10 Books I Couldn’t Put Down in 2021

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The 2021 Marsh Consulting book list is here! In case you’re on the hunt for book recommendations for yourself or gift ideas for your people, I offer up this curated list of reads I couldn’t put down this year. 

Looking for more ideas? Here are the book recs from 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Got some recommendations to share back? Please send them my way!!

This was a five-star year for my fiction pickups. It was not the list I expected to read – books bumped their way into the queue from gifts, random library finds and unplanned book store visits. Here are my favorites:

Fiction Favorites

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. This is a novel set in 1980s Chicago, centered around the friendships and life of an art gallery fundraiser, a gay man whose community is being torn apart by AIDS. The story carries you like a boat bobbing on a steady river, and the characters were constructed with love. Even though the subject matter is sad, it wasn’t a sad book.

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This super-famous young adult novel – you’ll note about 24,000 five-star ratings on Amazon – has been on my list for years, and I am so glad I finally read it. It’s the tale of a family in a small town outside of Munich during WWII, told through the friendship of an adopted 11-year-old girl who steals books and a young Jewish man, the son of a friend of the father, that the family is hiding in their cellar. It’s such a beautiful story which navigates tragedy and joy in everyday family life.

• Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley. I loved, loved, loved this book where a racehorse, the protagonist, wanders away from the track and lives in Paris for a few months. I had never heard of Jane Smiley, who has apparently written lots of books where animals are protagonists, but she takes you on adventure to Paris, to nature, to animals, and to a delightful story.

• Of Love & Shadows by Isabel Allende. Journey on to Chile in this wonderful novel. This was my first Allende read and it won’t be my last! It’s the tale of an near-aristocrat woman who works as an investigative journalist and her peasant-bred photographer partner, who of course fall in love, and their efforts to uncover the truth of a local mystery despite the oppressive ruling regime trying to stop them. It’s told in a detached, tongue-in-cheek way, with a lighthearted, almost naïve tone to contrast the brutality of the regime.

• The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash. I’m currently reading and loving this novel, set in 1970s New York City, about the son of a former late-night talk show host who is struggling to find his own way as his famous father works on a comeback. His neighbor and friend in the tale is Beatles legend John Lennon. It has a tinge of Catcher in the Rye to the tone. Loving it!

Nonfiction Favorites

My hunter-gatherer-anthropology binge continued into 2021 and led me to a pile of delightful reads:

• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky. This anthropology-heavy book was recommended on a wellness podcast I like and of course I had to grab it. Sapolsky is a very eccentric neuroendocrinology professor (and MacArthur grant recipient) who did pioneering research about cortisol responses in primates by living among baboons periodically for 25+ years. It has all kinds of interesting info about the biological response to stress but also a little look into the quirky life of this guy and his baboon buddies.

• A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky. Okay, after reading the scientific insights of his work, I wanted a LOT more material about Sapolsky’s life with baboons – and this book delivered. It’s such a fun and entertaining read. In fact, I think I’ll read it again next year!

• Winterdance by Gary Paulsen. You probably aren’t planning to participate in the Iditarod, right? But I can practically guarantee you’ll enjoy reading the tales of a guy who did. Gary Paulsen was another naturalist-to-the-extreme. (He just passed away in October.) Last year I loved reading his young adult survivalist tale Hatchet, and this year a family member loaned me this book about his epic adventures doing the Iditarod, the famous sled-dog race in Alaska. I kept squawking with shock as I turned each page – at one point, my kids and the neighbor kids were sitting around me in a semicircle, enraptured, while I recounted bits of the story. Just read it.

• Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff. Was this woman in my brain last year when I was stalking library shelves looking for accounts of family life pre-agriculture?? This book came out early in 2021, authored by an NPR journalist who is also mother to a young child. I didn’t completely love the style of her work, but I adored the stories of her research and the insights she offered. I’ll read this one again, too!

• Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff. While we’re off the beaten path, why not stay a while?? This is the true story of a rescue mission during World War II. Stationed in New Guinea and bored to the max, a bunch of American servicemen and women crashed their airplane in the jungle trying to get a good look at the untouched tribal population. Only one woman and two men survived, and they lived among the tribes for over a month while their team figured out a way to rescue them. Anthropology, history and a gripping rescue tale – enjoy the ride!

Happy holidays!

I hope the season holds connection, delight and joy for all of you. Happy holidays!

Need an outside perspective to help freshen up your efforts? Reach out and let’s talk about your project needs.