31 December 2021
Another year, another list of great books. I loved my mornings with coffee and ready. I also listened to many audiobooks through the San Francisco Public Library. Below are my top 10 (in no particular order):
Mission High (Kristina Rizga). This book tells the story of how Mission High in San Francisco, CA teaches to student potentials, while failing at traditional metrics such as testing. It also discusses why in one of the richest cities in one of the richest countries still continuously fails students.
Transcendent Kingdom (Yaa Gyasi). This book pulled on my heartstrings as a PhD student. Its main character goes back and forth between her personal life with her mom and brother, a drug addict, and her work in the lab, trying to figure out drug addiction. The ying and yang of research and ‘real life’ was very relatable to me.
Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro). This was my favorite fiction book of the year. It tells the story of a child with her friend set at some point in the future. While it is science fiction, it hits a little too close to home.
Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer). This book helped remind me that there are thousand of different ways to look at and answer a question. Dr. Kimmerer is a native scientist who teaches her student and her children to really understand the world around us, rather than just getting the answer ‘correct’.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V. E. Schwab). If you like time traveling, this book is for you. Addie makes a decision in a felting moment that changes her life forever. And for a long time she is satisfied, until she realizes what she is missing.
Bravey (Alexi Pappas). ‘run like a bravey, sleep like a baby, dream like a crazy, replace can’t with maybe’ There are so many great nuggets of wisdom in this book. This was my favorite non-fiction book of the year. While I relate to Alexi as a runner, this book is about so much more.
ACE: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (Angela Chen). This book re-introduced me to what it means to be asexual and how that is on a spectrum. It also has some great commentary on what sex means in our society. We tend to go from being told that sex is bad to being told that sex is good as we grow up without really thinking about what that does to our psyche.
A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara). This book centers around four friends who meet in college, following one individual in particular. It discusses how love tries to conquer trauma and chronic pain. Warning: This book has a fair amount of sexual violence.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling). A classic. This was done via audiobook, which in my opinion, is the best way to ‘read’ a Harry Potter book. Jim Dale is the best.
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt). I remember my Dad reading this book when I was very little and have always wanted to read it. What a story about what children pick up on and remember. It is narrated by Frank throughout his childhood and discusses his observations of his parents, siblings, relatives, and friends.