2021 Top 5 Books

This year I took a different approach to my reading goals.  Rather than set a certain number to reach I set genres I wanted to read.  Some were really easy to hit and others I failed at miserably.  I'll be trying the same approach this year.  In total I read 57 books.  I've got a couple more that I will finish this week.  I should easily hit 60 books for the year.  Normally when I sit down to pick out my top 5, I end up with a much longer list.  This year once I went through all the books I had read my list was only 5.  That's never happened before.  Here in no particular order are my favorite books of the year. 

1.  Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan. 

 I listened to this on our library app.  It was just like listening to his standup routine.  If you're a parent - you will love this book.  He has a funny story for every aspect of parenting. 

2.  Atomic Habits by James Clear   

This has been on my to read list for a while.  It was picked as one of our books for book club this year.  Definitely not your normal book club book.  If you set goals or would like to be more productive - read this book.  I loved his suggestions for forming habits so much I asked for it for Christmas.  Trevor is always happy to buy me another book.  I love that each chapter has a summary, it makes it easy to go back through and see what each chapter covers.  I think I'll be reading it again in January to set myself up for the most successful year yet!  

3.  Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

This is going to shock most of you, I didn't read anything by Lewis until college.  I did not grow up reading Narnia.  

Let's blame it on:

Attending public school 

My parents are not readers

My favorite librarian was not a believer 

I loved historical fiction - I was never attracted to fantasy 

There is my list of excuses - believe whichever one you want.  Because of that I don't really know much about Lewis's personal life. I've never really studied who he was as a man.   This book is fiction and follows the life of his wife Joy.  A lot of the book is written in letter form which makes the reading interesting.  It was a quick read because it kept you wanting to know what happened next.  I had no idea she was also a writer.  If you're a Lewis fan I'm not sure you will enjoy some of the creative liberties to the story.  Overall, it was a fun read and I'll now be adding some of Joy's work to my to be read list.  

4.  The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

I read several books this year that delt with libraries and architecture.  This one was my favorite.  It is about Belle Acosta Green who was J.P.  Morgan's personal librarian.  She spent her entire adult life passing as a white woman in New York City.   It's a fascinating story about a woman who lived an amazing life.  The fact that she was able to keep her race a secret until after her death is remarkable.  It's always hard for me to grasp a society that didn't accept people based on the color of their skin.  I have read several of Marie Benedict's books, she is a wonderful storyteller.  She always ends the book with you wanting to know more about people in them.  I've now become obsessed with Book Row and old libraries in New York, it's now on my bucket list to visit those places.   Her description of Morgan's Library is amazing!   Anyone want to go to New York with me?  

5.  When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning

I'll be the first to admit this book isn't for everyone.  It's a history book, and not everyone likes nonfiction.  I loved it! If you love books, love WWII, or librarians you will find this book fascinating.  It's books like this I wish I would have read in college.  It would make a great subject for a research paper.  The entire book is about a program to get books into the hands of our US soldiers overseas during World War II.  It's the history of the invention of the paper back.  One of my favorite quotes from the book, "by V-E day, it's estimated that Germany had destroyed over 100 million books in Europe.  And yet the story of the Armed Services Editions is largely untold.  It was an astonishing effort.  The government supplied more than 120 million free books to ensure that America's fighting men were equipped with spirit and resolve to carry them through their battles."   I always shared a love of reading with my grandpa.  Neither of my parents are readers, but my grandpa was.  Oh, how I wish I would have known about this program while he was alive.  I would love to have known if he had any during his service.  He more than likely read them while he recovered in the hospital state side.   If you're not interested in reading the entire book look up the program online.  It's an incredible part of our American history for those of us that love books!   

If you want to see everything I read this year, check out my Goodreads Account.

What do you plan to read in 2022?