Hello readers! I thought it would be a good idea to go over my reading goals and how I’m doing on them. I haven’t been tracking them in 2021 as much as I have in previous years, so I might be really far behind on some!

If you would like to see the original post where I talked about my reading goals, CLICK HERE.

Goal 1: Read more new releases

In 2020, I read 18 new releases, and in 2021, I have read 20. That is 2 more than last year, so we can call it a win! I didn’t have an actual number in mind, but I would like to hit 24. That would be 2 a month, which isn’t too bad.

Goal 2: Read 150 books

When I set this goal, I had no idea I would get anywhere near it. I read 116 books in 2020, so I thought 150 would be far fetched. HOWEVER, as of writing this, I have read 141 books! Earlier this year I changed my reading goal to 175. HOPEFULLY I can hit that number, but I’m happy with the number no matter what.

Goal 3: Read 15 books over 500 pages

I am a LOVER of big books, but I have been reading less in the last year or so. As of the end of September, I have read 13 books over 500 pages and I know I’ll hit this one. Tome Topple is later this month and my TBR is bigger than it should be!

Goal #4: More books by Indigenous authors

At the end of 2020, I realized I had only read 1 book by Indigenous authors. in 2021, I have read 4 books by Indigenous authors, but I’m planning to read a bunch in November and December this year. I just wanted to have read more than one, so I have completed this goal!

Goal #5: Finish 10 series

I have finished 6 series in 2021. Will I hit 10? I don’t think so, but it’s possible. I know of 2 that I will be finishing by the end of the year. I am planning a big project in the new year to finish a ton of series. I did the same thing in 2019 and it went REALLY well. I am optimistic about this one, but it won’t be so bad if I don’t hit 10.

Goal #6: Have less books in my TBR at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year

This is a goal I strive for every year. Basically, I want to have less books on my TBR at the end of the year, no matter how many I buy or am gifted. It just helps me to keep my TBR manageable. I don’t mind having a big TBR, but I don’t like books sitting on it for years and years.

I had 56 books on my TBR on January 1st and it now sits at 53 books. As long as I keep it below 56, I will succeed in this goal. I will most likely do another unhaul when December comes along, too.

I also had this goal to get arid of all the books on my TBR that have been there since 2018. I had 6 on there and I think I now have 2 of them, which are part of the LOTR series. I am 100% not getting rid of those, even if I don’t get to them in 2021.

Goal #7: Explore some genres (specifically romance, historical mystery, historical fantasy, and scifi horror.

I haven’t even read 1 book in the scifi horror, historical fantasy, or historical mystery genres, but I have found what I like in romance this year, which is AMAZING. I read around 5 romance books in 2020 and hated all but one of them. In 2021, I have read 21 books in many different subgenres of romance, and I have liked a lot of them. As an ACE person, I thought I couldn’t love the romance genre, but I absolutely can!

Goal #8: Read the winners for the GCA and the top 2 for the SCA

I did a thing in 2020 where I read the winners in 5 or 6 categories of the Goodreads Choice Awards, so I wanted to do it again. In 2020, a new award system had been announced called the Shaded Choice Awards, which is meant to highlight POC authors. I wanted to read the to 2 for that one.

I haven’t read many of the books from these categories and it really sucks. If there is a check next to the book name, I have read it. Out of the 5 checked, I read 2 of them in 2020! That means I only acutally read 3 books in this entire list this year. I hope to read more of these before the end of 2021, but I know I will absolutely not get to every single one.

Goal #9 Read Harder Challenge

I have done the read harder challenge for the last 3 years. I really enjoy finding books to fit the prompts! Every year, 24 challenges are set and I hope to get to 12, AND I did! I don’t think I would ever reach 24, but I am happy to hit as many as possible every year.

Goal #10: Buzzwordathon

The last goal was to try to read a book every month for Buzzwordathon. For some months, I read 2 books within the Buzzword and I know I skipped at least 1 month. However, I have done better on this that I thought I would have! I’ll have a post up in December about all the books I read for Buzzwordathon in 2021!

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