I didn't quite make it to fifty, but I came a lot closer than I did last year!
This year, my beloved public library was (albeit in a far more limited way) available to me, and that was no small thing. More books this year I loved and had a huge impact on me.
Much to my shock, I received attention from both Alice Hoffman and Amanda Yates Garcia for my reviews of their work, including some incredibly sweet comments from the latter about my genuine gushing over her wonderful book.
But it wasn't all good stuff, I'm afraid. We lost some incredible authors in 2021. The legendary Beverly Cleary, responsible for so many wonderful childhood memories and whose work appeared here twice so far died at age 104. The author of a book that made a huge difference to me, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong which I read as a teenager, James W. Loewen, also died in 2021, and if you haven't read Lies, please do so now! But the biggest loss to me was bell hooks, a massive influence on my own feminism and activism, and a powerful force for good in the world. I tore through her books as a teenager and her work holds up and stays relevant. If you're doing it right, her work should be one of the cornerstones of your feminism and activism. If you haven't read bell hooks before now, please, please read her work.
In addition to luminaries we lost, though, there were also some real doozys here I was too happy to read to filth after reading and suffering.
So let's get into the good, the bad, and the meh! WATCH FOR THE END FOR A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT!
