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Most Read of the 2021 Reading Challenge (So Far)
We all want to spend more time lost in the pages of great books. That's the idea behind our annual 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge! It's simple: Every January readers set a goal of how many books they want to read that year, and we help them keep track of it. This year more than 4 million readers have joined the Challenge, pledging to read a total of 218 million books!
Now that we're halfway through the year, we thought it would be fun to see which books have been the most read of the 2021 Challenge. Below you'll find those books listed in order of popularity. Netflix adaptations certainly helped readers find books this year, with Bridgerton: The Duke and I, Shadow and Bone, Firefly Lane, and The Queen's Gambit all making the list after they were made into series on the streaming platform. We're also seeing the influence of BookTok, with recommendations from TikTok users prompting readers to pick up The Song of Achilles, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and The House in the Cerulean Sea.
By the way: It's not too late to set a reading goal or even edit your current Challenge! Scroll over the covers to learn more about each book and get inspired to read more books this summer, and be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!
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What are some of your favorite reads so far this year from your 2021 Reading Challenge? Let us know in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 71 (71 new)
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Antagonist
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Jun 14, 2021 07:46PM
A lot of these are must reads!
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Lots of good titles here! I did add The Song of Achilles, Evelyn Hugo and The House of the Cerulean Sea to my list. Nothing to do with BookTok though (and I've just learned a new word...)
My favourite reads from my 2021 Reading Challege,The Island of Sea Woman by Lisa See
The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
In Dependence by Sarah L. Manyika
The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende
Is there a list for the most read books from the 2020 reading challenge? Normally I see one and this year I never did ...
Sarah wrote: "Is there a list for the most read books from the 2020 reading challenge? Normally I see one and this year I never did ..."https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...
Great list! I also really enjoyed: The Deep (Rivers Solomon), The Shadow King (Maaza Mengiste), and A Long Petal of the Sea (Isabel Allende).
Good list.Hamnet was my runaway favorite so far this year. That book just blew me away. I read it and then also listened to the audio version (excellent narrator, btw) and it blew me away again.
Memoirs are topping my list so far: Crying In H Mart, Everything Is Fine by Vince Granata, Born A Crime and A Promised Land.
Raquel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Is there a list for the most read books from the 2020 reading challenge? Normally I see one and this year I never did ..."https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1......"
Thank you ... but this is a midyear list from June 2020. Previous years there has been a list put out in March for most popular reads and then by a few categories as well. I was hoping for that list but I don't see one this year.
An associated list including genre and year of release would be nice.
My favorite book so far this year is _Project Hail Mary_ by Andy Weir.
I have read 11 of the books on this list so far and there is only one that I have not thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe I will get to some of the others, but I do have my own list.
Susan wrote: "My favorite book so far this year is _Project Hail Mary_ by Andy Weir."That's what I'm reading now -- excellent.
Some of my favorites: Malibu Rising, A knock at Midnight, Talking to The Sky, A Nature of Fragile Things, Finley Donovan is Killing it, instructions for Dancing
Still recovering from A Song of Achilles a year after reading it…
Excellent list!5 of these books are among my favorites of all time!
It looks like male authors are being phased out slowly.
I've already read some of these last year and are going to read some this year.
I'm currently reading Leave The World Behind and will read The Vanishing Half next!
Am I the only one who hasn’t read any of these books yet? 😬
There's some books that I've read and did rereads too !
Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End and A Thousand Moons. Exquisite writing. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - light reading, full of twists
Surprised to see Outlawed here, since I personally haven't seen any buzz or attention about it, even at my local bookstores. Only just recently found out about it thanks to one of the listicles on here. Looking forward to reading it, as I usually don't read westerns!
Few of the books listed are definitely are great reading. I meant, I'm biased, considering I am a big fan of The Song of Achilles. I'm just happy that it was listed. Also, The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo, The Invisible Life of Addie Rue ( it was recommended by a friend and I finish it in two days). Definitely would start reading Mexican Gothic after I'm done with my current reading.
These are such great books! Glad people are taking a liking to them.
@Gaurav Or could it be that female authors are finally getting equal access to the publicity machine and their works are proving to be good and popular?
Once again I see I have read none of those books, nor are any on my to read list. And it appears male authors are being ignored or phased out rather quickly rather than gradually. Or is that really telling us about the changing body of readers involved with Goodreads?
So far I've enjoyed:They Both Die at the End
Oona Out of Order
Winter Counts
The Pull of the Stars
The Good Daughter
Grown
I have to add The Night Hawks. Elly Griffiths is at the top of her game.
To these I would add The Seed Keeper, A Burning, Winter Counts and Project Hail Mary. I read Circe and Where The Crawdads Sing a few years ago, would add both to any reading list! For this year, The Vanishing Half and Anxious People were great. In nonfiction, I finished Caste feeling like it should be required reading for all adults.
The Ghostwriter by A. Torres. I could not put it down!
Michael wrote: "Looking for your next read? How about The French Baker's War?“Absence isn’t a hole. It’s a presence living inside you, eating its way out.”
Occupied France, 1943. Returning home from the daily h..."
Let them eat cake. For those wanting to better understand the Jewish holocaust here are some readings.Thy Brothers Blood- Malcolm Hayss. A history of Antisemitism in Europe especially in the churches in nearly every country.
Survival In Auschwitz- Primo Levi. A young chemist Levi jointed the partisans after graduating college and ,since he was Jewish, was promptly captured and sent to Aushwitz. He has written about ten booksk about hife and experiences during and after the Holocaust including The Drowned and The Saved, If Not Now When, and The Truce.
A Scrap ofTime- Ida Fink. Polish Jewish familiess try to survive the
Holocast.dsdss
Holocaust Poetry- ed. Hilda Schiff. One of the better anthologies.Holocaust.ssaas
I love challenges, but, I also do a lot of advanced reading. How do those get logged? From what I can tell, you register books from my library but only ones from Amazon.
Vee wrote: "Still recovering from A Song of Achilles a year after reading it…"I read ASOA when it first came out and it’s still my #1 favorite book.
Nana wrote: "Few of the books listed are definitely are great reading. I meant, I'm biased, considering I am a big fan of The Song of Achilles. I'm just happy that it was listed. Also, The Seven Husband of Evel..."TSOA is my #1 favorite book.
West with Giraffes was one of my favorites and it's free to prime members.
Concrete Rose... I can't get enough Angie Thomas
West With Giraffes was awesome. I also liked The Nature of Fragile Things.
My two best books of the year so far were Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne and Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng. I thought both were masterpieces.
Raquel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Is there a list for the most read books from the 2020 reading challenge? Normally I see one and this year I never did ..."https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1......"
Is there a list that covers all of 2020? Or, will there be one that covers all of 2021? If so, I would like to use the full 2021 list for a 2022 challenge.
@gaurav and @MK. Most book clubs are all women, just sayin'.
American Dirt was my favorite so far this summer! It was the type of book I didn't want to end, but also wanted to hurry to get to the end to see what happened! It left me breathless at times! It also gave an example of what people are truly going through to escape the violence of their country. Tragic!
This year so far:English: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Stoner, Peony.
Spanish: El Hombre que amaba los Perros, Alamut, El Imperio eres Tú, Paula.
I would also recommend "The Hail Mail Project" by Andy Weir. It's a great story and well-written.
