My 2021 Reading Goals

Unlike last year, I'm posting my reading goals at the beginning of the year versus four months in. I'm so proud of myself. Getting back into reading made 2020 bearable, and it's given me a lot of happiness as we go into another year of uncertainty.

 

In 2020, I had the major reading goal of reaching 30 books, which I'd originally set at 10, but I ended up reaching that goal fairly quickly. Thus, I changed it to 30. Amazingly, I ended up reading 75 books anyway. I was an overachiever. For 2021, I set my Goodreads goal at 30 right away. I think I can do it, despite needing to find a new job and, more than likely, a new place to live. However, the reason I didn't increase the amount was because I know quarantines, lockdowns, and working from home aren't likely scenarios in 2021. Or at least not for 10 months of the year. We'll see, though.

My Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge being set at 30 is a high ask considering the uncertainty of my future, but I'm adding more goals just to stress myself out even further. Last year, in addition to my Goodreads challenge, I had four smaller goals. I'd like to do the same for 2021. Since I met all of those smaller goals, which I talked about in my 2020 Wrap-Up post, I thought I'd get a little more complex for 2021's goals.

Here are my other personal reading goals for the year:

#1. Read 20 books I already owned physical copies of prior to 2020. I still have a very large TBR backlist despite having read 30 books owned prior to 2020 in 2020. I have roughly 190 physical books on my TBR shelves. I'd like to drastically cut this down, but I'm starting small with 20. I'm hoping I can get a few more in, though.

#2. Read at least 10 books bought in 2020. I bought 91 books in 2020. I only read 41 of them, however. I don't want my TBR to get further out of control, so I would like to bridge that gap.

#3. Finish A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I finished the first A Song of Ice and Fire book last year, and I started ACoK earlier this month. Originally, I started trying to read the ASoIaF books again after the final season of GoT disappointed me for so many reasons. I'd like to finish ACoK before the end of 2021, and it'll probably take me an entire year to read this sequel, as I read a chapter at a time. I also think it’d be cool to read one ASoIaF book per year until I catch up or the next book is released. (Ha ha.)

#3. Read more new adult and adult books. I'd prefer roughly half of the books I read in 2021 to be new adult or adult. I'm also making it a minor goal to read more mass market urban fantasy/romance as well as more mainstream sci-fi/fantasy.

#4. This isn't a reading goal, necessarily, but I'd like to purchase fewer than 75 books in 2021. Because I only read 75 books last year and I bought 91, I decided to cut down on my purchasing this year. Therefore, I can only buy 75 books (already I know that 12 will be FairyLoot books, so that brings the total down to 63 books). I also have to unhaul 16 books (91 purchased books minus 75 books read) since I didn't read as much as I bought in 2020. Does that explanation make sense?

#5. Re-read more. This seems like a strange goal to include, but I realized recently that I have so many books on my shelves that I'd like to re-read. I'm not making it a specific goal to get to any of them, but these are just a few I'd like to get to, if possible: Yasmine Galenorn's Otherworld series, The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, Jennifer L. Armentrout's Covenant series, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (for the upcoming TV show), and The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (so I can go into books two and three with a fresh memory of events).

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Well, those are my 2021 reading goals. What are your reading goals for the year? Let me know in the comments below!