I didn't read as much as I should have in 2021. I had a New Years Resolution of reading 15 classic books and I read a total of one. That being said, I read several fascinating books this year that I would highly recommend to others. These are five of them (in no particular order).
1. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
“Perhaps in time, Ella, the words we have lost will fade, and we will all stop summoning them by habit, only to stamp them out like unwanted toadstools when they appear. Perhaps they will eventually disappear altogether, and the accompanying halts and stammers as well: those troublesome, maddening pauses that at present invade and punctuate through caesura all manner of discourse. Trying so desperately we all are, to be ever so careful.”
This is a delightful and clever book that manipulates language in a brilliant way. Ella Minnow Pea lives on a remote island in a civilization which values language above all else. When letters begin falling off a statue, the government takes it as a sign from God to mean that those letters are now banned. Mark Dunn uses letters and words brilliantly. I highly recommend this work of what I would call poetry.
2. Gulp by Mary Roach
“The human digestive tract is like the Amtrak line from Seattle to Los Angeles: transit time is about thirty hours, and the scenery on the last leg is pretty monotonous.”
Gulp is another one of Mary Roach's comedy science books that makes you excited to learn about the human body. This deep dive into the digestive system includes chapters such as "Spit gets a polish: someone ought to bottle the stuff" and "Up theirs: the alimentary canal as criminal accomplice". I learned a lot and really enjoyed reading this book.
3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
“It is only a novel... or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language”
Northanger Abbey is unique in the lineup of Jane Austen books. It is, in essence, a novel about novels. It parodies other novels targeted towards women (which led to a rift between Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë). Catherine Morland must put aside her fantastical ideas in order to fully appreciate her life and her relationships. This is a delightful book for those who love British novels, but wouldn't necessarily be appreciated by others.
4. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I definitely didn't expect a series of letters written by a demon to his young demon nephew. A book has never terrified me more. It is a wakeup call to complacent Christians as it warns of the dangers of stagnation in faith.
5. One Second After by William R. Forstchen
“We were spoiled unlike any generation in history, and we forgot completely just how dependent we were on the juice flowing through the wires, the buttons doing something when we pushed them.”
One Second After is a fact based analysis of the after affects of an Electromagnetic Pulse in the United States. Imagine if in a moment your air conditioner, refrigerator, car, and phone stopped working all of the sudden. In the next days and weeks, you run out of medicine, food, and water. What would the world look like? How would you survive? How would you provide for your family and community? This is the most important dystopian book that anyone needs to read. It is such a real world possibility and it could happen at any moment.
Links to books on goodreads:
Thanks for this list!