Hosted by Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner, I like how this survey delves into the specifics of books read and gives me a chance to review all I read and wrote this year. I have completed this survey every year since I started book blogging full time (2014). Since I read fewer books than usual this year, I have removed some questions for which I didn’t have an answer. So, be sure to visit the original post if you’d like to complete the survey. Links to reviews where applicable. My annual overview (in which I recap my goals progress and set new ones) will go live on January 2nd.
2021 Reading Stats
- Number of books read – 39. In contrast to 2020, this is the lowest number of books read since I started tracking in 2011.
- Number of re-reads – 2. (White is for Witching and Burial Rites). Oh my god this is the second year in the row I haven’t reread The Hobbit. Let’s chalk that up to ‘global pandemic’.
- Genre you read the most from – I don’t track genres but it’s pretty much always going to be speculative fiction. This year I count 14 books across all ages (which elicits a ‘yikes’ even from me… I can do better next year.)
Best in Books
- Best book read in 2021 – Even though I didn’t rate it five stars, Nghi Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful is sticking in my mind this month. I also loved the non-fiction title Lurking: How a Person Became a User by Joanne McNeil. My favourite middle grade titles are Tanya Guerrero’s All You Knead is Love and Kyle Lukoff’s Too Bright to See.
- Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t – Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire. I still rated it four stars, but it felt the thinnest of the Wayward Children books.
- Book you ‘pushed’ the most people to read – Too Bright to See, All You Knead Is Love and The Chosen and the Beautiful have become my go-to recommendations this month.
- Best series started/ended/continued – The Bone Shard Daughter is the only book in a series I read this year for which I’m keen to read the sequel. I have it checked out now!
- Favourite new author discovered – I foresee myself picking up more Nghi Vo.
- Most likely to reread next year – None… nothing really stuck with me emotionally this year, and that’s what I tend to reread.
- Favourite cover – Okay, now here’s a question I can pull up a few answers for! The Warlow Experiment shimmers with gold lettering. Take Back the Block inspires with vibrant colours. The Chosen and the Beautiful embodies elegance.
- Most beautifully written – The Chosen and the Beautiful. Nothing else came close. I need to find more striking prose in 2022!
- Most thought-provoking/life changing book – Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Non-Violent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer gave me some practical tips to use in everyday life.
- Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2021 to finally read – The Boy, The Bird, and the Coffin Maker is a middle grade book I bought in January 2019.
- Shortest book – Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (174 pages)
- Longest book – Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (492 pages)
- Favourite non-romantic relationship – Alba and her grandmother in All You Knead is Love by Tanya Guerrero
- Favourite book read solely based on a recommendation – The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser, recommended by Kathie @ Bit About Books
- Best 2021 debut – Too Bright to See was Kyle Lukoff’s middle grade debut
- Best world-building – The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
- Most fun to read – Trouble in the Stars by Sarah Prineas
- Made you cry – I am pretty sure I teared up at All You Knead is Love.
- Hidden gem – Pepper’s Rules for Secret Sleuthing only has 154 ratings on Goodreads – it’s an excellent middle grade murder mystery!
- Most unique – Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi
Your Bookish Life
- New favourite book blog discovered – I have been offline for much of this year, but I have added a few blogs to my feed reader! In order of most recently added: Tales from Absurdia, Space Between Pages, Bookish Brews, Little Bird Book Blog, and Alligators and Aneurysms.
- Favourite review – I wrote my review of the Morrigan Crow books this year???? That’ll be the one then, haha.
- Favourite non-review post – I’ll go with another January post: my reading list on the Karluk disaster
- Favourite bookish photo – I matched the book to my pillows. Go me.
- Best moment of bookish/blogging life – Hahhhhh. When I buckled down and wrote four posts about the books I haven’t read?
- Most challenging thing about blogging/reading life – Last year I wrote, “HAH. WELL. I was one of the ones who threw myself into blogging and reading, but it was challenging at times when I was fretting about being unemployed and preparing for job interviews.” This year I will write, “HAH. WELL. I was one of the ones who threw myself out of blogging and reading to get through 2021.”
- Post you wished got a little more love – I didn’t write many posts this year, but I’m happy with the engagement they got!
- Completion of challenges/goals – To be discussed in my “wrapping up, looking forward post” on January 2nd.
Looking Ahead
- Most anticipated debut – A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow (middle grade speculative fiction)
- Most anticipated sequel – Seasonal Fears (Middlegame #2) by Seanan McGuire
- Most anticipated non-debut – Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #4) by Jessica Townsend
- One book you didn’t get to in 2021 but will make a priority in 2022 – All the books. So many books. One I have on hold right now is Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore.
- One goal for your reading/blogging life – Revive some of the habits I was working on in 2020: “Read lots, review lots, enjoy chatting with blogging buddies.”
And that’s a wrap on 2021! Let me know if you completed this survey. Happy New Year! 🎉 See you on the other side 😄
I might do this post at some point, it looks like fun. I’m also very excited for Seasonal Fears😁
I’d love to read your responses! t’s great way to recap your reading year.
I’ve never done an end of year round up or survey like this (though I love reading them for book recs) as I never feel like I’ve read enough or posted enough to do one. But I’m hopeful 2022 might be a better reading year. And who knows, maybe I’ll be doing this next year!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have lots of great reads in 2022 so you can share them in this survey next year 😁
Ooh! I hadn’t known that the new Nevermoor book has a title now! It’s definitely one of my most anticipated reads!
Yesss I feel like I have been waiting FOREVER for that one!
I am so intrigued by The Chosen and the Beautiful. I have The Bone Shard Daughter on my shelf, so I’m eager to read that one as well. I am always a sucker for great world building. I hope The Mirror Season ends up being a good read for you. It was truly unforgettable. Happy New Year!
Yes, if you love worldbuilding, I think both of those are great titles. Happy New Year to you as well! 🙂
I kind of need to read Middlegame. I do enjoy most of Seanan McGuire’s books.
I think ‘kind of’ should be changed to ‘must’ 😜 But seriously, it’s worth checking out especially if you already enjoy McGuire’s writing.
I highly recommend The Mirror Season! It’s such a devastating, but beautiful book, and it once again showed me how much I truly adore McLemore’s writing.
I shall try to pick it up before Lakelore drops 👀