2021 Wrap Up

Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. It’s the first day of 2022, and time to wrap up the year. And wow, what a year it has ended up being!

It’s been a tough year for everyone with everything that’s been going on in the world, but book wise, it’s been a good one for me. After finding out right at the end of last year that you could, in fact, track ARCs via Good Reads as well (I know, I know), my statistics are a bit more reliable. I’ve also been making sure to do monthly wrap ups to help me keep track, and I’ve been keeping a reading journal, which is bringing me a lot of satisfaction, seeing everything written down neartly. It’s also been really helpful in planning out some of my blog posts, breaking down reading goals, and, as of the end of this year, keeping track of the books I’ve bought or been sent, either from publishers or friends. Having accidentally bought a second copy of a book more than once now, I’ve decided I really need to track my books a bit more throughly, and although I can’t get hold of all the books I already have to write them down, I can make sure I keep track of books from now onwards. I’ve started with the books I was given for Christmas and that I’ve bought with Christmas vouchers, and I’ll be doing my best to keep a proper record for the rest of the year.

My original reading goal was 100, but I smashed that way back in the summer. I decided not to increase the goal number and just see where I ended up, but mentally was hoping to get to 150. Sometimes the mental goals are the ones that loom largest, and having only managed 79 recorded books last year, it felt like a big goal to aim for almost double that.

This year I’ve taken part in a lot more blog tours, had interviews with a lot of authors, and branched out a lot more with what I’ve read. It’ve also found out just how many books I can read; I’m aiming for more next year, of course, because there’s always the motivation to do more. But it’s been interesting to see what I can achieve.

I saw a comment in a book group the other day asking what the fuss was about reading challenges when there was no prize. Well, actually, for me, there has been a prize. I decided at the beginning of the year I was going to physically save £1 for each book I read. The money saved is going on something I really want and couldn’t afford otherwise – a tattoo! – which has been a really brilliant background thought. I didn’t nessicarily need the motivation to keep reading, but it’s been like falling in love with it fully all over again.

So, let’s break things down!

Total Books Read: 163

Total Pages Read (acc. to Good Reads): 57, 548

Books By Ratings:

5 Stars: 33

4 Stars: 97

3 Stars: 30

2 Stars: 3

1 Star: 0

Books By Type:

Audio: 80

Physical: 58

eBook: 25

Miscellaneous:

Longest Book: The Crown of Gilded Bones – 645 pages

Shortest Book: The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings – 96 pages

Average Length: 353 pages

Average Rating: 4.0

First Book of the Year: Glimpsed

Last Book of the Year: These Violent Delights

So there we have it. My first posts of the year, and my last year wrapped up neatly! I’ve got my reading journal set up a bit more neatly for this year, so come back in twelve months and see just how organised I end up being.

Wishing you all a happy and book filled year.