Books Books Books

What I’m Reading 2022 Wrap Up

40 books, although I probably started at least 20 others and wasn’t able to finish. If there’s an asterisk* I’ve read it before. (I’m like a toddler in that way 🙄) I’ve included what’s next and a few in my queue for early next year. I hope to have 50 next year. Goals are good! Feel free to comment with any suggestions. Recommended books get a star to the left of the title ⭐️

⭐️If Cats Disappeared from the World
Genki Kawamura

Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng

⭐️He Came In With It
Miriam Feldman

I’ll Be Seeing You
Elizabeth Berg

⭐️These Precious Days
Ann Patchett

Loved every one of these essays. The new ones and the ones I’ve read before. She’s a brilliant storyteller with such enviable command of the language.

Uncommon Type
Tom Hanks

I didn’t totally love this. I love the man, but his writing style wasn’t my cup of tea.

On Writing
Eudora Welty

A classic and one I read so that I could say I did.

⭐️This is How it Always Is
Laurie Frankel

⭐️The Zen of Therapy
Mark Epstein

⭐️The Diving Bell and the Butterfly*
Richard Bauby

My favorite book of all-time. It’s not literary genius but it is a brilliant expression of human spirit and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read it.

Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes

⭐️The Year of Magical Thinking*
Joan Didion

The Sentence
Louise Erdrich

What Now?*
Ann Patchett

⭐️Damnation Spring
Ash Davidson

Four Thousand Weeks
Oliver Burkeman

Bad Feminist
Roxanne Gay

WILD*
Cheryl Strayed

Into Thin Air*
Jon Krakauer

⭐️On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong

⭐️Kitchen Confidential
Anthony Bourdain

⭐️Crying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner

This was a debut memoir that I thoroughly enjoyed. Only after, did I learn it was taken from a publised essay, which gives me great hope that one need not write hundreds and hundreds of pages to be seen and discovered as a writer with something to say.

⭐️Bittersweet
Susan Cain

⭐️Quiet
Susan Cain

Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro

⭐️The Art of Dying Well*
Katy Butler

My Stroke of Insight
Jill Bolte Taylor

⭐️Migrations
Charlotte McConaghy

⭐️Advice for Future Corpses
Sallie Tisdale

⭐️The Invisible Kingdom
Meghan O’Rourke

⭐️Dinners With Ruth
Nina Totenberg

No Cure for Being Human
Kate Bowler

The Bird Way
Jennifer Ackerman

The Women Could Fly
Megan Giddings

What Comes Next and How to Like It
Abigail Thomas

⭐️Mother Lode
Gretchen Staebler

⭐️Parable of the Sower
Octavia E Butler

⭐️Lucy by the Sea
Elizabeth Strout

⭐️Big Magic*
Elizabeth Gilbert

Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher

Up next:

Our Missing Hearts
Celeste Ng

Looking forward to:

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Jamie Ford

Oh William!
Elizabeth Strout

It Starts With Us
Colleen Hoover

The Song of the Cell
Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Salt Path
Raynor Winn

Hamnet
Maggie O’Farrell

The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk

The Tools
Phil Stutz

What I’m Reading: 2021 Wrap Up

A friend posted her reading list from the past year and it inspired me to do my own. Here are the books I finished (with one exception).  I’ve included notes. I may have forgotten a few and I ‘started’ many more, but this year I gave myself permission to move a book along if I’m not feeling it. Life is short, the library is huge.

The Moment of Lift – Melinda Gates
(Loved this. This woman is just coming into her own. Hide and watch…) 

Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
(An old book, eye-popping relevance now)

When Things Fall Apart – Pema Chodron
(A second read. I love this book)

The Body – Bill Bryson
(I listened to this and didn’t want it to end. I learned SO much)

Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
(Really engaging. A new-to-me author)

What Now? – Ann Patchett
(I love her non-fiction as much as her novels. What now, indeed.)

The Overstory – Richard Powers
(A great story. This one will be a classic)

What It’s Like to Be a Bird – David Allen Sibley (Absolutely fascinating, one of my favorites)

Paradise in Plain Sight – Karen Maezen Miller (A third read of this. I love everything she writes)

Truth & Beauty – Ann Patchett 
( This was one of the best roadtrip books I listened to all year. This story is beautiful. Sad, but touching. Highly recommend)

Autobiography of a Face – Lucy Grealy 
(A heartbreakingly real story of a life. I wish I would have known her)

Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey 
(not a big fan, but I have to admit he is an engaging storyteller (albeit very full of himself). I listened to him narrate this and I liked it more than I want to admit)

Group – Christie Tate 
(Can’t remember how I heard about this, but it was a really good listen)

Welcoming the Unwelcome – Pema Chodron
(Sound ideas, but some part of me wasn’t ready to embrace all of this)

The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
(Classic. That’s all. Toni Morrison’s work is just timeless)

The Feather Thief – Kirk Wallace Johnson
(This was given to me by a friend and I loved it)

Weather – Jenny Offill
( a unique refreshing voice. One of my favorites this year!)

A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson
(Engaging storyteller and all of my hiking made this one even more special)

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer – Siddhartha Mukherjee 
( This took me four separate check-outs at the library but I finally finished. Absolutely fascinating if you have lots of time. Not sure I could have ‘read’ all of this, but listening was great. Loved it.)

Wintering – Katherine May *
(I tried this three times. Twice reading, once listening. Loved the beginning, but then it fell off a cliff for me. What am I missing here? If you’ve read it, please share …)

Short Cuts – Ray Carver
(I adore anything/everything by Ray Carver. Listened to this, as well. Brilliant) 

Last Chance Texaco – Rickie Lee Jones
(One of my favorite books of the year. Definitely listen to this. She’s a great storyteller, and well … I just love her.)

Normal People – Sally Rooney
(Came to me highly recommended. Saw the Netflix show and liked them both equally)

The Patron Saint of Liars – Ann Patchett
(An all-time favorite. A re-read and I’ll probably read it again this year)

Storycatcher – Christina Baldwin
(This is the quintessential book if you are considering memoir or some other form of telling your story. I also did an amazing workshop with Christina and now have some traction on my own book. Yes, my own book!)

Cathedral – Ray Carver
(Brilliant stuff)

Where I’m Calling From – Ray Carver
(My favorite collection of short stories)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – Ray Carver
(Grab this book if you want to really get a sense of Raymond Carver. He is one of the masters of the short story)

Bewilderment -Richard Powers
(I grabbed this one without knowing what to expect and loved it! Surprising, touching and terrifying)

The Art of Dying Well – Katy Butler
(Amazing book chock-full of information that we can all use. This should be titled The Art of Living Well. Read this one!)

Dopesick – Beth Macy
( Dark stuff, tragic and infuriating. All about the global opioid crisis.There is a show by the same title about this too. Both are eye-opening)

Dusk, Night, Dawn – Anne Lamott
(Ann Lamott’s newest dive into life. Times are troubling, but there is always hope. Ann Lamott helped me not cringe when I heard the word Christian. She’s a uniquely powerful spirit)

Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
(A book on writing. And faith. And confidence. THIS writer’s, bible)

Wish You Were Here – Jodi Picoult
(Listening to this right now and I love it so far. It opens just as the world is shutting down from Covid …)

Deep Water Passage – Ann Linnea
( This is a spiritual journey and is my, by the bed, night time book. Stay tuned. Beautiful read so far)