2021 Year in Review

Another one that I started drafting in January of 2022, but never got around to actually posting (this post is back-dated). Anyway, here is what I recall...

Top books of 2021:

Red Notice by Bill Browder

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

The Power of Moments by Dan & Chip Heath

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I also gave away 7 books during the 2021 Christmas season!

Noise by Daniel Kahneman

 

Noise caught my eye because of my favorable impression from Daniel Kahneman on Thinking, Fast and Slow. I was excited to read Noise, but also mentally prepared that this would be a tough one. And it was.

I started reading this in the summer of 2021 and got about halfway through. I actually started the blog in the fall thinking I would finish the book soon...but I never did. I did read a few more chapters in the summer of 2022, but I'm still not done. While I have not given up yet, I also don't know that I am going to finish it.

Noise is the term for variability in judgements and decisions; the little and unthought of things that can impact how people make come to conclusions. There are some fascinating examples: judges who give sentences in the morning versus the afternoon. This applies to all sorts of fields.

While the topic is interesting, the writing is dry. I also found there was a lot of overlap with Thinking, Fast and Slow. My work book club wanted to read this at one point, but I steered them away as this is a difficult book to read. Good topic, poor delivery.

My rating for Noise: 2 stars out of 5. Get it here!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List was a recommendation from earlier in the summer. It took me a while to get around to it, but I am glad I finally read it. The Guest List is a murder mystery at a wedding occurring on a remote island. At the climax of the night, the power goes out and it is quickly discovered someone is very bloody outside the wedding tent.

Each chapter is written from a different character's perspective. And they rotate from the days leading up to the wedding to the wedding night itself. There are a lot of characters, but it is easy to keep everything straight with how the chapters are presented. As the book progresses, the reader discovers how everyone is intertwined. You are wondering who did it?

This book is laid out and felt like a movie script, similar to The Last Thing He Told Me (which I read earlier this year). At times The Guest List feels too cliche with some events and how characters are described, but I can live with that. I really liked the ending though. It is not often I am completely surprised by the ending, but I was, and I actually liked the outcome.

My rating for The Guest List: 4.5 stars out of 5. Get it here!