Amy Sisson's 2021 list of books read - "Hope Springs Eternal"

List of books read in 2021

1. Practically Seventeen by Rosamond du Jardin (repeat). Read 01-03-2021.
2. Greetings from Glenna by Marjory Hall (repeat). Read 01-06-2021.
3. Whirl of Fashion by Marjory Hall (repeat). Read 01-08-2021.
4. Flair for Fashion by Betty Ferm (repeat). Read 01-12-2021.
5. Beth Hilton, Model by Lee Wyndham (repeat). Read 01-14-2021.
6. Lynn, Cover Girl by Nina Wilcox Putnam (repeat). Read 01-22-2021.
7. Betty Loring, Illustrator by Jessica Lyons (repeat). Read 01-26-2021.
8. Frills and Thrills: The Career of a Young Fashion Designer by Louise Barnes Gallagher (repeat). Read 02-03-2021.
9. Mary Bray, Fashion Designer by Louise Barnes Gallagher (repeat). Read 02-11-2021.
10. Buttons and Beaux by Louise Barnes Gallagher and Lee Wyndham (repeat). Read 02-17-2021.
11. Clotheshorse by Marjory Hall (repeat). Read 02-23-2021.
12. A Hatbox for Mimi by Marjory Hall (repeat). Read 02-27-2021.
13. Tomorrow is Another Day by Marjory Hall (repeat). Read 03-04-2021.
14. A Star for Ginny by Phyllis A. Whitney. Read 03-23-2021.
15. A Window for Julie by Phyllis A. Whitney. Read 04-02-2021.
16. All Systems Red by Martha Wells (repeat). Read 04-29-2021.
17. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. Read 04-29-2021.
18. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. Read 04-30-2021.
19. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Read 05-28-2021.
20. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. Read 06-10-2021.
21. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Read 06-15-2021.
22. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. Read 06-24-2021.
23. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Read 06-28-2021.
24. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy. Read 07-02-2021.
25. Puddin' by Julie Murphy. Read 07-04-2021.
26. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. Read 07-07-2021.
27. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. Read 07-08-2021.
28. Losers Bracket by Chris Crutcher. Read 07-06-2021.
29. Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy. Read 07-10-2021.
30. Landline by Rainbow Rowell. Read 07-19-2021.
31. Pumpkin by Julie Murphy. Read 07-21-2021.
32. The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. Read 07-22-2021.
33. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy. Read 07-26-2021.
34. The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson. Read 07-27-2021.
35. This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia. Read 07-31-2021.
36. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Read 08-04-2021.
37. Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho. Read 08-08-2021.
38. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Read 08-20-2021.
39. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis. Read 08-22-2021.
40. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. Read 08-24-2021.
41. A World Just Right by Jen Brooks. Read 09-01-2021.
42. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. Read 09-05-2021.
43. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. Read 09-08-2021.
44. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. Read 09-09-2021.
45. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Read 09-12-2021.
46. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. Read 09-15-2021.
47. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. Read 09-17-2021.
48. Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead. Read 09-21-2021.
49. Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll. Read 10-1-2021.
50. Burning Blue by Paul Griffin. Read 10-13-2021.
51. The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. Read 12-10-2021.
52. Our Subway Baby by Peter Mercurio. Read 12-10-2021.
53. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. Read 12-17-2-21.

Categories:
Children's - Contemporary - 2
Children's - Picture Books - 1
General Fiction - Contemporary - 3
Literary Fiction - 1
Mystery/Thriller - 7
Romance - Contemporary - 3
Romance/Fantasy - Contemporary - 1
YA - contemporary - 11
YA - fantasy - 1
YA - vintage - 15
SF - 5
SF - Children's - 1
SF - Literary - 2

New - 39
Repeat - 14

Happy new year! How are you finding title by author, so far? ;-)

>2 Dilara86:

LOL! It was terrific, thanks!

Just re-read the first two in a loose series of three books in the vintage YA career romance genre: Frills and Thrills and Mary Bray, Fashion Designer. I've read these before, but I don't know that I noticed last time how very Mary Sue-ish these are. The main character always looks perfect. Every man she meets finds her fascinating. She's not even sure she wants to be a fashion designer but then is amazingly successful. Everything happens for her convenience; for instance, at the end of the first book she's engaged and at the beginning of the second book she's married. She's quit fashion design because her husband can't bear for her to work (gag, but ok, the times). When he goes off to WWII, though, she thinks, "Maybe they'll take me back at such-and-such company" and a few days later, they approach her, begging her to come back. Later, she hesitates to take a vacation from New York to Texas because it's considered irresponsible to travel unnecessarily during wartime, and a few days later her bosses conveniently approach her about a work trip to Texas that they really need her to take. It would be nice if life really worked that way!

Ah well, might as well re-read the third one while I'm at it! It has a co-author, so maybe the Mary Sue-ishness will be toned down.

Really enjoyed The Rosie Project by Graema Simsion, an inverted "chick lit" novel written by a man and featuring a male main character who is socially challenged. Picture Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory before he met Amy Farrah Fowler. I enjoyed this sweet book.

>5 amysisson: I thought that the main character from The Rosie Project was explicitly Autistic. Is that not true? I haven't read it yet, but it was recommended to me on that basis.

>6 Julie_in_the_Library: You're probably right, although the book makes more explicit mention of Asperger's than of autism. At one point the main character gives a talk to a group of kids with Asperger's and their parents.

I quite enjoyed Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, about two women exchanging e-mails at work and the IT worker who can't help but read them. It was sweet and funny.

>7 amysisson: As of the latest edition of the DSM, Asperger's as a separate diagnosis no longer exists. It's all Autism Spectrum Disorder now. And Asperger's Syndrome was always* just another name for what was also called, rather unfortunately, "High-Functioning Autism" to begin with, anyway - it was always a type or form of Autism.

The use of a separate name for that particular presentation of Autism**, along with things like functioning labels, is a very big, very controversial, very divisive can of worms in the Autism community - and in the Autism Parents community, which is not at all the same community, most of the time - but I won't get into that mess here.***

So older books - and current books, for that matter, some people have refused to leave the terminology behind, which is also controversial - that make use of the Asperger's terminology are, in fact, discussing one particular presentation, or set of presentations, of Autism.

*This is simplified, obviously, but Steve Silberman already wrote a whole book, so I'm not going to. If you read his book, it is important to note that he is much kinder and more generous with the benefit of the doubt re the whole Nazi thing than many, myself included, would be, and that it's a bit old now, which may be why.

**The use of Asperger's as a term in particular is controversial, as well, due to the whole Nazi thing. The controversy re functioning labels ties into this as well, of course, since the idea of both functioning labels and a separate diagnosis for certain types of Autism both originate in, and are inherently tied to, eugenics.

***So I have gotten into that mess a little here. Oops. Sorry for the rant. This is a bit of a hot-button topic for me, as an Autistic person myself.

>9 Julie_in_the_Library:

Thank you for the explanation. I admit this is something I know very little about, and I had no idea about the context that you've explained. Apologies for my insensitivity and ignorance.

I finished Troubled Blood, the fifth Cormoran Strike detective novel by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling. As always, the characters of Cormoran and Robyn were the best part of the book. This one could have been cut by at least 25%, but I still enjoyed it.

>11 amysisson: I think I said it could have been about 100 pages shorter, so I’m glad not to be alone in that assessment. I do enjoy the characters.

Finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, and thought it was excellent. I had just watched the mini-series before starting the book. I almost never read a book after having viewed a screen adaptation first, but thought this was worth making an exception. Overall, the series was quite true to the book.

I read Dumplin' by Julie Murphy and gave it 4 stars. I would have given it 4 1/2 if there had been one more line of dialog to stick the landing. Immediately after finishing it, I watched the Netflix movie version and loved it. Great casting all around!

Just finished Puddin' by Julie Murphy, which focuses on two characters, Millie and Callie, from Dumplin'. Once again, I enjoyed it, but there's just something slightly off about the ending. This time is was a little too pat for my taste.

Finished When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, a sweet YA novel about two Indian American recent high school graduates, and their hopes and dreams for the future.

Read The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. I started it in May and it took me until July 8 to finish it, so that tells you something. The whole point of the book is that sometimes mysteries go unsolved, which isn't satisfying ... and then it doesn't solve the mystery. Yes, I know that in real life mysteries often aren't solved. That's not why I'm reading mystery stories!

Read Losers Bracket by Chris Crutcher. I'm glad I read this YA novel about a teenage girl in foster care, and her complex relationships with her foster family as well as her biological relatives. But I found the plot a little too convoluted, and I couldn't help be aware of the Crutcher-trademark "wise adults" -- three of them this time: a hip librarian, an 80-something rough guy biker, and a social worker. Actually, four -- a therapist as well, but you expect a therapist to dispense therapy! Anyway, not his best work but certainly not his worst.

Read Dear Sweet Pea, a middle grade book by the author of Dumplin'. Sweet Pea (Patricia) navigates her parents' recent divorce, and her changing relationships with her two closest friends. There were a few elements that were a bit unbelievable, but overall it was sweet (no pun intended).

Just finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I liked it, but not as much as several of her other books. I can't put my finger on why I didn't like it more than I did. I also struggled to classify it's genre -- ultimately I settled on "Romance/Fantasy - Contemporary". The main character, whose marriage seems to be on the rocks, finds her present self talking to his past self via an apparently magical telephone.

Just finished Pumpkin by Julie Murphy, third book in what I'm calling the "Dumplin-verse". Each book can be read as standalone because they all focus on different main characters, but it's fun to read them in order and see how characters cross over into each other's stories.

Read The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu, about malicious rumors circulating through a high school in a small Texas town. I read this on the strength of Jennifer Mathieu's book Moxie, which I just learned was also made into a Netflix movie. Both of Mathieu's books have some of the same themes, including double standards for boys and girls, and Texas's hero-worship of high school football players. Some of the characters in The Truth About Alice do some truly unforgiveable things, so it wasn't a light read by any means. I ilked it, but the end felt a little abrupt to me.

Just finished Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy. Wow! This book is about a girl from a small town in Mississippi who feels the weight of taking care of her sister and father on her shoulders. She's also queer, and coming off her first big heartbreak when something happens to make her wonder about her sexual identity. The characters are fully fleshed out, and they all care about and support each other so much.

Finished The Accidental Beauty Queen. Fun chick lit. Anyone who likes the movie Miss Congeniality would probably enjoy this.

I realized my list was missing a repeat I read in February: A Hatbox for Mimi by Marjory Hall. It's one of my vintage career romance novels that I collect.

Just finished This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia. She's terrific at characters, and always tries to have a few plot surprises up her sleeve. I hope she has something new coming soon!

Re-read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. This is my third time. It's a charming, quick read.

Just finished Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho, which I read in a day. Complex coming-of-age novel about a teen boy and girl who've been best friends since they were six years old.

Just finished The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis. It was surprisingly short given that it was turned into such a meaty mini-series. It's a solid book and I enjoyed it, but I have to say, the Netflix adaptation was brilliant. It kept almost all of the important stuff, and added a lot of emotion and excitement to the chess matches.

Read The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. Although I guessed several plot elements, I didn't guess them all. It was a fun thriller.

>29 amysisson: I agree. The mini-series was wonderful. It fleshed out some of the minor characters that were in the book, such as the mother. She was a great character in the Netflix version. The book was good too, but it was brought to life brilliantly in the series.

>31 NanaCC: I agree, the mother was so poignant in the series!

There are two parts of the series that I have watched several times over. Her first tournament in episode 2 (Kentucky State Championship), and the whole Russian tournament in the finale. The facial expressions, both hers and her opponents', add so much to watching the matches being played out.

Missed a book in there -- I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Wow! Interesting narrative structure -- it's told in turns by boy-and-girl twins: his part when they're about 13 and her part when they're about 16. Very skillfully done.

Finished A World Just Right by Jen Brooks. Wasn't honestly sure what to rate it at first. Interesting premise, lagged quite a bit in the middle, but an intriguing ending. So I'm giving it 4 stars. It's about a teenage boy who at age 8 was the only survivor in his family of a major plane crash; he suffers some disfigurement that makes him withdraw from people, but he also has an ability to create alternate realities and move among them.

Read The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. I quite disliked the writing style -- alternating third-person POV, with characters conveniently withholding their thoughts from the reader until the author wanted to reveal something (that the characters likely would have been thinking about all along). I finished it because I wanted to find out whodunit, and I did like the way things intertwined, right up until we hit one convenient connection too many. I think I'll stick with Gillian Flynn for psychological thrillers from now on.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. Read in one sitting. My one-word review: gorgeous.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Two books by the same author in a row. Both five-stars. She has three earlier novels. I feel like I have to ration myself because I will be sad when there are no more left for me to read for a while.

And it's going to be an HBO limited series, already in post-production, possibly premiering this year !!!!!

Oops, missed another one in my list. I read Gillian Flynn's Dark Places in there. 3 1/2 stars.

Although I only finished it a short time ago, I had to refresh myself on the particulars, which means it didn't stand out as much as some other books do.

The Last Anniversary by Liane Mortiarty. This was a quirky book, about a 39-year-old woman whose biological clock is ticking, and how she comes to be intimately involved with the family of her ex-boyfriend, who live on an island near Sydney, Australia, that's a tourist destination due to a decades-old mystery ... A lot of the book's climax was very funny, and I mostly like the way things turned out, but there was one little add-on at the end that I could have done without.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. An artist who murdered her husband sits mute in a mental ward, while a therapist tries to get her to speak.

Not perfect, but there was definitely a wow moment that was kind of worth the price of admission.

Read Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead. I chose this based on how much I love her When You Reach Me, which I've read three times. But in this book, although the author has a way with creating charming, layered middle-grade characters, she was all over the place, as though this were almost an experimental project. The POV changes between several characters, which is fine. One character has both third-person POV, plus some sections that are him writing letters in first person, which is fine. But another character remains unnamed until the end of the book, with her sections in second person present tense. This character is referring to characters that none of the others do, so it's quite confusing. I figured out who this one was just before it was revealed, and it was just one big ... fizzle.

Read Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll, a terrific YA novel about three teenagers who become friends while working at Unclaimed Baggage, a (real!) store that sells lost luggage and its contents.

Finished Burning Blue by Paul Griffin. Wow. A male teen loner/hacker becomes friends with a girl who suffered an acid attack, and is determined to find out who was behind it.

Finished The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. This book started out with a really strong, startling image and premise that intrigued me. But it got too convoluted, and the epilogue was very disappointing.

Read the picture book Our Subway Baby by Peter Mercurio. Based on a true story. I loved the way the book mirrored so many quotes from the news article. I was wiping my eyes as I was reading it.

Read Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. This book was confusing but mostly effective, although I didn't like the ambiguity of the ending.

This isn't a book that fits easily into genre categories. For the sake of my reading statistics, I'm calling it literary SF.

53 books in 2021, one of which was a picture book. Nowhere near my old reading levels, but a huge improvement over the last couple of years. Going for 75 in 2022, plus a short story each day.

Top five books read in 2021, all given 5-star ratings:

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (I had read this once before, in 2010)