21 Books of 2021
Dec. 5th, 2021 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
millionreasonsI've been mostly reading non-fiction this year, not because I was bored of fiction, but because there were a lot of factual books on my to-read list, which I never read because I prefer losing myself in the world of a novel. However, I've read a lot of good stuff: memoirs, pop-sociology, pop-psychology, feminist polemics, travelogues and books with a lot of facts to entertain people at parties.
1. Sylvia Beach - Shakespeare and Company. Literary lesbians in pre-war Paris.
2. Tim Jenkin - Escape from Pretoria. A Boy's Own Anti-Apartheid Adventure Story.
3. Tracey Thorne - Another Planet. Tracey does the suburbs in this second memoir from the indie-jazz-electro popster.
4. Paul Morley - The North. Paul does the north: a cross between a memoir, history, social commentary and cultural investigation.
5. Lee Israel - Can you Ever Forgive Me? If you like nice stories about nice people doing nice things and having a nice, happy ending, you won't like this book. If you like stories about quite objectionable people doing questionable things and being rather bitchy and hilarious along the way, you will.
6. Michael Booth - The Almost Nearly Perfect People. Tales from Scandiland.
7. David Sedaris - Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim. In which I discover my one true love.
8. Joan Wyndham - Love Lessons. Loves and losses in boho Chelsea during the war.
9. Michel White - Popkiss, the Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records. Nineties nostalgia a-go-go.
10. Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina. The new Sue Townshend.
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11. Emily Chappell - What Goes Around. Life on a bike.
12. Will Ashon - Strange Labyrinth. Into the woods, or rather the forest (Epping).
13. Rob Baker - High Buildings, Low Morals. Tangential tales about London from the pre-modern times (post-WW1 to the 1970s), from Noel Coward to Ronnie Kray.
14. Quentin Crisp - The Naked Civil Servant. Camp as not just Christmas, but Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and NY Eve as well.
15. Laurie Lee - A Moment of War. Laurie goes over the top (of the Pyrenees) and fails to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
16. Ian Walker - Zoo Station. Tales of communism and capitalism and late night bars in 1980s Berlin.
17. Gareth Rees - Unofficial Britain. Finding the weird (or wyrd) in industrial estates, electricity pylons, motorway service stations, council estates, roundabouts and flyovers.
18. Joyce Johnson - Minor Characters. The Beat generation, grrrrl-style.
19. Elspeth Huxley - The Flame Trees of Thika. An Edwardian childhood in Kenya.
20. Joe Moran - Queuing for Beginners. A deep dive into Extreme Sociology/social history, perfect for the nerd in your life.
21. Francesca Wade - Square Haunting. The history of a Bloomsbury square through the lives of five female pre-war academics and writers.
My full Goodreads reviews are here, in case of interest.
1. Sylvia Beach - Shakespeare and Company. Literary lesbians in pre-war Paris.
2. Tim Jenkin - Escape from Pretoria. A Boy's Own Anti-Apartheid Adventure Story.
3. Tracey Thorne - Another Planet. Tracey does the suburbs in this second memoir from the indie-jazz-electro popster.
4. Paul Morley - The North. Paul does the north: a cross between a memoir, history, social commentary and cultural investigation.
5. Lee Israel - Can you Ever Forgive Me? If you like nice stories about nice people doing nice things and having a nice, happy ending, you won't like this book. If you like stories about quite objectionable people doing questionable things and being rather bitchy and hilarious along the way, you will.
6. Michael Booth - The Almost Nearly Perfect People. Tales from Scandiland.
7. David Sedaris - Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim. In which I discover my one true love.
8. Joan Wyndham - Love Lessons. Loves and losses in boho Chelsea during the war.
9. Michel White - Popkiss, the Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records. Nineties nostalgia a-go-go.
10. Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina. The new Sue Townshend.
11. Emily Chappell - What Goes Around. Life on a bike.
12. Will Ashon - Strange Labyrinth. Into the woods, or rather the forest (Epping).
13. Rob Baker - High Buildings, Low Morals. Tangential tales about London from the pre-modern times (post-WW1 to the 1970s), from Noel Coward to Ronnie Kray.
14. Quentin Crisp - The Naked Civil Servant. Camp as not just Christmas, but Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and NY Eve as well.
15. Laurie Lee - A Moment of War. Laurie goes over the top (of the Pyrenees) and fails to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
16. Ian Walker - Zoo Station. Tales of communism and capitalism and late night bars in 1980s Berlin.
17. Gareth Rees - Unofficial Britain. Finding the weird (or wyrd) in industrial estates, electricity pylons, motorway service stations, council estates, roundabouts and flyovers.
18. Joyce Johnson - Minor Characters. The Beat generation, grrrrl-style.
19. Elspeth Huxley - The Flame Trees of Thika. An Edwardian childhood in Kenya.
20. Joe Moran - Queuing for Beginners. A deep dive into Extreme Sociology/social history, perfect for the nerd in your life.
21. Francesca Wade - Square Haunting. The history of a Bloomsbury square through the lives of five female pre-war academics and writers.
My full Goodreads reviews are here, in case of interest.
