My 2021 reading year

The outgoing year turned out to be rich and varied for me in terms of books. I have read 28 books, which is twice as many as last year. This year, for the first time, I began to read books in French: with a dictionary, sometimes peeping at the Russian version of the book, but still. These were the books of a Belgian writer Amelie Nothomb: "Tokyo fiancée" about her life in Japan and her relationship with a Japanese man (I liked it so much that it made me want to have such an experience myself :), "The life of hunger" (about the writer's childhood spent in different countries) and "Bluebeard" (about a strange home mate and relationship with him. I liked it less than the others, but it caused an acute desire to drink good champagne). I read another of her books "Fear and trembling" in Russian. This is the writer’s story about her work in a Japanese company. The book helped me to look at my work in Thailand with more irony and shed some light on some of the features of Asian culture.

 The most favorite book of the year 2021 has become Donna Tartt's “The Secret History.” This amalgam of a Greek tragedy and Harry Potter literally enveloped me in its mysterious, gothic atmosphere, and I could’t tear myself away from the novel! I even had a desire to re-read it, because from the first time, it seems to me, it is impossible to grasp the entire multi-layered meaning of this novel.

The book that has impressed me the most and left an indelible mark on my heart is "House in the Sky." This is the memoir of a Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, who was kept as a hostage in Somalia for 460 days. In the novel, she talks about the horrors of captivity she experienced, how she managed to survive and not to lose her mind. A heart wrenching book that kept me awake for several nights in a row.

Another novel that also has impressed me this year is “The Nightingale” by the writer Kristin Hannah. This is the story of two Jewish women in France during World War II. The novel can be called frankly feminine and sentimental, but I liked it. Probably because I'm a sentimental woman. Sometimes.

Another novel about a women’s destiny read this year, is “City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Frankly speaking, I don’t take this writer seriously enough but this novel made a good impression on me. The story takes place in New York during many different decades of 20th century, and it, of course, cannot leave me indifferent.

The book that I was reading just to relax "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell took me to the island of Corsica, where the writer spent his childhood surrounded by various animals and his cheerful family members. I had already read the novel by this author, and it touches me how he describes the life of animals and birds.

Another writer I returned to this year because he had a new novel is the Japanese Kazuo Ishiguro. His new futuristic novel "Klara and the Sun" about the life of robots left pleasant impressions and, like Ishiguro's previous novels, made me think about the questions that are likely to confront humanity very soon.

From the classics I read "Dear Friend" by Guy de Maupassant and two novels by Vladimir Nabokov "Pnin" and "Laughter in the dark." I really enjoy reading Nabokov because the way he plays with the words and creates his phrases is a pure art.

This year for the first time, I read a novel by the contemporary Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya "The Kukotsky Enigma."  While reading it, I had a feeling that I was watching an old Soviet film, the atmosphere of the book was as far from me as the atmosphere in the books of Guy de Maupassant. Intellectually I understand that this is a good and difficult novel. But my feelings towards it are rather neutral. I admit that probably I just have not grown up yet enough to fully comprehend this book.

The biggest book of this year is the biography of Winston Churchill by author François Bédarida. It was a difficult reading, especially the part about the political games of the British parties. The biographical parts and descriptions of the Second World War were very informative. I wanted to know more about Churchill as a person and, in general, the book fulfilled this request of mine.

In addition to Amelie Nothomb's Japanese novels, I also read Anthony Burgess's book about Asia “Beds in the East.” In the book, the author describes the dramatic interaction of East and West on the territory of British Malaya (western part of modern Malaysia). I can't say that I liked the book, but reading it while in Asia was quite entertaining.

A book about Western culture, which I really liked and I have already recommended it to some of my friends was “The Nordic theory of everything. In search of a better life." This is a book by Finnish and American journalist Anu Partanen, who compares life in the United States and the Scandinavian countries, focusing on issues of parent-child relations, gender relations, employers and workers, government and citizens.

One of the most entertaining books of this year was Guy Deutscher's Science-Pop “Through the Language Glass.” The book is not written in the easiest language but wading through its jungle to find the answer to the question: why the sheep in Homer's description were purple, and honey - green - was quite exciting.

Continuing the trend of last year - reading books about relationships with money, this year I added two more of them to my list: "The Secrets happy Money" by Ken Honda and "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clayson. I doubt very much that they somehow influenced my relationship with money no matter how much I wanted to. 

This year I read two books by psychologist Erich Fromm: “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” and “To Have or To Be?” and I liked both. I also read a book by a psychotherapist Viktor Frankl “Yes to life: in spite of everything.”  It’s collection of three lectures that Victor Frankl delivered in 1946, after his liberation from four years spent in various concentration camps.

I also read two books by Buddhist authors: "How to Practice" by the Dalai Lama and "The Art of Communication" by Tit Nat Khan.

I do not really favor very popular nowadays books on self-development, and I read them very selectively. This year there were three: “Ted Talk. The official TED guide to public speaking” by Chris Anderson and “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown and “12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos” by Jordan B Peterson. The first two turned out to be really useful, but the last one seemed to me to be the delusion of a religious fanatic and became the worst book read this year.

And yet another disappointing book this year was the bestseller by Swiss writer Joel Dicker, “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair”. The book seemed to me worthless and vulgar, how it could become a bestseller - I don't know. I would definitely not recommend it to anyone.

Two books that I never finished reading this year are “In the Midst of winter” by Isabel Allende which I’ve been reading in Spanish and “The Muslim Problem. Why We Are Wrong About Islam and Why It Matters” by Tawseef Khan. I haven’t finished the first one because of my laziness, although I love Isabel Allende and I hope to finish reading it next year, and the second one alienated me with some of the author's statements, with which I find it difficult to agree.

This was my reading year 2021. I wish you all many exciting book discoveries in the upcoming year!