2021 Wrapup and My 2022 Reading Plans

Happy New Year!!!

Honestly, I’m diving into 2022 with zero expectations. Actually no, I’m expecting a lot of things to go wrong and suck but yeah, feeling the cheer for the new year is becoming harder and harder. Nevertheless, I do love how I get to pull out my stats and make reading plans every time the new year rolls in. I’m a proper Type A personality aka a sucker for colourful graphs and meticulous tracking of my reading and blogging. I’m unfortunately not great at making the statistical stuff but Kal from Reader Voracious always comes through with her spreadsheets 🙂

So all the pretty wrap-up graphs you see here are all thanks to her. Now let’s roll in the stats!

2021 Wrapup: Blogging and Reading Statistics

Like always, I’m more of a backlist books person. I just happen to prioritise older books because even if a shiny new release seems exciting I like for other people to read it and tell me what exactly they liked or didn’t like before I pick up that book. I did also DNF quite a few books and I’m absolutely proud of myself for that 🙂

Speaking of genres, I’ve been so happy to be reading more of fantasy and science-fiction this year! I’ve honestly been shifting away from the YA Contemporary genre. A lot of it is cliched, tropey and the same stuff over and over again which isn’t necessarily bad now and then but I like a little more excitement and novelty in my life. My love of fantasy is ever-growing and I’m glad it shows! I’m also reading more mysteries which is something that I wanted to do and it’s so nice to dive into this genre once again with a fresh perspective.

I’ve had a good reading year since I keep becoming more and more picky about the books I’m reading which is why you’ll see most of my reads have been 4 stars or above. While YA is still one of my dominating genres, I don’t think the Adult and MG bar has ever been so high and I’m sure the Adult reads will continue to grow!

This time I had a Storytel subscription for audiobooks and ebooks so I added everything I read on the app as being bought which is why it seems like I purchased a heck lot of books but that’s not really the case. I did receive a lot of ARCs this year, some of which I turned down but I’m just pleasantly surprised by the love publishers, agents and authors have been showering at me lately 🙂

As usual, ebooks dominate my reading because of convenience more than preference. I did read a lot of audiobooks this year, in fact they’re what made my walks regular and bearable.

I read 93 books this year! My Goodreads goal was actually 100 but I soon realised that I wouldn’t be able to achieve it and decided not to push myself and just change it to 93. I think the major dip in my reading can be accounted to academics but other than that I’m pretty satisfied with my pace. Other than that I took part in the Beat the Backlist 2021 Challenge. I didn’t have any goals set as such but I managed to complete 37 out of the 52 prompts of the challenge and probably read more backlist books that didn’t fit the prompts so that was a huge win 🙂

Coming onto my 5 star predictions for 2021, this project was not the most successful. Like an idiot, I decided not to pace these books or lay out a schedule for them and instead just tried reading a good majority of them in the second half of the year which did not work out. From my list of 10 books, I didn’t read three and one of them I’ve decided that I’m no longer interested in but let’s look at how the books that I read fared.

THE WICKER KING

Ummm this book was everything?!?! I absolutely get why people have ben screaming about The Wicker King and just reading it was a whole experience that I can never forget. A definite 5 star and beyond read!

THE RECKLESS AFTERLIFE OF HARRIET STOKER

This was a great read! I absolutely loved the cast, the plot and how the book tied up everything but I found the first half of the book to be a little boring so I ended up giving it 4 stars. Did I love it? Yes. BUt I didn’t find it 5 star worthy.

THE INFINITY COURTS

Holy shit this was my first book of 2021 and gosh it did not disappoint. Akemi Dawn Bowman is one of my favourite writers ever and WOW. Not only is this book beautifully written, has wonderful characters and a well built world but it hits you right in the face with that freaking plot twist that will never leave you the same. This one gets an infinite star rating!

Related Post: 5 Reasons to Read The Infinity Courts: A Mindblowing Masterpiece

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO

You all told me I would fall in love. I knew I would fall in love. And I did. This book is a fucking masterpiece and I honestly can’t. Like I cried through the last 15 minutes of my audiobook and just the things it made me feel?? You all need to read it if you haven’t yet. Definitely surpassed my 5 star prediction.

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

You all know Matt Haig is a huge favourite of mine and he truly didn’t disappoint. My review literally just says that this is the best book I’ve ever read and like yes. It kinda is. I don’t even know how to describe it but my copy has so many tabs and highlights and I’m not someone who does either of those things. 5/5 stars for sure!

THE ONE’S WE’RE MEANT TO FIND

Last but not the least, we have this freaking mindboggling beauty by Joan He. Honestly this is so different from anything I read last year and everything from the idea to the execution to the plot twist absolutely stunned me. My only concern is that it was quite slow-paced and I was a little bored until we hit the half-way mark. So as much as it pained me, I ended up giving this a 4.5 stars which is close enough and I’ll still be heralding this book as a masterpiece.

Related Post: 5 Reasons to Read The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

2022 Reading Plans: Challenges and 5 Star Predictions

I’ve set my Goodreads challenge to 90 books so let’s see how that will fare. Other than that, I’ll be taking part in the Beat the Backlist challenge as usual. I never set a goal for these, instead I have fun at completing as many of their prompts as possible 🙂

I’m also super psyched to be taking part in Pondathon 2 which is a garden themed readathon being hosted at The Quiet Pond from mid January to mid December. Not a lot of details have been released but I just had a gal at Pondathon last time and knowing CW, Joce and Skye they’re just going to raise the level this time.

The 12 Books 12 Friends Challenge was also trending everywhere and I decided to cave in and join that as well.

A lot of these books were already on my TBR but there are also a few like The Goblin Emperor and Doomsday Book that I had never heard of before and am so excited to read! This time I’ll be smart and plan ahead in time to read these books.

I’m also doing the 5 star predictions once again and hopefully I’ll be more successful this time around. I’ve narrowed my selection quite a bit and here are the books I’ve chosen.

FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA

I’ve heard so much about this book! It was literally everywhere last year and like when do I drop the opportunity of reading about a fat girl? And it’s LGBTQ?? This book is ticking all the checkboxes and I’m fairly certain that I’m going to end up loving it.

EMPIRE OF THE SAND

I read The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri this year and holy shit it blew my mind. So of course I want to read more books by the author! Empire of Sand has been gathering dust on myshelves for a while now. A friend literally bought it to me so that I would finally read it but I still didn’t get around to it. But this year I most definitely will!

DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP

I think Rick Riordan is a very safe choice when looking for 5 star reads and I’ve really been looking forward to his new book! Like look at that cover omg, I’m dead. SOme of my friends have already read and raved about Daughter of the Deep so I’m really psyched to read it.

HERE AND NOW AND THEN

I was soooo excited when I first heard of this book! Time travel is one of my favourite tropes ever so I was just eagerly waiting for it to release but then I never found the time to actually read it. I just know in my bones that I’m going to be blown by this.

DON’T DATE ROSA SANTOS

Everyone was talking about this book last year! And it gave me such good vibes and I honestly meant to read it way sooner but I just didn’t. It’s a book that quite a few of my friends have loved and it’s just right up my alley so I feel like it’s going to be a new favourite for sure.

Phew! That was a rather long post but I just love wrapping up my reading every year and then making fresh plans for the next year. But let’s chat in the comments below! Tell me how your 2021 reading year was and what all are you looking forward to in 2022? Have you made reading plans? Are you joining any challenges or readathons? Come tell me all about it 🙂