This is the last day of #AMonthofFaves and today we’re talking about our reading life throughout 2021.
TANYA PATRICE
# of books: 65 – This is a decrease from 77 books read last year, which I am A-OK with. I loved the fact that this year, I just went where a book took me, and unlike years past, it meant that I immersed myself in a few series. The Glass & Steel series – 11 of the books – I spent all summer reading. The first book I finished this year was Snow White and Rose Red, Ed McBain and the last book I completed this year is Roses of May, Dot Hutchison.
Number + % new vs old – 18 new releases (published in 2021) and another 12 books were published the previous year (2020) which is about 46% of the total. Last year 50% of the books I read were published in the last 2 years.
Genres – Last year, the types of books read were almost evenly split with contemporary novels , science fiction & fantasy / magical realism and thrillers / mystery. This year, the majority of my books have been fantasy/magical realism (40) … thanks to the 11 books in the Glass & Steele series, the 6 books in the Wayward Children series and the 4 books in the A Court of Thorns & Roses series. Nothing else came close to the amount of reading I did in this genre – I couldn’t do my usual amount of horror or psychological thrillers in a year that … just kept on giving (if you know what I mean).
Diversity (Authors of Color) – I didn’t track it this year, but it’s probably about the sames as my usual 30-40%. As I mentioned last year, it is something I am conscious of making sure to incorporate in my reading.
No. of Books with 5 stars – 25. If I only count 1 book per series – 16.
No. of Books with 2 stars or less – 3 – Djinn City, Saad Hossain – Lakewood, Megan Giddings – A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah J. Maas.
In Summary – I really followed where the reading took me this year instead of concentrating on reading challenges, and I’m really happy that I did. It started in January when I read Clockwork Boys, T. Kingfisher, and reached for the 2nd book in the duology, Clockwork Engine. In February when I read Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire, book 2 in the Wayward Children series, I loved it so much, I re-read book 1 and then read the next 4 books in the series.
Towards the end of June, I read The Watchmaker’s Daughter, C.J. Archer, and then spent the next 2 months reading through the rest of the Glass & Steele series. I stopped for air after book 11.
In September, another series discovery, The Daevabad Trilogy, S. A. Chakraborty, had me in a thrall for 2 months. These are some big books!
Finally, I had started the A Court of Thorns & Roses series, Sarah J. Maas back in February, but when I tried reading the 2nd book in the series – I just couldn’t get into it. Fast forward to September and I decided to go back to it. I will say book 2 is my least favorite due to the incredibly annoying bad-ass main character who now becomes a whiny biatchhh! But at chapter 27 ( YES – 27!) it finally starts turning around, and I proceeded to spend the next 2 months reading books 2, 3 and 4 – A Court of Silver and Flames, won the 2021 Goodreads Award for Fantasy – and it is an epic read.
KIM
I didn’t track reading stats this year other than what I read and how many books I read.
# of books: 100 – Somewhere around the beginning of the summer I decided to try hard to read 100 books this year. No real reason other than I wanted to see if I could do it. I read 76 books in 2020 but typically I read around 50 books a year.
Genres: The genre that got the most attention from me this year was YA Speculative Fiction. The only reason for that is because I served as a Cybil’s judge in that category and had to read quite a few nominations. Next year I hope to read more non fiction and more science fiction.
Longest Book: 592 pages. Blankets, Craig Thompson. This is an autobiographical graphic novel. It was heartfelt but sad.
Shortest Book: 29 pages. Randomize, Andy Weir. I honestly don’t remember this much. It was part of a short story series that I listened to on audio. I remember a couple of the other stories but not this one.
Star Ratings: Most of the books I read this year got 4 stars from me. 24 of them got the coveted 5 stars. 5 of them only got 2 stars and I should say that I actually enjoyed these 5 books but the writing was not great so I rated them lower.
In Summary: I did try really hard to finish the GXO Reading Challenges this year because I always feel a bit guilty when I don’t. But I also tried to read in the moment and just pick up whatever caught my eye with no much preplanning involved. I read several graphic novels this year to break up reading slumps.
Plans for Next Year: I’m going to do the best I can with our reading challenges but I’m also going to take the advice we give to others- it’s just for fun so participate when you can and when you want to. I really want to get lost in a few series next year and also read some books I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. I’d also like to have those magic moments where you randomly peruse the library and just grab something on a whim.
Comments
One response to “#AMonthofFaves This Is How We Read 2021”
It’s so much fun for me to visit other blogs and see the books others enjoyed during the year. Thanks for sharing your favorites!