This year has been an amazing reading year for me—though it’s been a real rollercoaster of a year in almost every other way. These days, I’m reading at a pace that I haven’t matched since high school, often finishing more than one book a week. This is the first time in many years that I’ve easily blown past my numerical reading goal. However, I wasn’t quite as successful with my content-based goals. Let me walk you through my year in books:
I upped my GoodReads Reading Challenge goal up from my usual 45 to 50 books this year, and hit that back in September. By now, my total number of books read in 2021 is 63, and I’m actively in the middle of a few more so that will get a bit higher before the end of the year. You can see all the books I’ve read this year here. This newfound reading speed was helped along by the fact that I read the vast majority of these books in audio form, which I tend to get through much faster. I also read more novellas than usual, which made for very quick reads.
Last year, I credited joining the Romancing the Gothic book club with getting me past my early pandemic reading slump. This year, I took that enthusiasm a bit too far and wound up trying to actively participate in four or five different book clubs. While this certainly resulted in me picking up quite a few books that I wouldn’t have otherwise, it was also rather overwhelming and meant that I was constantly rushing to finish books by a particular date. I also had a lot more trouble planning out my reading in advance and keeping up with the books that were sent to me for review (oops).
Apart from all the assigned reading for my various book clubs, I did a lot of comfort reading this year—choosing books that I knew I could relax with and enjoy during this stressful and unpredictable time. My favorite series for that this year was The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I binged all six of the Murderbot books that are currently out via the audiobooks narrated by Kevin R. Free, which I highly recommend especially to any sci-fi fans who love snarky robots. Despite making it a goal last year, I hardly read any nonfiction books in 2021, but one that I did read wound up being perhaps my favorite book of the year: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In this memoir/meditation on nature and ecology, the author blends her perspective as an academic botanist with the teachings of the Potawatomi and other indigenous tribes. The book is uplifting and inspirational in its message about the kind of reciprocal relationship that humans can aspire to have with nature, even while addressing the current harsh realities of pollution, climate change, and colonization. Another of my favorite reads this year was also outside of my usual genres. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo is historical fiction set in LA’s Chinatown in the 1950s. It’s the coming-of-age story of a lesbian Chinese-American teenager as she navigates her sexuality, her first relationship, her family, and her Chinese identity in the midst of the Red Scare and police crackdowns on lesbian nightlife. I’m glad I get to share these books with you here, since they’re all outside the genres that I generally review on this blog. But sometimes it’s just good to branch out!
As for how I did with the reading goals I set last year: As mentioned, I barely stuck to my goal of reading nonfiction, having only read other nonfic book apart from Braiding Sweetgrass. I didn’t quite read any of the classic Gothic novels I had in mind (like Ann Radcliffe or Melmoth), but thanks to Romancing the Gothic, I did read a few works that I otherwise wouldn’t have, like The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and I gained a new appreciation for foundational genre authors such as Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie. I did keep to my goal of sticking with the Romancing the Gothic book club, though I skipped quite a few weeks as I tried to balance all my other book clubs and the deluge of books sent to me for review. And I, alas, did not make much progress on my physical TBR pile, despite spending another year at home.
Reading the physical books I have at home is going back on my list of reading goals for this coming year. I also want to prioritize reading the books that I have borrowed from other people, so that I can finally give them back after keeping them hostage for the whole pandemic so far. Now that I’ve proven to myself that I can hit higher numerical goals, I’d like to put that aside and do some slower, heavier reading in 2022, including reading more classic works and hefty tomes. And of course reading more nonfiction is going back on the list of goals. Lastly, I want to catch up on the books that have been sent to me for review, and get better at planning out my reading schedule in advance.
How was your year in books? What was your favorite book you read this year? And what goals do you have for 2022? Let me know in the comments!
I feel the same way about book clubs. I barely finished any in time for the discussions but I did end up finishing all the ones I started for book clubs by the end of the year! Actually, my goal for 2022 is not to measure my reading goals by how many books I read but by how well I branched out from my usual genres. One of my favorites this year was The Golem and the Jinni, which you previously reviewed!
My roommate is reading The Golem and the Jinni right now. I’m hoping to get around to reading the sequel next year.