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Read More Books in 2021 with the Goodreads Reading Challenge!
Your fellow Goodreaders who have successfully done the Goodreads Reading Challenge over the years have shown us several ways to help you reach your goal. Here are some of the best tips:
- Push yourself, but be realistic. Avoid the dreaded reading slump by committing to an achievable goal. You can always increase the number of books later. (Yes! You can always change your goal during the year. This is meant to be a fun way to motivate yourself, after all. No pressure from us if you need to adjust either up or down.)
- Trying to figure out a goal? Use the calendar as a guideline: 12 books (one per month), 24 books (two per month), or even 52 books (one per week).
- Get scientific: Check out this expert advice on how to develop a reading habit.
- Remember, this is fun! This challenge is all about what you want to read. But don't take our word for it: See what several of our very bookish Goodreads members have to say.
Boost Your Progress
- Rereading counts! So by all means, go ahead and dive into those old favorites.
- Listen to audiobooks. This is a great way to read more and multitask.
- Put books on hold at your local library so it's easier to start your next book.
- Use your Want to Read shelf to help keep track of what you'd like to read next.
- If you’re an Amazon Prime member, there are multiple ways you can read free books as part of your membership! You can read for free with Prime Reading (available in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., Germany, Spain, France, Italy, India, Japan, China, and Australia). Or, check out First Reads to get one free, pre-release Kindle book a month (available in the U.S., U.K., and Australia).
Find More Books You'll Love
- Explore our News and Interviews section for great books lists, interviews with favorite authors, and much more.
- Check out the winners and nominees from the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards for hundreds of new books Goodreads members love.
- Browse through Goodreads including our user-generated reading lists, the most popular new books of the month, and the most read books right now.
- Get started with a seasonal read with these reader-approved wintertime books. (And for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, there are some great year-round reads in this list of Goodreads staffers' top three books of the year.)
- Discover new books in favorite genres including speculative fiction, mystery, young adult, and romance.
Wishing you all a wonderful year of good reading! Tell us in the comments how many books you aspire to read this year!
Comments Showing 51-100 of 173 (173 new)
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Alexa
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Feb 10, 2021 11:04AM
Robin Loves wrote: "I set my goal the same as last year! Which is 500 books. I ended 2020 at 626 books and just finished #18 for this year." Wow! How? When do you find the time?
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Robin Loves wrote: "I set my goal the same as last year! Which is 500 books. I ended 2020 at 626 books and just finished #18 for this year."Thats awsome! How do you read so much?!
I'm hoping to read 110 books this year! Wishing everyone lots of luck with their reading challenges. 📚📖😍
Clare wrote: "I’ve signed up and set my goal. I’ve just finished my first book but it’s not showing in my challenge but. Any help?"You have to add the reading dates and then it’ll show up 😊
I read more every year and always exceed my goal. My tips are as follows.A) Always know what to read next,
B) Don't hesitate to put down a book that doesn't make you want to pick it up. You should be excited to get to reading time. Not all books are for you.
C) If it's a finished series, try to get a hold of all the books, or at least the next in the series.
D) Follow your beloved authors to stay informed, you always want to be aware of what comes next and when.
E) Read every day (or night)
I don’t need tips for finding books to read. My Want to Read list has about 70 books on it! I need tips for finding time to read. Audio books are not for me.
Monikat wrote: "I read more every year and always exceed my goal. My tips are as follows.A) Always know what to read next,
B) Don't hesitate to put down a book that doesn't make you want to pick it up. You shoul..."
Great tips, Monikat! For A, I always try and have another book on hand, ready to read. I hate it when I finish a book and I ams till waiting for the enxt book to come from the library. What I have started doing is borrowing several books at a time. I don't always read all of them, but I like to have a selection, as sometimes I may not be in the mood for a certain book at that time.
B was a very hard lesson for me to learn, but over the years, I have gotten better at putting down a book that I am just not into. Some books I will pick up at a later date and try it again, and actually like it (such as Frankenstein
I try to do E as much as possible, even if it is only 10 or 15 minutes. I read on my daily commute (which is not long) and I try and read before bed (although sometimes I am so darn tired I only last for 5 mins!)
Peggy wrote: "I don’t need tips for finding books to read. My Want to Read list has about 70 books on it! I need tips for finding time to read. Audio books are not for me."I have the same problem. For various reasons I have not yet tried audio books, but maybe I should -- it would be something to do whie at the gym. But for me, listening is a passive activity, and I tune out.
Hello! This year I plan on reading 14 books (which is a piece-of-cake task) and hopefully one day I'll read 36 books per year —yes, three per month. I think that would be cool.
Last year my goal was 15 books and I needed the year with a total of 22 read books. This year my goal is 20 and I am starting # 6 by now!Happy New Reading 2021!
Last year my goal was 15 books and I finished the year with a total of 22 read books. This year my goal is 20 and I am starting # 6 by now!Happy New Reading 2021
Read 121 books this year! Going to read 1000 books... All free books so far from Amazon as well as authors news letters... a great tip to reading is - READING what Genres you love! "NO" good trying to read a book your not interest in.. its like eating that vegetable your mother tried to get you to eat - your not going to eat it, just maybe nibble it to make it look like you are! Lol
如意 wrote: "Happy reading year to everyone!! (❁´◡`❁) My goal of just 15 books looks so meagre compared to the majority here.. Σ(〃▽〃٥) Some of you are amazing readers!
It makes me want to increase my goal, but..."
I managed 20 last year and that's because I had to give up my job due to the pandemic. I find some types of books are quick easy reads and some people only go for those. The books I most enjoy are ones I ponder over. I don't treat it as a competition with others, just as a prompt to keep myself on track to get through the hundred books I have waiting on my shelves! Enjoy your reading!
Sharon wrote: "NO" good trying to read a book your not interest in.."Agreed! (Although sometimes you have to for school....)
Also keep in mind, not all reading is the same. Not judging either, but reading Being and Time is going to go much slower than reading Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Wow, there's some fast readers in this section. I'm blown away
Last year I made a goal for 150 books and I did a mix of audiobooks and tangible books and made my goal. This year, I've increased my goal to 200 books and so far I've read 25 books and am reading books 26, 27, & 28. I've been on track thus far and am still doing a mix of audiobooks and tangible books. I also enjoy reading children's books, YA Books, and graphic novels. That helps as well. However, some of those books have heavy topics and they aren't always as easy of reads as someone would think. I also don't watch much television, but I do listen to a lot of podcasts and music too! So I'm always trying to make time for those too! Happy Reading everyone!! :-)
I set my goal for 250 books. This is my first year on goodreads, and since I've never kept track of my reading before it's more of an experiment to see how many I actually read in one year :)
Join one or more bookclub! Online at your local library. It is fun, good discussions and you are energized to continue reading
Last year I set myself a target of 100 and read 114. This year I have set 50 because I know I shall be more involved in other things. I shall still enjoy reading. (Insomnia helps.).
I achieved my goal of reading 100 books last year. I'm not a very picky person when it comes books because reading is fun for me
My target for the last few years has been 125 books, and this year I raised it to 150 books, because I'm almost always a little ahead throughout the year. Not this time! I only just got back on track. I'm thinking of dropping it back down to 125 for my own peace of mind... but I probably won't. I want it to inspire me to keep up a good pace. I can always reevaluate later, though!
Donna wrote: "Going for 1,300 this year after completing 1,214 last year! Here's to good health and happy reading!"WOW! That's impressive!!
This year 2021 I've decided to read 75 books. I read 95 books last year. I totally enjoy this challenge as it pushes me to read books that I have stored on my Kindle and weed out those books that do not hold my interest. Happy Reading Everyone!!!
My goal is 250 books, but I also include children’s books. I read over 100 books in January, so I think I may need to up my goal to 500.
Goal setting is great, especially during a pandemic. I read 307 last year and like to intersperse the serious things with the more light-hearted. So back to my Serial killers and my YA fun reads.
I agree with all the pro tips, thank you Goodreads. Reading for me is to enjoy and discover. I compete with myself, not with anyone, my goals are only for me. Reading is part of my life, not the only thing in my life, that's why I enjoy a book at a time without haste but with consistency.
Robin Loves wrote: "I set my goal the same as last year! Which is 500 books. I ended 2020 at 626 books and just finished #18 for this year."u mental?
I learned the hard way when reading multi-volume books: go back to Goodreads and bring up each individual volume you just read, and don't forget to review. This way, that one 3 volume book you just read will actually count as 3 books read towards your goal!
如意 wrote: "Happy reading year to everyone!! (❁´◡`❁) My goal of just 15 books looks so meagre compared to the majority here.. Σ(〃▽〃٥) Some of you are amazing readers!
It makes me want to increase my goal, but..."
These are personal goals, and need to fit your life--never apologize for being a busy person with multiple demands on your time and varied interests. By the way, audiobooks fit the lifestyles of many who lack time to sit down with a printed book. You would be surprised how many you can consume during your daily commutes--and all you need is a library card to get free audio, either on CD or as digital downloads. A 15 minute commute is 2.5 listening hours a week, or an average audiobook in a month.
Robin Loves wrote: "I set my goal the same as last year! Which is 500 books. I ended 2020 at 626 books and just finished #18 for this year."Oh my gosh! That is incredible!!!! How did you manage to read that many??
I set my goal for 50. I’ve already had to move it to 100 but I expect I’ll probably read 120.
I have my books I want to read at my house. I have started carving out so much time a day to read. I actually set my goal lower than I did last year as is more realistic.
jhnm wrote: "OMG! Goodreads acknowledges the existence of the Southern Hemisphere."Well played, o you southern hemisphereophile. :-)
The COVID situation continues to restrict access to the library, so I have slightly reduced my goal for the year. I managed to meet my goal last year only in the last few days of the year, since library access was unavailable for several months, and other resources were also somewhat limited. Hopefully we'll get past that later this year.
How is that possible ? reading over 500 books . I think it takes you 100+ days just reading. Even though I did not include eating, sleeping and other stuff. This is not a criticise . I am really wondering how is that possible.
M. wrote: "Don’t forget to see if your Public library offers access to ebooks and audiobooks with Overdrive and/or Hoopla! All you need is a library card and PIN and it’s FREE"Another app to use is BorrowBox :)
I like the challenge because it help me track, and remember (!) the books I have read,
Jasmine wrote: "Peggy wrote: "I don’t need tips for finding books to read. My Want to Read list has about 70 books on it! I need tips for finding time to read. Audio books are not for me."I have the same problem..."
Same. I tried audiobooks for the first time last month and I realised they’re not for me. I prefer reading (or skimming) through a book. I think it’s because I’m not an auditory learner, more a visual, so I don’t really take the books in very well.
My goal is 200, I did 314 last year, but I am adding more books in my field which are sometimes long and dry.
I reread 31 books last year. I didn't know reread books could count toward my goal!
For 2020 I met my 150 book challenge. For 2021 I'm 45 books into my 200 books. I don't know how that woman found time to read 600 books in a year?
jhnm wrote: "OMG! Goodreads acknowledges the existence of the Southern Hemisphere."This made me laugh! So, so true; we "Northern Hemisphere" folks, esp. us Americans, are startlingly self-absorbed. Sort of reminds me a bit, as a white person, of the blinding self-viewpoint of white people in general. Perhaps we all need a reminder to take a bit more perspective taking? : ) Happy Reading!
Btw, I’ve set my goal as one...😶🤫 It’s because my goal last year was 12 and I only managed 2. I do mean to read more than one (and two) book(s) this year so I thought I’ll add one each time I finish one! (Do you know if half-read books count, like if you’ve started reading and you’re half way through, you can’t be bothered so you move onto the next, and you get half way and can’t be bothered with that one. Would that count as 1...? 😊😌)
The short answer is to just read shorter books. Goodreads has books listed on this site that are shorter than 20 pages. You can be done your goal in a week :P
