Usually, I’d put 50 books as my target in Goodreads Reading Challenges and most of the time, I manage to read more than that (ranging from about 2 to 20 books). Confidence that I could do better coupled with my hope to read more led me to set my 2021 Reading Challenge at 100 books.
I did not make it. In the end, I only managed to read 55 books. Which is pretty predictable since I’ve never managed to read anywhere close to 100 books. (I wonder what kind of confidence possessed me at the time of setting that goal.)
My average rating for 2021 is 3.9 stars, which is pretty common for me, so it’s not much of a worry for me. According to my stats on The StoryGraph, the books I read this year were mostly adventurous and fast-paced, which was also not much of a surprise. (On that note, after using both Goodreads and The StoryGraph over the course of this year, I have some new thoughts on both platforms which will probably take the form of a more detailed post later on.)
The “What to Expect” section as promised in the title is very much possibly “New Year’s Resolutions” in disguise. My hope is that unlike New Year’s Resolutions, I will take these goals more seriously though arguably no matter the heading these goals are under, the end results are completely up to myself.
Now this is a reminder to myself, but I’m putting it here like a nag would in case anyone else happens to need it: The important thing to remember about Reading Challenges is that any progress is good progress, and that it shouldn’t be seen as a race where whoever read more books emerges as victor. In this upcoming year, I want to set aside time and read more,
I’ve decided not to be too overly optimistic for the coming year and settle with 70 books as my reading goal (which may still be ambitious, but then we’ll find out). To make a dent in my TBR, it is my hope to be able to work through them whenever possible (based on the availability of the books). And to make things more challenging (or interesting, to put it even more nicely), it is time for me to be true to my wish of reading more non-fiction. So out of these 70 books, half will be fiction and half will be nonfiction (hopefully).
As for this blog, I feel as if I emphasise every year that I will put more effort into writing and posting more regularly! While my sentiments remains true, it feels rather ridiculous to continue declaring that I will be posting a lot and end up slacking every year. And that is why I’ll be trying to post at least once a month and it would be nice to put aside some time to interact with others!
To end it all, here are some sites where you can get book recommendations: Shepherd, WhichBook (What an interesting way to find new reads to add to our ever-growing TBRs!)
That’s all for now, have a happy new year!
Words & Nocturnes 