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The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars Well not sure what it means that the last book I'm reading for 2021 is one that has me stumped. This book is hard to explain and has multiple genres and there are things I really liked about it and things I really didn't. So I'm a bit all over the place about it. Glad I read it, though I do think it could have used a better editor. View all my reviews

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars I liked this sweet novel about an aunt whose nieces come to stay with her for the summer as a way to give her sister and husband to recover from the loss of their third child. It's sweet and there's a romance but there are also some major issues in this book around death, loss, abandonment, and belonging. All of them are explored and taken seriously but still handled lightly. It was a fun read. View all my reviews

The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose My rating: 3 of 5 stars Sweet story about how it's never too late to save yourself. View all my reviews

Confess by Colleen Hoover My rating: 2 of 5 stars I might have read too many Hoover stories. I can tell where they will go, I can tell what will happen and I just don't think the characters are as well developed or complex as I wish they were. I liked the idea of confessions and the paintings but the evil characters are too evil and the good are too good. View all my reviews

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan My rating: 4 of 5 stars really wonderful and touching short story. loved it. View all my reviews

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read a lot of mixed reviews about this book and several people said the first part was very boring. I totally didn't feel that way. I listened to this on audio and the narrator was excellent. I was recently in the Galapagos so I really enjoyed hearing about that amazing setting again and true to form I didn't see the twist coming and Picoult took it to some interesting places. I enjoyed this one. View all my reviews

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is absolutely, undeniably and unequivocally one of my favorite reads of 2021! I cannot wait until it comes out so I can recommend it to people who I know will appreciate it, too. I know some will dislike this book and even as I was reading it and tried to recount the premise to my kids and husband, they thought it was reductive and done because it's such a hard to premise to explain but they are so wrong. It is excellent. "Everything offended Jessica, which is inevitable when you move through the world in search of offense." First of all, Emily St. John Mandel's writing is exquisite. It's quiet and descriptive and delicate and a pure joy to read. When I first started the novel, I wasn't sure where it was going and I wasn't sure it was going to hold my attention. But her writing was so good and her characters drew me in immediately. I felt connected ...

Greetings From Asbury Park by Daniel H. Turtel My rating: 2 of 5 stars "There was comfort in knowing that you could say just what you wanted and not worry about what the words meant because in the morning they would be gone and so would you." I did not connect with this book, no matter how much I tried. I picked it up and put it down at least twenty times in the month of December. I liked the idea of three siblings connecting through the death of their father. Two of which are from other mothers and two of which didn't know about each other. I liked the premise but the execution didn't work for me. "Maybe he was really sorry and it was possible to believe that somebody had wronged you but still not really wish them to be dead. Maybe there were sort of gradations to revenge that should exist and some things you shouldn’t do." I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters which makes it hard to read what's ...

End of the World House by Adrienne Celt My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book totally didn't do it for me. I didn't really understand what the author was trying to say and I didn't connect with any of the characters or the plot, I'm sorry to say. I am confident that others will understand more than I did and will enjoy the book more than I did. Some of the pieces I liked were the connection of the two women and some of the work scenes and the descriptions of the world. I liked the descriptions of the Louvre and the drawings Bertie did. This one was just not my cup of tea. with gratitude to edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars I really enjoyed reading about a part of history I knew absolutely nothing about. This is about a nurse and an Irish deserter during the Mexican-American War. It recounts the suffering of the Mexicans and the horrible ways in which American soldiers treated the Irish (and other immigrant soldiers.) I felt that the character development and writing could have been deeper. The subject matter was harrowing and eye opening and the history itself made the book completely worthwhile to read. with gratitude to edelweiss and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything―Even Things that Seem Impossible Today by Jane McGonigal My rating: 4 of 5 stars "Normalcy bias is a result of the brain’s preference for stable patterns." I have taken several courses by and read all the books of Jane McGonigal's twin sister, Kelly. Even though I'd watched her TED talk, before this, I'd never read Jane McGonigal's work and didn't know anything about her work with Institute for the Future. When I saw this book, I thought it was remarkable and decided I wanted to learn more. The premise of this book is about practicing ways to start imagining different potential futures. She introduces different ways to stretch your mind and many, many different scenarios of what possible futures could look like. They are far ahead enough to make most of these scenarios plausible (all are based on some type of fact or development from today) but not so f...

The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel H. Pink My rating: 4 of 5 stars "Foundation regrets are trickier than the other three deep structure regrets I’ll describe in upcoming chapters. Remember that what distinguishes regret from disappointment is personal responsibility. Disappointments exist outside of your control. The child who wakes up to discover that the Tooth Fairy hasn’t left her a reward is disappointed. Regrets, in contrast, are your fault." Even though I am usually a fan of Daniel Pink, I disliked this book almost immediately. As it turns out, regret is not a topic I like to read about. It's not even because I have a lot of regrets. Maybe it's because I don't have many? I tend to think, think, overthink, before I leap into a situation and then once I've leapt, I stop thinking about it and commit fully to the course I've chosen. I wasn't ready to find out if that wasn't the...

Drawn on the Way: A Guide to Capturing the Moment Through Live Sketching by Sarah Nisbett My rating: 4 of 5 stars 4.5 stars. What a joy to read this book! If you need inspiration on how to start drawing on the go or drawing in general, this is the book for you. This is not a step by step book. It's not even about that. It has some tips and some high level general advice and some ways to kick start your drawing. But it's really about being inspired and finding a way to just get started and develop your own practice. Loved every minute I spent with it. with gratitude to edelweiss and Quarry BooksQuarto for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars "Our attention is like a spotlight. We have control of that spotlight, but we cannot control the actors who come on stage. We cannot control how long they spend there, what they say, or when they leave. What we get to do is focus that spotlight on one or two of them at a time. If we settle our focus on the anxious thoughts that tell stories of worst-case scenarios and images of you not coping, they get the chance to feed back to the brain that all is not well. When you shift the spotlight of your attention to other thoughts on the stage that offer a different story, they will have their influence on your bodily reaction too. While you are focusing on them, the other thoughts may not leave the stage. They may stick around, waiting for the spotlight again. But without it, they have less power over your emotional state." There's much I loved about this book. I ...

Beneath the Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett My rating: 4 of 5 stars If creepy is your cup of tea, you will not be able to put this story down. This story takes place in three different timeframes, all around this house called "octagon house" which has a basement that's clearly hiding something. It's eerie and gives you that feeling of "can't look at but also can't look away." I am not a horror fan but I still really enjoyed reading this book and kept wanting to find out what happens. There are some twists, too, but nothing that felt too over the top or like a cop out. I liked it all the way to the end. with gratitude to edelweiss and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars I checked out and returned this book all year. I kept seeing it on best-of-year lists for the last two months so I finally decided it was time to read it. My favorite part was all the details of the reservation and how it felt to live there. I don't read enough Native American stories and I always love them when I do. This was no exception. I didn't adore it like some seem to have but I though it was a very well crafted story and I am really glad I ended up reading it. View all my reviews

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Elizabeth simply refused to accept limits, not just for herself, but for others." This is one of the top three reads of 2021 for me. I have loved every single moment I spent with it. I loved Elizabeth, I loved six-thirty, I loved Mad, I loved every character in this book. I loved the story. I loved how serious and how light and profound and how enjoyable it was. "Elizabeth revealed that there were hundreds, maybe thousands of others, and that no human spoke them all. In fact, most people spoke only one—maybe two—unless they were something called Swiss and spoke eight. No wonder people didn’t understand animals. They could barely understand one another." This is the story of Elizabeth, who is a chemist and then a TV show cooking host. She has a daughter Mad and a dog six-thirty in 1960s California. Her story is sad and harrowing and funny and energizing and deeply deepl...

Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own even though I am always searching for belonging. I had never heard of this author and the book was very slow going for me but in the end I loved parts of it and really felt grateful to have read it. View all my reviews

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak My rating: 4 of 5 stars An excellent Romeo and Juliet-like story of two kids who fall in love from two sides of Cyprus. Turkish and Greek. As someone who grew up in Turkey and heard all about the separation in Cyprus I found it really interesting to read about a story that takes place there and talks about the atrocities of war. Loved the mystical parts with nature, as well. Wonderful story. View all my reviews

Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was one of those sweet books where I totally know what's going to happen in the end but I still enjoy reading it anyway because it's sweet and lovely to read. View all my reviews

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not sure why I waited this long to read this exquisite book. It was excellent, informative, kind and worth every moment I spent with it. Nagoski is one of a kind. View all my reviews

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer My rating: 4 of 5 stars "I did think, let’s go about this slowly. This is important. This should take some really deep thought. We should take small thoughtful steps. But, bless us, we didn’t.—MARY OLIVER, I DID THINK, LET’S GO ABOUT THIS SLOWLY" This is the story of a woman who goes back to working after taking a break in her career. She joins this small architecture firm and the woman she works for there becomes her idol, her best friend and makes her revisit all of her values, thoughts and way of life. "She wasn’t trying to be a martyr. She handled things on her own because she liked being the sort of person who could, and because it made her feel less like her mother, who routinely asked other people for help just so she could judge the extent of their affection for her based on their willingness to give it." The book covers many topics around parenthood, marriage, friendship, career, be...

Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within by Chade-Meng Tan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was lucky enough to take the Search Inside Yourself class with Meng many many years ago. Even though the audio of this book felt a bit cartoony to listen to, the ideas and the concepts are profound and I will keep coming back to them again and again. Especially since my word for 2022 is Joy. View all my reviews