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Books Read in 2021

Friends, the truth: I read like a maniac this year. Some things I read because I enjoyed them. Some things I read because I felt obligated to finish them. Most things I read to determine suitability for my children, who are also voracious readers. (Toby comes to me at least once a week, book in hand, asking, "is this appropriate for me?") If my Goodreads account is accurate (sometimes I forget to mark things down), I've read 170 books this year.

A note: I gave brief explanations when possible. I highlighted in green books that I especially loved, highlighted in blue books that my kids especially enjoyed, and highlighted in red books I do not recommend.

The Bible: the whole thing, twice for the New Testament (still following this reading plan)

Christian Non-Fiction
Parenting (Tripp)
Does God Care How We Worship? (Duncan)
Chosen by God (Sproul)
CASKET EMPTY (commentary/Bible study guide)
Keep a Quiet Heart (Elisabeth Elliot)
The Hiding Place (ten Boom)
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot
Prayer (Keller)

Christian Fiction
In the Field of Grace (story of Ruth)
Lioness: Mahlah's Journey (story of Zelophehad's daughters)
Counted With the Stars (story of the plagues and exodus)
The Gates of Zion

Adult Fiction
Where the Crawdads Sing (audiobook)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz (audiobook)
Cilka's Journey (audiobook)
Moloka'i
The Queen's Thief series (5 books)
Nick (a recently-written prequel to The Great Gatsby)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Dutch House (audiobook)
The Chosen
Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie, audiobook)
The Secret Adversary (Agatha Christie, audiobook)
Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie, audiobook)
All Quiet on the Western Front (WWI historical fiction)
Lovely War (WWI historical fiction)
Killer Angels (Civil War historical fiction)
Peace Like a River (audiobook)
The Evening and the Morning 
The Language of Flowers (audiobook)
Till We Have Faces (retold Greek myth by C.S. Lewis)

Adult Nonfiction
As You Wish (memoir from the Princess Bride movie, audiobook)
Uniquely Human (on autism)
Differently Wired (on neurodiversity)
Quirky, Yes--Helpless, No (on autism)
Neurotribes (the history of autism)
Look Me in the Eye (memoir of life with Asperger's)
Farewell to Manzanar (memoir of WWII from a Japanese-American)
Devil in the White City (world's fair in Chicago)
Hillbilly Elegy (audiobook)

Books for Tween/Teens (Levi read most, but not all, of these as well)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Peter and the Starcatchers series (I've read 1, Levi's read 4)
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series (I've read 3, Levi's read 5; 12+ for snarky tone)
The Boundless
Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard (sequel to Peter Nimble read last year; more adult themes)
A Pocket Full of Murder
The Mutant Mushroom Takeover (very Scooby-doo-ish)
The London Eye Mystery (autistic main character)
The Lion of Mars
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst (third in a series, but slightly more mature than the others)
100 Cupboards//Dandelion Fire 
Amber and Clay (historical fiction from ancient Greece)
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Find a suitable version, or carefully select passages!)
more Ranger's Apprentice books . . . we read most of them last year
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster
Shooting Kabul
Beneath//Above 
Swift//Nomad (we're anxiously waiting for the third, Torch, to become available!)
The Captive Kingdom (fourth book in the Ascendance series)
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (heavy on witches/magic)
Watership Down
Front Desk (story/reading level is younger, but frequent "OMG"s)
Ghost (about running track)
Countdown (historical fiction on the 1960s)
The Endless Steppe (historical fiction on WWII Siberia)
Animal Farm
Inkheart//Inkspell//Inkdeath
Podkin One-Ear series (I've read 3, Levi's read 5)
York series (three books)
Nevermoor series (three books so far)
Keeper of the Lost Cities (books 5-8)
Forward Me Back to You
The Thief Lord
Wishes and Wellingtons//Crime and Carpetbags
Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family
The Science of Breakable Things

Middle Grade Novels (generally ages 9-12, depending on kid and book)
Love Sugar Magic series (three books)
Rain Reign (autistic main character)
The View from Saturday
Rules
Walk Two Moons
Brown Girl Dreaming (story told in verse)
The Dreamer (stylized biography of a real poet)
A Night Divided (historical fiction on the Berlin Wall)
Across Five Aprils (historical fiction on the Civil War)
Leepike Ridge (recommended by Silas)
Red//Grump//Jack//Rump (fairy tales retold)
Catherine's War (historical fiction graphic novel on WWII)
A Thunderous Whisper (historical fiction on the Spanish Civil War)
Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine (gold-digging in Alaska)
The Wishing Spell (Land of Stories book 1) (I realize these are hugely popular, but I think the writing is so bad. There's no reason to waste time on bad writing.)
Moon Over Manifest
Breaking Stalin's Nose
Number the Stars
The House That Wasn't There (recommended by Toby)
The Watcher (historical fiction on WWII)
The War That Saved My Life (historical fiction on WWII)
Hereville graphic novel series (three books)
Clayton Bird Goes Underground
A Place to Hang the Moon (historical fiction on WWII)
Almost Forever (historical fiction in prose on the Vietnam War)
Shine!
The Upstairs Room (historical fiction on WWII)
Inside Out and Back Again (historical fiction in prose on the Vietnam War)
Sing For Your Father, Su Phan (mostly-autobiographical on the Vietnam War)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon series (three books)
a handful of Redwall books -- the kids read more of them than I did this year
Shadow Hawk (historical fiction on ancient Egypt)
When Stars are Scattered (graphic novel on a Somali refugee camp)
The Mistmantle Chronicles (five books)
The Iron Ring
The Egypt Game
The Land of Elyon series (I've read 2, the kids have read 3)
Circus Mirandus and Bootlace Magician
The Ship of Stolen Words
Adventures with Waffles
The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and The Whispering Wars -- the first two mentioned previously as the beginning story of The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst (but all three stand alone just fine)
The One and Only Bob (sequel to the One and Only Ivan)
The Golden Bull (historical fiction on ancient Mesopotamia)
The Golden Goblet (historical fiction on ancient Egypt)
The Story Girl (the content is elementary, but old-fashioned language requires explanation)

Elementary Chapter Books (safe and fun for all independent readers)
The Fabled Stables series (two books; third coming out next year)
Homer on the Case (a detective pigeon)
The Light Princess (classic George MacDonald)
Skunk and Badger
Wishtree
The Wild Robot/The Wild Robot Escapes
The Lost Boy's Gift
The Search for Delicious
The Castle Corona
Love That Dog/Hate That Cat (written as elementary-school poetry)

Family Read-Alouds (not including what Isaac reads to them at bedtime)
The Green Ember series (four books)
The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud
The Dreamer, the Schemer, and the Robe (will be almost finished by the end of the year)


Anything you loved this year that I should put on my TBR list for 2022?



Previous lists:
2020
2019











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