2021 Books in Review
This yearly summary would be much more impressive if I just focused on the numbers. In 2021, I read 157 total books, up dramatically from the abysmal low of 46 in 2020 and just barely off my highest total ever since I started keeping track back in 2008, which had 159.
However, as I allude to in my mid-year update, the vast majority of those books, 137 of the total of 157, were children's books that I read out loud to my daughter. While some were books aimed at older children, quite a few of them were board books for toddlers, which means that there were likely more words in this paragraph than in the totality of some of those books. This is what's known as padding the totals!
I feel I should note that while I read Birdie 137 books, she owns far more than that. We've got a steady stream of two free books arriving per month and many others via gifts. My mother in particular seems to have an inexhaustible stock of Sandra Boynton books to give Birdie whenever we visit. Some are flip books that are more "books in toy format" that don't have a plot that can be read. While I read her some "older children" books when she was younger and less mobile, now that she's capable of grabbing anything, more delicate books like this have largely been saved for future reading while we focus on board books. The upshot is that I don't know exactly how many books she has, but it's definitely more than 137. I've already her 6 in 2022, and there's still quite a few more. Call it at least 160 in total, and maybe more. Some M has read to her and I have not, to further confuse things.
If you exclude those 137 children's books from last year, my total has plummeted to a grand total of 16 adult books, plus 2 graphic novels (both collections of one of my favorite webcomics), and 2 books of poetry.
Why did I read so few books? Unlike my total of zero concerts, I can't really blame this on the pandemic. Yes, M was uncomfortable with the idea of going to the library for most of the year, but several had drive-throughs, and I could have made it work.
No, this was largely my daughter's fault. It's a lot easier to watch television or sleep than to focus the mind enough to read when you're exhausted, and there was a fair amount of exhaustion, especially early in the year. At the halfway point I'd only read 5 books, the first of which I finished in the hospital awaiting Birdie's arrival, and the second of which I got about 75% of the way through in the hospital.
Things have obviously improved in the second half of the year as things settled into a routine. I read 8 of the 16 books in Q4 and have every expectation of being closer to normal in the coming year. Of course, all the writing I've been doing is also taking away time from reading, but lacking infinite time, there are always tradeoffs that will have to be made.
* indicates a Graphic Novel - 2
^ indicates a Poetry Collections - 2
& indicates a Children's Books - 137
All other books - 16
Italicized books were particular highlights
(DP) = from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
(PJL) = from the PJ Library.
The latter two categories may not be 100% complete.
Links in the list go to previous writings on that book.
Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons - T 1/12
&Julissa Mora - Hello, Baby Animals - R 1/28
&Peter Linenthal - Look Look! - Su 1/31
Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries - R 2/11
&Olivier Dunrea - Gossie: A Gosling on the Go - R 2/18
&Sandra Boynton - Hippos Go Berserk! - Su 2/21
Anne Lamott - Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year - W 2/24
&Eric Carle - The Grouchy Ladybug - S 3/06
&Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin - Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type - S 3/06
&Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin - Giggle, Giggle, Quack - R 3/18
&Alexander Steffensmeier - Millie Waits For the Mail - Su 3/21
&Sandra Boynton - Consider Love - W 3/24
&Jan Thomas - What Will Fat Cat Sit On? - W 3/24
&Jackie French - Diary of a Wombat - S 3/27
&Emily Kleinman, Lydia Ortiz & Patrick Rafanan - Little Scientist - M 3/39
&Brendan Wenzel - They All Saw a Cat - M 3/29
&Simms Taback - Joseph Had a Little Overcoat - R 3/31 (PJL)
&Sandra Boynton - Happy Hippo, Angry Duck - R 3/31
&Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers - The Day the Crayons Quit - F 4/02
&Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter & Maria Tina Beddia - P is Pterodactyl - F 4/02
&Watty Piper & Dan Santat - The Little Engine That Could - S 4/03 (DP)
&Sam McBratney & Anita Jeram - Guess How Much I Love You - Su 4/04
Kathryn Stockett - The Help - Su 4/04
&Ryan T. Higgins - Mother Bruce - R 4/08
&Mo Willems - Waiting Is Not Easy! - F 4/09
&Mo Willems - Today I Will Fly! - S 4/10
&Mo Willems - My Friend is Sad - Su 4/11
&Mo Willems - I Am Invited to a Party! - M 4/12
&Mo Willems - There is a Bird on Your Head! - T 4/13
&Mo Willems - I Love My New Toy! - W 4/14
&Mo Willems - I Will Surprise My Friend! - R 4/15
&Mo Willems - Are You Ready to Play Outside? - F 4/16
^Wynton Marsalis & Paul Rogers - Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits - F 4/16
&Mo Willems - Watch Me Throw the Ball! - S 4/17
&Mo Willems - Elephants Cannot Dance! - Su 4/18
&Mo Willems - Pigs Make Me Sneeze! - M 4/19
&Mo Willems - I Am Going! - T 4/20
&Mo Willems - Can I Play Too? - W 4/21
&Penny Gentieu - baby! talk! - 4/21 (DP)
&Mo Willems - We Are in a Book! - R 4/22
&Phyllis Limbacher Tildes - Baby's First Book of Birds & Colors - R 4/22
&Mo Willems - I Broke My Trunk! - F 4/23
&Todd Parr - The Shalom Book - F 4/23 (PJL)
&Mo Willems - Should I Share My Ice Cream? - S 4/24
&Mo Willems - Happy Pig Day! - Su 4/25
&Vera Brosgol - Leave Me Alone! - Su 4/25
&Mo Willems - Listen To My Trumpet! - M 4/26
&Mo Willems - Let's Go for a Drive! - T 4/27
&Mo Willems - A Big Guy Took My Ball! - W 4/28
&Mo Willems - I'm a Frog! - R 4/29
&Mo Willems - My New Friend Is So Fun! - F 4/30
&Mo Willems - I Will Take a Nap! - S 5/01
&Mo Willems - I Really Like Slop! - Su 5/02
&Mo Willems - The Thank You Book - M 5/03
&Karen Katz & Marion Dane Bauer - Toes, Ears, & Nose! - T 5/04
&Karen Katz - Where is Baby's Mommy? - W 5/05
&Karen Katz - Where is Baby's Belly Button? - R 5/06
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Rock - F 5/07
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Pop - S 5/08
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Rap - Su 5/09
&Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Su 5/09
&John Hutton & Leah Busch - Sleep Baby Safe and Snug - M 5/10
&Margaret Wise Brown & Clement Hurd - Goodnight Moon - T 5/11
&Cindy Cole - Just Say Weeee! - W 5/12
&James Dean - Meet Pete - R 5/13
&Eric Carle - Dream Snow - F 5/14
&Eric Hill - Where's Spot? - S 5/15
&Pintachan - Baby Bowie - Su 5/16
&Peter Linenthal - Look at the Animals! - M 5/17 (DP)
&Chaim Kosofsky & Jessica Schiffman - Much, Much Better - T 5/18 (PJL)
&Barbara M. Josse & Barbara Lavallee - Mama, Do You Love Me? - W 5/19
&Chris Ferrie - Goodnight Lab - R 5/20
&Mem Fox & Jane Dyer - Time For Bed - F 5/21
&Mo Willems - The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - S 5/22
&Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Su 5/23
&Bill Martin Jr, John Archambault & Lois Ehlert - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - M 5/24
&Chris Ferrie & Sarah Kaiser - Robotics for Babies- W 5/26
&Chris Ferrie - Electromagnetism for Babies - R 5/27
&Chris Ferrie & Marco Tomamichel - Blockchain for Babies - F 5/28
&Chris Ferrie & Cara Florance - Organic Chemisty for Babies - S 5/29
&Chris Ferrie & Sarah Kaiser - ABCs of Engineering- Su 5/30
&Eric Carle - Mister Seahorse - M 5/31
&David Soman & Jacky Davis - Ladybug Girl and Her Mama - T 6/01
&David Soman & Jacky Davis - Ladybug Girl Makes Friends - W 6/02
&Ben Mantle - Five Little Pumpkins - F 6/04
&Sandra Magsamen - Our Little Deer - F 6/04
&Ann D. Koffsky - Shabbat Shalom, Hey! - S 6/05 (PJL)
&Mo Willems - The Pigeon Needs a Bath - F 6/11
&Jan Thomas - The Doghouse - T 6/15
&Eric Rohmann - My Friend Rabbit - W 6/16
&Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are - R 6/17
&Bill Peet - Chester the Worldly Pig - S 6/19
&Bill Peet - Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent - S 6/19
*Howard Tayler - Schlock Mercenary v.16: Big Dumb Objects - Su 6/20
&Bill Peet - The Whingdingdilly - W 6/23
&April Pulley Sayre & Steve Jenkins - Vulture View - S 6/26
&Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat - S 6/26
John Feinstein - Where Nobody Knows Your Name - S 6/26
&Dr. Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg - Su 6/27
&Dr. Seuss - The Lorax - F 7/02
&Dr. Seuss - The Sneetches and Other Stories - F 7/02
&Dr. Seuss - And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street - R 7/08
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Dinosaur... - Su 7/11
^Saul Williams - , Said the Shotgun to the Head - Su 7/11
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Monster... - W 7/14
&Grosset & Dunlap - Who Says Quack? - W 7/14 (DP)
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Puppy... - F 7/16
&Tim Hopgood - What a Wonderful World - F 7/16 (PJL)
&Gill Davies & Gill Guile - My Under the Sea Pop-Up Book - S 7/17
&Dugald Steer & Derek Matthews - Snappy Little Pets - Su 7/18
&Beth Harwood & Derek Matthews - Snappy Little Bedtime - R 7/22
&Roberta Grobel Intrater - Peek-a-Boo! - R 7/29
&Richard Walz - The Pudgy Book of Mother Goose - R 8/05 (DP)
Nick Hornby - How to Be Good - Su 8/08
&Joe Black & Rick Brown - Boker Tov! Good Morning! - M 8/09 (PJL)
&Christopher Canyon - John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads - Su 8/15
&Christopher Canyon - John Denver's Sunshine On My Shoulders - W 8/18
Abby Jimenez - Life's Too Short - R 8/19
&Sandra Boynton - One, Two, Three! A Happy Counting Book - F 8/20
&Tomie de Paola - Strega Nona - Su 8/22
&Don Freeman - Corduroy - S 8/28
&Grandreams Books - Penny the Pony (Board Book) - W 9/01
&Grandreams Books - Penny the Pony (Pop-Up Book) - W 9/01
&Amye Rosenberg - The Pudgy Peek-a-Boo Book - F 9/03 (DP)
Kirk Wallace Johnson - The Feather Thief - F 9/03
&Linda Glaser & Estelle Corke - Bim! Sings the Baby - T 9/14 (PJL)
*Meg Syverud & Yoko Weaver - Daughter of the Lilies, v.1: A Girl With No Face - W 9/02
&Laurel Porter-Gaylord & Ashley Wolff - I Love My Mommy Because... - S 10/09 (DP)
&Dugald Steer - Snappy Little Farm - S 10/16
&Roberta Grobel Intrater - Smile! - S 10/16
Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures - M 10/18
&Joy Allen - Baby Sounds - W 10/20 (DP)
Delia Owens - Where the Crawdads Sing - S 10/23
Terry Pratchett - Nation - F 10/29
&Sandra Boynton -The Going to Bed Book - W 11/03
&Sandra Boynton - Little Pookie - W 11/03
&Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline - Su 11/07
Studs Terkel - Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith - S 11/13
&Sherri Duskey Rinker & Tom Lichtenheld - Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site - Su 11/14
&Sandra Boynton - Mo Baa La La La - M 11/15
&Anna Dewdney - Llama Llama Hide & Seek - S 11/20 (DP)
John Steinbeck - The Red Pony - Su 11/21
&Ekaterina Trukhan - Hanukkah Baby - M 11/22 (PJL)
&Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle - Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? - S 11/27
&Stan & Jan Berenstain - Inside Outside Upside Down - Su 11/28
&Yoyo Books - Baby's First Library: Animals - Su 11/28
Marilyn Yalom - Birth of the Chess Queen - Su 11/28
&Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline's Rescue - M 11/29
&Alice Schertle & Jill McElmurry - Little Blue Truck - M 12/06
&Sandra Boynton - But Not the Hippopotamus - T 12/07
&Liz Garton Seanlon & Marla Frazee - All the World - R 12/09
&Kent Salisbury - There's a Dragon in my Wagon - T 12/14
&Sandra Boynton - Belly Button Book - S 12/18
Studs Terkel - And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey - T 12/21
&Gils Andreae & Guy Parker-Rees - Giraffes Can't Dance - R 12/23
&Eric Hill - I Love You Spot - T 12/28 (DP)
Aimee Nezhukumatathil - World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments - T 12/28
Not featured on the list is Shakespeare, although I have nearly finished the Sonnets. I'm more than halfway through the complete works by page count, but it's been a rough few years. Not giving platelets during the pandemic really cut back on the Bard for me.
I'd like to stress again that Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler may have won a Pulitzer but it was incredibly bad, and I never would have finished it if I had not been locked in the birthing center. It may be the worst book I've finished since I kept the lists. It was so bad that I may even read the other one of her books that M owns just for comparison purposes. On the plus side, it at least inspired strong feelings, as the Luminaries (by Elizabeth Catton, also an award winner) was just boringly bad.
Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott was beautiful and probably enjoyable by anyone with kids. I wish my baby journal entries were half that good. Or even a tenth that good.
My fraternity brother Eugene and his wife Sarah got us the complete set of all 25 Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. They're really for older kids, but back in April I read one a day to Birdie when she was basically immobile but still awake. They are fun books, and I look forward to getting bored of them when Birdie is reading them to me in a few years. M also likes Mo Willems, who has stated that children are "shorter, not dumber" as his writing philosophy. "We Are in a Book!" is easily the best one of the series.
My father hooked me up with many of the adult books I read this year. One highlight was Where Nobody Knows Your Name by John Feinstein, which chronicles the lives of several people involved with the 2012 AAA baseball season, including players, coaches and umpires. It's a great look at the people who are almost good enough for the Show... but not quite. I recommend it to all baseball fans.
I've read a decent amount of Nick Hornby, and this year I pulled How to Be Good from my slush pile where it's been since my sister gave me her copy a few years back. It was an extraordinarily difficult book to read, in that the it really points out a lot of the hypocrisies of, well, everybody, as well as what might be possible if everybody actually walked the walk on "love your neighbor as yourself." I'm not sure I can recommend it, because it was extremely heavy sledding, but it was certainly thought provoking.
M's friends sent Abby Jimenez's beach book Life's Too Short. It was extremely relaxing to read a stupid romance novel that required minimal mental effort, and a lot of fun too. In a very similar vein, I'm pretty confident that Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a terrible book that I won't remember in five years, but I flew right through it.
Kirk Wallace Johnson wrote The Feather Thief. Part 1 covers the weird world of competitive fly tying, which leads one practitioner to steal a bunch of bird specimens from a museum. The robbery is covered in Part 2. Part 3 has the author insert himself into the case to try to solve the mystery. It all really happened. Part 1 and Part 2 are fantastic, and make up for a lackluster Part 3. If you like pop science books and/or mysteries, check it out.
Daughter of the Lilies has long been one of my favorite webcomics. Volume 1 was released as a book last year, and I snapped it up to re-read.
M's mother lent us her copy of Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. This pop science book on fungi and mushrooms is the rare book that frequently and repeatedly admits how little is actually known about the subject, and how widely diverse the scientific consensus is on what is known. It aligns very well with the movie Fantastic Fungi and features some of the same people.
Sir Terry has left us, but there are still some of his books I have not read. My father had a copy of Nation that I read at his house. Coincidentally, the alternate history there hinges on a pandemic as well. It's not Discworld, but (and I can't believe I'm saying this) it's a damn sight better than most Discworld books.
The only author from my author series that I touched this year was Studs Terkel. I read both "Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith" and "And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey" out of my father's collection. The former was an excellent collection of conversations about death, and well worth it to fans of Terkel's other books. The latter is a collection of his interviews with assorted musicians. Alas, many of those musicians were long deceased opera singers I'd never heard of, which made a significant chunk of the book less interesting to me. Even the more known musicians (Dylan, Joplin, and such) were not as interesting as the strangers off the street in his other books. On the whole, only necessary for Terkel completists or people who have really wide ranging WRUW shows.
My sister got Birdie a board book called "All the World" written by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee. I've ready far worse poetry than this book, and read it to Birdie several times a week. So far she's less enthused.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil's book "World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments" was in our AirBNB the last week of the year. It is a a beautiful memoir of her life framed around different animals and plants, with reflections on motherhood, the immigrant experience (her mother was Filipina, her father Indian), dating and writing. It's a short and easy read and I strongly recommend it to you.
I look forward to reading a lot more in 2021. We got a pretty sizable stash of books from my father's slush pile so even if we can't get to the library I won't go wanting.
However, as I allude to in my mid-year update, the vast majority of those books, 137 of the total of 157, were children's books that I read out loud to my daughter. While some were books aimed at older children, quite a few of them were board books for toddlers, which means that there were likely more words in this paragraph than in the totality of some of those books. This is what's known as padding the totals!
I feel I should note that while I read Birdie 137 books, she owns far more than that. We've got a steady stream of two free books arriving per month and many others via gifts. My mother in particular seems to have an inexhaustible stock of Sandra Boynton books to give Birdie whenever we visit. Some are flip books that are more "books in toy format" that don't have a plot that can be read. While I read her some "older children" books when she was younger and less mobile, now that she's capable of grabbing anything, more delicate books like this have largely been saved for future reading while we focus on board books. The upshot is that I don't know exactly how many books she has, but it's definitely more than 137. I've already her 6 in 2022, and there's still quite a few more. Call it at least 160 in total, and maybe more. Some M has read to her and I have not, to further confuse things.
If you exclude those 137 children's books from last year, my total has plummeted to a grand total of 16 adult books, plus 2 graphic novels (both collections of one of my favorite webcomics), and 2 books of poetry.
Why did I read so few books? Unlike my total of zero concerts, I can't really blame this on the pandemic. Yes, M was uncomfortable with the idea of going to the library for most of the year, but several had drive-throughs, and I could have made it work.
No, this was largely my daughter's fault. It's a lot easier to watch television or sleep than to focus the mind enough to read when you're exhausted, and there was a fair amount of exhaustion, especially early in the year. At the halfway point I'd only read 5 books, the first of which I finished in the hospital awaiting Birdie's arrival, and the second of which I got about 75% of the way through in the hospital.
Things have obviously improved in the second half of the year as things settled into a routine. I read 8 of the 16 books in Q4 and have every expectation of being closer to normal in the coming year. Of course, all the writing I've been doing is also taking away time from reading, but lacking infinite time, there are always tradeoffs that will have to be made.
* indicates a Graphic Novel - 2
^ indicates a Poetry Collections - 2
& indicates a Children's Books - 137
All other books - 16
Italicized books were particular highlights
(DP) = from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
(PJL) = from the PJ Library.
The latter two categories may not be 100% complete.
Links in the list go to previous writings on that book.
Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons - T 1/12
&Julissa Mora - Hello, Baby Animals - R 1/28
&Peter Linenthal - Look Look! - Su 1/31
Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries - R 2/11
&Olivier Dunrea - Gossie: A Gosling on the Go - R 2/18
&Sandra Boynton - Hippos Go Berserk! - Su 2/21
Anne Lamott - Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year - W 2/24
&Eric Carle - The Grouchy Ladybug - S 3/06
&Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin - Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type - S 3/06
&Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin - Giggle, Giggle, Quack - R 3/18
&Alexander Steffensmeier - Millie Waits For the Mail - Su 3/21
&Sandra Boynton - Consider Love - W 3/24
&Jan Thomas - What Will Fat Cat Sit On? - W 3/24
&Jackie French - Diary of a Wombat - S 3/27
&Emily Kleinman, Lydia Ortiz & Patrick Rafanan - Little Scientist - M 3/39
&Brendan Wenzel - They All Saw a Cat - M 3/29
&Simms Taback - Joseph Had a Little Overcoat - R 3/31 (PJL)
&Sandra Boynton - Happy Hippo, Angry Duck - R 3/31
&Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers - The Day the Crayons Quit - F 4/02
&Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter & Maria Tina Beddia - P is Pterodactyl - F 4/02
&Watty Piper & Dan Santat - The Little Engine That Could - S 4/03 (DP)
&Sam McBratney & Anita Jeram - Guess How Much I Love You - Su 4/04
Kathryn Stockett - The Help - Su 4/04
&Ryan T. Higgins - Mother Bruce - R 4/08
&Mo Willems - Waiting Is Not Easy! - F 4/09
&Mo Willems - Today I Will Fly! - S 4/10
&Mo Willems - My Friend is Sad - Su 4/11
&Mo Willems - I Am Invited to a Party! - M 4/12
&Mo Willems - There is a Bird on Your Head! - T 4/13
&Mo Willems - I Love My New Toy! - W 4/14
&Mo Willems - I Will Surprise My Friend! - R 4/15
&Mo Willems - Are You Ready to Play Outside? - F 4/16
^Wynton Marsalis & Paul Rogers - Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits - F 4/16
&Mo Willems - Watch Me Throw the Ball! - S 4/17
&Mo Willems - Elephants Cannot Dance! - Su 4/18
&Mo Willems - Pigs Make Me Sneeze! - M 4/19
&Mo Willems - I Am Going! - T 4/20
&Mo Willems - Can I Play Too? - W 4/21
&Penny Gentieu - baby! talk! - 4/21 (DP)
&Mo Willems - We Are in a Book! - R 4/22
&Phyllis Limbacher Tildes - Baby's First Book of Birds & Colors - R 4/22
&Mo Willems - I Broke My Trunk! - F 4/23
&Todd Parr - The Shalom Book - F 4/23 (PJL)
&Mo Willems - Should I Share My Ice Cream? - S 4/24
&Mo Willems - Happy Pig Day! - Su 4/25
&Vera Brosgol - Leave Me Alone! - Su 4/25
&Mo Willems - Listen To My Trumpet! - M 4/26
&Mo Willems - Let's Go for a Drive! - T 4/27
&Mo Willems - A Big Guy Took My Ball! - W 4/28
&Mo Willems - I'm a Frog! - R 4/29
&Mo Willems - My New Friend Is So Fun! - F 4/30
&Mo Willems - I Will Take a Nap! - S 5/01
&Mo Willems - I Really Like Slop! - Su 5/02
&Mo Willems - The Thank You Book - M 5/03
&Karen Katz & Marion Dane Bauer - Toes, Ears, & Nose! - T 5/04
&Karen Katz - Where is Baby's Mommy? - W 5/05
&Karen Katz - Where is Baby's Belly Button? - R 5/06
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Rock - F 5/07
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Pop - S 5/08
&Lindsey Sagar - The Story of Rap - Su 5/09
&Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Su 5/09
&John Hutton & Leah Busch - Sleep Baby Safe and Snug - M 5/10
&Margaret Wise Brown & Clement Hurd - Goodnight Moon - T 5/11
&Cindy Cole - Just Say Weeee! - W 5/12
&James Dean - Meet Pete - R 5/13
&Eric Carle - Dream Snow - F 5/14
&Eric Hill - Where's Spot? - S 5/15
&Pintachan - Baby Bowie - Su 5/16
&Peter Linenthal - Look at the Animals! - M 5/17 (DP)
&Chaim Kosofsky & Jessica Schiffman - Much, Much Better - T 5/18 (PJL)
&Barbara M. Josse & Barbara Lavallee - Mama, Do You Love Me? - W 5/19
&Chris Ferrie - Goodnight Lab - R 5/20
&Mem Fox & Jane Dyer - Time For Bed - F 5/21
&Mo Willems - The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - S 5/22
&Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Su 5/23
&Bill Martin Jr, John Archambault & Lois Ehlert - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - M 5/24
&Chris Ferrie & Sarah Kaiser - Robotics for Babies- W 5/26
&Chris Ferrie - Electromagnetism for Babies - R 5/27
&Chris Ferrie & Marco Tomamichel - Blockchain for Babies - F 5/28
&Chris Ferrie & Cara Florance - Organic Chemisty for Babies - S 5/29
&Chris Ferrie & Sarah Kaiser - ABCs of Engineering- Su 5/30
&Eric Carle - Mister Seahorse - M 5/31
&David Soman & Jacky Davis - Ladybug Girl and Her Mama - T 6/01
&David Soman & Jacky Davis - Ladybug Girl Makes Friends - W 6/02
&Ben Mantle - Five Little Pumpkins - F 6/04
&Sandra Magsamen - Our Little Deer - F 6/04
&Ann D. Koffsky - Shabbat Shalom, Hey! - S 6/05 (PJL)
&Mo Willems - The Pigeon Needs a Bath - F 6/11
&Jan Thomas - The Doghouse - T 6/15
&Eric Rohmann - My Friend Rabbit - W 6/16
&Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are - R 6/17
&Bill Peet - Chester the Worldly Pig - S 6/19
&Bill Peet - Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent - S 6/19
*Howard Tayler - Schlock Mercenary v.16: Big Dumb Objects - Su 6/20
&Bill Peet - The Whingdingdilly - W 6/23
&April Pulley Sayre & Steve Jenkins - Vulture View - S 6/26
&Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat - S 6/26
John Feinstein - Where Nobody Knows Your Name - S 6/26
&Dr. Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg - Su 6/27
&Dr. Seuss - The Lorax - F 7/02
&Dr. Seuss - The Sneetches and Other Stories - F 7/02
&Dr. Seuss - And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street - R 7/08
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Dinosaur... - Su 7/11
^Saul Williams - , Said the Shotgun to the Head - Su 7/11
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Monster... - W 7/14
&Grosset & Dunlap - Who Says Quack? - W 7/14 (DP)
&Fiona Watt & Rachel Wells - That's Not My Puppy... - F 7/16
&Tim Hopgood - What a Wonderful World - F 7/16 (PJL)
&Gill Davies & Gill Guile - My Under the Sea Pop-Up Book - S 7/17
&Dugald Steer & Derek Matthews - Snappy Little Pets - Su 7/18
&Beth Harwood & Derek Matthews - Snappy Little Bedtime - R 7/22
&Roberta Grobel Intrater - Peek-a-Boo! - R 7/29
&Richard Walz - The Pudgy Book of Mother Goose - R 8/05 (DP)
Nick Hornby - How to Be Good - Su 8/08
&Joe Black & Rick Brown - Boker Tov! Good Morning! - M 8/09 (PJL)
&Christopher Canyon - John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads - Su 8/15
&Christopher Canyon - John Denver's Sunshine On My Shoulders - W 8/18
Abby Jimenez - Life's Too Short - R 8/19
&Sandra Boynton - One, Two, Three! A Happy Counting Book - F 8/20
&Tomie de Paola - Strega Nona - Su 8/22
&Don Freeman - Corduroy - S 8/28
&Grandreams Books - Penny the Pony (Board Book) - W 9/01
&Grandreams Books - Penny the Pony (Pop-Up Book) - W 9/01
&Amye Rosenberg - The Pudgy Peek-a-Boo Book - F 9/03 (DP)
Kirk Wallace Johnson - The Feather Thief - F 9/03
&Linda Glaser & Estelle Corke - Bim! Sings the Baby - T 9/14 (PJL)
*Meg Syverud & Yoko Weaver - Daughter of the Lilies, v.1: A Girl With No Face - W 9/02
&Laurel Porter-Gaylord & Ashley Wolff - I Love My Mommy Because... - S 10/09 (DP)
&Dugald Steer - Snappy Little Farm - S 10/16
&Roberta Grobel Intrater - Smile! - S 10/16
Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures - M 10/18
&Joy Allen - Baby Sounds - W 10/20 (DP)
Delia Owens - Where the Crawdads Sing - S 10/23
Terry Pratchett - Nation - F 10/29
&Sandra Boynton -The Going to Bed Book - W 11/03
&Sandra Boynton - Little Pookie - W 11/03
&Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline - Su 11/07
Studs Terkel - Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith - S 11/13
&Sherri Duskey Rinker & Tom Lichtenheld - Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site - Su 11/14
&Sandra Boynton - Mo Baa La La La - M 11/15
&Anna Dewdney - Llama Llama Hide & Seek - S 11/20 (DP)
John Steinbeck - The Red Pony - Su 11/21
&Ekaterina Trukhan - Hanukkah Baby - M 11/22 (PJL)
&Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle - Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? - S 11/27
&Stan & Jan Berenstain - Inside Outside Upside Down - Su 11/28
&Yoyo Books - Baby's First Library: Animals - Su 11/28
Marilyn Yalom - Birth of the Chess Queen - Su 11/28
&Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline's Rescue - M 11/29
&Alice Schertle & Jill McElmurry - Little Blue Truck - M 12/06
&Sandra Boynton - But Not the Hippopotamus - T 12/07
&Liz Garton Seanlon & Marla Frazee - All the World - R 12/09
&Kent Salisbury - There's a Dragon in my Wagon - T 12/14
&Sandra Boynton - Belly Button Book - S 12/18
Studs Terkel - And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey - T 12/21
&Gils Andreae & Guy Parker-Rees - Giraffes Can't Dance - R 12/23
&Eric Hill - I Love You Spot - T 12/28 (DP)
Aimee Nezhukumatathil - World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments - T 12/28
Not featured on the list is Shakespeare, although I have nearly finished the Sonnets. I'm more than halfway through the complete works by page count, but it's been a rough few years. Not giving platelets during the pandemic really cut back on the Bard for me.
I'd like to stress again that Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler may have won a Pulitzer but it was incredibly bad, and I never would have finished it if I had not been locked in the birthing center. It may be the worst book I've finished since I kept the lists. It was so bad that I may even read the other one of her books that M owns just for comparison purposes. On the plus side, it at least inspired strong feelings, as the Luminaries (by Elizabeth Catton, also an award winner) was just boringly bad.
Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott was beautiful and probably enjoyable by anyone with kids. I wish my baby journal entries were half that good. Or even a tenth that good.
My fraternity brother Eugene and his wife Sarah got us the complete set of all 25 Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. They're really for older kids, but back in April I read one a day to Birdie when she was basically immobile but still awake. They are fun books, and I look forward to getting bored of them when Birdie is reading them to me in a few years. M also likes Mo Willems, who has stated that children are "shorter, not dumber" as his writing philosophy. "We Are in a Book!" is easily the best one of the series.
My father hooked me up with many of the adult books I read this year. One highlight was Where Nobody Knows Your Name by John Feinstein, which chronicles the lives of several people involved with the 2012 AAA baseball season, including players, coaches and umpires. It's a great look at the people who are almost good enough for the Show... but not quite. I recommend it to all baseball fans.
I've read a decent amount of Nick Hornby, and this year I pulled How to Be Good from my slush pile where it's been since my sister gave me her copy a few years back. It was an extraordinarily difficult book to read, in that the it really points out a lot of the hypocrisies of, well, everybody, as well as what might be possible if everybody actually walked the walk on "love your neighbor as yourself." I'm not sure I can recommend it, because it was extremely heavy sledding, but it was certainly thought provoking.
M's friends sent Abby Jimenez's beach book Life's Too Short. It was extremely relaxing to read a stupid romance novel that required minimal mental effort, and a lot of fun too. In a very similar vein, I'm pretty confident that Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a terrible book that I won't remember in five years, but I flew right through it.
Kirk Wallace Johnson wrote The Feather Thief. Part 1 covers the weird world of competitive fly tying, which leads one practitioner to steal a bunch of bird specimens from a museum. The robbery is covered in Part 2. Part 3 has the author insert himself into the case to try to solve the mystery. It all really happened. Part 1 and Part 2 are fantastic, and make up for a lackluster Part 3. If you like pop science books and/or mysteries, check it out.
Daughter of the Lilies has long been one of my favorite webcomics. Volume 1 was released as a book last year, and I snapped it up to re-read.
M's mother lent us her copy of Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. This pop science book on fungi and mushrooms is the rare book that frequently and repeatedly admits how little is actually known about the subject, and how widely diverse the scientific consensus is on what is known. It aligns very well with the movie Fantastic Fungi and features some of the same people.
Sir Terry has left us, but there are still some of his books I have not read. My father had a copy of Nation that I read at his house. Coincidentally, the alternate history there hinges on a pandemic as well. It's not Discworld, but (and I can't believe I'm saying this) it's a damn sight better than most Discworld books.
The only author from my author series that I touched this year was Studs Terkel. I read both "Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith" and "And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey" out of my father's collection. The former was an excellent collection of conversations about death, and well worth it to fans of Terkel's other books. The latter is a collection of his interviews with assorted musicians. Alas, many of those musicians were long deceased opera singers I'd never heard of, which made a significant chunk of the book less interesting to me. Even the more known musicians (Dylan, Joplin, and such) were not as interesting as the strangers off the street in his other books. On the whole, only necessary for Terkel completists or people who have really wide ranging WRUW shows.
My sister got Birdie a board book called "All the World" written by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee. I've ready far worse poetry than this book, and read it to Birdie several times a week. So far she's less enthused.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil's book "World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments" was in our AirBNB the last week of the year. It is a a beautiful memoir of her life framed around different animals and plants, with reflections on motherhood, the immigrant experience (her mother was Filipina, her father Indian), dating and writing. It's a short and easy read and I strongly recommend it to you.
I look forward to reading a lot more in 2021. We got a pretty sizable stash of books from my father's slush pile so even if we can't get to the library I won't go wanting.