2021 marked the fifth year of my personal reading challenge – to read one book a week, or 52 books in one year. What a journey it’s been! I’ve enjoyed good books, expanded my knowledge, met fellow book lovers, received excellent recommendations, held myself accountable, and deepened my love for reading.

Overall, I read 42 books in 2021. Some were remarkable. Three especially merit a shoutout.

“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty”, by Patrick Radden Keefe, was probably my favorite book this year. It is a gripping account of the Sackler family who created the addictive drug Oxycontin, and pushed it into the U.S. healthcare system in the name of pain management. This has led to the opioid crisis that has plagued the U.S. for the past 20 years: 100,000 people died of overdoses last year.

Keefe’s narration vividly portrays the web of deceit, selfish ambition, greed and corruption behind the Sacklers. Consultants, bankers, lawyers, government officials, and doctors enabled and shielded them. They grew fat off unwholesome profits – falsely protesting their innocence even when they knew what their drug was doing. They set up museum wings and donated to prestigious schools to burnish their name. But many lives were destroyed. Shall they go unheard into the night? Until today, justice is still uncertain – the case is still ongoing in court.

There are depths to which we can remain willfully blind. There are things a person can do that they adamantly refuse to accept – an instinctive recoil to stave off shame and guilt. But when what we ought to master becomes our master instead, the world turns on its head. What terrible things we humans have done and can do for money (power, fame, security, etc.), when it becomes the highest principle in our lives.

“Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat”, by Samin Nosrat, shares a simple concept that’s surprisingly profound: by modifying salt, fat, acid, heat, we can make great food – in any culture, with any ingredients. Part recipes, part explanations, populated with colorful diagrams, Nosrat’s style is easy to follow and very relevant. Her recipes are simple and delicious. The diagrams are interesting and memorable.

But getting better at cooking takes practice, because there’s an astonishing array of methods and ingredients. This book equips the reader with the confidence of a good foundation, but the results of one’s cooking comes down to practice and experience. For example: how salty or fatty are the raw ingredients? How much, and what kind of acid should I add? How do I achieve the right temperature, and how well can I manipulate my heat source and cooking vessels?

I love the aliveness of cooking and the creativity it demands. You have to make decisions constantly, at each juncture. Sometimes, once a line is crossed, there is no going back. But it’s the best feeling in the world when you delight your taste buds, or that of your family and friends. Or when you master a kitchen tool or ingredient that you struggled with before. Everyone who cooks can benefit from Nosrat’s excellent advice – from the amateur home chef to someone picking up a kitchen knife for the first time. I have learned a lot from her.

My final shout-out was a re-read: “Home” by Marilynne Robinson. When I read it for the first time eight years ago, I did not appreciate its genius. I was too young to appreciate it fully, for some writing is evocative only with experience, drawing on thoughts and emotions that come with age. This time, I was absolutely blown away, even in tears at points.

“Home” is the second book in her series, “Gilead”. I re-read it so that I could remind myself of the characters, before reading the latest book “Jack”, published in September 2020. But I find “Home” superior. Set in a small town, the themes are grand. It is the story of Glory, aged thirty-eight, who returns to Gilead to care for her dying father, the Reverend Robert Boughton. Her brother Jack, comes home at the same time. He’s a prodigal who hadn’t been home for twenty years, was at odds with his family, an alcoholic who couldn’t hold down a job. Each with their hurts and disappointments, each learning to connect again after the foreignness of years apart.

It gives voice to our struggles with love and family, the secret pain of shame and regret, the fear of being truly ourselves and being truly understood. We are witnesses to their lives, and thereby ours – yet for all its seriousness, it is not dull, pedantic, or depressing, but hope shines through. There are few novels that are so rich in just 325 pages, and many that take longer to plumb a shallower depth. Highly recommended.