First Post of 2021: Reading Goals and Challenges

 So 2020 was a write-off, let's move on

While I had planned to do a quick re-cap of my goals from last year, I didn't finish any of them? So we'll pass on that, and go straight to my new reading goals for this year! If you would like to know about my last year's reading, here's my Year in Books, or check out my Review Index for the blog. 

Goodreads Reading Challenge

Every year I set myself a goal for the number of books I want to read. Last year I read 39 books, which was below my goal, it was a stressful year, but I think I can manage 50, so that's my goal for 2021. What's your goal for the year? 

A Book Buying Ban

Yep, I have zero willpower and I bought too many books last year that I haven't read, leaving me with a ridonkulous TBR pile, both physical and on my Kindle. So I'm going to try and enforce a book-buying ban on myself. I did cheat slightly by getting a 6-month Kindle Unlimited subscription while it was on sale before Christmas, so I'm hoping that will help with my distractible reading habits. Other than that I'm trying to focus on reading books I already have, or have been on my TBR forever, which brings me to my next goal;

TBR Cull posts every month

I'm planning to start a new thing where I go through my 'Want to Read' list on Goodreads, which is currently over 600 books, see what's there, and see what I can cut. I'm going to be ruthless and get rid of all those books that I'll probably never read, so that I can focus on the ones that I really do want to read. 

Beat the Backlist Challenge

This is a year long, do at your own pace challenge, that focuses on reading books that have been on your TBR for a while. I definitely have plenty of those. Any books counts as long as it was published before 2021, including re-reads. 

There's also a bingo challenge and I've already crossed off 6 boxes with the first book I read this year, Spellbreaker. 

I have made a top ten list for this challenge - the ten books that have been on my shelf/kindle for far too long and I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, even though I really really want to read them!

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

How to Save an Undead Life by Hailey Edwards

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Chase the Dark by Annette Marie

Keystone by Dannika Dark

The A to Z Reading Challenge

I participated in this challenge last year as well, coming in with a total of 13 books - exactly half. I'm going to try and do better this year! This challenge has some mini-challenges throughout the year, and if you link up your reviews to this post you can go in the running to win a prize. Check it out if you're interested! Here are the books I plan to read for this challenge, of course the list may change as the year goes on and I get distracted.

Mercy Thompson Re-Read

This re-read was one of my goals for last year and I didn't even start it 😒 so it's on my list again. I love this series, but when I got to about number ten I started forgetting characters and things that had happened previously, so I need to read 'em all again! Conveniently, book #13 in the series is schedule to come out in 2022, which gives me a whole year to catch up with this series. I will catch up, I will I will!

Well, I think that's all of my specific reading goals for this year, other than trying to post on the blog regularly and finishing some series for The Great Series Read Project. I would love to know what your reading goals are for this year, so let me know in the comments! Do you make TBR lists for the year, or try to put yourself on a book-buying ban? Whatever your goals are for the year, I hope that you find lots of amazing books to read, and here's to a better year all around.

Happy Reading! 💗