Well. That was certainly a year, wasn’t it? Remember all those reading challenges I signed up for in 2021? Let’s see how those went!
Read Harder 2021
Goal: 24 Books
Result: 22 (92%)
- R
ead a book you’ve been intimidated to read - Read a nonfiction book about anti-racism: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
- Read a non-European novel in translation: The Others by Sarah Blau
- Read an LGBTQ+ history book: Stonewall: A Building, an Uprising, a Revolution by Rob Sanders
- Read a genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author: Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
- Read a fanfic: Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
Read a fat-positive romance- Read a romance by a trans or nonbinary author: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
- Read a middle grade mystery: Linked by Gordon Korman
- Read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color: A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology edited by Dhonielle Clayton
- Read a food memoir by an author of color: The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-american Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty
- Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color: The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
- Read a book with a cover you don’t like: Shirlick Holmes and the Case of the Wandering Wardrobe by Jane Yolen
- Read a realistic YA book not set in the U.S., UK, or Canada: If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
- Read a memoir by a Latinx author: Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano
- Read an own voices book about disability: The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
- Read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn’t about Black pain: Tristan Strong Destroys the World (Tristan Strong #2) by Kwame Mbalia
- Read a book by/about a non-Western world leader: No Room for Small Dreams: Courage, Imagination, and the Making of Modern Israel by Shimon Peres
- Read a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist: The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan
- Read a book of nature poems: The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane
- Read a children’s book that isn’t about disability that includes a main character with a disability: Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
- Read a book set in the Midwest: Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
- Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness: Empty by Susan Burton
- Read a book featuring a beloved pet where the pet doesn’t die: Murder Always Barks Twice (Chatty Corgi Mystery #2) by Jennifer Hawkins
There were several books that I sought out specifically to satisfy challenges, so I feel this did what it was supposed to do in broadening my reading horizons. I had a book picked out for task 7, but I just ran out of time. And I never did figure out what to read for task 1. At least, not with enough time left in the year to finish.
2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Goal: 25 books (silver), and 10% feedback ratio
Result: 39, and 10% feedback ratio
I gave feedback on a whole slew of titles I’d read since joining Netgalley in 2011, but I also requested a bunch of new titles.
Back to the Classics Challenge 2021
Goal: 12 books
Result: 0
I’m sure I read books that fit at least two of the challenges, but I forgot to actually post about them, so I’m not counting them.
Mount TBR Challenge 2021
Goal 24 books (Mount Blanc)
Result: 0
I know I’m missing some books from my reading log – I’m sure I read something in the month of April. I checked out a lot of books from the library, though. Almost 82% of the books I read, according to the log stats.
Virtual Mount TBR Challenge 2021
Goal: 24 books(Mount Crumpit)
Result: 77 books (320%)
So, the thing about this challenge is that it counts books that you add to your virtual TBR within the year. It’s really a count of books I read that I don’t own, including a bunch I read for work after the Youth Media Awards were announced. If I only count books that I added to my GoodReads list prior to 1/1/21, the total drops to 19.
Overall, it was a pretty good year of reading. But in 2022, I’ve really got to tackle my physical TBR and those classics. My Classics Club deadline is coming up fast.