The Books of 2021

Last year I shared all of the books that I had read in those 365 days. I shall be doing the same today. Last year I read 124 books. 2021 surpassed that with 166 books. I honestly have no clue how I had time to read so much. XD

Book titles in bold are ones that I have read in previous years. Titles in plain text are new books to me. 😉

Fantasy

I read a lot of amazing fantasy series this year. Some re-reads and others I discovered for the first time. There were several series that I was not pleased with and wish that I hadn’t wasted my time with, but for the most part, I was happy with the ones that I read. 🙂

I re-read the whole Chronicles of Narnia. The last time I did that was 2017 or 2018, I believe, so it was really fun to do it again this year. 🙂

Tales of the Kingdom by David & Karen Mains

Tales of the Resistance by David & Karen Mains

Tales of the Restoration by David & Karen Mains

Passages: Fendar’s Legacy by Paul McCusker

The Minions of Time by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Author’s Blood by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Ember Falls by S.D. Smith

Shadow Keeper: A Legend by Hope Ann

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

The Wingfeather Tales

The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers

The Secret of the Swamp King by Jonathan Rogers

The Way of the Wilderking by Jonathan Rogers

Beren and Luthien by J.R.R Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien

A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes

A Time to Speak by Nadine Brandes

A Time to Rise by Nadine Brandes

Dust by Kara Swanson

Shadow by Kara Swanson

Favorite: Ah, there were so so many. I absolutely loved the Out of Time trilogy by Nadine Brandes. The descriptions were so vivid and the story was so unexpected. I also loved Dust so very much. However, I will have to say that my favorite is the Lord of the Rings series. It shall always be so. Any author who can change my mind will have my undying respect for the rest of eternity.

Least Favorite: *coughs* Hmm. I really, really disliked the Wormling series. It took me two years to get through the whole thing. That would be the most hated by me here. XD However, I didn’t really like the series by Jonathan Rodgers. It seemed rather amateurish and there were a lot of things that deeply annoyed me.

Memoirs, Biographies, Autobiographies

Yes! One of my favorite genres! I own so many good biographies/autobiographies that they must be re-read over and over again. Most of these I have read three or four times.

God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

In God’s Underground by Richard Wurmbrand

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Blessed, Blessed…Blessed by Missy Robertson

The Story of My Life by Hellen Keller

The Last of the Giants by Harry Rimmer

I Will Love You Forever by Cori Salchert

A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

The Midwife’s Here by Linda Fairley

Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle by Bruce Olson

The Good, The Bad and the Grace of God by Jep & Jessica Robertson

Heaven In My Hands by Nancy Spencer

Love Does by Bob Goff

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Confessions by St. Augustine

A Step Further by Joni Eareckson Tada

My Emily by Matt Patterson

Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman

Hearts of Fire by Voice of the Martyrs

Favorite: Man, oh man, it is hard to choose! Like I already said, there are so many amazing true stories here. I can’t pick one. My top three are God’s Smuggler, In God’s Underground, and The Hiding Place.

Least Favorite: A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans. It was hilarious, but there was a lot in it that I didn’t agree with. Plus it doesn’t compare to the other stories here.

Fiction

Yay for fiction! I was very pleased to re-read the Little House on the Praire series. I haven’t read that in years – since I was seven or eight. It was insanely nostalgic and I was shocked by how much I could remember – down to the very words in sentences.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Do You Believe by Travis Thrasher

God’s Not Dead 2 by Travis Thrasher

Courageous by Randy Alcorn

Flywheel by Eric Wilson

October Baby by Eric Wilson

War Room by Chris Fabry

The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N.S

Capitola’s Peril by E.D.E.N.S

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson

Ben Hur by Lew Wallace

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

In Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson

Stories from Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson

Still More Stories from Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson

Treasures from Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Favorite: NOOO!

My favorite of all of these would have to be the Count of Monte Cristo. It’s such a beautiful, heartbreaking, terrible story. I enjoyed it so very much. It was incredibly well written and so engaging.

However, I also loved Ben Hur, The Man Who Was Thursday, and Little Women.

Least Favorite: Ugh. It’s a tie between The Princess Bride and Flywheel. The Princess Bride would have been fine if it hadn’t been for all of the annoying commentaries by the author (he literally interrupts the story to give you his own random, annoying rambling thoughts on it). I didn’t care for his attitude and it felt like he was just trying to get the audience to feel sorry for him and his oh-so-terrible life.

Flywheel’s main character, Jay, annoyed me so much. One day he’s a dishonest businessman who is a terrible husband and father who lives only to squeeze extra money from his customers. Then the next day, after hearing a few words of a sermon on TV, he suddenly changes and becomes a perfect father/husband, a super religious guy, an honest salesman, and his perspective is completely changed and he’s basically perfect for the second half of the book. *growls* I do believe that people can change drastically, but not when nothing happens to inspire that change.

Historical Fiction

If you look at my post from last year, you’ll see that I read a grand total of two historical fiction books. This year I read many, many more. As you notice, most of them are by G.A. Henty. I have a love-hate relationship with his stories. I enjoy them because they’re interesting and he is a good, descriptive writer – especially of battle scenes. I enjoy learning more about the history around the stories.

However, his characters are so deeply annoying. They’re all perfect, they all get rich by the end of the stories and they’re all super manly and almost invincible. It seems like he had the same character mold for every single story.

On the Irrawaddy by G.A. Henty

True to the Old Flag by G.A. Henty

In Freedom’s Cause by G.A. Henty

Through Russian Snows by G.A. Henty

Looking For Home by Arleta Richardson

Whistle Stop West by Arleta Richardson

Prairie Homestead by Arleta Richardson

Across the Border by Arleta Richardson

Alone Yet Not Alone by Tracy Leininger Craven

With Cortez in Mexico by G.A. Henty

The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty

Colonel Thorndyke’s Secret by G.A. Henty

The Curse on Carne’s Hold by G.A. Henty

Captain Bayley’s Heir by G.A. Henty

With Lee in Virginia by G.A. Henty

Dash for Khartoum by G.A. Henty

Through the Fray by G.A. Henty

The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty

The Pilgrim Adventure by Susan Kilbride

The King Philip’s War Adventure by Susan Kilbride

The Salem Adventure by Susan Kilbride

The Pioneer Adventure by Susan Kilbride

The Revolutionary War Adventure by Susan Kilbride

The Civil War Adventure by Susan Kilbride

In Fear of the Spear by Marianne Hering

The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson

Favorite:  I loved the Our America series by Susan Kilbride. It focused more on the events of history rather than time travel and what-not. It was really well done. The stories were engaging and the characters were fun.

I also really enjoyed The Curse on Carne’s Hold because it was a very different storyline than the normal G.A. Henty books. The ending was surprising and I enjoyed most of the story.

Least Favorite: I really didn’t like The Fiddler’s Gun. The writing style was weird, the main character had little personality and the story was bland and slow.

Children’s Stories

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Jill’s Red Bag by Amy Le Feuvre

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Carved Cupboard by Amy Le Feuvre

Saved at Sea

The Giant Killer by A.L.O.E.

Favorite: I really enjoyed The Secret Garden. I loved seeing how much Mary changed over the course of the story and how she helped someone who was so similar to herself change as well.

Least Favorite: Peter Pan for sure. From what I heard, I had envisioned a nice, fun story about kids and whimsy and instead, I found a story with lots of senseless killing and very selfish characters. What really annoyed me was Peter’s love for killing. That’s not something that a boy, a child, would love. Yes, children like to play war and such, but killing is what grown men do, not innocent, whimsical children. Aside from that, he was so selfish and so mean to everyone and I really didn’t care what happened to him at all. I almost wished that something bad would happen, but nothing did. I also really disliked Tink for similar reasons.

Romance

Yeah, I really don’t like romance that much and I’m surprised that I actually have four books here. Last year I had a grand total of one, I believe. XD

Diana by Susan Warner

Nobody by Susan Warner

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Life Just Got Real by Sadie Robertson

Favorite: I really enjoyed Diana and the reason was that it didn’t focus solely on romance. Yes, that was a big part of the story. But the underlying theme was what to do when you can’t have the person that you desperately want and how to find contentment when life doesn’t go like you think it should.

I really liked Nobody as well for similar reasons. The deeper theme (that took up much of the story) was how to live in a wicked world as a Christian without being caught up in the wrong ideas that the world has to offer. That really stuck with me and got me thinking.

Least Favorite: *gags* Pride and Prejudice. Sorry, all of you who love it. It was just so shallow and flaky and there seemed no point to the whole story. The main character was perfect and had basically no character arch. The whole thing just annoyed me.

Mystery

Nope, don’t read a lot of mystery stories. XD A few years ago, Jehosheba and I bought the whole Red Rock Mystery series and I enjoy reading them over and over again. 🙂

Phantom Writer: Red Rock Mystery Book Six by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Double Fault: Red Rock Mystery Book Seven by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

 Windy City Danger: Red Rock Mystery Book Eleven by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Hidden Riches: Red Rock Mystery Book Thirteen by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Wind Chill: Red Rock Mystery Book Fourteen by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Dead End: Red Rock Mystery Book Fifteen by Jerry B. Jenkins & Cris Fabry

Favorite: Phantom Writer. It was really fun and the ending did surprise me.

Least Favorite: Dead End. It was the last book in the series and I really hated how they did it. *sighs* It feels like there were so many loose ends that they didn’t tie up and so many questions that were left unanswered. I won’t spoil it.

Social Awareness Stories

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Favorite: I can’t choose. I really loved Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The story was so engaging and powerful.

Les Miserables was…long. XD It took me a full eight months to read because there were so many long, boring descriptions that seemed almost completely unrelated to the story. However, I loved the characters. They were so well done. I loved Javert, Fantine, and Jean Valjean. The ending was absolutely heartbreaking and it would be the book that has brought me closest to crying, aside from a couple of beautiful chapters in The Count of Monte Cristo. (FYI, I never cry at books. XD Just doesn’t happen for me.)

To Kill a Mockingbird was so interesting and was also a very powerful story. I didn’t agree with everything in it and there were several parts that I didn’t care for, but on the whole, it was a very good story with very well done characters.

Least Favorite: Oliver. It was a fine story, just not what I had imagined. XD Plus I can’t believe that he killed Nancy….*cries*

Christmas Novellas

I was going to read more Christmas stories. But hey, I read one more than last year, lol.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Robertson Family Christmas by Kay Robertson

Poetry, Plays & Random

*coughs* I really meant to read more poetry this year. I had several books of poetry that I wanted to read, but somehow I only got around to reading this very short poem that was rather depressing. XD 2022 will be better, I promise!

The Ballad of Suicide by G.K. Chesterton

Antigone

Mistakes That Worked

Health, Pet & Random

I love health books. They are so interesting. They take me a while to read because there is a ton of information, but I always learn so much and am always glad that I took the time to do it.

Sugar Glider Care by Kate H. Pellham

You Have A Pet What? Sugar Glider Edition

National Geographic: Weird But True Animal Edition

The Mary Frances Cookbook by Jane Fryer

Birth Wisdom – Jan Tritten

How and When to be Your Own Doctor by Isabel A. Moser

Say Goodbye To Illness by Devi Nambudripad

Eliminate Your Pet’s Allergies by Devi Nambudripad

Favorite: It’s a tie. How and When to be Your Own Doctor was very enlightening. It was amazing to read how much the body can heal when you simply fast and rest. It’s incredible.

Say Goodbye to Illness was amazing and I recommend everyone to read it. Allergies can be cured through NAET. There are so many more allergies around us than we could ever realize.

Least Favorite: Eh. I’d say You Have A Pet What? just because it was a kids’ book and very short. It was well done, though.

Instructional & Self Help

Not all of these fit into this category well, but I couldn’t fit them anywhere else, lol. I enjoyed so many of these books and they gave me a lot to think about in 2021.

Adoring The Dark by Andrew Peterson

The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson

Unparalleled by Jarad C. Wilson

Redeeming Mathematics by Vern S. Poythress

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

Even-Tempered Mother by Tabitha Philen

That Sounds Fun by Annie Downs

Get Weird by C.J. Casciotta

How To Write A Book This Weekend by Vic Johnson

The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman

Favorite: Ahh! So many of these were so very helpful. However, the top book would go to Do Hard Things. It was incredibly inspiring and eye-opening. God used it to wake me up and show me how much of my life I’ve wasted just because I’m afraid.

Least Favorite: Redeeming Mathematics. It was very confusing and I don’t like math, lol.

Older History/Theology/Philosophy

Most of these I read for school. However, I am so thankful that I did. I got so much out of so many of them and I will be re-reading some of them. My classes gave me an opportunity to read books that I never would have picked up otherwise.

Phaedrus by Plato

Crito by Plato

Phaedo by Plato

The Allegory of the Cave by Plato

The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Ceasar

Annals and Histories by Tacitus

Maccabees One and Two

Poetics by Aristotle

The Julius Exclusus of Erasmus

95 Thesis by Martin Luther

St. Anthony of the Dessert by St. Athanasius

On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

The Didache

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch

First and Second Apologies of Justin Martyr

Pascal Homily

Favorite: Hard one, but I would have to say either Crito or St. Anthony of the Dessert. It was amazing to read about Socrates last hours and how calm and at peace, he seemed in the face of death. I loved reading his last arguments.

St. Anthony of the Dessert was also incredible because of how much Anthony sacrificed in order to have a life fully devoted to the Lord.

Poetics was very interesting also, especially since I am a writer. 😉

Least Favorite: I honestly don’t have one for this section.

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Phew! We made it. There we have all of the books of 2021. I look forward to seeing what books are in store for me in 2022.

Books: 166

Longest Book: Les Miserables with 1,376 pages.

Shortest Book: The Didache with 20 pages.

Most Read Category: Fantasy with twenty-nine books.

Least Read Category: Christmas novellas with two books. XD

Re-read books: 88

New books: 78

Favorite Book Of All: HARD ONE. I’d say either Lord of the Rings or Count of Monte Cristo. Sorry, I just can’t decide between them!

Least Favorite Book Of All: Peter Pan. Sorry, all of you fans. I just really, really, really disliked it.

~Hattush

Have you read any of the books I mentioned? What are your favorite/least favorite genres? What is your favorite book/series? Who are your favorite authors?