What I learned from reading 100 books in 2021

In the last 3 years I’ve read 230-ish books. Every time I finish a book, I feel like I am losing a friend. For a brief moment in time I traveled into the character’s world, got to know them, met their friends, shared their thoughts, and witnessed their highs and lows alongside them. Then I finish the book and they are gone. Part of me grieves when the story ends.

I often get asked how I read so fast or how I find the time. The truthful answer is I don’t know. When I read it’s like watching a movie and I have to find out how it ends. Would you stop a movie you are watching on Netflix halfway through and pick it up next week or next month? Nope. And that’s exactly how I feel about reading a book. The habit I have created for myself is to read every night before I go to bed. This eliminates any phone or TV time in my sleeping space and is the best way for me to unwind. Although sometimes this creates even worse problems as I stay awake until the early morning hours telling myself, “just one more chapter…”.

Here is what I learned from reading 100 books in 2021:

Sometimes people get shy about their reading genres because there is the need to feel impressive with the hefty, very thought-provoking books you choose. I’m here to say, heck no techno. Read what interests you. If you want to nerd out on scifi — do it! If you love graphic novels, go on with your bad self. Reading is to be enjoyed.

This year I needed lots of escaping from the crazy world of politics, COVID fears, and being cooped up at home. Once I watched Bridgerton on Netflix I knew I had to get my hands on the book. I devoured that book and read through Julia Quinn’s other 40+ books as well. They were easy reads that provided escape, romance, and a happy ending that I was so desperately craving in this pandemic-mania. I also heavily read about women in business, self-help books, memoirs, and sprinkled in a few light reads.

I never thought that audiobooks were for me. I want my own voice to be reading the stories and to be paying strict attention to what I am reading so that I can imagine it all in my mind. However, this year I embraced listening to books as I cooked, drove, even occasionally in the shower. The books I found easiest to listen to were memoirs because it felt like a conversation with the author. There is always time to read, if you just find what avenue and time works best for you.

In the last few years, I have realized how much lack of diversity in books I was exposed to growing up. Upon reflection most books on the elementary to high school recommended reading lists were written by white authors. What a sad and narrow representation of the world we are presenting to young, supple minds. We are inherently teaching children from a young age that we only glorify the white story.

There is still a lot of work to be done and stories to be told by people of color, however, now more than ever I am thrilled to find books with characters that look like me or that don’t at all. I get to immerse myself into a character’s world and learn about their cultural customs, food, family pressures, body image issues, language, etc. I only wish I had realized this earlier and been exposed to diversity in fiction at a younger age. I’d encourage anyone to take a look at who is writing the books they are reading. Are they all the authors similar? May be time to diversify.

Lean In from Sheryl Sandberg was revolutionary when it first came out. Sandberg spoke about the need to have more women in leadership and highlighted common challenges women face in the workplace. In more recent years the book has been criticized for its over-simplification of the difficulties women, especially women of color, face in a corporate environment. It isn’t enough to just be assertive and advocate for yourself in order to make it. It is also not just the responsibility of women to fix the problem. However, a lot of the anecdotes and data points Sandberg shared really resonated with me. At this point of time with “cancel culture” running rampant, we are so ready to tear down the work of others that have come before us. Instead, with every generation we should build on what was done before and enrich and add to the conversation. Peel off the positives you want to consume from a book and leave behind the negatives that don’t suit you or are outdated.

Another example, I read Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office. There were some fantastic data points that made me cringe at Corporate America’s utter disregard of women of color and helpful action items like “Write down what you want others to be saying about you, then follow it up with specific actions to make it happen” or “If you’re not spending 5 percent of your day building relationships, you’re doing something wrong.” However, Lois P. Frankel also noted that women should dress appropriately for work and alluded to the fact that if you have long hair you will not rise up the corporate ranks because you look childish. Utter rubbish. But I took the helpful pieces from that book and left (sometimes shook my head or laughed at) the rest.

I read a variety of memoirs/autobiographies this year ranging from Dolly Parton to Kamala Harris. Memoirs and autobiographies are gifts that allow us to learn life lessons from someone else’s story. Though I will be forever hopeful that I meet Barrack or Michelle Obama in person one day (we will hit off and become the best of friends. They’ll be listed as Barry and Shelly in my phone), I settled in the interim for reading their books. It almost feels like you are receiving a cheat sheet when you are able to learn from someone else’s life, struggles, and to soak in the wisdom that they are willingly sharing with the reader. You are literally getting the spark notes on their life and get to walk away with all that knowledge!

I became enamored with Brene Brown and her work this year. If you don’t know Brene Brown, you may be living under a rock. She is fiercely authentic and focused on leadership, shame, and vulnerability. I highly recommend you get a hold of her content anyway you can whether it be via her fantastic podcasts, Netflix special, TED Talk, or any of her books. I anticipate I will be reading all of her work in 2022 and have become a big fan of listening to her podcasts.

No matter how you capture or save information, I think it’s infinitely helpful to write down or note what stands out and matters to you. You may be referencing a quote for years to come or want to share something that jumps out at you with your near and dear ones.

Though I used to be heavily against using a kindle, I have to say I am now a primary kindle user. Can you imagine schlepping around 100 books? My Kindle makes it easy for me to pull out multiple books to read anytime, anywhere without breaking my back lugging the books around. I use the highlight feature on my kindle to highlight the important data points, funny pieces, cleverly written anecdotes, and anything I want to remember or reference later. I am easily able to pull up all my highlights via my Goodreads account. My kindle has become one of my most prized possessions. (Though I work for Amazon, this is not kindle sponsored -although don’t I wish it was! 😉)

There is a way to find comfort and solidarity when reading about someone that is experiencing or has experienced similar life events as you. In the choose-your-own adventure style book Blaze Your Own Trail: An Interactive Guide to Navigating Life with Confidence, Solidarity, and Compassion by Rebekah Bastian , I was able to choose my own adventure on different paths women have taken in their lives and careers. The best part, no matter which path you choose — it all turns out ok in the end. This book brought me relief in knowing that so many women battle with uncertainty and the overwhelming feeling that they might not be making the “right” choices for their life or career. There may be bumps along the journey, but in the end when you listen to your gut and choose what’s right for you, you will end up exactly where you were meant to be.

On the other hand, it can be dangerous to read about stories that only reflect your narrative back to you. It is vital to read about different perspectives that may open your eyes to people, beliefs, or places that you once had mental blockers against.

So, what was my favorite book this year? I have many! The Gifts of Imperfection, A Promised Land, Power Moves: How Women Can Pivot, Reboot, and Build a Career of Purpose, The Light in Hidden Places and Talking to Strangers were some of my top rated books this year. Reach out to me if you would like a book recommendation. Any book recommendations or book discussions welcome!

In 2022, I plan to 1) Continue to find diverse stories from people of color to read, 2) Read all of Brene Brown’s books, 3) Gift my favorite and the best books I’ve read to friends and family, and 4) Read before bed every night. Read what moves you, enlightens you, empowers you. Read the books that you get lost in and they’ll make sure you find your way back home safely.

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