On New Years Eve, in 2020, I set my Goodreads reading challenge for 2021 at 75 books. I read 88 for the year, so am happy to have reached my goal, and read 13 books more than I had expected.
Star Ratings
The star ratings I give to books that I’ve read are based only on my enjoyment of the book. I don’t take literary merit into account at all. Here’s how my star rating works:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Cannot put the book down
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- An extremely enjoyable read
⭐️⭐️⭐️ – I enjoyed reading it.
⭐️⭐️- Didn’t enjoy it at all
I don’t usually give one star. If I think the book is only worthy of one star, I would usually not finish it. There are too many books waiting to be read, to spend time reading a book that I really don’t like at all.
The Star Ratings for the books that I read this year are as follows
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 10 books
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 34 books
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 41 books
⭐️⭐️ 3 books
In 2021 I read 11 books that I was happy to give five stars.
Book of The Year
My Book of the Year is Hannah Kent’s Devotion. I’m a big fan of Hannah, so there was never any doubt that I would enjoy her new release. I found it totally unputdownable and it was on my mind for days after finishing it. There is so much in the story of Devotion that I love. It’s the story of a family in Prussia who make the decision to start a new life in Australia, in the 19th century. That is just one small part of the story. The real story is about the narrator Hanne. This book definitely not a traditional historical fiction. There is so much more to it. As usual Hannah Kent’s descriptive writing left me speechless and did induce tears more than once. I will definitely be reading it again in 2022.
“And then I was the tree. Rivers of sap rolled through us; I could feel everything we were and everything we would be. Leaves not yet unfurled, blossom capped in gumnut, roots needling moisture from the soil. We were everything that had passed, and we were what would come, the waited-for.”
Genre’s
My favourite genre is historical fiction, especially Australian and WW1 and WW2. I’m aware that I have a bias toward this style of book so this year intentionally widened my choices. I’m quite happy at the genres I read this year, but I’d like to read more widely again next year. Following are the numbers of books read in each genre. You will see that I definitely favour historical fiction.
Historical Fiction 39 books
Crime 15 books
Romance 9 books
Humour 3 books
Contemporary 10 books
Fantasy 1 book
SciFi 1 book
Historical Non Fiction 8 books
Autobiography 2 books
Stats
Pages read 32358
Shortest book ‘Twas The Night Before Xmas – 144 pages
Longest book The Exiles – 688 pages
Average Book Length 367 pages
This post is linked to Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
If you’re interested, you can check out the other books that I read in the 2021 Goodreads reading challenge
Have you chosen a favourite book for 2021? Please let me know in the comments. I’d love to add it to my reading list for 2022.
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I’m about to sit down and write mine up for this month’s What’s On Your Bookshelf. I read more widely in 2021 too and I honestly think that helped keep me interested in things when life seemed pretty uninteresting.
What we do without books Jo. Books have been my lifeline during the past couple of years. A couple of your books are nearing the top of my pile. Looking forward to reading them.
Hi Jennifer,
We seem to have similar tastes and interests – historical fiction and genealogy. I might spend my Xmas book vouchers on Devotion as I enjoyed Burial Rights. I also blog about my favourite reads each year: catherineclarkeauthor.com
Hi Catherine thanks for dropping in. I’ll check out your reads
Hi, Jennifer –
Congratulations on surpassing your Reading Challenge Goal.
The Dictionary of Lost Words keeps popping up for me. And is creeping higher and higher on my TBR pile.
Wishing you a wonderful year of reading (and other good stuff) ahead!
Thank you Donna. You have a fabulous year of Reading too. Looking forward to following along
Dear Jennifer – such an impressive effort. I’m glad you liked Devotion. It’s on my TBR pile so I can’t wait. You can see my summary here on my other blog. It’s not as pretty a post as yours but I have great ambitions ! It’s too difficult to choose a favourite book for 2021 – there were quite a few good ones but Should we stay or Should we go certainly provoked discussion at Bookclub!
Thanks Alex. I’ll be interested to hear what you think about Devotion. I’m very interested that you have another blog. I didn’t know about it. Off to read it now
Congrats, Jennifer, on exceeding your reading goal in 2021. From your list of favourite books, I’ve read Becoming, Where The Crawdads Sing and The Dictionary of Lost Words. Thank you for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
Natalie I’ve noticed that we have some of our books in common. Thanks for dropping by again
What a great year in books and congrats on surpassing your goal!
Thanks Joanne
Wow, you did amazing on your reading in 2021, congrats! I will adjust my rating system I think, as I tend to give all my books I finish four or five stars. Then again, if I don’t at least enjoy a book (that would be a three-star rating in your system), I generally don’t finish it.
I give a book 50 pages and if I still don’t like it then I toss it aside and don’t finish. There are too many good books to read to bother with not so good books
Congrats on exceeding your reading goal! I missed mine this year by a pretty wide margin. Will try to up my reading game in 2022.
I missed my goal last year and gave myself a talking to. Good luck with it
I have finished a couple books and noted them on Goodreads for 2022. I just started playing an active roll on Goodreads in December and I am really enjoying it. I am currently reading a lot of fantasy but if you are interested in being Goodreads friends please look me up https://www.goodreads.com/shari-marshall
Thanks for the virtual coffee. All the best for 2022.
I will definitely look you up on Goodreads. I love Goodreads. It’s a great way to track your reading and see what others are reading.
A great catchup on your reading for 2021 Jen and I like that you have shared your rating system, mine is quite similar. I’m looking forward to reading Devotion as I love all Hannah Kent’s books. IU think I made Hamnet my book of the year but I read a lot and pretty widely too! All the best for your reading goal in 2022 and hope to see you at WOYBS again this year. #weekendcoffeeshare
Yes I’ll be there. I haven’t read Hamnet but it’s now on my list.
Wow…how great. My goal on Goodreads for this year is 24, with hopes that maybe I’ll get more read.
It’s good to have a goal Kristin
Impressive list and accomplishment. Congrats.
Thanks Antoinette
I agree — life is too short to read a terrible book. I use to just stick with it until the end but it was such a drag.
Thanks for popping in Julie.