The 22 Books I Read In 2021

2021 sucked but the books didn’t.

• All About Love by bell hooks — hooks is the emotional maturity we all need. I’m a believer in the love ethic.
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett — I’ve had many conversations about this book. On the top of my list for fiction this year for sure.
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson — Important. My biggest takeaway was this quote by Wilkerson, “I often say that caste is so fixed that if you can act your way out of it, then it’s class; but if you cannot act your way out of it, then it’s caste.”
• Homebody by Rupi Kaur — Love her. Great book to pick up on the weekends.
• Humankind by Rutger Bregman — I really liked Utopia for Realists but didn’t get as much out of this. I find his research on the level of Malcolm Gladwell, more for a narrative than credible.
• Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss — Heartbreaking, necessary reading for white people, especially in Australia.
• Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman — I wish Ullman was my mentor and friend.
• Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener — I really liked this book but it felt simultaneously cringe and validating. I will absolutely be reading every book Wiener publishes in the future.
• Deacon King Kong by James McBride — I couldn’t finish it tbh but I really suck at fiction.
• The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney by Okechukwu Nzelu — Couldn’t finish this either. I wasn’t convinced female characters were female?
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde — Love
• Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall — Love. Helped check me on some of my white feminism, especially when it comes to hijabs.
• Conflict Is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman — Wow, highly recommend for understanding the queer community and those wanting to organize.
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro — It’s a vibe and a nice break from non-fiction.
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera — I don’t know, it was fine. I came for the philosophy and left with a sad dude chatter.
• Mansfield & Me: A Graphic Memoir by Sarah Laing — My first adult graphic novel. Love that she’s from New Zealand. It was a beautiful read.
• The State of Affairs by Esther Perel — She has a cult following. I think she’s fine. It was a nice perspective in not seeing affairs so black and white.
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk — Didn’t finish because I internalized others trauma too much and needed a break.
• Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper — Love her.
• Against Interpretation and Other Essays by Susan Sontag — Holy fuck, didn’t know what the fuck was happening and what I was getting myself into
• Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe — Skipped around this book a bit but long story short, UNIONIZE.

I’m linking to wikipedia for these books and authors so you can research more and if you decide to purchase, hopefully get it from a local bookstore. Friendly reminder that Amazon owns Goodreads, Abe Books, The Book Depository (here’s the full list). I thought that Amazon bought out Barnes & Noble but they were actually acquired by a hedge fund.

And for audio books (Amazon owns Audible), I highly recommend Libro.fm

See also, The 22 Books I Read in 2020.