2021 Reading List: The Last Half of the Year

January 6, 2022

For the books I read in the first half of the year, read this article: Four Months of Books: January to April

The books I read in the last half of 2021 can all be traced back to what I was researching at the time. Of these six books, there is only one I’m still on the fence about, but they were all good at keeping the real world at bay.

One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
By Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke

Richard Proenneke built his log cabin by himself in a remote part of Alaska and lived there alone. I’ve watched the PBS special “Alone in the Wilderness” many times over the years and I watched it again after reading this book. As a compilation of his journals, this provides way more insight into his adventures.

Reading this made me want to go out and build my own log cabin. And one day, I just might do it…

The Women in the Castle
By Jessica Shattuck

I had such high hopes for this story. As one of the first WWII historical fiction novels I have been able to find told from the German perspective, I really wanted to like this book. Especially since it focused on the German resistance. But I was ultimately disappointed.

It was well written and thoroughly researched, but it could have done better at explaining the German side, rather than feeling like the characters were from anywhere in the world. Maybe a re-read will change my perspective?

Tides of Honour & Come From Away
By Genevieve Graham

Genevieve Graham has become an “automatic buy” author. I first read Come From Away last year and have since purchased all of Graham’s other novels.

I read Tides of Honour in only three days. The story just sucked me right in, especially the vivid descriptions of the Halifax explosion and its aftermath. I was fully invested in these characters from page one.

I re-read Come From Away right after. I had enjoyed it the first time, but the story made so much more sense, now that I knew the backstory!

Iron Lake & Boundary Waters
By William Kent Kreuger

These are the first two books in the Cork O’Conner mystery series. Based in Minnesota, the landscape may as well be Manitoba. And the Indigenous legends in both really made the stories unique and interesting.

I read them both in a couple weeks. Now I just need to figure out how to write a mystery novel like this…