Because I was an English lit + fiction writing double major in college, I had to read a lot of books for class. It was easy to stay disciplined since I had assigned readings, groups I could discuss the books with, and tight deadlines. I loved it. But of course, after college, reading became more of a slog. There were job apps and more job apps and then actually working, not to mention trying to fit in other hobbies and seeing friends. So two years out of college, I finally decided it was time I set some goals and actually stick to them. I told myself I’d read 52 books this year, and I’m ecstatic to report that I did.
I was definitely influenced to read more after watching Max Joseph’s video on Bookstores (check it out, it’ll scare you into reading, too). So I went to the library a few times, spent way too much time and money in local bookstores, and sat my butt down on my couch to read. I will say that the pandemic certainly helped my reading habits, as I literally had nothing else to do.
I’ll cut to the chase — here are the 52 books I read this year in the order I read them in. The list is a little too long for me to review every single one so I only just rated some. If you’ve read any of these and want to start a conversation, contact me! I love discussing books (especially poetry books) so feel free to reach out!
Without further ado…
SHOUT — Laurie Halse Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Is Amazing — Heather Christle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This poetry book was given to me by one of my best friends and I am so in love with it. I had read it before, but I wanted to re-read, as her style and tone is something I’d like my own writing to emulate. Christle has this innocent, indulgent curiosity + wonder that’s contagious. I’ve gone on to read more of her books this year because of it! I recommend it even to people who claim to not like poetry.
So Sad Today — Melissa Broder ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I read this book for a book club I was in at the beginning of the year. It was chosen because our book club formed out of a Twitter thread turned group chat, and it was a natural choice given the Twitter account @SoSadToday was big among the participants in the club. As much as I wanted to like it, it was a bit too much. I tend not to like personal essays, so maybe I’ll chalk it up to that.
Aphrodite Made Me Do It — Trista Mateer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Mill Hand’s Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky — Lori Jakiela ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Big Fish — Lori Jakiela ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great Goddesses — Nikita Gill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the Dream House — Carmen Maria Machado ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
GO READ THIS! Seriously. One of my favorite books of all time.
Imaginary Museums — Nicolette Polek ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Homie — Danez Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Whereas — Layli Long Soldier ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Hate you — Don’t Leave me — Jerold J. Kreisman + Hal Straus ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Build Yourself a Boat — Camonghe Felix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Crying Book — Heather Christle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ethereal. A hybridization of prose and poetry with a great deal of research woven through. Highly recommend to anyone who has ever felt any emotion.
Soft Science — Franny Choi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“If tenderness is any sort of currency, / maybe I don’t want what it can buy.”
“When I smack my gum it’s to signal / that I do perceive space and time, it’s just / I’m kind of over it.”
The Difficult Farm — Heather Christle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In Accelerated Silence — Brooke Matson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Killing Commendatore — Haruki Murakami ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was slow, but still very entertaining. This is probably because the book was 400 pages too long. If you’re a very curious person, this book is for you. I just had to read this since I’ve read every one of Murakami’s fictional works. For those of you who play Murakami Bingo, this hits quite a few squares!
Where the Words End and My Body Begins — Amber Dawn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This Year You Write Your Novel — Walter Mosley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a re-read since I was looking to write a novel this year. This was at the beginning of the pandemic, when I thought I’d have a ton of time and no stress. I was incorrect! I wouldn’t really recommend this for anyone who already has a degree in writing or literature — it doesn’t add too much to the conversation. It’s definitely for those who are new to the concept of writing a novel. That all being said, it’s a great refresher for those who need it like I did! I will get around to writing a novel, just uhh, not this year.
Heliopause — Heather Christle ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Tradition — Jericho Brown ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Come As You Are — Emily Nagoski ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THIS BOOK!!! Highly recommend this to anyone with a vagina. This book is the sex education I should have gotten all along — it’s frank, gentle, and hilarious. I’ve never read anything that speaks about female orgasms in this way and for that, it’ll stay up on my bookshelf forever.
Jesus’ Son — Denis Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Light Magic for Dark Times — Lisa Marie Basile ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous — Ocean Vuong ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wanted to like this so badly after reading Night Sky With Exit Wounds in a college class, but I just didn’t. I’m definitely a black sheep among my friends for this opinion, but it’s okay not to like something even though the writer is brilliant. His prose and style was captivating and beautiful as always. But as much as I enjoyed the eloquent language and resonant sentiments, I just felt there was nothing compelling the story forward, and that there really wasn’t much story at all.
For Now — James RIchardson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Last Things — Jenny Offill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of my favorite books I read this year, even though it was published in 2000. I always forget how much I enjoy stories with family and divorce themes — I wonder why! It’s always a delight to read Jenny Offill, as I’ll continue explaining for the next two books. When I say I get hooked on an author, I really get hooked on the author!
Weather — Jenny Offill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had to get my hands on this book quickly after it was published because I loved reading Jenny Offill in college. This was another great work of Offill’s, as it was a mash up of genres that always had me interested and turning pages. I may need to give it a re-read next year since I devour books like this when I should be savoring them.
Department of Speculation — Jenny Offill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a re-read for me. This portrait of a marriage gets at me deep, especially with its poetic prose. I re-read because I had just read Last Things and Weather and still hungered for Jenny’s style and tone. It’s like reading a well-written journal — very human, very beautiful, very real. Might even read it again next year if she doesn’t release anything new!
Postcolonial Love Poem — Natalie Diaz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Women and the Men — Nikki Giovanni ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another Brooklyn — Jacqueline Woodson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Vanishing Half — Brit Bennett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I bought this book for my partner after seeing it on a bestselling list and he recommended it right back to me. I’m so happy I read it — it was such an engrossing read. It really breaks down the barriers of race and gender and the horrifying reality that what you identify as is often just as important as how others identify you.
Convenience Store Woman — Sayaka Murata, Translated by Ginny Takemori ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pittsburgh — Frank Santoro ⭐️⭐️⭐️
After the Body — Cleopatra Mathis ⭐️⭐️
OBIT — Victoria Chang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Body Wars — Jan Beatty ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Silence — Don Delillo ⭐️⭐️
Don’t get me wrong — I love Don Delillo’s White Noise and also the fact that he and I share the same birthday. BUT, this book screamed ‘Phone bad,’ which was a little heavy-handed. It didn’t add too much to any conversation unfortunately.
Our Lady of Ruins — Traci Brimhall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Diary of a Bookseller — Shaun Bythell ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Normal People — Sally Rooney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love page-turners, have I said how much I love page-turners? I mean, who doesn’t? But this really was one. I don’t know why I cared so much about the two main characters, but it really brought me back to those good ole Tumblr fandom days.
Show Your Work! — Austin Kleon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can’t say enough good things about this book (and all of Austin Kleon’s books). This is the book that spurred my blog! This book really helped me see how important it is to grow a community as opposed to an audience. So of course I purchased and read every other one of his books…
Keep Going — Austin Kleon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Including this one, which is the perfect sequel to Show Your Work! (even though it technically isn’t). This book is just as good as Show Your Work!, as it has a wealth of great quotes and a lot of good advice on creating rituals for yourself as an artist (and sticking to them). I’ve started taking daily walks because of this book and I have to say, it feels great.
Newspaper Blackout — Austin Kleon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another great book by Austin Kleon. This is a book of poetry completely created out of newspaper articles that have been blacked out, leaving only some words visible. The remaining words make a poem. A lot of these poems made me laugh, and a few even gave me larger questions to ponder. I of course went out and purchased a newspaper immediately to try for myself. I’ll be posting some of these in the next few weeks, so definitely watch out for that!
How to Be An Artist — Jerry Saltz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Kind of Woman — Kate Baer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There There — Tommy Orange ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed reading this, as I’m always looking to learn more about Native Americans. I read this around Thanksgiving, which felt fitting, considering the whole introduction was about the real story. If you’d like to hear a bunch of stories of urban Native Americans all in one place (albeit being fictional), I definitely recommend reading this book, which takes place in Oakland, California. It’s also written in one of my favorite formats — each chapter stands alone but all the stories intertwine. This format always makes for an interesting ending.
Luster — Raven Leilani ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was an absolute page-turner — I couldn’t not think of this book when I wasn’t reading it. I had too many questions about motives, which normally would bug me. But somehow I enjoyed the oddities of each person’s individual actions. It really sums up what it’s like to be a misguided twenty-something millennial in a way that doesn’t completely gross me out like a lot of similar books.
The Wild Iris — Louise Glück ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Most of the books I’ve read this year. Some aren’t pictured because they were borrowed from a friend or the library.