My 2022 Reading Goals

I'm so ready to read some good books in 2022! 2021's reading year was a little meh quality-wise. Quantity-wise was fine, but I only had two 4.5-star reads, so the goal is to get more fantastic books in my reading life.

 

In 2021, I had my reading goal set to 30 books. I ended up reaching that goal fairly quickly. I believe during the middle of the year. I didn't change my goal because 1) I didn't want too much pressure on myself during a year of moving, finding a new job, etc., and 2) I think I'm over setting my goal to higher numbers. Even with that lower goal, I ended up reading 66 books. For 2022, I've already set my Goodreads goal at 30 again. I know I can do it, since I have a steady life/schedule now.

My Goodreads 2022 Reading Challenge being set at 30 allows me the opportunity to chillax and just read for fun. But like the past two years, I have some additional goals. Sadly, I only accomplished two of six goals for 2021, so the goal for 2022's goals is to actually do them. Haha.

Here are my smaller personal reading goals for the year:

#1. Read 15 books I already owned physical copies of prior to 2020. This was actually a goal I had last year that I failed, so I revamped it a little. From 20 to 15 books, as I only read 10 pre-2020 releases in 2021. I still have a very large TBR backlist with roughly 200 physical books on my TBR shelves. I'd like to drastically cut this down, but I'm starting small with 15.

#2. Read at least 10 books bought in 2020 and 15 books bought in 2021. With goal one and goal two, I'm already up to 35 books, so we'll see if I accomplish this one. I hope so, as I bought 91 books in 2020 and 89 in 2021. I only read around 80 of them altogether, and this includes duplicates. I don't want my TBR to get further out of control, so I would like to bridge that gap. Oh, and this includes catching up on the 2020 and 2021 FairyLoot books I've received in my subscription box.

#3. Read A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. I finished the first two A Song of Ice and Fire books over the past two years. Originally, I started trying to read the ASOIAF books again after the final season of GoT disappointed me. I'd like to finish ASOS before the end of 2022, and it'll probably take me an entire year to read this sequel, as I read a chapter at a time. I'm hoping by the time I finish the entire series, and maybe some spinoffs, The Winds of Winter will be out.

#3. Read more new adult and adult books. I'd prefer roughly half of the books I read in 2022 to be new adult or adult. I had this goal last year, and it didn't happen since I'm attempting to also read my backlist, which is mostly YA fiction. Some adult books I'd like to get to include The Poppy War, Jade City, Nevernight, The Ruin of Kings, The Wheel of Time series (at least book one), and Malice by John Gwynne.

#4. This isn't a reading goal, necessarily, but I'd like to purchase fewer than 66 books in 2022. (Again, a similar goal to 2021.) Because I only read 66 books last year and I bought 89, I need to cut down on my purchasing. Therefore, I can only buy 66 books. I already know that 22 will be FairyLoot books, so that brings the total down to 44 books. I also have to unhaul 23 books (89 purchased books minus 66 books read) since I didn't read as much as I bought in 2021. I'd like to spend less than $1,000 on books in 2022. I'm crossing my fingers no expensive special edition sets pop up.

#5. And one of my major goals is to read all of the books I owned prior to when I moved to NYC in 2017. I've had some of these books, pictured above, for 5+ years, and that's just not cool. If I don't read them before the end of 2022, they go bye-bye. This goal will also help me with Goal #1. Title options include The Immortal Rules, An Ember in the Ashes, Legacy of Kings, The Last Namsara, Blood Red Road, The Young Elites, Eon, Miss Mayhem, and more. I hope I can do it.

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Well, those are my 2022 reading goals. What are your reading goals for the year? Let me know in the comments below!

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!

My 2020 Reading Goals

It’s April, but I haven’t done a reading goals post for the year. Now that I’m back into reading, I have to remedy that.

I originally set my Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge at 10 books. Now, that might not seem like a lot to some of you, but last year was a disaster for me reading-wise. I actually only read 10 books for the entire year, and most of them were just “meh” books. My reading slump was insane.

To be fair, I had a lot of things going on. I moved back to Missouri from NYC. I quit my job and was stressed out looking for a new one and feeling like a loser for doing so. And, while I was living in NYC, I hated living there because of my loud neighbors who wouldn’t give me the peace I needed to read and sleep during the weekends. I was a mess. But I’ve finally hit a place in my life where I’m comfortable reading again. Plus, I’m stuck inside a lot more than usual with everything going on, so why not work my way through my TBR?

I set my 2020 Goodreads Challenge to 10 books at the start of the year. I reached that goal earlier this month, so I changed my goal to 30 books. I’m really hoping to reach 50, but 30 puts less pressure on me.

Other than my Goodreads Challenge, I have a few other personal reading goals that mostly consist of finishing specific books and series.

#1. Read 15 books I already owned physical copies of prior to 2020. So far, I’ve read three.

#2. Finish A Game of Thrones. I’ve been reading this one for a while. I started after the final season of GoT disappointed me for so many reasons, and I want to finish it before the end of 2020. I’m 42% through. I also think it’d be cool to read one A Song of Ice and Fire book per year until I catch up or the next book is released. (Ha ha.)

#3. Finish the Violet Eden series. I just finished Entice, and there are three more books. I’m going to try to finish one every few months. These books have been on my shelf for so very long, and they’re so beautiful. I’ll never get rid of them, just because of their gorgeous covers. I don’t like unread books being on my pretty shelves, though, so I HAVE to finish them.

#4. Finish last books. I have a lot of last books in series that I just need to read. United and Starfall by Melissa Landers, Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, Allied by Amy Tintera, and Let the Wind Rise by Shannon Messenger are the primary culprits.

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Well, those are my 2020 reading goals. What are your reading goals for the year? Have you met any of them yet? Let me know in the comments below!