Reading is clearly one of my favorite pastimes. This year, I loved finding new readerly podcasts that exposed me to new books, new authors, and new series that are now among my favorites. I read more this year than I have in any year, especially since I officially started tracking my reading here back in 2015. I can never pick just one favorite book, but I wrote about my top fiction and nonfiction reads of this year here.

Previous stats:

• 2020: 71
• 2019: 89
• 2018: 55
• 2017: 59
• 2016: 69
• 2015: 44

In 2021 I read 146 books.  I am proud of that.  I tracked the following statistics about my reading through out the year.  I always read more fiction than nonfiction, but I aim to read at least one nonfiction a month, and I more than doubled that goal. While I’m not surprised that I read more books written by women than men, I am proud that I sought out books by nonbinary authors, and found new authors I enjoy this year of a variety of genders. I read less Young Adolescent that usual, and I’m not sure why.  The Currently Reading podcast recommends lots of Middle Grades and YA books, but so many of them are fantasy, and I never think I’m going to like fantasy.  I am pleasantly surprised by the number of books I checked out from library this year. I am also proud to have purchased a number of books from independent books stores this year, though I didn’t track that.  I read more books that showed greater diversity and represented a wider scope of identities, but want to continue to grow that number. 

Reading Stats:

Fiction: 109

Nonfiction: 35

Poetry: 1

Young Adolescent: 20

Audiobooks: 16

Own Voices/ Author is of or plot addresses a different race/ethnicity, orientation, religion than me: 50

Female author: 113

Male Author: 36

Nonbinary Author: 5

Library books: 73

What I read

I mark my favorite books with ** to remember which ones I truly loved, or ranked 4 or 5 stars on GoodReads.

1. ** Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
2. Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response for Gender Equity by Trudy T. Arriaga, Stacie L. Stanley and Delores B. Lindsey
3. ** The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
4. **The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
5. The Survivors by Jane Harper
6. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
7. The Mothers by Brit Bennett
8. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
9. The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
10. **Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level by Laura Tremaine
11. Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah
12. A Promised Land [audiobook] by Barack Obama
13. Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah
14. ** To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
15. ** Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
16. The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah
17. ** The Stranger by Harlan Coben
18. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey [audiobook]
19. ** The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
20. **The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
21. Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison [audiobook]
22. Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful by Mary Marantz  [audiobook]
23. Later by Stephen King
24. ** Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering
25. ** The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
26. Win by Harlan Coben
27. **Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
28. Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View by Ramin Setoodeh
29. **Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger
30. Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
31. **Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia
32. ** Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
33. When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
34. Broken (in the best possible ways) by Jenny Lawson
35. ** Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
36. Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones
37. ** The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
38. ** Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
39. Wreckage of My Presence: Essays by Casey Wilson
40. ** Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
41. Still Life by Louise Penny
42. Hush-Hush by Stuart Woods
43. Choppy Waters by Stuart Woods
44. ** Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan
45. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
46. ** The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
47. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
48. ** No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez
49. Calypso by David Sedaris
50. ** Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
51. When She Returned by Lucinda Berry
52. Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
53. Shakeup by Stuart Woods
54. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
55. Double Jeopardy by Stuart Woods
56. **Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
57. ** Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
58. ** Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson
59. ** Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
60. A Fateful Grace (#2) by Louise Penny
61. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
62. Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan
63. The Sweet Taste of Muscadines by Pamela Terry
64. ** Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community by Liz Kleinrock
65. Starfish by Lisa Fipps
66. ** Falling by T.J. Newman
67. Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
68. Carrie by Stephen King
69. The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner [audiobook]
70. Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
71. Supervising Principals for Instructional Leadership: A Teaching and Learning Approach by Meredith I. Honig and Lydia R. Rainey
72. ** The Pants Project by Cat Clarke
73. We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin
74. The Push by Ashley Audrain
75. The Power of a Teacher: Restoring Hope and Well-Being to Change Lives by Adam. L Saenz
76. ** Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
77. ** People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
78. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
79. Haven Point by Virginia Hume
80. ** You are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown
81. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas [audiobook]
82. ** The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J.Klune
83. ** Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
84. ** Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
85. ** Miseducated: A Memoir by Brandon P. Fleming
86. ** A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
87. Ghost (Track #1) by Jason Reynolds [audiobook]
88. ** Misery by Stephen King
89. Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life by Dani Shapiro
90. ** One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
91. ** The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
92. ** Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
93. Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices: Building a Culture of Equity, Connection, and Healing by Marisol Quevedo Rerucha
94. Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
95. Patina (Track #2) by Jason Reynolds
96. ** 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard
97. ** Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
98. Roar by Cecelia Ahern
99. The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything by Neil Pasricha
100. ** The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
101. Writers & Lovers by Lily King
102. ** George by Alex Gino [audiobook]
103. ** You Got Anything Stronger? Stories by Gabrielle Union [audiobook]
104. ** The Cruelest Month (Gamache #3) by Louise Penny
105. ** Billy Summers by Stephen King
106. ** The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
107. Girl A by Abigail Dean
108. ** The Guncle by Steven Rowley
109. ** Not All Diamonds and Rose: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It by Dave Quinn
110. ** The Neighbor’s Secret by L. Alison Heller
111. ** Pretty Things by Janelle Brown
112. Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich
113. ** A Rule Against Murder (Gamache #4) by Louise Penny
114. **The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
115. ** Everything We Didn’t Say by Nicole Baart
116. Raising Our Hands: How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility, and Find Our Place on the New Frontlines by Jenna Arnold
117. ** Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan
118. ** The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
119. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
120. ** Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
121. ** Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
122. ** Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent
123. ** Little Women by Louise May Alcott
124. ** The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker
125. ** This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel
126. ** Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner
127. ** A Glimmer of Death by Valerie Wilson Wesley
128. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
129. ** The Brutal Telling (Gamache #5) by Louise Penny
130. The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
131. ** Pony by R.J. Palacio
132. ** One Two Three: A Novel by Laurie Frankel
133. ** Under the Whispering Door by T.J Klune 
134. ** A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 
135. ** TH1RT3EN by Steve Cavanagh
136. ** Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May 
137. ** The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
138. ** You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart
139. ** The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
140. ** The Collective by Alison Gaylin
141. Will by Will Smith and Mark Manson
142. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
143. So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta
144. ** The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
145. ** We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
146. ** The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling

I plan to track my books in a spreadsheet next year that captures even more details than this. I’m not sure how I will report it out next year, so stay tuned!