The Biblio Files: 2021

2021 was an interesting year for reading. I read a total of 125 books, an increase of 25 from last year. Two of the months I only read 5 books each, though one of those was a 57 hour audiobook. During August I knocked out 20 books, 3 of those I listened to during our last night in our old townhouse when I stayed up packing until the sun came up. Of the 125, I read 8 from my Kindle, I listened to the other 117. Technically I read two more to Sophie during bedtime, but she read a few chapters on her own, so I'm going to go back and read what I missed and add it to my 2022 list, which I've already started working on.

The best books I read this year are underlined (I've recommended many of these to friends and family), book club picks are italicized. One of my book clubs fizzled out at about the same time a new Facebook book club was starting. And my favorite two-person book club is still going strong.

Do you have any book recommendations for me? I'm always looking for new titles to add to my holds list at the library.

January:

1. Across That Bridge by John Lewis
2. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede
4. Channel of Peace by Kevin Tuerff
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman*
7. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
8. The Unexpected Deliverer by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman

February:

1. A Walk in My Shoes by Ben Schilaty
2. The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman*
3. The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman*
4. The Priesthood Power of Women by Barbara Morgan Gardner
5. Women and the Priesthood by Sheri Dew
6. The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
7. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
8. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
9. Sarah by Orson Scott Card
10. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card
11. Rachel and Leah by Orson Scott Card

March:

1. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
2. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
3. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
4. She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel
5. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
6. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
7. A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
8. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
9. Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
10. Reaching for the Savior by Reyna I. Aburto
11. ADHD and Me by Blake E. S. Taylor

April:

1. October 2020 General Conference
2. The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen
3. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
4. The Mortal World by Genevieve Cogman*
5. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
6. Your Defiant Child by Christine M. Benton and Russell Barkley
7. The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
8. Be Not Troubled by Ronald A. Rasband
9. The Story Girl by L. M. Montgomery

May:

1. The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
2. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
3. The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
4. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo*
5. 1776 by David McCullough
6. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
7. Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson
8. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
9. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
10. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

June:

1. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (This one is 57 hours long, it took half the month to get through it, but it was excellent.)
2. What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
3. The War I Finally Won by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
4. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (This was a reread, it's still wonderful!)
5. Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

July:

1. A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich
2. The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman*
3. Take Back the House by Karen Latimer
4. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
7. The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
9. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
10. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
11. The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
12. In the Heights: Finding Home by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alergria Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter
13. Embark! by John Bytheway
14. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

August:

1. As You Wish by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden
2. The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
3. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
4. Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
5. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
7. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
8. The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
9. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
10. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd by Alan Bradley
11. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
12. The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
15. Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce
16. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
17. The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
18. Your Patriarchal Blessing Booklet by Brad Wilcox
19. Focused by Noelle Pikus Pace
20. Give Them Pie by Ed J. Pinegar

September:

1. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
2. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
3. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
4. Atomic Habits by James Clear
5. Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki
6. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
7. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
8. The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
9. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
12. The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
13. The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
14. April 2021 General Conference

October:

1. The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell
2. The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
3. All's Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
4. Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke Fields
5. Putting It Together by James Lapine
6. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st-Century by Patrick Q. Mason
7. The Matriarch by Susan Page
8. The Woman Who Smashed the Codes by Jason Fagone

November:

1. Legion by Brandon Sanderson
2. Don't Miss This in the Doctrine and Covenants by David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman
3. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman*
4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
5. Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman

December:

1. The Magician by Michael Scott
2. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
3. The Doctrine and Covenants
4. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
5. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
6. When It Doesn't Make Sense by John Bytheway
7. The Warlock by Michael Scott
8. The Enchantress by Michael Scott
9. The Book of Mormon
10. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff