2021: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2021, my first full year remote working, I managed to read a whopping 54 books, an increase of 31 books over last year and my first year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total in mid-June, passed my best years, 2015 and 2016, in late August, and completed book 52 with two weeks left in the year.  I read (or listened) to 18,670 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the second time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, 16 were non-fiction and, of the 36 novels, 10 were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 43 e-books and 4 audiobooks.  For the first time since I was a kid, I got myself a library card, which helped me procure 14 of the books.

Just less than half of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Tegan Quin
  • Sara Quin
  • Lucy Foley
  • Jenna Fischer
  • Matt Haig
  • Eric Nusbaum
  • Jon Taffer
  • Charlotte Douglas
  • Susan Kearney
  • Fredrik Backman
  • Jeff Pearlman
  • Minka Kent
  • Alan Cumming
  • Megan Goldin
  • Molly Bloom
  • Barack Obama
  • Ali Wong
  • Timothy Ferriss
  • Issa Rae
  • Walter Tevis
  • Tess Gerritson
  • Gary Braver
  • Andy Weir
  • Matthew Walker
  • James Clear
  • Grady Hendrix
  • Simon Sinek
  • Jason Fung
  • Julia Spiro
  • Jon Pessah
  • Ruth Ware

Erle Stanley Gardner, Mary Kubica, Jeffery Deaver, Andy Weir and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2021.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month, which was fairly consistent across the entire year.

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Book 12 (of 52) – The Battle Of Betazed

The Battle Of Betazed – Charlotte Douglas and Susan Kearney

With the Dominion War going poorly for the Federation, the Enterprise and Counselor Troi are tasked with a mission to free Betazed from Cardassian control.  While Troi tries to grapple with a decision that may help win the war but will change the Betazoids forever, Riker leads an away team to destroy Sentok Nor, the new space station the Cardassians built in orbit around Betazed, using their knowledge of Deep Space Nine.

Last summer, during the throes of the pandemic, I finally watched all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  One of my biggest questions during the Dominion storyline was, “Where is the Enterprise?”  Now, I know the real world reasons, but they never really addressed a in-universe reason as to why the Federation flagship was nowhere to be seen.  In The Battle Of Betazed, Charlotte Douglas and Susan Kearney try to address that question, giving the Enterprise and her crew a decisive battle, even though it was away from the front lines.