The Year in Reading – 2021 Reading Wrap Up

Happy New Year!

2021 was an incredible reading year for me by pretty much any measure and I wanted to take a bit of time to reflect a bit on what worked, what didn’t and also what books surprised me, some new discoveries and of course my favorite titles for the year.

This also happens to be my 200th post, so a big deal all around.

2021 Reading Summary

Total Books Finished: 222

Format

• • • • • • 141 Audiobooks
          • 22 Books
          • 59 Graphic Novels/Picture Books

Yeah, I really did read a lot this year. I did make it to 200 unique reads, which I wasn’t sure if I would last week but I just got there with my final read of the year, the newest volume of Yona of the Dawn. And with a top number like that it is probably no surprise that I read basically a lot of everything. I did make it past 1000 hours of audiobooks (which I was just shy of last year) my final run time of audio over 1384 hours of audio (though I listen to most books at at least 2x so I didn’t actually spend that much time listening).

I also did quite a bit of re-reading, 63 books by my count that were re-reads. Which is also why I have so many picks for favorite re-reads of the year, since most of the books that I do re-read are favorites. Many of those re-reads were volumes of Yona of the Dawn as I have been working on collecting them this year, I have all but two volumes now.

I also made progress on several of my reading goals this year, I will have more in a few days when I post my 2021 reading challenge final titles, but I made it though several books that I had started but previously abandoned, and books that I have been meaning to pick up for years. I started the year by reading all of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Books (the first one is hands down the best), and finished the year with finally making it all the way through Twelfth Night, which I have been meaning to read for years now. I also read a record number of recommendations from What Should I Read Next? 36 was my final count, which is way more than I have made it though in previous years.

Favorite New Reads of 2021

Fiction

• The Lost Book of the Grail by Charles C. Lovett (Fiction, Literary Mystery, Historical) – Review
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Fiction, Mystery) – Review
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Sci-Fi, Novella)
• Beach Read by Emily Henry (Fiction, Contemporary Romance) – Review
• Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary Romance) – Review
• The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman (Fantasy, Teen Historical Fantasy)
• The Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas (Historical Fiction, Teen Fairytale Retelling)
• Soulless by Gail Carriger (Fantasy, Adult Historical Fantasy)
• Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Sci-Fi, Teen Sci-Fi) – Review of Book 1
• Vanished! by James Ponti (Mystery, Middle Grade Mystery)
• A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore (Romance, Historical Romance)

Non-Fiction

• Becoming by Michelle Obama (Memoir, Politics)
• Walkable City: how downtown can save America, one step at a time by Jeff Speck (Social Science, Community Building, City Planing)

Favorite Re-Reads of 2021

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Sci-Fi, Classic Sci-Fi) – Review
• Emma & Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Literature, Romance, Historical Romance)
• Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi (Fantasy, Teen High Fantasy, Manga)
• The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier (Fantasy, Teen Real World Fantasy) – Review of Book 1
• The Embassy Row Novels by Ally Carter (Fiction, Teen Mystery Thriller) – Review of Book 1
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (Fantasy, Teen Real World Fantasy)
• Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden (Romance, Historical Romance)
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Fantasy, Adult High Fantasy) – Review
• Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Sci-Fi, Teen Sci-Fi) – Review
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (Romance, Historical Romance)

Books That Didn’t Work For Me

In general I liked most of the books I read this year, I only had 16 books that I rated under 3.5 stars (which is about where I mentally draw the line between books I liked and books that were just alright) and I only DNF’d one book this year (which is kind of shocking). I have been trying to articulate what it is about these books that didn’t work for me, but haven’t come up with any clear answers.

Many of the books that didn’t work for me had quite dark content, The Queen’s Fool (My DNF), The Bone Clocks and My Brilliant Friend all had some incredibly dark themes that I was just not alright with. Though I would be hard pressed to identify what dark content will make me not like a book, because there are also plenty of books that are dark that I do like, so that is as clear as mud right?

In theory I should have really enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, it has a lot of things that I generally enjoy in a book, in fact it sounds a lot like Ove but with books, but it covered so much time in such a short book that I never felt like I really connected with the story. I noticed a few of the titles that didn’t work for me had unusual time lines, that I think made it hard for me to connect with the characters, A Psalm for the Wild-Built felt similar, and Love in Amsterdam didn’t feel like it was jumping through time but was told basically all in flash-back which also made the story feel remote.

Also, contemporary romance continues to be rather hit or miss for me, I have found several that I really enjoy, but others just fall flat for some reason. I have more consistently enjoyed Historical Romances and I think that some of the beats of a romance novel that I am alright with in historical romance but feel contrived in a contemporary romance.

Books That Pleasantly Surprised Me

I have to talk about You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle, which I just finished a little over a week ago now. First because it was a great suggestion and I want to pass along the rec, and because it was one of those contemporary romances that did work for me this year. I was so close to putting it on my favorites list but decided to talk about it here instead. I thought it was absolutely hilarious and I want more contemporary romances like this please.

I also really enjoyed Renegades by Marissa Meyer. I had been a bit hesitant to read this book, partially because I haven’t had the best luck with her books and also because I hesitate to pick up anything that is Dystopian, that was one of the things that I decided to steer clear of at the end of last year and I think it was a good choice in general. But this is the good story that is worth making an exception for.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed Longitude by Dava Sobel. I have had this book for years and been meaning to read it for at least as long, and you would think that given how small it is I would have already gotten to it, but I hadn’t. It really was as fascinating as I had heard it was and in such a small package.

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Best Discoveries of 2021

I am really tempted to just repeat all of my favorite new authors for the year here, but I actually think my best discovery of the year was creating my StoryGraph account, because the recommendations I have gotten have been great so far and even prompted my to pick up books by two of my new favorite authors for the first time. I am sure that I will eventually get a recommendation that doesn’t immediately make my favorites list but I think how they have set up their recommendation system is great and really promising to continue providing many great reads.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading Everyone!

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