2021: Our Year in Books

12/27/21 • 80 min

Hi! It has been *an entire year* since we last appeared in your podcast feed.

We’re wading through Pandemic Year 2 just like everyone else, complete with all the day-to-day negotiations and risk calculations like everyone else. And also: a fourth baby for Ashley, a smattering of kids entering the public school system for both of us, and entire routines shifting overnight.

We gave ourselves a break and didn’t record a single thing together in all of 2021 – but it didn’t feel right to finish a year on the calendar without talking together about books. So let’s talk books!

Resources Mentioned:

Pantsuit Politics Extra Credit Book Club

The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast by John Green

Books Mentioned:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K. Evans

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn (DNF for Ashley)

Fair Play by Eve Rodsky (skimmed by Abbie)

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson

Harry Potter Book 1-3

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Keep Going by Austin Kleon

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa

The Wordless Trilogy by Aaron Becker

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives by Michael A. Heller and James Salzman

12 Tiny Things by Ellie Rosher and Heidi Barr

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Where to connect with Abbie:

Goodreads | Instagram | Monthly Newsletter | Bookshop Storefront (affiliate link)

Where to connect with Ashley:

Goodreads | Instagram | Blog | Newsletter

Hi! It has been *an entire year* since we last appeared in your podcast feed.

Resources Mentioned:

Pantsuit Politics Extra Credit Book Club

The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast by John Green

Books Mentioned:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K. Evans

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn (DNF for Ashley)

Fair Play by Eve Rodsky (skimmed by Abbie)

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson

Harry Potter Book 1-3

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Keep Going by Austin Kleon

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa

The Wordless Trilogy by Aaron Becker

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives by Michael A. Heller and James Salzman

12 Tiny Things by Ellie Rosher and Heidi Barr

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Where to connect with Abbie:

Goodreads | Instagram | Monthly Newsletter | Bookshop Storefront (affiliate link)

Where to connect with Ashley:

Goodreads | Instagram | Blog | Newsletter

Previous Episode

2020 in Books

2020 hasn't been kind to most of us, but books are always there to see us through. Listen in to hear how 2020 changed our reading habits, the books we loved (and didn't), and what's next for our reading lives—and the podcast!—in 2021.

Books Mentioned in This Episode

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett

Becoming by Michelle Obama

The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Kindred by Octavia Butler

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir

Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive by Jen Fulwiler

What Is a Girl Worth? My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Attachments and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park and Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Harry Potter (of course)

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion

The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World by Shelley Miller

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stievater

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (book 3 of Winternight trilogy)

The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Calm the H*ck Down by Melanie Dale

Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

Curious George by H. A. Rey

Maybe God Is Like That, Too by Jennifer Grant and Benjamin Schippert

The Wind in the Willows by Igloo books

The Preacher’s Wife by Kate Bowler

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work by Kathleen Norris

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction by Ed Cyzewski

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Past Chasing Creative episodes with Kendra Adachi (the Lazy Genius): Kendra Adachi on Trusting Your Creative Intuition and Kendra Adachi on Valuing Yourself Enough to Create

The Naughty Corner comedy special by Jen Fulwiler on Amazon Prime

Read more of Ed Yong’s science writing for the Atlantic

Ashley’s Winnie-the-Pooh books are out of print, but this looks similar

Abbie’s copy ofThe Wind in the Willows

Connect with Abbie:

Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs

Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages

Connect with Ashley:

Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com

Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites

Twitter:

Next Episode

2022: Our Year In Books

We thought we’d be back with a new season of Chasing Creative in 2022, but alas: it did not happen. Our lives are just too full right now with, well... life! We cannot, however, let the year go by without getting together to talk about books: our most favorite episode to record each season. So, we’ll dive in and talk about our reading wins this last year, our goals for next year, and what life *actually* looks like these days for both of us.

Where to connect with Abbie:

Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter | Bookshop (affiliate)

Where to connect with Ashley:

Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter

Books Mentioned:

The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk

Wintering by Katherine May

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (audio narrated by Tom Hanks)