My 2021 in Books + 2022 Goals

Hello everyone! When this post goes live, it is New Year’s Eve and I am probably excitedly awaiting the beginning of a new year! 2022…wow. Do you remember when we thought it was weird to say the year “twenty-twenty one” out loud? Time flies.

One thing I appreciate about Goodreads is its annual “Year in Books” widget. It shows you basic statistics about the books you read throughout the year and it’s always kind of fun to take a peek at. I did this same post last year, so why not keep up the tradition? Here is my 2021 in books (according to Goodreads).

Related post: My 2020 in Books

6,147 pages read across 17 books

My shortest book was 271 pages and my longest book was 480 pages:

My most popular book was shelved by 2.1 million other people and my least popular book was shelved by 236 other people:

My average rating for the year was 4.3 stars

My first and last reads of the year were:

And the 15 other reads in between! (In order from least recent to most recent). Click the “review” text to go to my review for any of these books!

2021 Reflections & 2022 Goals

When I sat down to reflect on the year that has passed, my initial reaction was to say that 2021 was a slump reading year for me because I was comparing it to “more successful” reading years I’ve had. For instance, in 2019 I read a whole 37 books which was huge for me.

But when I think about it deeper, I realize that my initial reaction was totally wrong. 2021 was actually a great reading year for me when I consider a few things:

1. This year was riddled with challenges for the world and for me specifically.
2. I had a record-breaking amount of advanced readers’ copies sent to me this year from publishers and independent authors, which absolutely fills my heart to the very brim.
3. I am very proud of the book reviews I managed to write this year.

So, I am hereby kicking the critical narrative I had in my head about my reading this year and patting myself on the back for persevering through an insane year!

That said, I do notice that I only wrote reviews for 7 out of the 17 books I read throughout the year. This was due to a variety of reasons, but the two most popular being 1) I either didn’t have much to say about the book or 2) I intended to write a review but time got away from me and it just never came to be.

For 2022, I’d ideally like to read at least 24 books and review at least half of them (so write 12 reviews). In 2020, I read 20 books and wrote reviews for 12 of them. This obviously shows that I am definitely capable of doing that, so there are two bookish goals of mine for the new year!

Another goal of mine for 2022 is to half my physical TBR pile, which is graciously only 10 books. Therefore, at least 5 of the books I read in 2022 must be books I already own. Similarly, I’d like to get my NetGalley feedback ratio back up to 100% (it’s currently at 87% with two outstanding books to review).

My final bookish goal going into 2022 is to find a posting and uploading schedule that is consistent and sustainable. In my eyes, consistency looks like designated posting and uploading days, and sustainability looks like being realistic about my time and energy. Currently, I am envisioning keeping my Sunday upload days for YouTube, but cutting back to biweekly instead of weekly (so 2 videos a month instead of 4). And for blogging, I’d ideally do the same biweekly schedule that alternates with my uploading schedule. So that in practice looks like:

• 1st week of the month: blog post
• 2nd week of the month: booktube video
• 3rd week of the month: blog post
• 4th week of the month: booktube video

As usual, this tends to be the toughest goal to achieve because life is unpredictable and so much is out of my control! I did a really great job this year at giving myself grace and understanding when I didn’t get to something I planned to do. I’m bringing that same energy into 2022 while also gently encouraging myself to also follow through when I can. We’ll see how it goes, and it’s no big deal either way!

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Well, there is my bookish 2021 reflection and the goals I have for 2022! If you do posts similar to this on your blog to reflect on the year behind / set goals for the year ahead, link it in the comments! I’d love to read them and leave you some words of encouragement. Happy new year!