Book Lists 2021 Book • Page 6

Back when you guys all posted your shelfies I really wanted to post mine but we'd just packed all our stuff up for a cross-country move.

Now, three months later, things are finally settled in and unpacked lol. So it's my turn to brag/get validation, ha. Apologies in advance for the long post.

First up, shots of the main bookshelves:

I try to keep things single-stacked when I can, but sometimes that isn't possible. There are about a dozen Shannara paperbacks behind the hardcovers and probably an additional 20 books by Pratchett, Goodkind, and Gemmell behind them on their shelf. The bottom two shelves on the right have cabinet doors so there's a bunch of stuff behind those, mostly Dragonlance and Mithgar and assorted fantasy/sci-fi/horror.




Poor lighting in that last shot but I can't be bothered to retake it. YA series that are in my son's room, though he's not yet two so they're mostly aspirational for him at this point.

Then some favorites in our bedroom:


Finally, here's a stack of books that are either new and need to be shelved or are planned donations but I need to read them first:


I technically have another ~500 books that live permanently at my parents' house, but a lot of those are random things I picked up, indie/local authors, religious books, that sort of thing. Anything that was a favorite I took with me when I moved out. I've also gotten heavily into ebooks/audiobooks in recent years, which kind of skews things—at one point my shelves were a pretty complete representation of the books I liked because I bought and kept everything I read. Now I've winnowed my physical collection to books I absolutely want to own/special editions/that sort of thing, and I rely heavily on digital copies and the library to read all the other books that I'm interested in. Such is life.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me, haha. I definitely didn't feel properly moved in to our new place until I got the books all settled. As a bonus, this new apartment has lots more storage space than our old one, so I'm looking seriously at the possibility of expanding to a new shelf altogether.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was suckered into the Way of Kings leatherbound, haha. Beautiful shelves.

 

Haha now the real question is what to do about Words of Radiance. I own it in paperback but not hardcover. I should probably wait until the leatherbound Kickstarter is announced... but I'm really tempted to grab a hardcover copy in the meantime anyway, and that makes me wonder if my plan really is to own all his books in hardcover and leatherbound. That seems silly... but also gorgeous, so...?

 

It's probably my plan, honestly, haha.

 

UPDATED List:

1. The Dead Zone - Stephen King
2. The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones
3. One by One - Ruth Ware
4. The Books of Two Ways - Jodi Picoult
5. Rosemary’s Baby - Ira Levin
6. NOS4A2 - Joe Hill
7. Horns - Joe Hill
8. Let Me In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
9. Clown in a Cornfield - Adam Cesare
10. Mother May I - Joshilyn Jackson
11. The Push - Ashley Audrain
12. The Jigsaw Man - Nadine Matheson
13. The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward
14. Devil’s Creek - Todd Keisling
15. Find You First - Linwood Barclay
16. Devolution - Max Brooks
17. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett
18. The Maidens - Alex Michaelides
19. Children of the Dark - Jonathan Janz
20. Survive the Night - Riley Sager
21. The Burning Girls - CJ Tudor
22. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
23. The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig
24. Billy Summers - Stephen King
25. Rovers - Richard Lange
26. Carrie - Stephen King
27. The Winter People - Jennifer McMahon
28. The Troop - Nick Cutter
29. Horsemen: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow - Christine Henry
30. Unspeakable Things - Jess Lourey
31. Chasing the Boogeyman - Richard Chizmar

Currently on deck:
Whisper Down the Lane - Clay McLeod Chapman
Goblin - Josh Malerman
The Death of Jane Lawrence - Caitlin Starling

 

I got a little behind, ahem:

August:

89. Rick Riordan - The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase #1)
90. Rick Riordan - The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase #2)
91. Rick Riordan - The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase #3)
92. Robert Jordan - Warrior of the Altaii
93. Sylvain Neuvel - A History of What Comes Next
94. Brandon Sanderson - Lux (Reckoners #4)
95. Heather Morris - The Tattooist of Auschwitz
96. Heather Morris - Cilka's Journey
97. Ben H. Winters - The Last Policeman
98. Ben H. Winters - Countdown City
99. Ben H. Winters - World of Trouble
100. Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man
101. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness
102. Dan Wells - I Am Not A Serial Killer
103. Jesmyn Ward - Sing, Unburied, Sing
104. Richard Rothstein - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

September:

105. Joel Cohen - How To Lose A Marathon
106. Beth Macy - Dopesick
107. Adrian J. Walker - The End of the World Running Club
108. Blake Crouch - Dark Matter
109. Blake Crouch - Recursion
110. J.R.R. Tolkien - Mr. Bliss
111. Mark Adams - Turn Right at Machu Picchu
112. J.R.R Tolkien - The Silmarillion
113. J.R.R. Tolkien - Beren and Luthien
114. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Fall of Gondolin
115. Anu Partanen - The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life
116. Matt Fitzgerald - Life Is A Marathon: A Memoir of Love and Endurance

October:

117. Dennis E. Taylor - Outland
118. Kevin D. Mitnick - The Art of Deception
119. Sam Quinones - Dreamland
120. Melissa Erin Jackson - Diabolical Sword
121. Fonda Lee - Jade City
122. Fonda Lee - Jade War
123. Alix E. Harrow - The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Currently reading Ted Chiang's "Exhalation" short stories set. May finish it before the end of the month, but I'm definitely gearing more into music lately.

 

@Vivatoto You should check out the Fonda Lee books if you haven't.

 

Amazon has been reccing those to me and I've been meaning to ask in the Fantasy thread about them. That settles it, I think it will be my next fantasy series.

 

Don't go in expecting Poppy war... but also, it's kind of a comp? Very similar vibes/worldbuilding with wildly different results.

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but does anyone have any book suggestions for a big Steven King/Horror fan? I usually get my mom one of his books for Christmas but it looks like he only released crime/mystery novels this year, not sure she's into those.

 

Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son. He’s written a few that are as good as King. Either N0S4A2 if she likes IT, or The Fireman if she likes the Stand

 

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chobsky (I think that’s his last name) is in the vein of vintage King.

 

Peter Straub might also be a good pick. I've only read Ghost Story so far, but it was fantastic.

 

I went with The Fireman (kind of because I also want to read it).

Thanks for the recs everybody

 

Final list.

 

1 less than last year! Extremely impressive!

 

I technically have time to finish the one I started this morning on my drive to work, but I don't see myself listening when I'm off work tomorrow.

 

Final list.

Felt like a pretty good year. I did not read The Recognitions, but I did read a lot more non-fiction than I normally do, which was great. I would have added a few more to this list in December, but my book club picked Demons by Dostoevsky so I've been working through that.

 

Did you like The Secret History? I'm a big fan of The Goldfinch but could not enjoy this one at all. I read it this year as well.

 

I'm also a pretty big fan of The Goldfinch, and I thought the first half of Secret History was spectacular, but it really fell off in the second half.

 

I agree that the first half was the better half. I think the second half is what soured me on it so much.

 

Final list for the year!

I ended with 53 books. This is less than what I've read in the last two years, but I noticed that I didn't give any books a rating lower than 3/3.5, so I'm feeling accomplished on that end. I also read a lot of books for work that I didn't track on Goodreads because I don't want to mess up the algorithm over there.

I also used the Hoopla app to check out graphic novels and read them over there! Some of my favorites:

• "Daredevil" by Charles Soule
• "Descender/Ascender" by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
• "Nailbiter" by Joshua Williamson
• "Something is Killing the Children" by James Tynion IV
• "Abbott" by Saladin Ahmed

My top five books I read this year (in no order):

• Broken Horses - Brandi Carlile
  
• Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In - Phuc Tran
  
• The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig
  
• This Thing Between Us - Gus Moreno
  
• Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) - Dan Ozzi

 

that's it for me this year!

 

I'm currently reading 3 books, but it's doubtful that I'll finish any of them today. I tried adding most of the comics that I could remember reading that didn't make it into Goodreads for one reason or another, but I'm sure I'm missing a few things still.

Books:

1. The Philosophy of Punk: More Than Noise! - Craig O'Hara
2. Duma Key - Stephen King
3. Just After Sunset - Stephen King
4. Under the Dome - Stephen King
5. Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King
6. The Gulp - Alan Baxter
7. 11/22/63 - Stephen King
8. We Make Monsters Here - Richard Newby
9. The Wind Through the Keyhole - Stephen King
10. Joyland - Stephen King
11. Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
12. Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King
13. Revival - Stephen King
14. No Rules, Rules - Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
15. Finder Keepers - Stephen King
16. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - Stephen King
17. End of Watch - Stephen King
18. Gwendy's Button Box - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
19. Disgraceland - Jake Brennan
20. Sleeping Beauties - Stephen King and Owen King
21. The Outsider - Stephen King
22. Elevation - Stephen King
23. Creative Quest - Questlove
24. Purple Cow - Seth Godin
25. Petrified Women - Jeremy Ray
26. NPR's Podcast Start Up Guide - Glen Weldon
27. The Institute - Stephen King
28. If It Bleeds - Stephen King
29. Later - Stephen King
30. Billy Summers - Stephen King
31. Slices of Julie - Nat Brehmer
32. Good Strategy Bad Strategy - Richard P. Rumelt
33. Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen - Brian Raftery
34. The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
35. Moonraker - Ian Fleming
36. Everything Bad is Good for You - Steven Johnson
37. Content Machine - Dan Norris
38. Sellout - Dan Ozzi
39. Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics - Stan Lee
40. Star Wars: Myths & Fables - George Mann
41. Stan Lee's Master Class - Stan Lee
42. Sell of Don't Eat - Don W. Long
43. The Last Final Girl - Stephen Graham Jones
44. Sinkhole - John Wayne Comunale
45. The Magpie Coffin - Wile E. Young

Comics:

1. Crisis on Infinite Earths - Marv Wolfman
2. House of M - Brian Michael Bendis
3. Scarlett Witch Vol. 1 - Dan Abnett
4. Road Rage - Joe Hill
5. Infinite Crisis - Geoff Johns
6. Batgirl/Robin: Year One - Chuck Dixon
7. Batman: Dark Victory - Jeph Loeb
8. The Dark Tower: Treachery - Peter David
9. The Stand: Captain Trips - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
10. The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead - Peter David
11. The Department of Truth Vol. 1 - James Tynion IV
12. Gideon Falls Vol. 1 - Jeff Lemire
13. Locke & Key Vol. 1 - Joe Hill
14. Razorblades #1 - James Tynion IV
15. INsider Art - Shelly Bond
16. Silver Surfer: Black - Donny Cates
17. Cosmic Ghost Rider - Donny Cates
18. Seconds - Bryan Lee O'Malley
19. Ghost Vol. 1 - Kelly Sue DeConnick
20. Monstress Vol. 1 - Marjorie Liu
21. Outcast Vol. 1 - Robert Kirkman
22. The Stand: American Nightmares - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
23. The Stand: Should Survivors - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
24. The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill - Peter David
25. The Dark Tower: The Journey Begins - Peter David
    
26. The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters of Eluria - Peter David
    
27. The Dark Tower: The Battle of Tull - Peter David
    
28. The Dark Tower: The Way Station - Peter David
    
29. The Dark Tower: The Man in Black - Peter David
    
30. Daredevil: Born Again - Frank Miller
31. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear - Frank Miller
32. The Deadliest Bouquet - Erica Schultz

So, as you can tell, it was a very busy Stephen King year for me. I'm caught up on the books! I'm covering the comics for my Patreon, but I should be done reading those within the first half of 2022. Didn't quite hit 50 books, but some of those King reads were 1000+ pages so I can live with that.

 

2021 final list:

1. The Dead Zone - Stephen King
2. The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones
3. One by One - Ruth Ware
4. The Books of Two Ways - Jodi Picoult
5. Rosemary’s Baby - Ira Levin
6. NOS4A2 - Joe Hill
7. Horns - Joe Hill
8. Let Me In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
9. Clown in a Cornfield - Adam Cesare
10. Mother May I - Joshilyn Jackson
11. The Push - Ashley Audrain
12. The Jigsaw Man - Nadine Matheson
13. The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward
14. Devil’s Creek - Todd Keisling
15. Find You First - Linwood Barclay
16. Devolution - Max Brooks
17. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett
18. The Maidens - Alex Michaelides
19. Children of the Dark - Jonathan Janz
20. Survive the Night - Riley Sager
21. The Burning Girls - CJ Tudor
22. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
23. The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig
24. Billy Summers - Stephen King
25. Rovers - Richard Lange
26. Carrie - Stephen King
27. The Winter People - Jennifer McMahon
28. The Troop - Nick Cutter
29. Horsemen: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow - Christine Henry
30. Unspeakable Things - Jess Lourey
31. Chasing the Boogeyman - Richard Chizmar
32. Whisper Down the Lane - Clay McLeod Chapman
33. A Caller’s Game - J.D. Barker
34. Every Last Fear - Alex Finlay
35. The Lost Village - Cammila Sten
36. The Wife Upstairs - Rachel Hawkins
37. Litani - Jess Loury
38. The Moonlight Child - Karen McQuestion
39. Sellout - Dan Ozzi
40. American Elsewhere - Robert Bennett Jackson (currently reading)