Hello Darlings!

I haven’t been here for a while and certainly missed much. But I have not stopped reading!

To catch you up on my life: I started working at a second-hand clothes shop last February and between my new obligations and the reading slump at the time I just had no time, no energy, and no inspiration to blog. I’ve bought lots of cute and good quality clothes though! On the cheap! Still, working in retail is not my favourite thing in the world, especially with the whole pandemic going on. Clients can be pretty annoying and it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m ending this adventure this month and I’m officially job hunting. Wish me luck!

Anyway, I didn’t read as much as in 2020 but there’s still plenty to wrap up and even if it was only for myself, I do want to see how 2021 turned out for me.

Join me if you’re curious!

Also! Happy New Year! 🥂

So, first of all, here you have all the 100 books I read this year! If you would rather have them with GR links, here’s the link to My Year In Books. If this bores you, scroll down to better things.

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Since 2020 I’ve been using Fadwa’s @ Word Wonders reading tracker spreadsheet with amazing stats tracker. I modified it slightly but not that much and you’ll be seeing one or two additions I somehow managed to set up so I’m not gonna write essays about it — I’ll just add * to those. Anyway, thank you Fadwa! It’s been really helpful!

The first stats are from 2020 and the latter — 2021 because I wanted to see the comparison.

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Number of books I read each month

I’ve read half as many books as in 2020 but, with the exception of January and March, I’ve read much more consistently. I had more responsibilities this year so I definitely don’t count it as a failure and, to be honest, am simply glad I managed to rise up from The Big Slump that hit me in October 2020 and enjoy so many great books.

My worst month was March (1 book) and my best was December (12 books). Ended 2021 with a bang!

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Number of pages I read each month*

I must say, it’s very satisfying to see the difference between 2020’s pillars going down, down, down… and 2021’s going up, up, up! Even though the numbers are cut in half.

Once again — the best is December and the worst is March.

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A pie chart of ratings by %

I really enjoyed books this year. Reading less makes you pickier and I usually know what I will enjoy so I really put the bar high while selecting books this year. And, you know what? It feels good to value my time. I stand by this decision.

About three quarters of what I’ve read was 3,5 stars or higher.

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A pie chart of primary genres I read by %

This year, I definitely didn’t read as widely as in 2020 but it’s harder to accomplish with half as many books. Also! Nearly half of what I’ve read was non-fiction and that’s pretty general. I need to find a way to separate it into smaller chunks in 2022 without messing up the chart, I guess. But that’s work for later. For now: wow, I really went from 5,6% of non-fiction to 44%! I think this is the most significant growth in my stats this year, yay! And apparently, I balanced it out with some cheesy romances, as it was my 2nd category, haha!

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A pie chart of age ranges by %

And I continue to read more Adult fiction and less YA. Yep. Nothing new.

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A pie chart of the format in which I read by %

This year, audiobooks really were The Medium for me because they are clearly dominating here. They decimated all the opponents and I have to actively force myself to read in any other way. In my defense, the lighting at my workplace makes my eyes hurt and I don’t like to suffer unnecessarily. What can you do. Oh, and I’ve given up on ARCs because I haven’t been reviewing much and it’s just not fair of me to request and not pull my weight. Oops.

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A pie chart of genders of authors I read by %

Not much change here? Okay, let’s move on then.

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A pie chart of author status by %

I think the sudden influx of the ‘new to me’ authors is because I’ve read so much non-fiction this year. Before seeing this one, I honestly thought I’d read more of the authors I’m ‘familiar with’ but apparently I was wrong in my assumptions. Well, what would we do without small surprises to spice up our little lives, huh?

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A pie chart of publishers I read by %

Still, an avid reader of small presses publications and a big yay! to that but not as many self-pubs this year so we much accompany it with a small boo!

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A pie chart of years the books I read were published in by %*

I didn’t make a chart of it last year but: a) bluescale is for years and greyscale is for longer periods (the chart went bonkers when I tried to put anything but 4 numbers, boo!), and b) I’ve mostly read recent books this year.

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A pie chart of books I reviewed by %

Well, this ‘66,7% not yet’ looks like a graveyard of ‘RTC!!’s seen often on GoodReads so let’s just state it clearly and be honest: I didn’t review much this year and when I did I was brief and definitely not at my best.

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A pie chart of books I reread by %*

Another new chart! I started off with several rereads in 2021 so I decided it would be fun to track the numbers. I don’t think I did much rereading later on though.

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A pie chart of LGBTQ+ rep by %*

Honestly, the rep chart is a messy one bc it doesn’t show much complexity when it comes to the variety of rep I’ve read. Usually, I go with the primary rep and mostly use it to see whether I’m not reading too much (trashy) m/m, which is what: a) shows up first in the recs, b) is the usual choice for many, and c) was an introduction (for me and many others) to LGBTQ fiction and hence kind of accumulates in TBR, etc., etc. I can’t think of a more eloquent solution though.

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I didn’t set any goals for 2021 so I can’t do the sum up but I will set some goals for 2022:

READING:

1. hit 100 books again
2. read at least 10 books in Polish
3. read at least 1 book in a language other than Pl/Eng
4. read at least 10 physical books
5. read at least 10 books on my kindle

BLOGGING:

1. hit at least 10 posts this year
2. check more on people doing #5OnMyTBR meme
3. read more posts
4. review books – at least some; at least short reviews
5. finish some posts instead of constantly atarting new ones

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I’m more selective with my favs this year — I’ve enjoyed lots of books so let’s select only the best of the best. Here’s the top 15 in no particular order:

In the Role of Brie Hutchens… by Nicole Melleby

How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby 

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho 

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

The Seep by Chana Porter

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them by Euan Angus Ashley

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

The Love Study by Kris Ripper

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens by Muhammad H. Zaman

 

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