Yes, as you will see shortly, it took me almost an entire year to read listen to this book in entirety. This is the final book I read in 2021. As I sit here writing this, it’s 29 December 2021, and I have finally caught up on updating all the books I read this year.
So, at least I met one of the goals in my October update post. Of course, shortly after I wrote that update, six days after to be exact, my life turned upside down. And now it’s almost 2022. I’m hoping for better tidings next year, but, I’m not altogether counting on them, since most of us thought there was no way 2021 could be worse than 2020, and, well…
No more counting chickens before they’re hatched, is all I’m trying to say.
Back to books! I was incredibly dismal this year. It turns out, I defeated my 2020 reading year by reading fewer books. I only read 17 this year, compared to last year’s 19.
Here are all the books I managed to read in 2021:
2021 Reads:
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- Shuri by Nic Stone
- Scythe by Neal Shusterman
- Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
- Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
- Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri
- Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey
- Magic’s Promise by Mercedes Lackey
- Magic’s Price by Mercedes Lackey
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, Book 1 of The Wheel of Time
- Flamefall by Rosaria Munda
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
And now, without further ado, the final book thoughts of the year:
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Started: 20 January 2021
Finished: 29 December 2021
3 June update: I am making progress with this book. I’ve switched to listening to the audiobook primarily (it’s narrated by President Obama himself, after all), and according to Audible I have fifteen hours remaining. Did I mention this book is long?
27 December update: It’s 27 December 2021 and I still have 5 hours of the book left. It has been incredibly interesting to listen to, with so much time between his first term and now.
On 29 December 2021, at approximately 2pm EST, I finished A Promised Land by Barack Obama. Finally! Most of the thoughts about this book is that is is incredibly interesting, and a little disheartening, but also a little (a teensy, tiny, bit) hopeful listening to the behind the scene of former President Barack Obama’s first term in office.
My favorite parts were the anecdotes: stories of Sasha and Malia and Michelle, notes about how the White House Christmas gingerbread house included a little replica of Bo, their dog (RIP Bo Obama), how Obama interacted with his colleagues and staff. All of it is incredibly insightful, of course.
It was hard to think about the political landscape of 2008 to 2012, and juxtapose it with now. It is all-too-easy to see the breadcrumbs that have led us here, to the year of our lord 2021, to the divides we see everywhere, the breakdown in systems, and general chaos it seems has become normal. But it’s harder still to realize there’s be no one fix. Even if we had a time machine, how do you set back rhetoric? Some tides seem inevitable.
But! I also found some hope when the President was writing about issues that have shifted for the better. The Affordable Care Act still stands. We are becoming (albeit too slowly) less reliant on fossil fuels, with solar farms and wind farms sprouting up all over, and electric cars almost in the mainstream. For better or for worse, we are no longer embroiled in Afghanistan. There has been some progress.
All in all, if you are curious about former President Barack Obama’s recounting of his first term in office, this book gives you just that. It’s just, uh, INCREDIBLY LONG. So prepare yourself.
And Happy New Year!
-M