2021 Reading Challenge – summary

I didn’t quite make it through the entire 2021 list, but was very close. The goal was 34 books, and I got to 33, including one that did not make the official list due to redundancy. Here’s the final book list for 2021:

1 – Book with a murder in it	Death in a Darkening Mist – Iona Whishaw
2 – A body part in the title	Rabbit Foot Bill – Helen Humphreys
3 – Published before 1939	Whose Body? – Dorothy L. Sayers
4 – Published in 2020	Hamnet and Judith – Maggie O’Farrell
5 – Book about language	Maxwell’s Demon – Steven Hall
6 – Book about travel (non-fiction)	no book in this category
7 – Author’s debut book	Rules of Civility – Amor Towles
8 – Female author	Very Nice – Marcy Dermansky
9 – Book that is or will be a film/TV show	Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng
10 – Non-fiction essays	On Confidence – The School of Life
11 – Referral from book-clubber	A Bookshop in Berlin – Françoise Frenkel
12 – Book you think you ought to read	But Beautiful – Geoff Dyer
13 – Set somewhere you’ve never been	The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
14 – Person’s name in title	The Children of Jocasta – Natalie Haynes
15 – A number in the title	21st Century Yokel – Tom Cox
16 – A colour in the title	The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
17 – A place name in the title	A Killer in King’s Cove – Iona Whishaw
18 – Short stories	Reynard the Fox – Anne Louise Avery
19 – Chosen for you by the other reader	The Madness of Grief – Rev. Richard Coles
20 – One-word title	Fallen – David Maine
21 – A translation into English	A Game of Chess and other stories – Stefan Zweig
22 – Poetry or play	How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) – Barbara Kingsolver
23 – Memoir, journal, book of letter	Infidel – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
24 – Book about food or cooking	My Last Supper – Jay Rayner
25 – New author to me	The Power – Naomi Alderman
26 – Science (non-fiction)	The Confidence Game – Maria Konnikova
27 – Received as a gift	Everything in Its Place – Oliver Sacks
28 – A new genre to me	no book in this category
29 – Previously left unfinished	Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
30 – Philosophy/religion	The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
31 – History/politics	These Truths – Jill Lepore
32 – Book studied in school	The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
33 – Canadian author	A Scientific Romance – Ronald Wright
34 – Wild card	An Old, Cold Grave – Iona Whishaw

The 2021 List

Just one surplus book this year, so 33 in total. Not bad for me, considering that some of these were quite long and, erm, challenging to finish.

Dominant categories were again female author (18) and new author (17). The list for 2022 is longer again, and I’m looking forward with novelust to new books from Julian Barnes, Amor Towles (from 2021), and Iona Whishaw, and to revisiting more old favourites to see if they stood the test of time. I can say with complete confidence that Michael Ondaatje will not appear on 2022’s list.

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