stellar book by Adam Grant, a genius who has never steered me wrong. Thank you for sending, Adam & Team!
  2. Rules of the Wild: A Novel of Africa by Francesca Marciano ***** One of my favorite books of all time, and a great re-read this year. I don’t read many novels, and this one is a star.
  3. The Wreckage of My Presence: Essays **** by Casey Wilson One of the funniest books I’ve read in ages, written by a comedian, goddess, Real Housewives historian, actress, and podcast host. Thank you for this gift;)
  4. How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self **** by Nicole Lepera
  5. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results **** by Gary Teller I’ve read this one before and highly recommend it to help you close out some of the unused tabs of your life.
  6. Winter Pasture: One Woman’s Journey with China’s Kazakh Herders **** Wow, this one was just amazing, and so unusual.
  7. Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life by Gillian Tett ***** As an investor, the degree I most use is not my MBA, but my master’s in Anthropology. I LOVED this take on how anthropology is critical to understanding the systems that govern our work.
  8. Hotel du Lac ***** by Anita Brookner (I loved this one. Hadn’t read in years and fell in love all over again.)
    • From Amazon: In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question “Why love?” It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a psudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac promises to resore her to her senses. But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love’s casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive.
  9. Estas Muy Callada Hoy by Ana Navajas – (In Spanish, not sure an English translation exists yet but a fantastic novelized memoir about a mother and writer in Buenos Aires.)
  10. Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work ***** (Melody Wilding) Love this one, and fondly remember a pre-pandemic coffee when she was just finishing the proposal!)
  11. Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge by William Powers
    • “A haunting account of one man’s determination and the struggles of a people living in a deeply troubled country.”-Booklist – When William Powers went to Liberia as a fresh-faced aid worker in 1999, he was given the mandate to “fight poverty and save the rainforest.” It wasn’t long before Powers saw how many obstacles lay in the way, discovering first-hand how Liberia has become a “black hole in the international system”-poor, environmentally looted, scarred by violence, and barely governed. Blue Clay People is an absorbing blend of humor, compassion, and rigorous moral questioning, arguing convincingly that the fate of endangered places such as Liberia must matter to all of us.

The Full List: All the Books Read in 2021….(except for the other 20 or so I abandoned pretty early on…)

  1. F*ck No!: How to Stop Saying Yes When You Can’t, You Shouldn’t, or You Just Don’t Want To **** by Sarah Knight – I love this series, and rereading this book is never not a good idea;)
  2. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny – The latest in the wonderful Three Pines mystery series.
  3. Palace of the Drowned
  4. Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less by Leidy Klotz, Robert Petkoff, et. al. (another great one in the vein of The One Thing and Essentialism)
  5. Agent Running the Field by John Le Carre — My very first Le Carre! I loved.
  6. Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion — This is one Joan Didion’s glorious novels, this time in a fictitious Central American country in revolution. Loved.
  7. Brotopia: Breaking up the Boys Club of Silicon Valley **** by Emily Chang (This was a reread, and I loved it all over again.)
  8. Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan (YES I READ THIS, and it wasn’t the only one I read about the royals this year. That said, all-time royals reading award goes to the year I read, Not in Front of the Corgis)
  9. Rules of the Wild: A Novel of Africa (Francesca Marciano)
  10. The Wreckage of My Presence: Essays (Casey Wilson) ***** One of the funniest books I’ve read in ages, which happens to be written by a true Real Housewives historian and podcast host I love;)
  11. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know ***** Another stellar book by Adam Grant, a genius who has never steered me wrong. Thank you for sending me, Adam Grant and team!
  12. How to do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self
  13. Shortcut Your Startup
  14. One Day You’ll Thank Me
  15. Unruly Places
  16. The Spotify Play (A super interesting tech read about a story I didn’t know much about.)
  17. Apropos of Nothing (Killer title)
  18. Burn Your House Down (a memoir that got a lot of buzz this year)
  19. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
  20. Winter Pasture: One Woman’s Journey with China’s Kazakh Herders
  21. Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life by Gillian Tett ***** As an investor, the degree I most use is not my MBA, but my master’s in Anthropology. I LOVED this take on how anthropology is critical to understanding the systems that govern our work.
  22. Uncanny Valley **** by Anna Weiner (Loved this Silicon Valley Memoir;)
  23. Battle of Brothers (yes, another book about the royal family! No, I don’t feel bad about my weird reading.)
  24. Woman on the Orient Express
  25. Death on the Nile (Yes, the infamous Agatha Christie novel. Christie is one of my favorite authors and I love rereading some of her books each year.)
  26. It Didn’t Start with You
  27. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
  28. The Other Language
  29. Behind the Staircase (I got DEEP into that true crime Netflix documentary and read the book;)
  30. Braver than You Think
  31. SuperMaker by Jamie Schmidt (Great read!)
  32. Adventures in Opting Out
  33. Naked Marketing
  34. The Africa House ***** by Christina Lamb (One of my favorite books of all time, I’m breaking it out over the New Year for another re-read.)
  35. The Sanatorium (I am fascinated by sanatoriums, and this mystery delivered.)
  36. Greenlights by Matthew M. (Good, but I wasn’t in love like everyone else)
  37. Stories of the Sahara
  38. You’re Leaving When (a funny memoir)
  39. Wood, Wind, Fires
  40. Mar a Lago, Palm Beach, and the Xanadu (As you can see, I read some weird stuff, and this was one of those! Such a bizarre history.)
  41. In a French Kitchen
  42. Girl Wash Your Face (This was one I read again to see what all the controversy was about;)
  43. Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You by Suneel Gupta (Loved this one! Thank you for sending me!)
  44. The Courage to be Disliked (I know everyone loves this but I found it really slow going and didn’t finish. Love the concept!)
  45. Chaos Monkeys (I read this one when all the controversy came out about his firing to see what I thought.)
  46. Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work ***** (Melody Wilding) Love this one, and fondly remember a pre-pandemic coffee when she was just finishing the proposal!)
  47. The Power of Writing it Down (Ally Fallon) Love me some Ally;)
  48. Whereabouts
  49. The Empathy Diaries
  50. Effortless (The latest great release by Greg McKeown of Essentialism fame. Thank you for sending me this, Greg, and I remember our Essentialism retreat fondly from years back. I’ve always carried it with me!)
  51. Big Magic
  52. Rapt
  53. Billion Dollar Loser (Willd)
  54. An Ugly Truth (I read this as soon as it came out. Wow.)
  55. The Expanded Mind
  56. The Embassy Wife (a fun take on one of my favorite topics – crazy expats abroad being crazy)
  57. Palace of the Drowned
  58. Alumbra la Luna by Lu Gaitan – Spanish
  59. Leap of Faith
  60. Mama India (Soledad Urquia) **** , Spanish – LOVED this one, but not sure there’s an English translation! Just got her second book and can’t wait to read.
  61. Agatha Christie Spanish, (Yes, that’s actually the title! it’s a biography in Spanish of the great writer.)
  62. Losing Eden
  63. Praying with Jane Eyre
  64. Lorna Mott Comes Homes (I love Diane Johnson novels about French life and was happy to read this new one!)
  65. The Anthropocene Reviewed
  66. The Plague Year
  67. Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
  68. The Window Seat (A wonderful memoir of a woman in the world.)
  69. Hotel du Lac ***** (I loved this one. Hadn’t read in years and fell in love all over again.)
  70. The Comfort Crisis
  71. Reading Jane Austen
  72. Flaneuse
  73. Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel (I love Anne, and rereading this one was amazing. Especially when I came across my own story in the book!)
  74. The Source ****
  75. Leap of Faith
  76. It’s Not All Diamonds and Rose ****
  77. The Way of Integrity **** by Martha Beck
  78. Shelf Life: A Bookseller in Cairo****
  79. The Road to Burgandy
  80. Don’t Sleep There are Snakes****
  81. An Indigena Among Las Indigenas
  82. Lying by Sam Harris
  83. Mother Tongue
  84. This Close to Happy
  85. At Home in the World **** by Tsh Oxenreider (I love Tsh, and rereading this great memoir of a family traveling the world was a joy.)
  86. The Infinite Machine
  87. Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper
  88. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  89. Saving Grace **** by Kirsten Powers (I love anything Kirsten writes;)
  90. The Missionary by John Le Carre
  91. All the Way to the Tigers ***** by Mary Morris (One of my favorite travel memoirs — a reread from 2020!)
  92. Women Who Run with the Wolves (I haven’t finished!)
  93. Social Media Success for Every Brand: The 5 Pillars the Turn Posts into Profits by Claire Diaz-Ortiz. (This is my latest book, and so I’m gonna go ahead and leave it here;)
  94. How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices by Annie Duke (this is something of a workbook / book you can write it that accompanies the other one)
  95. Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge by William Powers (I re-read this book towards the end of December of 2021, and immediately went on to re-read William Power’s entire series. Highly recommended.)
  96. Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin off the Grid & Beyond The American Dream by William Powers
  97. Whispering in the Giant’s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization by William Powers
  98. New Slow City: Living Simply in the World’s Fastest City by Williams Powers

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