Books I Read in 2021

I’ve never before kept a list of books I read. I read a lot, but I don’t generally want to keep score. I know a lot of people do this on sites like Goodreads, but I’ve never felt it was useful. However, at the beginning of the year, seeing some articles about what people read last year, I decided that, out of curiosity, I would keep a list.

As I said, I read a lot. I’m not a big television or movie watcher; many people have a reflex to watch TV every evening, but in my household, that’s not the case. My partner is also an avid reader, though we read different types of books. We follow a few TV series, watch the occasional movie, but I let my Netflix subscription lapse often because there’s nothing that interests us.

So I guess it’s not surprising that I read more than 130 books last year. I read fairly quickly, and some of them – mostly mysteries and thrillers – were books I read in a single evening, or two at most. Some of the books were fairly short, but others were quite long. And I left a few books in the list that I abandoned after about one quarter of their length, just as notes to remind me that I didn’t finish them; these are indicated by asterisks after titles. Books with asterisks before the titles are books that I started in 2020, and only finished in 2021. I often read multiple books concurrently, so there are a few in the 2021 list that I haven’t finished, but, if I keep a list in 2022, I’ll indicate that. I only started the last book on the list on December 31, so I haven’t gotten for, but I’ll include it anyway.

You’ll notice 16 books in French; I lived in France for nearly three decades, so read in French regularly, but mostly classical literature. Many of these French books are long, and I read a bit less quickly in French than in English. One of my goals for 2022 is to read more in French, notable more Balzac, Dumas, and other 19th century authors that I particularly like.

About half my reads were non-fiction, though I haven’t included cookbooks or some books I’ve read for my work. And this also doesn’t count a few dozen photobooks that “read” or “re-read,” since I don’t really count them as reading. Though perhaps if I keep a list next year, I will include them…

If I’d had more time, I’d include Amazon affiliate links for anyone who wants to contribute to my ongoing book habit. Since I’m not including individual links, if you go to your local Amazon with these links (if you shop from one of these three countries), I’ll get a small percentage: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon FR.

So, here’s the list:

1. *Balzac, Graham Robb
2. The Pedant in the Kitchen, Julian Barnes
3. Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise, Dai Sijie
4. The Silence, Don Delillo (audio)
5. Trio, William Boyd
6. Foundation*, Isaac Asimov
7. Post Office, Charles Bukowski
8. How to Live, Sarah Bakewell
9. The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo
10. The Mountains and Waters Sutra, Shohaku Okumura
11. The Single Tone: A Personal Journey Into Shakuhachi Music, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
12. The Director, David Ignatius,
13. The Quantum Spy, David Ignatius
14. Two Tribes, Chris Beckett
15. The Paladin, David Ignatius
16. Searching for Cioran, Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston
17. Maximes Et Reflexions Diverses, François de La Rochefoucauld
18. Siro, David Ignatius
19. The Big Short*, Michael Lewis
20. The Fast Diet, Michael Mosley
21. The Fast 800, Michael Mosley
22. The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson
23. Not Dark Yet, Peter Robinson
24. *Evil Geniuses, Kurt Andersen
25. Le Père Goriot, Balzac
26. The Case for Keto, Gary Taubes
27. *The Quiet Man, John Foxx
28. Bank of Fear*, David Ignatius
29. China: A History, John Keay
30. Zen’s Chinese Heritage, Andy Ferguson
31. *The Book of Equanimity, Gerry Sesshin Wick
32. Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
33. Later, Stephen King
34. The Science of Cooking, Stuart Farrimond
35. The Old Ways*, Robert Macfarlane
36. *Divagations, Cioran
37. Ecodharma*, David Loy
38. Come Join our Disease*, Sam Byers
39. Propos 1, Alain
40. Zen and the Art of Consciousness, Susan Blackmore
41. Introduction to Zen Koans, James Ishmael Ford
42. *Life, Keith Richards
43. The Memory Police*, Ogawa Yoko
44. Faith in Mind, Sheng Yen
45. Cultivating the Empty Field, Taigen Dan Leighton
46. Firing Offense, David Ignatius
47. A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh
48. The Company, Robert Littell
49. Zola tome 1, Henri Mitterand
50. Nothing to Be Frightened Of, Julian Barnes
51. Why Dylan Matters*, Richard F. Thomas
52. Realizing Genjōkoan, Shohaku Okumura
53. Bloodmoney, David Ignatius
54. Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith
55. Trust Your Eyes*, Linwood Barclay
56. Les Soixante-quinze feuillets, Marcel Proust
57. Remembrance of Things Past, Harold Pinter
58. Spring Cannot Be Cancelled, David Hockney & Martin Gayford
59. The Last Trial, Scott Turow
60. Introduction à la recherche du temps perdu, Bernard de Fallois
61. Why We Eat (Too Much), Andrew Jenkinson
62. Proust, prix Goncourt, Thierry Laget
63. The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020, David Hockney
64. Sept conférences sur Marcel Proust, Bernard de Fallois
65. Here We Are*, Graham Swift
66. Marcel Proust, Croquis d’une épopée, Jean-Yves Tadié
67. Ensō, Audrey Yoshiko Seo
68. The Record of Empty Hall, Dosho Port
69. Beckett and Zen, Paul Foster
70. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and Other Travel Sketches, Bashō
71. Amazon Unbound, Brad Stone
72. Value(s), Mark Carney
73. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
74. The Grass Flute Zen Master, Arthur Braverman
75. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Paul Reps
76. Four Men Shaking, Lawrence Shainberg
77. Foregone, Russel Banks
78. 12 Birds to Save Your Life, Charlie Corbett
79. Dreyfus, Ruth Harris
80. Gate of Liliacs, Clive James
81. Proust, Samuel Beckett
82. Du côté de chez Swann, Marcel Proust
83. One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryōkan
84. The Complete Haiku, Bashō
85. Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf – Zen Poems of Ryōkan
86. The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse, Red Pine
87. The Flight, Julie Clark
88. Sky Above, Great Wind, The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
89. The Heart Sutra, Kazuaki Tanahashi
90. Many Different Kinds of Love, Michael Rosen
91. Mr. Wilder and Me, Jonathan Coe
92. Daisy Jones and the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
93. Eihei Dōgen, Mystical Realist, Hee-Jin Kim
94. Billy Summers, Stephen King
95. The Comfort Book, Matt Haig
96. Le roman d’aventures, Jean-Yves Tadié
97. Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, Jules Verne
98. Eyes Wide Open! 100 Years of Leica Photography, Hans-Michael Koetzle
99. Four Quartets, T. S. Eliot
100. Scorpion, Christian Cantrell
101. Spoon Fed, Tim Spector
102. Great Fool: Zen Master Ryokan, Ryuichi Abe and Peter Haskel
103. Chuang Tzu, The Inner Chapters, David Hinton
104. Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead
105. Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen
106. The Arrest, Jonathan Lethem
107. A Life Worth Living, Robert Zaretsky
108. The Whistler, John Grisham
109. The Bach Cello Suites: A Companion, Stephen Isserlis
110. The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
111. What the Heart Beats, Kay Larson
112. No One Is Talking About This*, Patricia Lockwood
113. The Zen Master’s Dance, Jundo Cohen
114. The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
115. The Right to Sex, Amia Srinivasan
116. Each Moment is the Universe, Dainin Katagiri
117. Bewilderment, Richard Powers
118. NeuroTribes, Steve Silberman
119. The House, Tom Watson
120. CageTalk, Peter Dickinson
121. Paris, Edward Rutherfurd
122. The Every, Dave Eggars
123. Proust et la société, Jean-Yves Tadié
124. Termination Shock*, Neal Stephenson
125. Citizens, Simon Schama
126. Master Cheng’s New Method of Tai Chi Self-cultivation, Cheng Man-Ching
127. Baudelaire, Jean-Baptiste Baronian
128. Les trois mousquetaires, Alexandre Dumas
129. Imperium, Robert Harris
130. The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, Anthony Gottlieb
131. George Sand, Martine Reid
132. Never, Ken Follet
133. The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki