2021 Reading Review and Favourite Titles – “Self-help doesn’t help”

Pandemics aren’t good for much but it has been good for my reading levels. This is the second year in a row that I’ve read 50 books or more. Every time there is a change in pandemic restrictions, I find I have a little panic and go straight into looking for books to read, either from the library or buying. Looking over the titles I read this year, I was a little surprised that I felt underwhelmed. But as I’ve written this post, I’ve changed my mind and feel like this was another enlightening reading year and these titles taught me a lot.

Reading Themes – Science, Mystery, Equity

My hunger for science is bigger than ever before. Nature! Health Science! Space! I’ve always been interested in the effect of place on our identities and I’m seeking books that have elements of geography, people, and history in them.

Around spring 2020, my interest in active and healthy living got a reboot and I purposely looked for science-based guidance. I’m more aware of the effects of diet culture has on me but I also want to feel and look good. So, I did some reflecting, tracking and analyzing my behaviours, and then changing some habits based on some science. I’m learning to give myself a break and accepting that doing it right means doing it sloooooow.

Self-Help Doesn’t Help

THEN, I got on the self-help rollercoaster and it threw me for a loop (and not in a fun “whooo” way). During my health reboot, I learned that dealing with changing habits and creating new routines also means accepting and moving through your emotions. So, this lead me down a path of reading more self-help books, geared towards emotion, in the summer and fall. I took their messages, internalized them, and proceeded to interpret them as “must-fixes” instead of suggestions and fell down a hole of self-doubt in my own pre-existing emotional skills.

In the end, I had to quit reading self-help books and I quickly felt better a week later after my epiphany of “Self help doesn’t help.” In fact, I think it can do more harm than good sometimes. And, a month later, I’m still not reading self-help or listening to any podcasts along that vein. Life is better.

Mysteries and Spy Thrillers

Mystery has been my cozy blanket of reading. I’ve read 15 books that are either mystery or spy-related! I’m still digging on Agatha Christie. I’m loving John Le Carré’s commentary on colonialism and class. And don’t get me started on the Dreadfulwater series by Thomas King. What a pure delight to read a mystery set in an area so similar to mine and his dry humour.

Diversity

I’m down 2% from last year but from analyzing my reading topics I think I know the reason. And guess what, my theory is that it is scholars from diverse backgrounds in academia are not published as much in natural sciences and health sciences. So when my reading turned quite science heavy, the authors I was reading were mostly of a traditional academic background.

• Black – 5
• Indigenous – 5
• Latinx – 3
• Middle Eastern – 1
• Asian – 3
• LGTBQ2S+ – 1
• White European/N. American – 32

Total – 18/50 books were written by diverse populations which is 36% of my overall reading.

This is not to say that those authors aren’t knowledgeable. But it would be helpful to have new perspectives on science so we can continue to improve all of our lives. Yes, we have more in common than we have different AND we live in a wide variety of ways and experiences. Both of these can be true and all those experiences in between. The desperate need for diversity in our research was abundantly clear to me when reading “Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Criado Pérez.

I would also be thrilled to see more diverse authors published in the mystery and spy genres. I did read American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson which was unique and riveting. I would like to read more like that and in different settings than western Europe. There must be more and perhaps this could be addressed with more translations or world rights for publishing contacts?

I was pleased to see that in 2021, BookNet has done a Diversity Report for the Canadian Readers and their interest in diverse literature. 85%+ of people surveyed agreed that libraries, booksellers, and publishers should have books by a wider variety of authors.

Reading Diversely Percentages Since 2016

• 2021 – 36%
• 2020 – 37%
• 2019 – 25%
• 2018 – 22%
• 2017 – 65%
• 2016 – 22%

2022 Intellectual Vibes

From the books I’ve read this year, I’m going into 2022 with the following intellectual goals:

1. Joy – leaning into joy also as a form of resistance.
2. Inclusion & Diversity – Celebrating! Exploring! Learning about others’ experiences.
3. Open-minded + intellectual humility + discernment = Intellectual triple threat

My Fave Books of 2021

• Magdalena by Wade Davis
• The Diet Fix by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff
• Relax, Dammit by Timothy Caulfield
• Lookout: Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest by Trina Moyles
• Emotional Agility by Dr. Susan David
• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez
• Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund
• Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
• The Dreadfulwater series by Thomas King
• The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality and Our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku