2021 reading summary 2021 Reading Summary

[lunababymoonchild]

So, how did your reading go this year? Did you have a plan? If so did you fulfil said plan? Are you pleased with what you read this year or do you think that you can improve on it next year? Do you believe in having a plan or do you just take it as it comes?

 

I fare better when I have a plan, i.e. I have a set number that I want to read in the year.  This year I didn't think until now that I would reach it and I have exceeded it. It's not about the quantity of course, it's also about the quality.  I won't read anything that I'm not enjoying and I had less refusals this year than ever before. That said I read less non-fiction this year and I have not fitted in my annual read of Dorothy Richardson's epic stream of consciousness series Pilgrimage (I'm due to read Interim, next). Overall I'm happy with what I read this year and will continue in this vein next year.

Edited December 27, 2021 by lunababymoonchild

[Marie H]

I’ve read less books than average years, approximately half as usual. This year I just can’t concentrate as normal, but I have enjoyed mostly graphic novels & audiobooks. 
 

The reading plan for 2022 is to read more & buy less, but that’s just the usual every year! 

[Madeleine]

Read a lot less this year, mainly due to hardly commuting.  My normal end of year tally would be late 40s, maybe 50, which is the figure I usually aim for.  This year I aimed for 30, and have just finished number 30, and may scrape through with 31.

 

Edited to say that book 31 bit the dust last night, I got to just over halfway through and couldn't manage anymore, sorry!

Edited December 31, 2021 by Madeleine

[France]

I've read so much this year, 107 and rising, that it would be unwise to say I should read more books next year.

However I do want to read more non-fiction and surf the internet less, it's bad for my concentration.

 

[Brian.]

I have read 104 books and may finish another one before the year is over. On the surface it looks like a great reading year but I'm left feeling that with the exception of Piranesi, none of the books have been really amazing. Throughout the year I have felt that my concentration has been pretty poor and I think that is in some part due to the increase in time I have spent playing PC games. It's been an odd year and if I'm completely honest I'm looking forward to it being over.

[Madeleine]

 I don't  think this year was an outstanding year for reading for me, and there wasn't one book which made me go wow, best book of the year.  However I have discovered a new author, largely thanks to this forum, and a new series in the shape of Oscar de Muriel's Frey and McGrey series, and I look forward to reading more of this series, for pure escapism if nothing else.

[KEV67]

I read thirty-five books in 2021. I defeated War and Peace. I read a lot of nautical books. My favourite book was a Jack Reacher, which is firmly on the entertainment side of the entertainment-literature spectrum. OTOH I lent it to a friend who does not read much, and she loved it. Jack Reacher is such a good sniper he takes the Coriolis Effect into account when he takes a shot. Classics wise I was a bit disappointed.

[willoyd]

I'll do a detailed review later as part of my new thread setup (as I always do), but a quick summary:  I read 90 books this year, a record, but that's largely because, like many, my ability to settle down to anything substantial seems to have been shot to pieces, and my average book length was one of the lowest in the past few years (ca. 250 pages). For the past few yeas the proportion of non-fiction books has been steadily rising, and this year it topped more than half for the first time.  Most of the really good books were non-fiction too, in particular some of the natural history writing, although one or two fiction stood out.  Little of my reading went according to plan: I intended to make some serious inroads into a number of lists/series I'm tackling but, aside from my Tour of the American States, I made little impact on any of them. Indeed, in one or two cases no impact at all!  I did, however, get a lot of enjoyment out of the books I read - some real gems there, and few significant disappointments.

 

My main aim next year is, believe it or not, to make a real effort to read fewer books: after a couple of years hiatus, I feel ready to tackle some genuine biggies, both fiction and non-fiction (The won't include War and Peace! One of my all-time favourites, but not ready for my second reread yet!)..  I might have a real go at those lists too!