Starting Anew in 2022

 1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy

One of those books I kept seeing on lists of top sellers last year.  I was out wandering around earlier in the week, not quite sunny out, barely 20 degrees, stomping around on the ice, to at least get some exercise in.  Walked over to Barnes and Noble because they had coffee and were open.  Lots of books on sale, blew my grocery money on cooking magazines and this book (hardcovers were 50% off).  What sold me was I opened it to the page where the horse says, "I can fly, but I stopped because it made the other horses jealous."  I felt like that was a thought I needed to spend time with.  Also, reading it today, it's such a pretty book.

Now It's A New Year

 Wow, I guess I never finished updating what I'd been reading for the Book Bingo.

40.  Angels in America Part One: The Millenium Approaches - Tony Kuschner 

41. Caught Inside. A Surfer's Year on the California Coast - Daniel Duane

Then in November.

42. Cultish. The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell

Interesting premise and subject, but the interjecting of herself into the narrative and regular referring to future chapters annoyed me while reading it.

Last days of December:

43. The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandell.  

Reaffirmed for me why I love her writing.  Essentially about a Madoff-like character and his Ponzi scheme.  But also, about our own moral compasses and how we can all justify our actions, somehow claiming our own innocence while placing all the blame on the central actor; someone to sacrifice to assuage our guilt.  We close our eyes to how we survive (and we should survive), but we also go through life with our own shadows we can say don't matter in comparison to what he did.  As long as there's a "healthy" return, most don't question how that was possible.  Or a career.  Or a lifestyle.  Interesting stuff.  Read it in a day because I thought it was long past due at the library. (It wasn't, at some point I renewed it and forgot about it. Libraries have been closed due to the ice at any rate. So still have it.)

44.  Dark Persuasion, A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media - Joel Dimsdale.  

Covers similar ground to Montell, but more in depth on historical context.  Also, see the "Glass Hotel" above regarding justification.

45. Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika - Tony Kushner.

So, you know, nowhere near 100 books, but definitely more than in 2020.

Cheers.  Happy New Year!