Anticipated books of 2021

 As if I didn’t already have a backlog of years worth of books to read (I'm a self-confessed book hoarder), one of my favorite things to do besides reading is to see what books are due to be published that I want to read, so I can add them to my never-ending to read list, request them from Netgalley, get on the library waitlist for them, etc.!  And it looks like 2021 is going to have a lot of them!  So without further ado, the 2021 books I’m most looking forward to, listed in order of currently scheduled publication date, listed in parentheses after the title and author of each book.

 

5 Star Review: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

I have another 5 star quality book to recommend -  just my 4th of the year - American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.  This is not an easy book to read, nor a fun one, but it was incredibly, incredibly powerful.  This book grabbed me from the first page, and didn't let go until I finished. 

GCBC: Hello Sunshine book club books - Part 1 - 2017-2018

 As you may know, Reese Witherspoon created her own book club a few years ago, called Hello Sunshine.  And my friend Sarah, the other member of my 2 person book club GCBC and partner in crime (if the crime is reading and making lists of books to read), and I have been reading all or most of the selections.  Some are better than others - I think Reese also picks books because she wants to adapt them, not necessarily because they’re the best books.  But she’s also definitely introduced me to some books I might not have read otherwise.  We were going to do a blog about all the books, but there are so darn many we realized we should split them up.  Consider this part 1, covering from when Reese started the book club in June 2017 through December 2018. 

Sarah adds: One of the things I love about Reese’s book club is that she only chooses female authors and goes out of her way to pick books from diverse authors and stories that empower women. 

World War I Fiction

In honor of Veteran's Day, today's post is about World War I fiction.  Yes, you read that right - I said World War I!  There is a plethora of great World War II fiction and I know a lot of people love to read it - I'm one of them and in fact I read enough of it that I could probably write a second post just updating my post on World War II fiction from Veteran's Day 2 years ago.  But believe it or not, there are actually some really good novels about World War I which I’ve read in the past few years as well, and I thought it would be interesting to showcase those.  And I think because I've read less books on World War I, I find them really interesting and even learn a lot from them - in fact I often find myself going on the internet to learn more during/after reading them because World War I is kind of confusing.  So here are the novels I most recommend about World War I.

Science Fiction

I recently received a request for my recommendations for science fiction books. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I actually love science fiction.  It was pretty much the bulk of what I read as a teenager, but now science fiction represents a relatively small fraction of the books I read.  But I am always on the hunt for good new science fiction, and I definitely have some good ones to recommend!  

5 Star Review: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Happy to announce that I just read my third 5 star book of the year - Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.  Wow, what a book!

Diverse Voices - Fiction by Diverse Authors

 Recently I asked my blog readers for suggestions for blog topics.  One of the requests I got was for my favorite books by diverse authors, and I thought this was a great idea.  I know many people in the last year have stepped up their reading of non-fiction and memoirs about racism and anti-racism. That’s very important, and I’ve been doing a little of that too, but I think there’s also a lot you can get out of reading fiction by and about people of different backgrounds.  Good fiction helps you really see the world through other eyes which makes for not just a good reading experience but food for thought as well, not to mention supporting diverse authors as well.

Anticipated Books of Fall 2020

It has been a while since I have posted anything - don't know where the time goes!  But never fear, I have spent plenty of time not just reading, but reading and researching upcoming books.  So without further ado, here are the books being published this fall that I'm most looking forward to!

Anticipated books of July/August 2020

So many books end up being published in summer that I split my summer reading posts into two again this summer - one on books coming out in May and June 2020, and now this post on books coming out in July and August of 2020 that I'm particularly excited to read.  I'm happy to report that I have done a pretty good job already working my way through my May and June list, having already read 9 out of the 11 books I mentioned which I hadn't read yet at the time of that post - not too shabby! 

5 Star Review: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

I've read lots of great books this year - I've already handed out lots of 4 star and even 4.5 star reviews - but I save my 5 star ratings for the top of the top, so I only just now read my second 5 star book of the year - Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld.  If you haven't already heard of it, the main character of this novel is Hilary Rodham - yes, that Hilary Rodham - but though she meets Bill Clinton and dates him in law school and beyond, she ultimately doesn't marry him.  So while part 1 is a fictional rendering of that young time of her life and their early relationship, parts 2 and 3 are something even more interesting - an imagined rendering of what would have happened to Hilary - and the world - if they had not gotten married.  Some things turn out the same, some turn out totally and utterly different, but in a way the most interesting are the little parallels of things people say or do that echo things that happened in our version of history but sometimes play out in different ways.

You definitely don't have to be a Hilary super-fan to read this one, though I think it would be hard to read it and not come out with more appreciation at least for this fictional rendering of her.   In Sittenfeld's hands, she is certainly not portrayed as unflawed, but she comes across as so deeply human and emotionally relatable.  It's part of what makes this book so interesting - not just the politics angle and the "what if" angle, but the interpersonal relationships and the self-reflection.  And the portrayal of sexism - both overt and unconscious - is searing.  

5 Star Review: A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

I've been wondering when I would read my first 5 star book of 2020, and I'm happy to say it has finally happened!  Indeed, my last 5 star review was last August, so it's been a long time.  But don't worry, I've already read nine 4.5 star quality books this year - maybe I've just gotten pickier at awarding that coveted 5 full stars.  Anyway, the book is "A Good Neighborhood" by Therese Anne Fowler, and it was amazing.

Anticipated books of late spring/early summer - May/June 2020

Are you bored after being stuck indoors for the past 6 weeks and looking for something new to read?  The good news is tons of new books are coming out over the next two months!  A few publishers seem to have pushed back some publication dates, but plenty of others are still coming out that should be great reads.  Some of these you've already heard about in my January post about anticipated books of 2020, while some are new additions.

Light fiction, part 3

In this crazy time of coronavirus self-isolation, I'm starting to get requests for light and funny books to read.  So it seemed like the perfect time to bring you a blog post on just that topic.  I have also seen various articles about books that are about life during/post-pandemic, but although I love a good dystopian as much as the next person, who wants to read about that right now?  It's hard enough to tune out from the news and/or ignore your kids long enough to find a moment to read, so something light and funny seems like a much better way to go!

What I Read on My Vacation(s)

It's been a while since I did a post on what I read on vacation.  Last summer we took a busy sightseeing trip to London instead of our usual beach vacation, so there was not much reading done!  And while we took a (not usual for us) December vacation, it was right at the end of the year, so I ended up working on my post on my Top 10 favorite books of 2019 rather than writing up what I read on that vacation.  But now that I just came back from another vacation during President's week, thought it was time to catch everyone up on my vacation reading!

Not a bad view for reading

Finding Time to Read in a Busy World

I get asked a lot about when I read and how I find the time to read.  The honest answer is that pretty much whenever I have a spare minute, I read!  I read while I eat breakfast; if I can I read for a few minutes after I shower before I get dressed; I read while sitting in the car waiting for my kids to come out of school; I read while my kids do homework; I read before bed - the list never ends. My house is kind of a mess, and any non-critical item on my to-do list tends to languish, because, well, I'd rather read!  Obviously it helps that I'm currently a stay at home mom with older kids, but even when I was a lawyer working full time, or a part-time working mom with little kids, I still always made the time to read when I could because, well, I love to read!  And of course it helps that I'm a pretty fast reader.  But nonetheless, if you're looking to read more, I definitely have some suggestions to help you out!

Anticipated books of 2020

As if I don't already have enough books to read, I always love to look ahead and see what books are coming out that I want to read.  Here are the books I'm most looking forward to set to be published in 2020, at least that I've seen announced so far, organized by currently scheduled publication date.  And there are SO many books to look forward to this year!  Seriously, how am I ever supposed to make any headway on all the already-published books I want to read when people keep writing new ones? 😉  Though I did a pretty good job on getting throgh my list of anticipated books of 2019 - I listed 26 books if I've counted correctly, and read all but one of them!

Jen's Top 10 Books of 2019

I'm very excited to share with you my ten favorite books that I read in 2019!  I read an absolutely insane amount of books in 2019, totally blowing away the record amount of books I read in 2018, so this list really is high quality - and was extremely hard to narrow down!  Just to put things in perspective, while I had only three books over the course of the year that I rated as 5 stars, there were a whopping 19 books which I gave a 4.5 star rating.  So just to narrow that down to 10 books, I had to leave a lot of favorites on the cutting room floor - and that doesn't even begin to cover all the 4 star books I read this year which I would highly recommend as well!

For anyone who isn't already familiar with my lists, I've been creating top 10 lists of books at year's end all the way back to 1999, long before I had a blog, and sharing them with my friends.  These are books I read in a particular year, not necessarily books published that year, though this year I think all but one of the books was in fact published in 2019.

Here's my list for 2019, in alphabetical order by author's last name.

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
Things You Save in a Fire - Katherine Center
One Night at the Lake - Bethany Chase
The Last Book Party - Karen Dukess
Evvie Drake Starts Over - Linda Holmes
Lilac Girls - Martha Hall Kelly
Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Grammarians - Cathleen Schine
The Lager Queen of Minnesota - J. Ryan Stradal
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill - Abbi Waxman

Read on for more about these books!