2021 Reading in Review

Holy heck, 2021 is over! I read SO Many books this year-it’s actually insane to look back on. I took on WAY too many book-based projects. Classes, committees, mock committees, review jobs….my own Edelweiss accounts. OOOFFFFF. Do not recommend! But I read some GREAT books in 2021!

Some of the ones I love to talk about don’t come out til 2022 (I’m looking at you, Anatomy: A Love Story) but I also cannot recommend the following books enough

• Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult–The queen of plot twists does it again! A COVID book that won’t make you hate yourself
• Starfish by Lisa Fipps–a stunning middle grade novel in verse that made me cry on the floor BOTH times I read it.
• Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy–the only novel described aptly as atmospheric that actually gripped me with its plot
• Da Vinci’s Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock–my 2022 Newbery pick!
• Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Drielinger–a must gift book!

Here’s a more…statistical breakdown

Total Books Read (Cover to Cover): 346

Graphic Novels Read: 94

Audiobooks Listened To: 38

Goodreads Giveaways Won: 35

Book of the Month Club Picks I Actually Read: 9

First Book of the Year: The Orchard by David Hopen

My Only Re-Read Of the Same Year: Starfish by Lisa Fipps

Books I Read Before That I Re-Read in 2021: Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Last Book of the Year: Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons an Marshmallows (Audio) and half of Fallout by Steve Sheinkin

Favorite Book For Me: As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

Favorite Books to Recommend: Empire of Pain

Books Reviewed for Booklist: 4

2022 Books Read In 2021: 7

Thoughts & Explanations:

• I started this year (2021) in precautionary quarantine after traveling for Christmas, where I read the entire (so far) Amulet graphic novel series
• I also made it a point to read more lower middle grade and chapter book series–the kind of stuff that my school aged kids are interested in at the library. On top of Amulet, this included the entire Dog Man series, Jada Jones series, the Deckwoo Drive spin-offs, the Mindy Kim series, along with a few stand-alones.
• I took a course on the history of the Newbery Medal and read a winning book from each decade–from The Trumpeter of Krakow to When You Trap a Tiger.
• I was on an awards committee this year, so a WHOLE BUNCH of the books I completed were for that jury. BUT I also read 50-75 pages of probably 150 more books we considered and didn’t count those because…I didn’t finish this.
• Why didn’t I listen to as many audiobooks this year? I started using my walking/transportation time to call my family and check in, and listen to an obsessive amount of podcasts, especially NPR-related ones.
• I participated in Capitol Choices this year, as well as a Mock Newbery award committee. This led to me reading LOTS of picture books. I did not keep track of those, for the most part, and they are not reflected in these numbers. I also did not included easy readers in these numbers.
• I really let this blog go to the wayside the last half of 2021! I couldn’t do reviews of what i was considering for awards, or re-use reviews I was writing for other outlets, and I was doing so much writing about books everywhere else so…this got shafted. Sorry guys! I’m going to be re-evaluating what I what out of this site in 2022–whether it’s a specific genre shift, more or less reviews, etc. Let’s see what it holds!