Big Book Review of 2021

 

Another year of reading is “in the books”!  I am happy to have completed my Reading Challenge of 60 books in 2021.  Goodreads tells me I read a total of 17,219 pages this year.  

After all those pages, here is my Big Book Review of 2021 starting with the complete list of the 60 books that I read and the star rating I gave them:

 

1.       Sister Dear by Hannah Mary McKinnon  - 3.5 stars

2.       The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell’Antonia – 3 stars

3.       The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks – 3.5 stars

4.       Charlotte Street:  A Novel by Danny Wallace – 3 stars

5.       The Blind Side by Michael Lewis – 4 stars

6.       In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren – 4.5 stars

7.       Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey – 4 stars

8.       The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare’ – 4 stars

9.       The Bungalow by Sarah Jio – 4 stars

10.   The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah – 4 stars

11.   Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano – 3.5 stars

12.   Black Box Thinking:  Why Some People Never Learn from Their Mistakes – But Some Do by Matthew Syed – 3.5 stars

13.   Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas – 4 stars

14.   Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – 2 stars

15.   No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox – 3 stars

16.   Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster – 3 stars

17.   Dare to Lead by Brene’ Brown – 5 stars

18.   The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse – 3 stars

19.   Well Met by Jen DeLuca – 3.75 stars

20.   Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level by Laura Tremaine – 3 stars

21.   The Untethered Soul:  The Journey Beyond Yourself – 3 stars

22.   Mixed Plate by Jo Koy – 5 stars

23.   The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth – 5 stars

24.   Infinite Country by Patricia Engel – 3.5 stars

25.   You are Your Best Thing:  Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience by Tarana Burke – 4 stars

26.   Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong – 4 stars

27.   Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 4 stars

28.   In Five Years by Rebecca Serle – 3 stars

29.   The Whole Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel – 4 stars

30.   Golden Girl by Elin Hildebrand – 3.75 stars

31.   The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews – 3 stars

32.   Eternal by Lisa Scottoline – 3 stars

33.   Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond – 3 stars

34.   Float Plan by Trish Doller – 4 stars

35.   Everything Beautiful in its Time:  Seasons of Love and Loss by Jenna Bush Hager – 4 stars

36.   Pack up the Moon by Kristan Higgins – 5 stars

37.   The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy – 5 stars

38.   Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman – 3.5 stars

39.   The Coaching Habit:  Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier – 5 stars

40.   Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss – 3 stars

41.   Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner – 3.5 stars

42.   The Sixth Wedding by Elin Hildebrand – 4 stars

43.   Looking for Lovely:  Collecting the Moments that Matter by Annie F. Downs – 3 stars

44.   Say You Still Love Me by K.A. Tucker – 3 stars

45.   Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – 3 stars

46.   Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – 3 stars

47.   WOLFPACK:  How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by Abby Wambach – 3.5 stars

48.   The Guncle by Steven Rowley – 3.5 stars

49.   Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout – 4 stars

50.   Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez – 5 stars

51.   People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry – 4 stars

52.   One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis – 2 stars

53.   Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson – 4 stars

54.   Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business):  Finding Our Way to Joy, Love and Freedom by Tabitha Brown – 4 stars

55.   Let it Snow by Nancy Thayer – 4 stars

56.   There’s Something about Merry by Codi Hall – 3 stars

57.   How to Not Always Be Working:  A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Marlee Grace – 3.5 stars

58.   Oh William! by Elizabeth Stout – 4 stars

59.   Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis – 3.5 stars

60.   Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult – 4 stars

It’s always fun to look back at what I read and remember where reading took me over the past year.  And now, I name my top 3 books of 2021!

#3.  Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez

There were actually a few ties for #3 but when I went back and read the quotes that I highlighted from the book, that’s when I knew I had my choice for this top seat. 

We can all agree to the title, can’t we?  The love interests spend the book remembering to live life to the fullest.  Their simple romantic meetups and their chase had me all sappy and heart eyed, I admit.  The characters in this rom com were endearing and funny, their moments were heartwarming, and this was a feel good book I really enjoyed.  It’s not just fluff though.  The book also offers a storyline of remembering life is fragile and the bonus for me, a foster kinship storyline too.  Be still, my heart.

This past Christmas, I bought the hard copy in Manhattan Beach.  I know when I really love a book when I am proud to add it to my shelf.  I’ve shared this little tidbit before, but I’ll share it again.  I read mostly on my kindle, but I buy my top 3 favorites at the end of the year to keep forever.  That’s how I avoid having way too many books in the house.  Would love to hear how others manage their book collections.  Congrats to Life’s Too Short for being the only fiction in this year’s top 3.

My next two are books I read in my quest to always be a better leader. I have picked them both up on numerous occasions since reading them.

#2.  The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

This is a one sitting read.  If you coach, lead, supervise and give feedback to others, you’re sure to re-open this book several times because it gives you instant gratification.  It lives up to the cover that says, "Change the way you lead forever."  I read through it and instantly, I started using it in my regular check-ins with staff.  When a staff member requests to meet about a problem they’re having, I have it close by then too.  Here’s the big sell – I learned the 7 easy questions to ask to help someone else figure out their own problem, yet as the coach, I come off like the genius!  I have had more than one person say to me that I am so good at this coaching thing when I had to point out that, I just asked the questions and they, themselves, came up with the answer.  In my opinion, there’s nothing better than having the answer someone’s looking for except for when you’re helping someone, and they get to their own answer, and you see that light bulb go off!  I plan to go back through the book for the recommended podcasts and videos listed in the margin of the pages.  This little coaching book has a lot to offer.  I’m so pleased that I found it and how it added tools to my leadership belt.

And here it is, my #1 pick of the year - also a leadership book.

#1.  Dare to Lead by Brene’ Brown

Thank you to fellow social worker, Brene’ Brown, for this book (and her Dare to Lead podcast too).  I can’t get enough.  Early in 2021, I read it with two colleagues on our leadership team. (Thank you, Kimi and Michelle!)  I started journaling because of this book and the aha moments I took from it. The things we learned together from the book keep paying off.  Since reading it, I’ve structured development trainings, management curricula, and other exercises for our staff around it.  We’ve redesigned our staff meetings after naming our organizational values to fully live into them – an exercise we learned from the book.  Our “big 3” cultural values at U.S.VETS – Las Vegas, in case you’re wondering, are:  Pursue Excellence, Support Each Other, and Take Good Care.

 If you want to be a courageous, impactful leader, this book is inspiring.  From the book’s synopsis, “When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it and work to align authority and accountability. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into the vulnerability that’s necessary to do good work.”  I have been changed by what the book taught me about leading people and the importance of vulnerability, connection, empathy, values and so much more.  This book is dog-eared, it’s highlighted, it’s got notes all over the margins.  To me, there was no question which book would win my #1 pick for the year! 

There we have it, my annual book review.  I look forward to recommendations about what to read in 2022. 

For past Big Book reviews, you can click here:  2017, 2018, and 2019, and 2020.

Wishing my fellow readers a fulfilling year of reading ahead!  Happy New Year!