2021 seemed to go on forever, and then was suddenly over. It’s strange how that can happen. This time though, I know that I tried to live in the moment and enjoy the now as much as possible. There was a combination of good and bad this year, but one absolute good was the amount of time I got to spend reading, writing about books, talking about books and making friends through this new community.
2021 annotated reads
I launched this blog at the beginning of the year on a completely different platform, then I did a 180 and redid it. I am so glad I did because I am thrilled with how this little blog has grown and developed throughout the year. I have so enjoyed writing my reviews and recommendations and I hope you have enjoyed reading them. I appreciate every single one of you that has read my reviews, engaged with my content either here on on instagram and I am so humbled that people have actually trusted me and my recommendations, and purchased books based on my opinions. I truly hope that I have helped you find your next favourite read. Now, let’s get into what my 2021 looked like in books!
2021 reading
I used Notion to track my reading this year (along with Goodreads and I tried to use Literal and Storygraph but I just couldn’t be consistent with them all!) I loved using Notion for a personal and private way to track my reading, and it’s made it really easy to see my reading habits for the year!
My favourite reads of 2021 (not pictured is the Medoran Chronicles by Lynette Noni).
I read a total of 56 books this year which I am absolutely chuffed with! I was hoping to read 30 this year and I feel so great to have had so much time to read this year. I always like to make my reading goal something achievable, but even if I don’t reach it, if I only read a handful of books in a year I will still feel great that I got to read at all. For the first time, I really got into audiobooks, with 13 of my reads being audiobooks, and another 13 of my total being re-reads (I love rereading so much). Fantasy was definitely my most reached for genre this year with 37 of my reads being fantasy. I loved delving into historical fiction for the first time with 9 of my reads being historical fiction (I am planning on this number being much higher in 2022), and I also got to a few books I have been wanting to read for years, most notably the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Theogony and Works and Days and The Night Circus. I also surprised myself by reading 7 non-fiction reads, and I can see this number growing in 2022.
There were definitely many books I wanted to read but didn’t get around to (Stephen Fry’s Mythos, Heroes and Troy), and I bought so many new and exciting books that I have something for every mood. It’s hard to plan monthly tbrs when you’re a mood reader, but hopefully I’m in the mood to read lots of the books on my shelf this year!
2021 was also an incredible year in that I got the chance to talk to some amazing authors including Wendy Orr (technically December 2020 but I got to meet her in person in 2021 so it counts), Elodie Harper, Jennifer Saint, Garry Shaw, and Greg Woolf. Not to mention I made some phenomenal friends through this community from Melbourne and all around the world.
2022 goals
I have a couple of things in mind that I’d like to achieve / follow through with in this new year. One of them is limiting my book purchases. Unless its a highly anticipated release like Elodie Harper’s The House with the Golden Door or Jennifer Saint’s Elektra, or a book in a series I have already started reading, I am not planning on buying many books this year. I have so many amazing books on my shelf that I haven’t read, there really isn’t much excuse for me to spend more of my money on more books that I probably won’t read for a long time!
This year I want to tackle some of the books that have been sitting unread on my shelves for a long time, and I want to read much more non-fiction and historical fiction! 2021 was such a wonderful year for new historical fiction and mythology non-fiction releases, so 2022 will be the year that I actually read them. There are a few books I absolutely have to read including Metamorphoses, Stephen Fry’s Mythos, Heroes and Troy, The Starless Sea all of Natalie Hayne’s books, Divine, and The Trials of Apollo series just to name a few.
What is a book or author you really want to read in 2022? Let me know in the comments or find me over on instagram @kell_read ✨