Well it’s a new year and you might be asking yourself:
“What in the world do I read next?”
Both Haddi and I have received notes from folks, some who read this blog…others who don’t, asking what we would recommend for them to read in 2021. It’s a great question, but whew, it is also a HUGE questions. So we decided to narrow it down a bit and looking at the books we read in 2020, here are our Top 10 recommendations for you to read in 2021.
Haddi’s List
Book | Author | Why I recommend it… | |
10 | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot | I love learning something new while also getting a great story. This books is an excellent combination of both science and story! (nonfiction; science; biography) |
9 | The Weight of Ink | Rachel Kadish | Intriguing story that sucks you in and won’t let go with a little history sprinkled in and brilliant female characters. (fiction) |
8 | So You Want to Talk About Race | Ijeoma Oluo | Candid and readable. A great book to help people start to understand the nature of racism in this country and the real life effects racism has on individuals. (nonfiction; racism) |
7 | The Historian | Elizabeth Kostova | A new and fresh way to enter into the Dracula lore. Kostova is an amazing story teller and even though this book is 700+ pages long, I’ve read it twice in three years! That’s how good it is! (fiction) |
6 | The Radium Girls | Kate Moore | The story of the women who worked in dial factories during WWI and the effects of working closely with radioactive materials had on their lives. A super interesting (and sad) story and a very readable history. (nonfiction; history) |
5 | The Cross and the Lynching Tree | James H. Cone | Profound. Literally changed my framework for understanding racism, Christ, and the role of ‘Church’ in America. (nonfiction; religion; racism) |
4 | The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper | Hallie Rubenhold | Stories that had been lost to history are no longer. Women are more than props for men’s histories. These women had lives, families, relationships; Rubenhold does an excellent job of bringing these women back to life. (nonfiction; history) |
3 | Eloquent Rage | Brittney Cooper | Just brilliant! Unapologetic, candid, and insightful. Cooper tells her story while discussing many of the issues facing women; white, black, and brown in this country. (nonfiction; feminism; racial justice) |
2 | Catherine the Great | Robert K. Massie | This one is quite the read but so worth it! I cannot tell you how much I learned about Russian history and Catherine was an amazing leader and woman! (nonfiction; biography) |
1 | The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club (trilogy) | Theodora Goss | Just plain fun! A group of extraordinary women working together to do extraordinary things! Love it! (fiction) |
Hannah’s List
Book | Author | Why I recommend it… | |
10 | The Wild Robot | Peter Brown | A great book to read as a family or alone. Unexpected delightful. |
9 | Being Mortal | Atul Gawande | We all die and experience death in our lives. This book addresses that process with compassion and grace. |
8 | Royal Holiday | Jasmine Guillory | My favorite “adult” romance novelist and this book in particular is a mature love story which I always enjoy |
7 | Race to the Sun | Rebecca Roanhorse | I love all Roanhorse’s work, but this middle school chapter book was a delight and I look forward to sharing it with my kiddos. |
6 | How to be an Antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi | A lot out there to read about antiracism, but this is a critical examination of both ourselves and our society. Helps reframe how we engage these conversations. |
5 | Just Mercy | Bryan Stevenson | Poignant true story of a lawyer and the injustices of our justice system. You won’t ever look at the system to incarceration the same. |
4 | Eleanor and Park | Rainbow Rowell | YA that is honest about all the characters and doesn’t shy away from the awkward yet intense feelings of being a teenager. |
3 | Eloquent Rage | Brittney Cooper | Broke and rebuilt my engagement in feminism and racism as a white woman. Cooper keeps it real and will remake you. |
2 | The Weight of Stars | K. Ancrum | This book goes deep, quickly and with a purpose. There is so much in between these covers to excavate. YA at its best! |
1 | Emergent Strategy | adrienne maree brown | brown offers an imagination for another way of living in this world, both as the individual and for our societies. The status quo is not inevitable but simply the easiest. We can and must break the momentum of it for all our sakes. |
But what are Haddi and Hannah are reading in 2021?
You may have noticed a few duplicates (but we did try to keep them limited) because last year Haddi started a virtual bookclub and so we ended up reading many of the same books throughout the year. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again in 2021 and chose the theme “Travel” since nobody seems to be going anywhere. We used the seven continents and five (yep, there’s five now) oceans to guide or choices and below you will find a list of the books we will be reading in 2021!
So if feel free to join us on this year’s adventure around the globe!
Month | Book | Author |
1 | The Bear and the Nightingale | Katherine Arden |
2 | Wild Sea | Joy McCann |
3 | There There | Tommy Orange |
4 | The Road from Coorain | Jill Ker Conway |
5 | Someone Knows My Name | Lawrence Hill |
6 | The Dark Child | Camara Laye |
7 | Moloka’i | Alan Brennet |
8 | Terra Incognita | Sara Wheeler |
9 | Great Soul: Mahatma Gahndi… | Joseph Lelyveld |
10 | Ines of My Soul | Isabel Allende |
11 | Last Train to Istanbul | Ayse Kulin |
12 | The Man Who Ate His Boots | Anthony Brandt |