2021: a year for (the) books

[08]: Joy Soldier

2021. A year for the books? Debatable. A year for books? Absolutely. 

In this email you can find the full list of the 60 books I read this year, my top 6 favorites, and a few thematic lists if you’re looking for something in particular. 

If the themes don’t resonate, feel free to respond to this email with precisely what you’re looking for in your next book and I can try to make a rec. Be specific as possible. 

Example: “I’m a 25 year-old who has dated the exact same person over and over again and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing wrong.” I’d recommend Attached. “Oh, and I’m looking for fiction.” Then I’d suggest Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. You get the idea.

Pretty please support your local, independent bookstore.

If you’re in New York, Books Are Magic, Three Lives, The Strand, McNally Jackson, Greenlight, and Book Club Bar are amazing options. If you’re in Michigan, I love Literati and Two Dandelions. If you know great bookstores in Barcelona, please let me know!

If you’re going to buy directly from this list, I’ve included a link to the Bookshop listing (they source from independent bookstores). 

Here’s the booklist from last year. Let me know what you’re excited to read in 2022.

Happy reading!

Sarah

P.S. Wanted to share one of my favorite book moments this year. I was reading at a cafe in the West Village and got a text from my friend Ross to look up. There he was, across the street at Café Kitsuné, also reading. 

We lifted up our books like champagne flutes, made the motion of cheersing across the two-lane street, and promptly went back to reading. It was understood that neither of us were going to leave our hard-won cafe real estate nor did we want to be disturbed from what we were reading.

May we all bring this energy into 2022 and beyond.

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Top 6 Favorite Books This Year

1. Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker (Self-Help)

2. Attached by Amir Levine & Rachel S.F. Heller (Self-Help)

3. Atomic Habits by James Clear (Self-Help)

4. Girlhood by Melissa Febos (Essays)

5. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Fiction)

6. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Fiction)

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Books I wish humans came pre-loaded with…

• Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--And Keep-- Love by Amir Levine & Rachel S.F. Heller

• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones Habits by James Clear

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Fiction I can’t stop thinking about…

• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

If you want to examine your relationship with body, addiction, sex, being a woman in the world, etc.…

• Girlhood by Melissa Febos

• My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

• How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir by Cat Marnell

If you’re thinking about stopping drinking…

• Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

• Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol by Ruby Warrington

If you’re getting out of a gnarly break-up…

• Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart by Amy Chan

• Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--And Keep-- Love by Amir Levine & Rachel S.F. Heller

If you want something light…

• Beach Read by Emily Henry

• Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

If you want to move to Europe…

• Learning to Talk to Plants by Marta Orriols

• Paris or Die by Jayne Tuttle

• Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

If you’re thinking about leaving New York…

• Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion

• Goodbye to All That by Sari Botton

• Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer

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THE FULL LIST: 60 Books in 2021

1. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones Habits by James Clear

2. Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--And Keep-- Love by Amir Levine & Rachel S.F. Heller

3. Beach Read by Emily Henry

4. Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney

5. Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart by Amy Chan

6. Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer

7. Clarity & Connection by Yung Pueblo

8. Cobble Hill by Cecily Von Ziegesar

9. Crying in HMart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

10. Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

11. Dearly by Margaret Atwood

12. Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

13. Everybody (Else) Is Perfect: How I Survived Hypocrisy, Beauty, Clicks, and Likes by Gabrielle Korn

14. Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte

15. From Lost to Found: Giving Up What You Think You Want for What Will Set You Free by Nicole Zasowski

16. Girlhood by Melissa Febos

17. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

18. Goodbye to All That by Sari Botton

19. How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir by Cat Marnell

20. Learning to Talk to Plants by Marta Orriols

21. Likes by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

22. Love Letters of Great Men - Vol. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven

23. Love Poems for Married People by John Kenney

24. Love Poems by Pablo Neruda

25. Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

26. Missionaries by Phil Klay

27. My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

28. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

29. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

30. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

31. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

32. Paris or Die by Jayne Tuttle

33. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

34. Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist

35. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

36. Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

37. Severance by Ling Ma

38. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion

39. Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol by Ruby Warrington

40. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker

41. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

42. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

43. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

44. The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine

45. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

46. The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities Into Soulful Practices by Casper Ter Kuile

47. The Sea in You: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love by David Whyte

48. The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks

49. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

50. The Sewanee Review

51. The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent

52. The Woman Destroyed by Simone De Beauvoir

53. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

54. Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

55. Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World by Pema Chodron

56. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir by Kristin Newman

57. What Kind of Woman: Poems by Kate Baer

58. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

59. Writers & Lovers by Lily King

60. Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

Thank you to my book-loving friends who made this year in reads possible.

Abena, Tasha, Faye, Alexis, Lindsay, Memi, Ross, Danielle, Claire, Harrison, Caela, Erin, my mom, and people I spied on at bookstores, cafes, and on the subway— thank you for the recommendations!