# Books I Read in 2021 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 8, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710 "2021-12-08T14:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/1 "2021-12-08T14:24:26Z")
Reading the _New York Times_ every day and _The Economist_ every week sort of slows down the book-reading. Nonetheless, here it is: 1 The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone An easy read on a very interesting topic. 2 The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War (Gladwell) Thought-provoking 3 Peril (Woodward)|Important but not fun 4 Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway Important to understand what really happened. 5 Technician Class 2018-2022: Pass Your Amateur Radio Technician Class Test - The Easy Way I got my Ham license 6 Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service Both chatty and important 7 My Memoirs (Volumes I & II) Alfred von Tirpitz Not for amateurs. 8 Harry: A Study of Teenage Mass Murderers Disturbing 9 The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812 (C. S. Forester) A counterpoint to Teddy’s account. 10 Conclave: A novel (Robert Harris) Novel of the year. A procedural of how they elect the Pope. 11 An Officer and a Spy: A novel (Robert Harris) A fine novel that explains the Dreyfus affair 12 The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence This is the story of how they rebuilt the White House. Technically interesting. 13 Essays in Persuasion (John Maynard Keynes) He wrote well. 14 Germania: A Novel of Nazi Berlin A murder mystery set in Berlin in 1944 15 MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman Important 16 Seattle Justice: The Rise and Fall of the Police Payoff System in Seattle A fascinating look at a very troubled police department. Worth your time.| ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/2 "2021-12-08T14:43:51Z")
I just entered # 70 on this year’s list - tho I know several of you will show me to be a piker. Completed my Covid project to read all of Shakespeare’s plays. Read the Mick Herron Sough House and Lee Child Reacher books I had missed. Several books on early jet/space flight. The “Little House” series. A few Master and Commander books. And my son’s latest novel (as yet unpublished) Probably my fave novel was Jewelweed by David Rhodes And Michael Harris Smith was my fave new (to me) discovery. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/3 "2021-12-08T15:10:59Z")
The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce - The Story of a President and the Civil War - Garry Boulard The Worst President: The Story of James Buchanan - Garry Boulard Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era - James McPherson The Answer Is… - Alex Trebek Don’t Go Broke In Retirement - A Simple Plan To Build Lifetime Retirement Income - Steve Vernon The Secret Life of Houdini - The Making of America’s First Superhero - William Kalush & Larry Sloman Special Deluxe - A Memoir of Life & Cars - Neil Young Gregg Allman - My Cross To Bear - Gregg Allman with Alan Light One Way Out - The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band - Alan Paul Fortunate Son - My Life, My Music - John Fogarty A. Lincoln - Ronald C. White, Jr. Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite - Roger Daltrey, My Story - Roger Daltrey Last Words - George Carlin with Tony Hendra Carrying the Fire - Michael Collins ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/4 "2021-12-08T16:00:57Z")
I read 48. > **[Dung Beetle’s 'books-2021' books on Goodreads (54 books)](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/738744-dung-beetle?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=books-2021)** > > Dung Beetle has 54 books on her books-2021 shelf: Reprieve by James Han Mattson, Cackle by Rachel Harrison, The Haunting of Gillespie House by Darcy Coat... It’s time for me to start narrowing down my top ten for @Elendil_s_Heir 's annual thread. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/5 "2021-12-08T18:22:09Z")
Thanks, **DuBe**. I think I’ve read 40-some at this point. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/6 "2021-12-08T20:12:45Z")
Sue Grafton’s alphabet series, B-R. I’m currently working on S. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton Goblin - Josh Malerman A Salty Piece of Land - Jimmy Buffett The Lying Game - Ruth Ware Penpal - Dathan Auerbach Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories - several of them, along with A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, and The Hound of the Baskervilles The Man Who Ate Everything - Jeffrey Steingarten - The only non-fiction I read other than work related stuff. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/7 "2021-12-08T20:57:46Z")
**Read in 2021 (at this point, I’m likely to finish anything I’m reading now in early 2022)** Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man Trump, Mary L. 44 Scotland Street (44 Scotland Street, #1) McCall Smith, Alexander Tales from Concrete Jungles: Urban Birding around the World Lindo, David Pilgrims with Credit Cards Kanji, Asifa The Year of Magical Thinking Didion, Joan Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly Masquerade in Lodi (Penric and Desdemona, #9) Bujold, Lois McMaster The Menace from Earth Heinlein, Robert A. The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom Coelho, Paulo The Angel of the Crows Addison, Katherine I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha! What Fake Buddha Quotes Can Teach Us About Buddhism Bodhipaksa Death Around the Bend (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #3) Kinsey, T.E. Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home: A Memoir Goldberg, Natalie A Picture of Murder (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #4) Kinsey, T.E. Christmas at the Grange (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #3.5) Kinsey, T.E. Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales Sacks, Oliver The Strange Case of the Moderate Extremists (Detective Varg, #0.8) McCall Smith, Alexander A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1) Brennan, Marie The Camino Club Craig, Kevin Murder by Other Means (The Dispatcher, #2) Scalzi, John The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology Bowers, Faubion Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku Goldberg, Natalie The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence, #1) Edwards, K.D. Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago Moore, Tim Stories of God Rilke, Rainer Maria Narrow Road to the Interior Matsuo Bashō Camino Portugues: Lisbon - Porto - Santiago, Central and Coastal Routes Harms, Matthew A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino Portugués: Lisboa, Porto, Santiago Brierley, John The Camino Portugués: From Lisbon and Porto to Santiago - Central, Coastal and Spiritual Caminos Davis, Kat Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table Holliday, Graham How to Raise an Elephant (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, #21) McCall Smith, Alexander The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness Cahalan, Susannah The Way We Live Now Sontag, Susan Sontag: Her Life Moser, Benjamin Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story Le Guin, Ursula K. Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) Wells, Martha The Burning Issue of the Day (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries, #5) Kinsey, T.E. The Only Way Is West: A Once in a Lifetime, 500 Mile Adventure Walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago Chermside, Bradley Tastes of the Camino Martinez, Yosmar Monique Crying in H Mart Zauner, Michelle Camino: Laughter and Tears along Spain’s 500-mile Camino De Santiago Clark III, John H. Haiku Cobb, David The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers, #4) Chambers, Becky The Ministry for the Future Robinson, Kim Stanley When Breath Becomes Air Kalanithi, Paul As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980 Sontag, Susan Turtle Island Snyder, Gary Probably Benign Yerger, Leslie Ferris Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963 Sontag, Susan Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son’s Memoir Rieff, David Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family Kolker, Robert Pilgrimage to the End of the World: The Road to Santiago de Compostela Rudolph, Conrad Dancing Around Cancer Hailstone, Sheila The Assassins of Thasalon (Penric and Desdemona, #10) Bujold, Lois McMaster After the Camino: Your Pocket Guide to Integrating the Camino de Santiago into Your Daily Life Kiser, Karin Your Inner Camino: Your Pocket Guide to Inspiration and Transformation Along the Camino de Santiago Kiser, Karin Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory Wells, Martha Death Beside the Seaside (Lady Hardcastle Mystery #6) Kinsey, T.E. The Zebra Reader: A Lesbian NET Cancer Journey Deevey, RN, PhD, Sharon The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Nix, Garth The Book of Help: A Memoir in Remedies Griswold, Megan Six Walks in the Fictional Woods Eco, Umberto A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) Chambers, Becky The Fatal Flying Affair (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery #7) Kinsey, T.E. Randomize Weir, Andy The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1) Wells, Martha On (and Off) The Portuguese Way: Celtic Connections - Galicia, Ireland and Everywhere Uprichard, Roy The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2) Wells, Martha Savoring the Camino de Santiago: It’s the Pilgrimage, Not the Hike Connor, Julie Gianelloni Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains Barach, Paul Project Hail Mary Weir, Andy The City We Became (Great Cities #1) Jemisin, N.K. The Glass Hotel Mandel, Emily St. John The Future of Work: Compulsory (The Murderbot Diaries, #0.5) Wells, Martha The Hanged Man (The Tarot Sequence, #2) Edwards, K.D. Leap Thirty Wilder, Diane Lowell Cafe Neandertal: Excavating Our Past in One of Europe’s Most Ancient Places Bahrami, Beebe The Sunken Mall (The Tarot Sequence, #1.5) Edwards, K.D. Scenes from the Holidays (The Tarot Sequence, #2.6) Edwards, K.D. No Walls and the Recurring Dream: A Memoir DiFranco, Ani Scenes from Quarantine (The Tarot Sequence, #2.5) Edwards, K.D. Holy the Firm Dillard, Annie A Dead Djinn in Cairo (Dead Djinn Universe, #0.1) Clark, P. Djèlí Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman Stein, Abby The Raven Tower Leckie, Ann Striking Out: Poems and Stories from the Camino Cottrell, Stephen Ecology of a Cracker Childhood Ray, Janisse Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike, #5) Galbraith, Robert New York 2140 Robinson, Kim Stanley The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (Dead Djinn Universe, #0.3) Clark, P. Djèlí Pilgrimage: The Modern Seeker’s Guide Bowen, Evans Love’s Legacy Viscount Chateaubriand and the Irish Girl Fallon, Daniel Lifelode Walton, Jo The Way of the Gardener: Lost in the Weeds Along the Camino de Santiago Penner, Lyndon Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present Washington, Harriet A. Sisters of the Great War Feldman, Suzanne Bewilderment Powers, Richard The Days of Afrekete Solomon, Asali The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3) Wells, Martha Off the Walls: Inspired Re-Creations of Iconic Artworks Waldorf, Sarah Knot of Shadows (Penric and Desdemona #11) Bujold, Lois McMaster The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura, #4) Wells, Martha Memories of the Future Hustvedt, Siri The Harbors of the Sun (The Books of the Raksura, #5) Wells, Martha The Salt Path Winn, Raynor The Joy and Light Bus Company (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #22) McCall Smith, Alexander ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/8 "2021-12-08T21:52:12Z")
> [@susan](#): > > The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness This sound well worth my time. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/9 "2021-12-08T21:58:40Z")
> [@susan](#): > > … > I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha! What Fake Buddha Quotes Can Teach Us About Buddhism > Bodhipaksa > … LOL. This is maybe my favorite book title since… well, _forever_. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/10 "2021-12-08T22:42:06Z")
Both enjoyable books. I have too much expertise in the field to entirely go for all of Cahalan’s assertions and interpretations, but the first several chapters reference almost all of the books I summarize or excerpt from in one of my undergrad classes. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/11 "2021-12-09T07:48:05Z")
I’m now keeping track, thanks to an idea from my daughter, and I’m up to 83 finished so far, from Jewish Comedy at the beginning of the year to the official Army history of the Battle of the Bulge which I just finished. I’m including SF magazines in my list, but not magazines like the New Yorker. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/12 "2021-12-09T15:40:38Z")
I started tracking last year, and am up to 82 this year. It was almost entirely police procedurals, scif-fi, and fantasy, but Defoe’s _A Journal of the Plague Year_ sticks out to me as having been an interesting read (all those people in denial over the plague, or resorting to fake medicines - how backwards they were back then!), as well as _The Revenant_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/13 "2021-12-10T15:26:41Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > It’s time for me to start narrowing down my top ten for @Elendil_s_Heir 's annual thread. Same. I’ve read 65 books so far, and have a good idea of which ones are in my top ten. Though I still have 21 days to read a really great book that’ll upend my current list. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/14 "2021-12-10T16:28:14Z")
There is an annual thread? I ought to pay closer attention. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/15 "2021-12-10T16:47:38Z")
I’ve read a pretty normal amount this year. I don’t count anything I read at school as an English teacher since I have read and re-read many of those books a huge amount of time(I have probably read The Lightning Thief 20 times by now, maybe more). **Slaughterhouse Five** was absolutely excellent, a famous book that deserves its fame. Probably my best read of the year. **Going Postal** by Terry Pratchett was top tier Discworld and was a great book, too. **Catcher in the Rye** was a disappointment, honestly…I am too old to be reading that fresh. It’s clearly for a much younger and more angsty audience than me. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/16 "2021-12-10T17:04:53Z")
When I was the right age to read it, I thought it was stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/17 "2021-12-10T17:28:32Z")
> [@susan](#): > > When I was the right age to read it, I thought it was stupid Yeah, I think I probably would have thought so too. I think Holden is just a bit too much. I didn’t know the book was essentially about a huge whiner who hates almost everyone out there. I did not find him sympathetic in the least. By the end of the book, I considered him an antagonist. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/18 "2021-12-10T19:45:54Z")
I read it at my grandparents’ house and unlike _Portnoy’s Complaint_ and an Idries Shah collection of Mulla Nasrudin stories, I was perplexed by why anyone would keep it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/19 "2021-12-14T20:16:11Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > There is an annual thread? I ought to pay closer attention. Here’s last year’s; I’ll start the 2021 thread after Christmas: [Your Top Ten books of 2020](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-ten-books-of-2020/929387) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710/20 "2021-12-15T05:59:44Z")
Just hit 52 so I’ll end the year around 55 books read. Mostly history, politics, Economics, sports, and mystery this year. > **[2021 Reading Challenge](https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/25173880)** > > See what your friends are reading [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-i-read-in-2021/955710.md?page=2)