Well, year two of the global coronavirus pandemic saw my reading go up even more than it did last year! From the number of books being up by five (thanks MM Romance novels) to the number of pages being up by a little under 3k (thanks big-ass-doorstopper books), it was just a big year.
I highly doubt I’ll see this trend continue between work being busy again and little-to-no commute and knitting taking up a lot of my free time, but never say never right?
2021 Quick Facts
No real surprises here. I knew Wolf Hall would clock in at the longest but wasn’t sure about the shortest. The one big surprise/shock was Anyta Sunday just edging out Annabeth Albert in most read authors. She only did it because she cowrote a four-book series (Harrison Campus) with Andy Gallo, or Annabeth would’ve reigned again.
▲ or ▼ denotes higher or lower percentage or total than in 2020
- Total Books Read: 118 ▲
- Library/Kindle Unlimited Books: 53 (45%) ▼
- Galley/ARC: 51 (43%) ▲
- Kindle/Digital: 103 (87%) ▲
- Physical Books: 15 (13%) ▼
- TBR Books: 10 (8%) ▲
- Fiction: 109 (92%) ▲
- Nonfiction: 9 (8%) ▼
- Blended (F and NF): 0 (0%)
- Translated: 2 (2%) ▼
- Total Pages Read: 34,061 ▲
- Shortest Book Read: A Prairie Dog’s Love Song (70 pages)
- Longest Book Read: Wolf Hall (653 pages)
- Authors:
- New to me: 52 of 75 (69%) ▲
- Most Read: Anyta Sunday (8); Annabeth Albert (7); Eli Easton; and Andy Gallo (w/ Anyta Sunday) (4)
- Author Gender Split:
- Male: 21% ▼
- Female: 74% ▼
- Multiple/Other: 5% ▲
I honestly thought I’d read more nonfiction, but it’s not that much of a surprise. I’m still hoping to hit my once-a-month general goal for nonfiction, but who knows if I will ever get there. Sad to see no translations, but not that surprised.
2021 Comparative Stats
I’ve moaned about needing to read more of the books I own (TBR/5th group below) for the past few years and I’m finally seeing that number go in the right direction. We’ll see if it continues this year. I’m glad to see my galleys sort of plateauing this year, I’ll try and keep them at roughly 25% of what I read each year especially if I want to see that TBR number keep going up.
The chart below is probably my favorite because of that lovely V shape. It’s not quite even because I’ve been reading larger books the past couple of years to counteract all the shorter MM Romance novels I read, but isn’t it just lovely?
The chart below is pretty indicative of my author breakdown. I tend to read more female than male authors, but that number continues to stay higher because of all the MM Romance authors who are female.
So sad to see my fiction vs nonfiction chart. Every year I go in with intentions of reading more nonfiction and I just don’t. The average is still over 12, but that’s thanks to those two beefy years 2015-2016.
The big thing in the Galley/ARC chart is the continued rise in declines. I’ve stayed on par with the number I’ve accepted except Gay Romance Reviews which I signed up for their mailing list in 2020. That number after spending a full year on the list increased exponentially—whoops.
Top Book Posts Viewed in 2021
This was a little bit of a surprising year as some of the stalwarts of the past few years were knocked off by posts published in 2020. I’m not going to lie, it’s a little weird that The Handmaid’s Tale, How to Be Happy (Or at Least Less Sad), The Color Purple, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda are all missing from this list, but I guess it’s a new dawn!
- Book 672: Go for it, Nakamura! – Syundei (Feb 12, 2020)
- Book 741: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong (Aug 14, 2020)
- Book 272: The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (Apr 18, 2014)
- Book 724: Boyfriend Material (London Calling #1) – Alexis Hall (Jul 8, 2020)
- Book 593: Rich People Problems – Kevin Kwan (Feb 7, 2019)
- Book 134: Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (Aug 24, 2012)
- Book 615: Pride – Ibi Zoboi (May 22, 2019)
- Book 45: The Alchemist – Paolo Coelho (Jun 27, 2011)
- Book 647: Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston (Sep 16, 2019)
- Book 750: Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius the Great #1) – Adib Khorram (Oct 14, 2020)
If there is one surprise on this list it’s stupid Great Expectations. If I had to guess, because this is the second year in a row, students are using my post to pull page numbers on quotes. That’s generally what happens with some of the oldest posts.
Top Book Posts Viewed in 2021
The most surprising things about this list are #1 and #10. I really shouldn’t be surprised as the ones I usually don’t like almost always make an appearance on this list, and yet I am. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t really hate those two, in particular, they just weren’t for me. I was glad to see some of my trusty faves from this year (Albert, Klune, and Parrish) on here and a few new to me that I seriously enjoyed (Calder and Mandel).
- Book 811: Yes, Daddy – Jonathan Parks-Ramage (May 14)
- Book 827: Flash Fire (The Extraordinaries #2) – T.J. Klune (Jul 7)
- Book 856: The Last Chance Library – Freya Sampson (Aug 30)
- Book 795: Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) – Amy Aislin (Feb 26)
Book 843: The Midnight Library – Matt Haig (Aug 9) - Book 788: Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell #1) – Hilary Mantel (Feb 5)
- Book 880: The Geek Who Saved Christmas – Annabeth Albert (Nov 16)
- Book 858: Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2) – Rachel Reid (Sep 2)
- Book 793: In the Middle of Somewhere (Middle of Somewhere #1) – Roan Parrish (Feb 19)
- Book 857: Playing Offside (Sporting Secrets #1) – Jax Calder (Aug 31)
- Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski (Sep 15)
Overall this is a good representation of what I read this past year. Mostly MM Romance, a couple of YA sprinkled in, and then some really random additions. I mean that’s pretty much my library in general so can’t complain.
2022 Reading and Blogging Goals (and 2021 Check-In)
I’ve been carrying over my goals for a few years and will continue to do so for a while they’re the bare minimum.
- Read at least 60 books: ✔
- Smashed this one out of the park again this year thanks to the plethora of MM Romance novels that I sprinkle in constantly 😀 (NO REGERTS)
- I’m bumping the goal to 60 this year
- Read more nonfiction: ✖
- Fail, dropped another book from 2020 (11 in 2019, 10 in 2020)
- I do want to read one a month, but I just keep getting distracted by all the other books that I want to read.
Find new book bloggers and interact with them: ✖- Most definitely didn’t do this, I barely kept up with those I read. I read them, just never commented.
- I’m pulling this one off the list. I’ll keep reading those I know and hopefully comment on them, but it’s just not going to happen.
- I did clear my Instagram of most bookish review-type people and fancy #instabook people. I was getting tired of the overproduced photos and long-ass caption reviews. It’s nice and clean now with a few sprinkled in, but not as overwhelming.
- Read more TBR books than last year: ✔
- Crushed it. I doubled my TBR book’s “goal” from 5 to 10. Hopefully, I can keep it up this year as I’m making dents on my physical and kindle bookshelves.
Did you have any surprises in 2021? What are YOUR goals in 2022, are you bothering to set any?