I can’t believe the first quarter of 2021 is now behind us. Each quarter this year, I’m writing up a reading life check in to share how my 2021 reading goals are going. This practice helps me monitor my reading life as well as remain somewhat intentional with my book choices.
At the start of the year, I selected goals that would help me branch out to new authors, new romance subgenres, and read more diversely. I wanted my challenges to remain pretty broad and flexible though.
Rigid expectations and planning don’t work well for me in the long run. I didn’t want to take the fun and joy out of reading or the spontaneity of coming across the right book at the right time.
Total Books Read So Far
In the first 3 months of the year, I’ve read a total of 32 books. My total books read goal for this year is 100 books. I’m about 6 books ahead of schedule.
That’s great since my reading life always seems to slow down near the end of the year. And this year we will have our first baby arriving in that final quarter so I have no idea what that will do to my reading life. I know many moms who read a lot less and a few moms who find the time to read even more.
She Reads Romance Books Reading Challenge
I have been keeping up with the She Reads Romance Books 2021 Reading Challenge. I fell back in love with the romance genre last year when I needed to escape into some guaranteed happy endings. Romance has made up the bulk of my fiction reading since.
I thought this challenge would be a fun way to ensure I’m exploring new categories of the romance genre and different common tropes.
In January, the theme was best of 2020 romance books. I read Beach Read by Emily Henry and You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria. February’s category was erotic romance and I read Kennedy Ryan for the first time with her Kingmaker Duet.
Last month for March the theme was fantasy romance. I read Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews. That one was a big bummer for me. I personally wouldn’t even consider it a romance. It’s an ongoing series so the first book was more of an introduction to the Innkeeper World. There was one kiss and definitely no HEA.
Upcoming themes for this romance reading challenge include billionaire romance for April, sports romance for May, and a gay romance for June.
New Authors
One of my reading goals was to check out one new to me author each month. I was surprised to discover the majority of my reading so far this year has been new authors. These aren’t all debut authors, just authors that I haven’t read before.
I’ve read 25 new authors in the first quarter of 2021. That’s means three quarters of the books I’ve read introduced me to new authors. Some new favorites for me include Christina Lauren, Tessa Dare, and Kennedy Ryan.
Maybe I’ve been better about trying new authors in the past than I realized because I didn’t expect this number to be so high. It isn’t something I’ve kept track of before.
I think the fact that most of my fiction reading has been romance helps because there are so many new authors to check out. My year of health experiment helps too because most of my nonfiction reading is also coming from authors I haven’t read before.
Diverse Reading
Another reading goal was to read at least one author of color, #ownvoices story, or other marginalized group each month. So far this year, I have read 8 diverse authors. That’s almost three authors a month and a 1:4 ratio with my total books read. I’m happy to be stretching my reading life beyond my original goal.
The romance genre especially has great sources for reading more diversely. Some of the amazing romance writers who are also diverse authors I’ve read this year include Alexis Daria, Alyssa Cole, Kennedy Ryan, and Beverly Jenkins.
Book Buying Ban
My self imposed book buying ban comes from a desire to stop buying books that sit on my kindle or bookshelves and never seem to get read.
We live in a tiny space so I like to ensure the books I own are nonfiction books that I can easily refer back to or favorite books that I’ll read over and over again. The pile of unread books on my Kindle are the result of impulse buying too many kindle daily deals which even at $1.99 a book can add up.
So the only books I’ve purchased so far this year have been pregnancy related books that I couldn’t find at my library. My favorite is Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster.
Of the 32 books I’ve read so far this year, 27 came from the library, two I already owned, one I purchased, and only two came from Kindle Unlimited.
Looking at those stats also made me comfortable with not renewing my KU subscription next month. I used it a lot in the first two or three months that I had it but then the ebooks I checked out just sat there while I read more library books so I’m not sure it’s worth it for the way that I read – right now at least.
Year of Health Experiment or Nonfiction Reading
Ten of the books I’ve read so far this year are nonfiction books. Two of these were pregnancy related and I’ve read three health ones for my year of health experiment. My reading goal for nonfiction included at least one nonfiction pick a month through that experiment.
In January I read The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes. February’s book pick was Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel. Last month for March I finally read Dr. Catherine Shanahan’s book, Deep Nutrition, and absolutely loved it. April’s book pick is The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington.
I also went through a phase of listening to celebrity memoirs. This is one of my favorite categories for the audiobook experience! I read five nonfiction books that way including Open Book by Jessica Simpson, Wildflower by Drew Barrymore, and Inside Out by Demi Moore.
What are your goals for your 2021 reading life? How did your first quarter go?
