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This time last year, I rounded off 2020 by summing up my year through the books that I had read. The pandemic may have put many of the things in our lives on hold but one of the few positives for me was that I rediscovered reading. For those of who you found that article especially riveting; good news – here’s the 2021 edition…

I read 25 books in 2021; two less than in 2020 but not bad considering that even though the year started in Puglia with an effective lockdown (or “zona rossa”), towards the end of the year there was a lot more travelling and much more socialising (and the occasional late night). There was also the additional challenge I set myself at the start of the year to improve my Italian and I’m currently trying my best to get my head around four hours of intensive conversational lessons a week, plus the accompanying homework (this will also be a continuing objective for 2022 and probably many years beyond that).

The purpose of this post isn’t to boast about the books I’ve read. By nature, I’m not actually naturally bookish and to really absorb what I’m reading, I need to concentrate and put my phone out of sight. However, I wanted to put a spotlight on the authors and some of topics and themes they’ve covered.

The full 2021 reading list is included at the end of this piece but here are five of my highlights:

’32 Yolks’ – Éric Ripert

Éric Ripert is a Michelin-starred chef whose flagship seafood restaurant, New York’s Le Bernardin holds three Michelin stars and is regularly included on lists of the world’s best restaurants. He was also a close friend of the late Tony Bourdain and unusually for the chef world, is deeply spiritual and follows the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, studying several times with the Dalai Lama himself.

In ’32 Yolks’, Ripert’s autobiography, he charts his journey from a turbulent childhood in France to rising to the top of the culinary world, after spending many years learning and working under world-renowned chefs such as Joël Robuchon and Gilbert Le Coze. In a particularly vivid section of the book, Ripert describes how he was first introduced to the kitchen after his fashion boutique owner mother’s move to Andorra led to him making friends with the owner of rustic local restaurant Chez Jacques. This was the moment that he discovered cooking could become a career and set him on his path to chefdom.

’32 Yolks’ and Ripert in the kitchen of Le Bernardin.

‘Why Solange Matters’ – Stephanie Phillips

On a trip back to the UK last summer, I saw Stephanie Phillips fronting Black feminist three-piece punk band Big Joanie at the Green Man Festival in South Wales. Curiously, midway through their set, the group performed a stripped-down cover of Solange’s ‘Cranes in the Sky’ and Phillips explained from the stage that she had recently written a book all about her music and the impact she’s had on pop culture today. Later that day, I was wandering around the Babbling Tongues literary area of the festival when I stumbled upon a copy of ‘Why Solange Matters’ in the bookstore there. I bought it and then read most of it whilst on a solo trip exploring some of the more obscure towns and villages in South Puglia in September 2021.

Phillips is clearly an authority on all-things-Solange and talks in detail about her early years, the influence of her high-achieving parents and what life was like, growing up in the shadow of her famous older sister (a certain Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter). She also talks about Solange’s music from both the perspective of an expert and a genuine fan and weaves in her own personal experiences as an activist and a Black female musician. Like all great books about music, ‘Why Solange Matters’ made me want to go back and listen to Solange’s music with a renewed interest and better understanding; namely 2016’s album ‘A Seat At The Table’, which Phillips rightly cites as her creative zenith so far.

The cover of ‘Why Solange Matters’ and Phillips with her band Big Joanie.

‘Luster’ – Raven Leilani

I discovered writer Raven Leilani after watching her take part in a discussion with novelist Diana Evans for The Southbank Centre in March (it was during the height of the second Covid wave, so naturally this conversation took place on Zoom). She was being interviewed about her debut novel ‘Luster’, a book that since it was published in August 2020 has gone onto win three literary awards and receive acclaim around the globe.

‘Luster’ tells the story of Edie, a Black woman in her twenties who lives in New York and works as an Editorial Assistant. Struggling at work and finding it difficult to find the motivation to keep up her passion of painting, Edie begins a relationship with an older man named Eric who is in an open marriage and has an adoptive Black 12-year-old daughter, Akira. After she is fired from her publishing job, Edie moves in with Eric and his family in the suburbs and forms a close bond with Akira. Leilani’s writing is uniquely wry and tackles the absurdity of millennial life, office politics and the disturbing realities of being young and Black in the USA today. Music also features prominently in the novel with Edie frequently recalling memories of her late mother through her love of Donna Summer and disco music and Eric’s wife Rebecca attempts to bond with Edie by taking her to a thrash metal gig and then dragging her into a heaving moshpit. If you read one book in 2022, then this should be it. There are already rumours of a forthcoming series on HBO.

Raven Leilani in front of the cover of her debut novel ‘Luster’.

‘By The Ionian Sea’ – George Gissing

Unwittingly, I’ve often found myself over the past year, following in the footsteps of the Victorian essayist and novelist George Gissing during his “ramble in Southern Italy” in 1897. He travelled to Naples, Taranto, Metaponto and then Crotone and down into Old Calabria. Tracing the origins of the Magna Graecia, Gissing describes his experience with both humour and a degree of contempt. He encounters filthy inns, surly locals and inedible food and nearly succumbs to malaria whilst staying at the Hotel Concordia in Crotone. Indeed, Gissing does not seem to be in the best of health on the trip and would pass away six years later after “catching a chill on a walk” in the Pyrenean foothills in France.

I found the Hotel Concordia during my stay in Crotone in September; whilst it still is a grand old building, it looked like it had seen better days and was closed. Gissing described the small town of Metaponto in Basilicata as “nothing but a train station with a hotel above it”. I stopped off there during a road trip in June and 124 years later, I can safely say that very little has changed. However, Gissing was in awe of the 6^th century Greek temple known locally as Tavole Palatine just outside of Metaponto and the ancient columns are still an impressive sight today. Food Writer Patience Gray read and was inspired by ‘By The Ionian Sea’ after moving to Spigolizzi near Presicce in Southern Puglia in the mid-20^th century and George Orwell named Gissing as one of his favourite novelists.

George Gissing, the author of ‘By The Ionian Sea’.

‘A Short History of Roof Dog and The Brixton Windmill’ – Will Hodgkinson

For the majority of my time living in London, I lived in Brixton. At first, the Brixton Academy end of Stockwell Road and then later on Brixton Hill, with The Brixton Windmill only a five-minute walk away. Yes, Brixton Hill can lay claim to still having London’s only fully-functional Grade II-listed windmill (built in 1816 as Ashby’s Mill) but perhaps, more importantly, opposite this landmark is a nondescript-looking 1970s pub of the same name (also, “The Windmill”) with a scary-looking dog often patrolling its flat roof (the famed “Roof Dog” – there is even a beer named in his honour). As well as being a community pub for the nearby Blenheim Gardens housing estate (it hosts all-day summer “South London Punk Rock Collective” barbeques and the regular Sunday night “No Frills Folk Club”), The Windmill has a near-unrivalled reputation in London for championing and breaking brilliant new bands and artists.

Whilst, its reputation has been long-standing, recent years have seen The Windmill experience something of a renaissance with the likes of Black Midi, Childhood, The Fat White Family, Goat Girl, Insecure Men, Madonnatron, Shame, Sorry, Squid and Warmduscher all passing through its doors to ply their trade on its tiny corner stage. The result is the much-hyped “Brixton Windmill scene” and the venue has become a fertile breeding ground for Dan Carey’s locally-based label Speedy Wunderground.

The Times’ Chief Rock & Pop Critic Will Hodgkinson pays tribute to The Windmill and its legacy in this short and fun release from Rough Trade Books. Whilst it’s not exactly ‘War and Peace’, it’s thorough, engaging and tells the story of this modest pub’s early days to how it became the bastion of non-conformist grassroots live music that it is today. Hodgkinson’s 18-year-old son Otto provided impressionist illustrations for the book and Will tells the amusing tale of how, on taking him to a gig at The Windmill, he was kindly asked not to hang around with him and his friends for the rest of the evening. Well worth reading for anyone who is familiar of the delights of this quirky South London boozer.

Brixton Windmill’s hotbed of live music The Windmill and the late Roof Dog.

The 2021 reading list in full

’32 Yolks’ – Éric Ripert

‘A Guide To The Good Life’ – William B. Irvine

‘A Rebours’ – JK Huysmans

‘A Short History of Roof Dog and The Brixton Windmill’ – Will Hodgkinson

‘By The Ionian Sea’ – George Gissing

‘Driving Over Lemons’ – Chris Stewart

‘Enya; a Treatise on Unguilty Pleasures’ – Chilly Gonzales

‘Fasting & Feasting; The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray’ – Adam Federman

‘Four Thousand Weeks’ – Oliver Burkeman

‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ – Dale Carnegie

‘How to Write One Song’ – Jeff Tweedy

‘Kill Your Friends’ – John Niven

‘Luster’ – Raven Leilani

‘Meditations’ – Marcel Aurelius

‘Medium Raw’ – Anthony Bourdain

‘No-one is Talking About This’ – Patricia Lockwood

‘Perfect Sound Whatever’ – James Acaster

‘River Effra; South London’s Secret Spine’ – Jon Newman

‘Step by Step’ – Simon Reeve

‘The Artist’s Way’ – Julia Cameron

‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ – Arundhati Roy

‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck’ – Mark Manson

‘Three Women’ – Lisa Taddeo

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ – Harper Lee

‘Why Solange Matters’ – Stephanie Phillips

There’s no denying that 2020 was a challenging year for pretty much everyone around the world.

Humans are inherently social beings and it goes against our instincts to refrain from seeing friends and family and not to attend communal gatherings such as gigs, festivals, parties, sporting events or even to make trips to the cinema, theatre or place of worship. As the Mexican writer and cultural commentator Octavio Paz wrote in The Labyrinth of Solitude; “(we) are nothing but nostalgia and a search for communion”.

However, at the start of the first lockdown in Italy, I read Kitty O’Meara’s poem ‘And The People Stayed Home’ and took some solace and inspiration from her words about using this period of confinement as a time for reflection and self-improvement. Whilst it was far from ideal to move to a foreign country and barely two months in, to be forced to stay at home, whilst working full-time from a laptop on my kitchen table, I figured it was best to make the most of the situation and try and use this time as productively as possible.

Kitty O’Meara; *‘And The People Stayed Home’*.

I had read prodigiously as a child up to the age of about 15. When I was younger I devoured otherworldly fiction such as Terry Pratchett and early Anthony Horowitz (I still consider Groosham Grange to be a criminally-underrated classic) and then became obsessed with music writing and more niche biographies as I got older. However, during my early adult life and sadly for most of my 20s, I found myself making less and less time to read and would often painfully work my way through just two or three books a year. Reading was an activity reserved for holidays or just before I fell asleep late at night. Hardly the right time to absorb new literature that may well have been that writer’s life’s work.

During what was an abysmal year for many people, I count myself very lucky that in 2020 I didn’t lose anyone during the pandemic or find myself out of work, like countless others. One of the major positives for me was that I rediscovered the joys of reading again. Reading for entertainment, reading for inspiration, reading for therapy, reading for knowledge.

I read 27 books in 2020, certainly an improvement on previous years in London. Part of this is certainly a result of the large periods of solitary confinement created by the pandemic but there were also less distractions in the past year; my flat in Bari has no TV, I only have one acoustic guitar with me (no electrics or modulation pedals to spend my time mucking about with!) and the number of work-related emails I receive out-of-hours has gone down dramatically. During the warmer months, I also carved out a dedicated reading haven; the small balcony off my living room, overlooking the bustling Madonnella street below. I picked up a folding chair for €10 and some cheap plants from the Chinese shop around the corner and transformed it into my reading spot. The typical Sunday during the spring would see me spending most of the afternoon out there reading, sipping coffee and green tea (or the odd Peroni in the evening) and most likely, listening to BBC 6 Music.

The full 2020 reading list is included at the end of this post but here are five of my most notable highlights – hopefully there’s a little something for everybody there.

Honey from a Weed; Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia – Patience Gray

Patience Gray was a cookery writer, originally from a high society background in London who relocated to the Mediterranean in the mid-20^th century with her partner, the Belgian sculptor Norman Mommens. Following “a vein of marble” around the Med, they lived in Tuscany, Catalonia and Naxos before finally settling in a neglected sheep farm Spigolizzi, near Salve and Presicce in the Salento region of Puglia in the 1970s. Here they lived a self-sufficient lifestyle, learning cultivation techniques from their peasant neighbours and growing their own fruit and vegetables, as well as making wine and olive oil. Honey from a Weed is a beautifully-written book; part-memoir and part cookbook. Gray’s wicked sense of humour comes through in her writing too and it’s clear that her and Norman consider their Italian neighbours their tutors. Many cooks today hold Honey from A Weed (along with some of Elizabeth David’s writing) responsible for introducing Mediterranean cooking into the British consciousness.

Patience Gray and Norman Mommens outside their home *Spigolizzi* in the Salento, Puglia.

Wicked Speed – Annie Nightingale

Annie Nightingale is the UK’s first-ever female radio DJ, rising to fame in the 1960s on Radio 1. However, Annie has never rested on her laurels and has always made it her mission to be at the cutting edge of the latest new music. From being pals with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the ‘60s, a torchbearer for the ‘70s punk scene to a champion of the late ‘80s / early ‘90s acid house movement, Annie is one of a kind. Bugged in Moscow, drugged in Iraq and almost fatally mugged in Havana, I was also fascinated to read how she spearheaded the first tour of Western artists to the newly-free Romania in 1989. My friend Scott and I’s own trip to Bucharest was tentatively planned for last September as a result but plans unfortunately shelved due to new Covid-related travel restrictions. Now aged 80, Nightingale is still going strong on Radio 1 and is still a regular club DJ.

Taj Mahal Foxtrot; The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age – Naresh Fernandes

I was recommended Taj Mahal Foxtrot by my relative Tarun as an insight into Mumbai’s glamorous music scene of years gone by and how the inter-war and post-war jazz years shaped the hugely popular ‘bollypop’ scene of today. Its author Naresh Fernandes was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time on the phone when I visited Mumbai in 2019 and his book is meticulously-researched, brimming with detail and brought to life with interviews and anecdotes from people who were part of the booming Bombay ‘hot’ jazz scene of the time. Makes me want to visit Mumbai again right away. For any Londoners reading this, Naresh’s book was the main source of inspiration behind the decor and ambience of Dishoom’s Kensington restaurant.

Swimming Studies – Leanne Shapton

Swimming Studies author Leanne Shapton is now a successful writer and graphic novelist, however during her teenage years she was a champion swimmer who was in training for Olympic trials. This book tells the story of her life so far, set against a backdrop of the rigours of competitive swimming training. A soulful and meditative read; I was particularly tickled by Leanne’s sketches of various swimming pools around the world, from Olympic-sized pools to bougie hotels’ plunge baths, including several London leisure centres I have used myself – hilariously, Fitness First’s Baker Street branch makes an appearance here.

One of the unique and beautifully-illustrated pages from Leanne Shapton’s *Swimming Studies*.

Sous Chef; 24 hours on the Line – Michael Gibney

I picked up this book in 2015 on a visit to LA but to my shame only got around to reading it in 2020. Sous Chef is a thrilling and visceral insight into the high-pressure, hard-living world of the professional cook. The protagonist endures late night post-work drinking sessions combined with early mornings starts and the book does a great job of detailing the rigorous demands of the profession, as well as the impeccable standards high-quality restaurants consistently require from their staff. A real page-turner.

24 hours in the life of a professional cook; Michale Gibney’s Sous Chef.

2020; My Year in Books

‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ – Elizabeth David

‘Access One Step; The Official History of The Joiners Arms’ – Oliver Gray

‘Christ Stopped at Eboli’ – Carlo Levi

‘Finding myself in Puglia’ – Laine B Brown

‘Honey from a Weed; Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia’ – Patience Gray

‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’ – Leo Tolstoy

‘Liberation through Hearing’ – Richard Russell

‘Loco-motion; 40 years of live music at The Railway Inn’ – Oliver Gray

‘Meditation; the first and last freedom’ – Osho

‘Pic’ – Jack Kerouac

‘Riffs & Meaning; The Manic Street Preachers and Know Your Enemy’ – Stephen Lee Naish

‘Sous Chef; 24 hours on the Line’ – Michael Gibney

‘Starting a Business for Dummies’ – Colin Barrow

‘Swimming Studies’ – Leanne Shapton

‘Taj Mahal Foxtrot; The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age’ – Naresh Fernandes

‘The Centaur’s Kitchen’ – Patience Gray

‘The Daily Stoic’ – Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

‘The Gamechangers; Transforming India’ – Vir Sanghvi

‘The God of Small Things’ – Arundhati Roy

‘The Labyrinth of Solitude’ – Octavio Paz

‘The New Me’ – Halle Butler

‘The Other Mexico’ – Octavio Paz

‘The Pillars of Hercules’ – Paul Theroux

‘The Subterraneans’ – Jack Kerouac

‘The Year Of The Monkey’ – Patti Smith

‘Waging Heavy Peace; A Hippie Dream’ – Neil Young

‘What Good Are The Arts?’ – John Carey

‘Wicked Speed’ – Annie Nightingale

2021; My Year in Books

The year I rediscovered reading

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