While I sometimes fall short in my quest to read a book a week for the calendar year, in 2021 I reached the goal with two weeks to spare.
This year’s 52-and-counting tally doesn’t include the approximately 502 books I read to my 3-year-old granddaughter, including these recommendations from Maya: “Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem” by Amanda Gorman; “The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth” by Chris Burkard; “Grumpy Monkey” by Suzanne Lang; and “No, David!” by David Shannon.
As for my favorites, here is a tall stack of “Yes, Read!”
“One Long River Of Song,” a posthumous collection of short essays by Brian Doyle, is a gem that next had me picking up one of his novels. “The Plover” is such a spellbinding seafaring tale that I will soon be visiting his backlist further.
Colson Whitehead, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, once again displays his storytelling mastery in his new 1960’s era “Harlem Shuffle” about thievery, and humanity, while Bryce Courtenay’s “The Potato Factory” is a terrific tale about a likeable London con artist in the 19th Century.
I dare say one need but be a runner to be captivated by “The Slummer: Quarters Till Death” by Geoffrey Simpson. Taking place in 2083, athletics – and society – has been divided into genetically designed “elites” and “slummers” who were born the old-fashioned way.
“The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin is a charming story that takes place in a bookstore. Meanwhile, I owe my thanks to Ventura’s charming “Timbre Books” for tipping me off to the engaging, funny and sometimes heartbreaking “The Last Taxi Driver” by Lee Durkee.
“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith is a young girl’s coming-of-age story that is slow-paced in the very best of ways. Also taking place in Brooklyn is “Snow In August,” a touching tale about an unlikely friendship by Pete Hamill.
Fans of “chick lit” will surely love “Writers & Lovers” by Lily King because even though the genre isn’t my cup of tea I greatly enjoyed this novel.
Even at nearly 600 pages, Amor Towles’ “The Lincoln Highway” will have you wishing this 1954 road trip of memorable characters would travel along a little further.
Meanwhile, “The Busker” by Brooks Rexroat is thin at 153 pages, but thick on entertainment. This Grand Prize Winner of “The Great Novella Contest” (whatever that is) is an underdog, hard-luck tale about a guitar-playing teen.
Stephen King’s “Billy Summers” is a flat-out, fast-paced, page-turner, road-trip story about a hitman you’ll find yourself rooting for and “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce is about another road trip, albeit taken by foot, that you will want to tag along on.
Speaking – rather, reading – of road trips, somehow I had never before buckled in with Jack Kerouac’s classic “On The Road” but I am glad I finally did.
“One More For The Road” by the late, great Ray Bradbury is a marvelous collection of short fiction while “The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000 Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds” by Caroline Van Hemert chronicles a remarkable nonfiction off-the-road trip.
If you twisted my arm to name my favorite book I read this year, I would cry “uncle” and give you a toss up between these three novels: “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig; “The Four Winds” by Kirstin Hannah; and “City of Thieves” by David Benioff.
In closing, a thought from Groucho Marx: “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
For that, I recommend a backlit e-reader.
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.
Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com