In this episode I look back on my favourite reads of 2021, with listeners/friends contributing theirs too! This was recorded in one take, unedited, so here it is, warts and all!
Shout-outs go to my dear friend Andreas of the band Saint and the Sinners (@saintandthesinners), as well as all the book podcasts I listen to:
How's The Water? (@howsthewaterpodcast)
The Wee Scottish Book Club hosted by @scott.you.reading and @scottiesandbooks
Books of Some Substance (@booksosubstance)
Canonical (canonicalpodcast)
Beyond the Zero (@beyondthezeropod)
Concavity Show (@concavityshow)
Mid Lit Podcast (@midlitpod)
The Last Sisyphus (@thelastsisyphus)
Two Girls One Book (@twogirlsonebookpod)
Top reads of 2021 from listeners/friends:
Megan (@feminist.fiction)- Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Grace (@gracieaward)- In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Leonie (@leolovesherstories)- Open Water
Brolin (@brolincanread)- Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Lorna (@lornaments)- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert & Catherine Green
Deborah (@booksinbrum)- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Greg (@storymusing) The Eighth Life: (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili, No Friend But The Mountains by Behrouz Boochani, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, Assembly by Natasha Brown
Miles (@aboard_the_inconvenience) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
(no name) (@bookmarkcuriosities): Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, How to be Good by Nick Hornby, Swing Time by Zadie Smith, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Euan (@euancurrie)- Ghosted by Jenny Ashworth, Asylum Road by Olivia Sudjic
Travis (@meyers_megafictional_musings): Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson and Disobedience by Michael Drinkard
Matty Markwood (@theobliterature): The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Harry (@byssheplease_): East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Andy Merritt (@andysavagestrength) American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
My picks of the year:
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated by Mark Polizzotti
Soviet Cities by Arseniy Kotov
The Peterloo Massacre by Joyce Marlow
Havana Year Zero by Karla Suárez , translated by Christina MacSweeney
Outlawed by Anna North
Red Rosa by Kate Evans
The Class Ceiling by Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Show Them a Good Time by Nicole Flattery
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Atkin
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
Resistance by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Occupation by Julián Fuks, translated by Daniel Hahn
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems & Collected Lyrics by Steve Von Till
Animal by Lisa Taddeo
What’s in it for Me: Self-interest and Political Difference by Thomas Prosser
Trout, Belly Up by Rodrigo Fuentes, translated by Ellen Jones
America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic by Phillip Freedenberg, illustrated by Jeff Walton
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Ascend Ascend by Janaka Stucky
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Crow: From the Life and Songs of Crow by Ted Hughes
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Music by Tom Caruana: https://tomcaruana-teasea.bandcamp.com/music
Chatting Lit logo design and artwork by Emma Morris (@emmamorrisdesign)