Books I Read in 2021!

(Yes, I normally put this blog post up on New Year’s Eve. Yes, we are now a week into January. Sue me–this week was absolute CHAOS and I am doing good to still be alive. No joke.)

2021 was such a good reading year for me! I read 190 books total (an average of 16 per month) which honestly surprised me. This is how the past few years compare (watch my health get worse and worse HAHA):

2017 – 135 books2018 – 153 books2019 – 154 books2020 – 174 books2021 – 190 books

I don’t ever set reading goals for myself; I just read. I love reading and I don’t want it to ever be something that I feel obligated to do. That being said, though, I think now I’m going to be mad if I don’t hit 200 books in 2022. Haha.

Predictions: I think I read WAY more new books (both new releases and new-to-me books) than rereads this year–like, dramatically more–which is unusual for me. I don’t think I read much nonfiction at all. As far as genres, I’m guessing I read the most contemporary, and not as much fantasy or historical fiction? Or maybe lots of MG? But I’m not really sure, and it may be pretty evenly split.

With that, let’s get into the pie charts! (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, making pie charts of the books I’ve read is basically my all-time favorite thing.) First up: new reads and rereads. In 2021 I read 148 new books and only had 42 rereads, so my prediction there was correct. (There are just so many books in the world to read, I don’t have as much time for rereads as I’d like!)

When it comes to fiction and nonfiction, my prediction here was correct, too: I read only 44 nonfiction books, but 146 fiction ones. I’d like to read more nonfiction. But the very large majority of my reading happens between 8 and 10 PM, and my brain is checked out for the day.

Out of the 146 fiction books I read, 46 of them were children’s or middle grade books; 92 of them were YA; and only six of them were adult novels (haha, what can I say, adult fiction bores me). This honestly surprised me because I thought I had read more MG this year.

I struggle with sorting books into genres because there is often a lot of overlap. But here’s the best I can do. Children’s lit/MG, historical fiction, contemporary, and fantasy were all very evenly spaced, although contemporary did come out on top with 39.

I read the most books in February and November (19–ironically, I felt rough in February and good in November) and the least books in April and July (13–both were really difficult months). The first book I read in 2021 was Dust by Kara Swanson. The last was Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (a reread).

I also tracked a new metric this year: how many new books I acquired (whether I bought them for myself, or they were gifted to me). I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed to reveal that I acquired 61 new books this year (34 of which I bought and 27 of which were gifts). Building my personal library and being surrounded by so many books is my favorite thing in the world, but… the rate of 1.2 books per week does sound a little ridiculous. I did at least get one new bookcase early this year, which helped at first (see below) but has now been completely overtaken (not shown). I’ve done a lot of dreaming recently about the combo library/music room I’m going to have one day when I buy a house…

This summer (late summer) was the summer of Laura Wood and Akemi Dawn Bowman, and it was pure magic. I loved my Shadowhunter rereads in February/over Christmas break SO much; those books introduced me to the world of YA spec, so long ago, and I’ll forever be grateful for the Shadowhunters fandom and the way it serves as not only a fun escape, but also a really valuable way to make me think. I also enjoyed my Grishaverse reread as prep for the Netflix show that came out in April, and had a lovely Stephanie Perkins reread this fall when I really needed it (the best form of self-care is running away to Paris with Josh and Isla). OH, and I discovered Kate Quinn’s books and I am OBSESSED. Give me all the badass female spies in WWII. Also, I would be remiss not to mention discovering Katherine Rundell late this year–I want to live inside her imagination.

This year I read books at the beach (see below), in hotels, and in Airbnbs. I read books in the hospital (see below) and the ER. I read books in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana. As usual, probably as much as 95% of my reading is done at night before going to sleep, snuggled up in bed with my kitty and my fairy lights. (You know it’s a good book when I shriek or squeal or gasp, and the cat is scared and/or offended and leaves the room.) The books I read this year made me cackle obnoxiously and made me cry lots of tears (see below, me absolutely SOBBING after rereading The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise).

In 2022 I am excited to keep up with new releases as well as reread old favorites (I need to do a Betsy reread because I got the books for Christmas–they are so dear to my heart–and I’ve been waiting for a while for the right time to do a Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus reread). I also have a long list of books I want to read about art and theology.

I love books with all my heart. They are true magic, and story is such a gift. I often think to myself that I wouldn’t rather be anything else than a bookworm, a writer, and a musician–a storyteller, seeking to consume and create beauty. I can’t wait to do just that by reading lots more books in 2022.

How many books did you read in 2021? Did you discover any new favorite authors? What genres did you read in the most? What do you want to read in 2022?