I don’t think I need to bother reflecting on the kind of year 2021 turned out to be overall. It happened; let’s move on, shall we?
In bookish terms, I felt like much of my year was defined by a lingering reading slump, meaning it came as a very pleasant surprise when I surpassed my goal for the year (by 1), reading 101 books in total. That’s the lowest figure since I started tracking my reading, but objectively, I’m aware it’s still a lot of books, and considering the backdrop we’ve all been living against, I can make my peace with it! I talked a little about my 10 favourites here.
My average rating was 3.6 stars. That’s .1 up on last year’s average, and it means I’m still enjoying the majority of the books I pick up, so I’ll take that as a win!
Though I always pick up books based purely on what appeals to me at the time, as the year comes to a close, I like to look back and break them down based on a few key areas. It’s clear to see I’m still drawn to the works of women far more than I am men, and I’m also pleased to see that my intake of non-binary authors has gone up a little – though this could certainly still be higher.
In terms of authorship, I’m pleased to see it’s not a terrible balance, but I could always stand to read more from authors of colour. I’d be much happier if it could move closer towards a 50/50 split, at least.
As per the trend of the last few years, more than half of my reading is given over to novels/novellas, and the proportion of my reading dedicated to poetry has edged up slightly again, which I’m perfectly happy with!
It also seems that around a quarter of my reading is made up of works in translation, which is pretty consistent with last year. I’d like to maintain or even boost that proportion moving forward, if possible.
I’m still going to set myself some goals for the year ahead, but in the spirit of not wanting to pile the pressure on when we’re still going through the wringer, I’m going to keep them simple:
- Read 90 books: This is lower than I usually set my target, but I want to respect the fact my reading slowed down for much of last year. While it’s good to motivate myself with an ambitious end goal, reading is something I love, and so I never want it to feel like a daunting chore. Life is rough at the moment; it’s okay to ease the pace a little when we need to.
- Commit to WITmonth: I love joining in with Women in Translation Month, which takes place every August. For the last few years, I’ve committed to reading exclusively women in translation during that month, and I’d like to do so again.
- Re-read Saga: I read and loved the first 7 volumes of Saga as they came out, but I fell out of the loop and haven’t picked any up for ages. I believe the series is coming to the end of a hiatus soon, so I’d like to refresh my mind and get caught up.
As always, I’ll finish this little retrospective by bringing together every title I read throughout the last 12 months (followed, this time, by all the embroidery projects I completed). If anything catches your eye, feel free to drop me a comment. Thanks for stopping by – Happy reading, and all the best for 2022!



