Best of 2021: Books

Even if I don't post all year long, I have to post my favorite books each year! I know that I like reading about and getting inspiration from other people's favorite book lists each year, so I thought I would keep the tradition alive myself as well. 

Here are my recaps from prior years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

This year, I did not read as many books as last year, but I wasn't stuck in the house/backyard as much and I had to study more. However, many of the ones I did read were good! And without further ado, my favorite 11 books for the year (because it was too hard to just choose 10). 

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel: I guess I always have a WWII book (or two) on my list! This was about a woman who helped forge papers for the Resistance for people trying to flee the Nazis during WWII. Many of them were children and in order to preserve their real identity, the names are put into a book using a code. There are a few twists along the way and I really enjoyed the pace and the subject matter of this book. 

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon: As promised, another WWII book... this book is about an Australian woman who becomes a spy for the British and the Resistance throughout the war. The Germans are looking for her but she keep evading them as she smuggles weapons and people into and out of France. I love stories of the Resistance and especially the strong women who played roles in the organization, so this book was right up my alley. To top it off, it was based on a real person! 

Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls: This book was first published in the 60s and I read this book when I was young and really enjoyed it, although it is sad. I decided to reread it this year and although it was a little young for me, I still enjoyed it the second time around. If you have not read this children's book, it is about a boy who acquires two hound dogs and teaches them how to hunt racoons. Its a classic boy and his pet(s) story that it is very touching. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: I am not normally a huge fan of fantasy, but this book was different. It is about a girl in the 1700s who gives up her mortality and has to live out her days in eternity with people who do not remember her as soon as she leaves the room. 300 years later, someone does remember her and she has to deal with the issues and emotions that this new development bring about. 

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz: A struggling writer hears a fabulous plot from one of his students who is writing a book. Next thing he knows the student has died without writing the book. So the writer writes a new book using the student's plot and he becomes famous. Everything is great until he realizes that someone knows that he stole the plot. In trying to find out who is harassing him, he looks deeper into the student's life and finds out some amazing things. This one kept me entertained and on my toes and I could not put it down!  

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn: Yes, it is another WWII book. This one is about three ladies who work at Bletchley Park, a super secret British operation, where the most creative minds help to crack codes sent from the Nazis. After a while, it is noticed that someone in their midst is betraying them and they try to find out who it is, but things don't always go so well. 

The Four Winds by Kristian Hannah: It's the dust bowl and the drought has dried up Elsa's family's farm in the Great Plains. She does what many others are forced to do, she heads west with her two children looking for a better life, and work so that she can feed her kids. She struggles to find both in a dog eat dog world of farming in California, where the owners exploit them and the townspeople shun them. She shows resilience and bravery in a less than perfect world. 

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas: This a book about a woman who does not want kids, or maybe she does, or maybe she has them after all, or maybe she doesn't...it is her life, told in several scenarios, and how things go if she chooses one thing over the other. 

Admission by Julie Buxbaum: We all heard about the admission scandals a while back, where the rich actress pays for her kid's records to be fudged to get into a good college? This book is a fictional recap of this scenario. Told from the view of the kid, who does not know this is going on but still gets ostracized because of it, it is entertaining, infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: The Earth is going to die and our main character, a mild mannered science professor, has to save it...by going into space. After a long journey, he awakens from a coma and finds his shipmates have all perished. Now he is alone and time is running out!! Once again, Andy Weir is ingenious, creative and fun. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid: I have to say, I am impressed by the ease at which I can read books written by TJR. She is entertaining and funny and her characters are annoying but likable. She does a good job making you see people as human, warts and all. I have enjoyed the books I have read so far by her and this one was no exception. This is about some kids in Malibu who throw a party that people will never forget. 

It really was not easy to choose this year. Here are a few more good ones that almost made the cut: The Book of Longings, A Good Neighborhood, The Book of Lost Friends, A Promised Land, The Paris Library, The Best of Me, The Great Influenza, The Last Bookshop in London, The Light of Days, The Secrets We Kept, Between Two Kingdoms, Count The Ways. 

Have you read any of my favorites? What was your favorite book of 2021? And why? 

Looking Back: February

 I am not sure if it is because February was a short month or what but all I can say is what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks happened to February!? I do not feel that it was especially productive, but still things sailed pretty quickly from January to March. Maybe this is a good thing, as it means one day (week, month) closer to, dare I say, "normalcy?" Here's hoping. Until then, one day (week, month) at a time, we keep paddling. Yup, I am in a sailboat with a paddle. 

Running: In February, after two months of solitude, we came out of lockdown. I started back doing a once a week run with my running buddy. However, I still had quite a few solo runs, several of them in the pouring rain and the majority of them still on the road rather than trails. I ended up with 215 miles. I have been having fun finding weird things in my neighborhood, like this series of wooden creatures on a local trail. 

Plumbers crack

Forrest creature

Reading: Two things dragged down my reading numbers this month. One: I am reading a book called Dark Money for a work book club and it is dragging along! It is about the Koch brothers and I have learned a lot but man it is boring at times. Two: I have been studying a lot. However, I did read 12 books and my two favorites were Code Name Helene (WWII alert!) and A Good Neighborhood. For more details you can go here. 

My study buddy

Travel: Hahahahahaha. What? Snore emoji! I went back and forth to work, I went grocery shopping and I went to the gas station. My big traveling lately has been done on YouTube (places like this), which is helping me to plan about 10 summer camping trips of which I will hopefully get to do a few of. 

Misc.: I have done a fair bit of puttering in the garden and we have actually had some rainy days but not enough of them, so the backyard days have been more plentiful than I thought they would. I did some digging and moved some dirt around and did a ton of weeding. In a couple of weeks, I will make sure the drip system is set up and I will throw some veggies in the dirt! It is very satisfying and a nice break from studying. I am also tentatively planning a few summer things, although I am keeping my expectations low while also being cautiously optimistic. 

What was your favorite book in February? Did you go anywhere or do anything? 

Looking Back: January

The first month of the new year pretty much went the same way as the last month of last year went; we were still under lockdown, which meant more solo runs, audiobooks, and puttering around the house. I also started studying again, and am doing that about 15-18 hours per week. In addition, it's been raining, so the weeds are getting out of control, but that is a task for another month! 

Running: I have been trying to run three times per week, once during the week and once each weekend day. I can get out early on the weekends so can be "mask-less" for a couple of hours before I start having to put it up from time to time, and on the weekday run, I have found a neighborhood route where I see fewer people, even though it's the middle of the day. This has resulted in a lot of neighborhood exploration runs and I have found some interesting kitschy gardens and funky gates around town. In January I did 14 runs for a total of 230 miles. 

These guys just people watch all day, I guess.

Survivors will be shot again.

I love the pretty blue tiles.

Reading: Due to being home, I once again read a lot! I already put a couple of five star ratings on books and my goal is to try to write an actual review blurb for (not just star) a few books a month. My favorites were The Book of Lost Names (WWII French Resistance), The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Immortality), Tell the Wolves I am Home (AIDS, love, being a teenager) and A Promised Land (Obama). They were all good, although I felt that Obama's book was a bit too long and wish he would have edited it a bit more. It was a 30 hour audiobook; thank goodness for 1.6x speed! 

Travel: Crickets again! I traveled to and from work. I did not even go to the grocery store, as I stocked up at Costco in December and am working my way through my stash of fridge meals. 

Happy New Year! Brought to you by happy eggs! 

Misc.: I am back on the study bus, so as much as I would like to say that I was super productive around the house, I mostly studied, worked in the yard (the balls/seeds falling from the maple tree are the bane of my existence), read and puttered. 

What did you do in January? What was your favorite book so far this year? 

Looking Back: 2020 Money Pie

Unfortunately, in 2019 the system that I use for compiling my data had a glitch and I decided not to recreate everything, so I never got 2019 data all put together. This year, I was interested to see how my spending stacked up to prior years, as I did not spend as much money on travel, which is generally my second biggest category. I also wanted to break out some of my shopping a little more fully, and so I spent some time looking through my Amazon, Costco and Walmart receipts since a lot of those are multiple categories, whereas in years past I just called Costco "groceries" and Amazon "shopping." 

So without further ado, here is the pie!

Overall, in 2020 I spent 94% of my average over the years of 2016-2018, or 6% less than normal. The categories that decreased the most in dollar terms were Travel and Dining Out and the categories that increased the most were Groceries and Health. 

Home: (Increase 2% YoY) This category includes mortgage, utilities, garbage, taxes, insurance and garden. As you can see, this is my largest category by far. However, I spent a little more than I normally do in this category, and I chalk that up to the fact that I decided to start paying a little extra toward my principal midway through the year. Otherwise this category dollar-wise has been very consistent through the years and is always my largest.

Groceries: (Increase 62% YoY) Woof! I spent a lot more on groceries than I normally do, which is probably due to the following: (1) I bought a lot of non-perishables online and I probably went a little overboard. (2) I stocked up at Costco a few times. (3) I decided to experiment with making my own dehydrated meals and also tried some new foods for camping trips (that could be its own post!) (4) I  cut out sugar and am eating more natural items and I tried a lot of new products for this as well (this could also be its own post). However, an interesting note is that if you add groceries + dining out, I spent less in total this year than I do on average (almost 20% less). 

Transportation: (Increase 14% YoY) This category is often my third biggest as it consists of daily public transportation commute costs plus any car related costs like gas, tolls or maintenance. This year, due to COVID, I actually did go into work every day, but I drove instead of taking public transportation, which upped my car related costs significantly. In addition, I had to buy two new tires and a new side window for the Red Rocket in 2020. 

Travel: (Decrease 64% YoY) This includes any flights, meals, lodging or activities while traveling. This year I took one flight and paid for one that I did not use. Otherwise, I took a couple of road trips. I tried to be more diligent with breaking down my costs, so this does account for all camping, food, gas etc. that I used while doing the road trips, but there were a lot of cooler and backpack meals and wild camping, so the number was very low. 

Misc.: (Decrease 36% YoY) This category is mainly gifts. There are a few credit card fees in there as well, but they are minimal. Normally this includes education, hair cuts and massages, but well...I paid for my education in 2019 and it's still postponed, and there have been no hair cuts this year and I decided to put my one massage in Health instead. 

Entertainment: (Increase 10% YoY) This consists of any running, camping, music or national park related items or any other fun activities (excluding travel). This category was larger than normal because of my different allocations this year. In prior years, running shoes were under "shopping" but this year I decided to put them under entertainment. In addition, if I bought food that was only going to be used for camping (a bit of a grey area at times), I categorized it here. The big ticket items were a new tent, two concerts and three pairs of running shoes (I always buy them if they are on sale). 

Health: (Increase 69% YoY) This consists of gym membership, health insurance, doctors visits and things like vitamins and protein powder. This year my insurance increased a little, and I also spent some money trying to figure out a pain I had in my foot at the beginning of the year. However, I did finally cancel the gym membership that I was paying for every money but not using! 

Shopping: (Decrease 29% YoY) This category was mostly toiletries, home supplies and kitchen gadgets, with the bulk of the total going towards a new Ninja. Actually my second largest subcategory here was pet supplies. Gato had fleas a few years ago and I have happily spent money on flea treatment and prevention since then. Fleas give me nightmares.  

Dining Out: (Decrease 90% YoY) Most of my dining out is covered in travel. In fact, I only dined out a few times in January and February when I had some friends visit and we went for beers etc. Otherwise, I bought burritos for my two office mates mid-COVID but that is it! 

The Verdict?: I am now an expert at online shopping. I know where to find a good sugar-free jerky and that MRIs and pet supplies are expensive. Reading and weeding are both free. Owning a house is not. I wonder if next year's grocery number will be lower because I will still be working my way through all of the beef sticks and protein powders that I bought this year. 

Did you spend more or less in 2020 than you normally do? Which categories do you think differed the most year over  year? 

Looking Back: December

Well, that was an interesting month. On December 7th, California imposed another Stay at Home requirement, so I got a lot of stuff done around the house last month!

Running: Definitely not my highest running month ever, but December went out with a bang when I realized on the 29th that I was less than 5,000 feet away from having a total feet climbed of 400,000. So on the 30th, I went and ran up and down a hill near my house a few times and on the 31st instead of drinking champagne, I went and did a trail run to get those last few thousand feet of climbing in. I ended the year with 400,433 feet of climbing. 

Reading: In December I read my most books ever for one month. None of them were total duds, although I did give one book two stars only because I did not like the tone of the narrator (I listened to it as an audiobook and the author was the narrator). My favorite was Christadora, which made it into my top books of 2020. A few others I enjoyed were Gimme Everything You Got (an easy, fast YA read), The Black Swan of Paris (who doesn't love a WWII French resistance novel) and On Tyranny (an interesting comparison between Nazi Germany and the current US).

Travel: Crickets! The furthest I traveled was my commute to work. Oh, I also went to Costco once for a grocery haul so I would not have to go to the store a lot during the shut down. Other than that, I guess going back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom were my big forays for the month! 

Misc.: I actually got a lot of those little annoying things that you do not like doing done in December. I cleaned out several closets, sorted and threw away paperwork, finally deep scrubbed the bathroom grout, installed a security system myself (it even works!), went through that darn junk drawer and other assorted things like that. I also worked in the yard a couple of times each week, as the Maple tree just keeps giving! I am also doing a lot of video calls!

How was your December? What did you do for the holidays? Did you read any good books? 

Best of 2020: Books

Well it's that time of year again, time to do the wrap ups! This year, due to spending a lot more time at home than I normally do, I read a lot more books than I normally do. In fact, this is the most books read per year since I started tracking and even more than some of the years where I was not working and was traveling a lot. In addition, I read over 20 books in one month alone, which is definitely the most I have ever read in a month! I guess it was that kind of year! 

I always like looking back and remembering what my favorite books were for the year and really enjoy reading other people's lists as well (and adding books to my to-read list!). Here are my recaps from prior years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

And now, in no particular order, here are my favorite ten twelve books that I read in 2020. 

Five Stars:

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This was a very entertaining book about a rock band in the 60s; it's all about the sex, drugs and rock and roll and it doesn't disappoint. It is written in an interview style and goes back and forth between stories, but that does not detract from the story at all, in fact, it actually made it very entertaining, in my opinion. 

The River by Peter Heller: Two friends go out on a fishing trip in Northern Canada thinking that they are going to have a nice time catching up, fishing and enjoying nature but they end up getting more of an adventure than they bargained for. I won't say more in fear of spoiling it for readers, but let's just say that I finished this book in one day! 

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger: In the 1930s many Native American children in Minnesota were separated from their families and sent to be "educated." This is the story of two brothers who attempt to escape this life. You really begin to like these brothers and their friends and are rooting for their journey to succeed. Of course they come upon hard times and danger and adventure along the way. 

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow: I actually did not know what this book was about when I started it; I only put it on my to-read because it had good reviews. However, once I started it, I was both disgusted and enthralled by the story. It is an investigative journalism story about the Weinstein ordeal, not only what he did, but how hard it was to find women willing to testify and how corrupt and controlling the big men in big chairs really are. It was very interesting hearing some of the "behind the scenes" information. 

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou: This was another investigative journalism piece about an ordeal that had been in the news a lot but that I did not know a lot of details about. This talks about the Theranos scandal, which if you are unfamiliar was a company that sold a machine that did blood testing, but they were delivering fraudulent results. Once again, there were some big power people at play here and the fight between might and right is in the forefront of the situation. 

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman: This book was written by a woman in the strict Satmar sect of the Hasidic Jewish faith. She talks about what it is like to be in a faith where woman have little rights. She is married off at an early age to a man she barely knew and after getting pregnant, decided to try to escape. It is not easy however, as the sect keeps to themselves and if you leave you are often ostracized. I learned a lot about the faith through this book and wanted her to be able to just leave but also understood the difficulties of trying to do so. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: This book is about a man who lives a pretty by-the-books boring life. One day, his employer sends him to an island for an assignment and it turns out to be one where there are magical (and dangerous) children. He is there to evaluate them and their caretaker and in the end, he gets more than he bargained for. This was a touching book with a couple of twists thrown in and was one that was hard to put down. 

Christadora by Tim Murphy: I had this on hold for a while and finally got it right at the end of the year so it was a last minute five star add. About a family through time, it talks about the struggles of the AIDs movement, issues with addiction, mental disorders and emotional pain. It does jump back and forth a little between time periods, which was a little difficult, but all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Four Stars: I had a lot of four star reviews this year! Normally three stars is more common for me, basically when I found a book good but not totally wow, but this year I either got more generous or more of them caught my fancy! 

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes & The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson: I am combining this one, because both of these books are about the packhorse librarians of Kentucky and they were both very enjoyable. The packhorse librarians were a group of women in the early 1900s who would ride horses through the remote mountains of Appalachia to deliver books to people who lived too far out of town to come in and get them. In 1930, about 30% of the people living in eastern Kentucky could not read and did not have a school to go to, so this was their only way of learning. These books were both fiction, but they gave me a very interesting peek into the way that things worked in that area, and they make me think of how lucky I am that right now I have about 20 books checked out from the library! 

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld: This book is a fictional book about what would have happened to Hillary if she had not married Bill Clinton. It has a bit of raunchy areas that I felt it could have done without, and they made me cringe a little, but otherwise it is entertaining and sometimes when reading (or listening in my case) you forget that it is not a biography. I had to go and look up a couple of things to see if they really happened! 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: I am not the only one who liked this book; it is on a lot of the top 2020 book lists and that made me put it off for a while actually. However, once I read it, I saw what all of the hype was about. It is about a set of light skinned twins who run away from home and one of them goes off and passes herself as white while the other moves back to their hometown with their mother. They live very separate lives for a while but eventually their paths cross again. 

It was hard to pick only ten this year as I read a lot of good books (hence the extra two)! Some of the others that I enjoyed this year included: A Burning, We Are Not From Here, The Girl with the Louding Voice, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Last Train to London, Sigh, Gone, Saving Ruby King, Know My Name, One of Us is Lying, Dear Edward, Shoe Dog, The Story Keeper, City of Girls, Cilka's Journey, Talking to Strangers, I'll Be Gone in The Dark & I Am Malala. 

What were your favorite books in 2020? Did you read more this year than you normally do?