Books in 2021

This year I used up to twenty six (26) categories in the Toronto Public Library 2021 Reading Challenge to read widely and discover new books, authors, and genres.

It’s been a good year. I pulled together some stats:

Total books read: 80.
Total categories met: 17.
14% were published this year (11/ 80)
45% were by new-to-me authors (36/ 80)
68% were by female authors (54/ 80)
95% were fiction (76/ 80)
100% were e-books from the library

List of Books Read in 2021

Ridgerunner – Gil Adamson. *
The Outlander – Gil Adamson.
Beartown – Fredrik Backman.
The Dark Lake – Sarah Bailey. *
Daylight – David Baldacci.
Long Road to Mercy – David Baldacci.
Minute to Midnight – David Baldacci.
Redemption – David Baldacci.
Walk The Wire – David Baldacci.
Find You First – Linwood Barclay.
The Noise of Time – Julian Barnes.
The Only Story – Julian Barnes.
A Highland Christmas – M.C. Beaton. *
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury. *
Cathedral – Raymond Carver. *
Love At First – Kate Clayborn. *
State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton * and Louise Penny.
The Christmas Bookshop – Jenny Colgan.
Older, But Better, But Older – Caroline De Maigret. *
Along for the Ride – Sarah Dessen.
Dreamland – Sarah Dessen.
Just Listen – Sarah Dessen.
Keeping The Moon – Sarah Dessen.
Lock & Key – Sarah Dessen.
Once and For All – Sarah Dessen.
Saint Everything – Sarah Dessen.
Someone Like You – Sarah Dessen.
That Summer – Sarah Dessen.
The Moon & More – Sarah Dessen.
The Rest of The Story – Sarah Dessen.
This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen.
What Happened To Goodbye – Sarah Dessen.
Empire of Wild – Cherie Dimaline. *
Gone By Midnight – Candice Fox.
Redemption Point – Candice Fox.
The Searcher – Tana French. *
The Trespasser – Tana French.
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green.
The Anthropocene Reviewed – John Green.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green and David Levithan.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig. *
The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah. *
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah.
Force of Nature – Jane Harper.
The Dry – Jane Harper.
The Lost Man – Jane Harper. *
The Survivors – Jane Harper.
People We Meet On Vacation – Emily Henry.
The Good Sister – Sally Hepworth. *
The Mother-In-Law – Sally Hepworth.
The Summer Book – Tove Jansson. *
Then She Was Gone – Lisa Jewell. *
Life’s Too Short – Abby Jimenez. *
An Ocean of Minutes – Thea Lim. *
Naïve. Super – Erlend Loe. Translated by Tor Ketil Solberg. *
Hostage – Clare Mackintosh. *
You Had Me At Hello – Mhairi McFarlane. *
War Horse – Michael Morpurgo. *
The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes.
The Refugees – Viet Thanh Nguyen. *
A Promised Land – Barack Obama. *
The Road Trip – Beth O’Leary.
Dear Mrs. Bird – A.J. (Amanda-Jane) Pearce. *
Lost – Michael Robotham.
The Suspect – Michael Robotham. *
Camp – L.C. Rosen. *
Lily and the Octopus – Steven Rowley.
The Editor – Steven Rowley. *
Peace by Chocolate – Jon Tattrie. *
Address Unknown – Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. *
The Miseducation of Evie Epworth – Matson Taylor. *
Second First Impressions – Sally Thorne.
The One We Fell In Love With – Paige Toon. *
The Burning Girls – C.J. Tudor.
The Chalk Man – C.J. Tudor. *
The Hiding Place – C.J. Tudor.
The Other People – C.J. Tudor.
From My Mother’s Back – Njoki Nathani Wane. *
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams. *
Much Ado About You – Samantha Young. *

Asterisk indicates new-to-me author.

List of Books by Category

Category	Book Title and Author(s)
1. A book about love	All of the above books.
2. A book about growing older	Older, But Better, But Older – Caroline De Maigret
3. A book about someone unlike myself	The Searcher – Tana French A Promised Land – Barack Obama
4. A book about fame	The Editor – Steven Rowley
5. A book by an Indigenous woman	Empire of Wild – Cherie Dimaline
6. A book by or about someone you’d like to meet	A Promised Land – Barack Obama
7. A book by two or more people	State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green and David Levithan Naïve. Super – Erlend Loe and Tor Ketil Solberg
8. A book in a genre you’ve never read before	A Noise of Time – Julian Barnes Address Unknown – Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
9. A book published this year	Find You First – Linwood Barclay State of Terror – Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny The Christmas Bookshop – Jenny Colgan The Anthropocene Reviewed – John Green The Survivors – Jane Harper People We Meet On Vacation – Emily Henry The Good Sister – Sally Hepworth Life’s Too Short – Abby Jimenez The Road Trip – Beth O’Leary Second First Impressions – Sally Thorne The Burning Girls – C.J. Tudor
10. A book set in the future	Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury An Ocean of Minutes – Thea Lim
11. A book that is someone else’s favourite	The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
12. A book that is the first in a series	The Dark Lake – Sarah Bailey’s Gemma Woodstock series Long Road to Mercy – David Baldacci’s Atlee Pine series Dear Mrs. Bird – A.J. Pearce’s Emma Lake Chronicles
13. A book that made me feel hopeful	Peace by Chocolate – Jon Tattrie
14. A book where the main character is not human	War Horse – Michael Morpurgo
15. A children’s book by an LGBQ25+ author	Camp – L.C. Rosen
16. A debut book	The Outlander – Gil Adamson The Dark Lake – Sarah Bailey That Summer – Sarah Dessen The Dry – Jane Harper Naïve. Super – Erlend Loe You Had Me At Hello – Mhairi McFarlane Dear Mrs. Bird – A.J. Pearce The Suspect – Michael Robotham Lily and the Octopus – Steven Rowley The Chalk Man – C.J. Tudor
17. A book with a one-word title	Ridgerunner – Gil Adamson Daylight – David Baldacci Redemption – David Baldacci Cathedral – Raymond Carver Dreamland – Sarah Dessen Hostage – Clare Mackintosh Lost – Michael Robotham Camp – L.C. Rosen

Every year I choose at least one writer to read all of his/ her books. I’m now caught up with all books published to date by Sarah Dessen (14 books), John Green (7 books), Jane Harper (4 books), Emily Henry (2 books), Sally Thorne (3 books), and C.J. Tudor (4 books) by September 15, 2021.

I wish you many hours of engrossing reading in 2022.