Nancy's (alphaorder) 2021 Reads

2021 Reading Log

January
1. A Life on Our Planet - Nonfiction, audio, nature*
2. Why I Don't Write - Stories
3. Ex Libris: 100 Books to Read and Reread - Nonfiction (BIPOC)
4. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops - Nonfiction
5. God of Nothingness - Poetry
6. Secrets of Devon Wood - Nature Journal
7. Vanishing Half - Novel* (BIPOC)
8. Leonard and Hungry Paul - Novel*

February
9. Aftershocks - Memoir* (BIPOC)
10. Love and Other Poems - Poetry*
11. Bright Wings - Poetry, nature
12. Super Host - Novel
13. Letters from Max - Nonfiction

March
14. Break the Glass - Poetry
15. Beloved Beasts - Nonfiction
16. No Chronology by Karen Fish - Poetry
17. Edie Richter is Not Alone - Fiction
18. Shortcomings - GN (BIPOC)
19. Think Like a Monk - Nonfiction, audio (BIPOC)

April
20. A Portable Paradise - Poetry (BIPOC)
21. Good Company - Novel
22. Early Morning Riser - Novel
23. Peach State - Poetry (BIPOC)
24. A Season on the Wind - Nonfiction, OTS
25. And Now I Spill the Family Secrets - Graphic Memoir

May
21. Crying in H Mart - Memoir (BIPOC)
22. Whereabouts - Novel (BIPOC)
23. Sparrow Envy - Poetry (BIPOC)
24. Mediocre - Nonfiction, audio (BIPOC)
25. Notes on Grief - Nonfiction (BIPOC)
26. The Secret to Superhuman Strength - Graphic memoir
27. People We Meet on Vacation - Novel

June
28. We Are What We Eat - Nonfiction
29. Worldly Things - Poetry (BIPOC)
30. The Other Black Girl - Novel (BIPOC)
31. The Plot - Novel
32. Isthmus - Poetry

July
33. Festival Days - Fiction/Nonfiction
34. Happiest Man on Earth - Memoir, Audio
35. The Hummingbirds' Gift - Nonfiction
36. Open Water - Novel (BIPOC)
37. The Office of Historical Corrections - Fiction (BIPOC)
38. Seek You - Graphic

August
39. Somebody's Daughter - Fiction, Audio (BIPOC)
40. Carry On - Nonfiction (BIPOC)
41. Goldenrod - Poetry
42. Speak, Okinawa - Memoir, Audio (BIPOC)
43. The Diary of a Young Naturalist - Memoir
44. The Anthropocene Reviewed - Nonfiction*, Audio

September
45. Today, A Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket - Fiction
46. Beautiful World, Where Are You - Fiction
47. Trusting the Gold - Nonfiction, Audio

October
48. Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems - Poetry
49. Graceland, At Last - Nonfiction*
50. Taste: My Life through Food - Nonfiction, Audio
51. At Large and At Small - Nonfiction, OTS
52. Five Tuesdays in Winter - Novel
53. Winter Recipes from the Collective - Poetry
54. Oh William - Novel
55. Poet Warrior - Memoir* (BIPOC)

November
56. The Sentence - Novel* (BIPOC)
57. In - Graphic Novel
58. Mary Jane - Novel
59. Bibliophile: Diverse Spines - Nonfiction

December
60. Small Things Like These - Novel
61. Tasha - Memoir (4/5/22 pub date)
62. These Precious Days - Essays
63. Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, Vol. 1 – Planet
64. Hell of a Book - novel (BIPOC)
65. Appalachian Elegy - poetry (BiPOC)
66. A Different Distance: A Renga - poetry

67. Joan Didion - read in Feb

I have been a member of LT since March of 2007.

I've had a love of books since I was very young. My mom was a librarian. I was a bookseller/marketing director for an independent bookshop in the midwest from 1989-2009. I now do marketing for a nature center, which I also love. I am fortunate that I can work from home, but miss the center.

Twenty years ago, literary fiction was my main focus. I am finding I am reading more nonfiction and poetry the last few years.

I met my husband in the bookshop, although we grew up less than a mile from each other about two hours north of Milwaukee! My husband retired pre-pandemic in 2020. We have a daughter who is a freshman at UW Madison.

Anyone is welcome to join in my thread. As a bookseller, I was much more open to talking about books on the floor than writing a written review. Therefore, don't expect a lot of reviews - mostly a record of my reading. BTW - I have paper records from the '90s.

Most of my comments are made on my friends' threads, especially that of the fellow birder, beer- and booklover Mark (msf59).

Happy New Thread, Nancy. Happy New Year! Looking forward to swapping books and birds with you, for another year. I sure hope we can get a face to face Meet Up in 2021! Fingers crossed.

>3 msf59: Happy New Year to you too, my friend! Thanks for stopping by. You know I just hang out on your thread. :)

in 2020 I read 82 books. Here are my favorites, in the order read:

So You Want to Talk about Race
Bodega: poems
Memorial Drive
Homeland Elegies
What Unites Us
Braiding Sweetgrass
Vesper Flights
World of Wonders
A Promised Land
Hamnet

I hope I didn't jump in too soon. Make sure you post your Best of List. You did it!! LOL.

>6 msf59: Not at all! You are always welcome.

Welcome back Nancy. I hope you'll say an occasional hello at my place in 2021 - don't let Mark have you all to himself!

Best wishes for a better 2021!

Welcome back, Nancy!

Happy reading in 2021, Nancy!

And keep up with my friends here, Nancy. Have a great 2021.

Have a great year in books!

Happy 2021! Hope it is better, brighter and bookier!!

Happy New Year, Nancy.

Happy New Year, Nancy. Looking forward to another year of poetry tips and all around good reading. I forgot that you met your husband in a bookshop. Same here - met my wife when we were both working for Barbara's in Oak Park and Chicago.

Dropping by to keep you thread ticking along, Nancy!

Have a great weekend.

Hoping all is well, Nancy. I recently read a poetry book I think you’d appreciate: A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson, a black British poet.

>18 jnwelch:

Thanks, Joe! I am going to pick that up!

Things are moving along here. My family and I have our first vaccine, so I am looking forward to a different spring and summer, and seeing my parents!

So many great books this year, which is certainly a welcome treat. I am going to hop over to your thread to see what else you have been reading.

Can second Joe's suggestion, Nancy. I read it in January and very much enjoyed the collection.

Lovely to see you posting.

>20 PaulCranswick:.

You can, Paul! Glad to hear you liked it too. Ordering from my local indie this weekend. I see they have a copy on the shelf!

I am hoping over to your thread too to see how you are holding up and what you've been reading.

Nice to have a little chatter over here. Thanks, my friends!

Hello there! Hope all is well and the books are treating you well.

Happy Sunday, Nancy! I thought there would be some puppy pics over here. 'Sup with that?

>22 Berly:
>23 msf59:

Ah, thanks to you both for stopping by! Mark, I obviously don't use this thread much, except to record my reading.

A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)

In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road

At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.

Nancy, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving

>25 PaulCranswick:

Happy Thanksgiving to you, Paul, and your family! I am grateful for you and my other book friebnds!

Found you! Here's where you can find me: https://www.librarything.com/topic/335733#

I think we only share one book this year -- The Vanishing Half, which I read for my book club

>27 Nickelini:

Thanks!

I know the timing of our reads can be off, because even though I have many older books yet to read, I can't help myself with the newer ones.

There are a few books on your list that I read and loved in other years -
All My Puny Sorrows
Purple Hibiscus
Lost Spells

I still have 3 of the Ali Smith Quartet to read after being taken by Autumn.

>28 alphaorder: I read more new books this year than I normally read, but it's good to change things up

I have the Summer edition of the Ali Smith Quartet left. I tried to get to it this past summer, but it didn't work out so early next summer for sure. I think these books are better read close to the time they were written?? Not sure how they're going to age, but maybe they'll age just fine. I think my favourite so far was Winter.

Have a lovely holiday, Nancy.

These were our family ornaments this year and, despite COVID, a merry time was had by all. I hope the same is true for your holiday and here's to next year!!

>31 Berly: Ha - We got the Naughty, Nice, I Tried, in a toy for our puppy.

Wishing you and your family a happy 2022.

; )

Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Nancy.