2021 Reading Year in Review

Oh my non-existent readers, I have failed you again.

I have not written to you in such a long time. In truth, I was failing my reading challenges and frankly being too sick with Covid to care about reading and then ultimately, experiencing the loss of a parent. 

But in 2022, I have vowed to make progress in many aspects of my life, amongst them, my reading habits, my journaling habits, handling my personal business (a.k.a. selling my father's house that I have inherited too soon,) and keeping up with a Reader's Blog. For you. My non-existent readers.

Be prepared for a very loooooooong post after the jump...

2021 Reading Results

So in this first blog of 2022, where shall I begin, but in a wrap up of the previous year. If perchance you believe I am sounding much like that of a Victorian era puffed shirt, you would be quite correct. I'm in the midst of listening to Stephen Fry reading Sherlock Holmes.

I set a Goodreads goal of 36 books. I figured at 3 books a month, I could do it. If you want to make God laugh, make plans. I did pretty good in January and fell behind in February and kept falling. I was trying to read books for 3 different challenges, and they were challenges that I was ill-prepared to handle. I didn't have a lot of resources to make a reasonable plan.

I found GirlXOXO's Monthly Motif Challenge and liked the prompts. Then I found The Uncorked Librarian's Challenge and they were quite ... different. Since it was only the second year of TUL's publication of a challenge, I decided to attempt the 2020 challenge at the same time.

I use Book Roast's CAWPILE system, the updated V.3 for 2022 video found here. I accidentally deleted my file, so I will be using the reviews I did on these books to redo a V.3 sheet for 2021.

January 2021

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I read The Girl in Red by Christina Henry for GirlXOXO's Once Upon a Time prompt. I had originally selected Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold for this prompt out of a list of fairy tale retellings but its publication date kept getting pushed back so had to select something else. Very happy with this choice. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review | Amazon link. 

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Next, I read You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson for The Uncorked Reading Challenge prompt "Read a Truth-Bomb Non-fiction" for 2021. Now, I'm not good at sitting down to physically read books anymore, although I did purchase all 3 of my January challenge books in paperback from Amazon. But I couldn't sit, so I used my library card through Libby to listen to the audiobook. That was a mistake with this book. On the one hand, hearing Robinson's words in her own voice made it come alive, but it turns out she had photographs in the book to illustrate her well founded points, and I missed out because I wasn't looking at the pages at the same time I was listening. I did try to do so, but Robinson is also a comedian and she didn't stick to her own script and while she was great to listen to, my ADHD did not like words being said that were different than on the page. To that end, it's on my re-read TBR.   Goodreads | Amazon link. 

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For the catch up Uncorked Reading Challenge of 2020, I chose Beloved for the January prompt "Change Your Perspective". I knew Toni Morrison was a good writer. Everyone else told me so. But this. This was wow. I'm still not sure what I read. Was it Literary: Historical? Was it Fantasy: Magical Realism? Was it something else entirely? Trigger warning for forced sexual contact between male slaves/workers and male white worker/supervisor. I feel like I stepped into a world, watched as events unfolded and was yanked back out. What in tarnation? Goodreads | Amazon link.

February 2021

I purchased my February books from Amazon as well and this is the month where I realized I needed to stop buying books unless I really liked them. I really tried to get into Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age for Uncorked 2021 "Contemporary Black Author". It's in Reese's Book Club, it's ranted and raved about, but college parties, babysitters, big city life? I couldn't get through the first chapter. I had intended to read The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty for GXOXO "Laughter & Love", but didn't get to it until later in the year. And lastly I purchased Sjón's The Blue Fox. I think I've read 3 pages? Again. Sitting down to read a physical book is a huge problem with my ADHD. As a kid, I was fine to sit for hours and hours and hours doing nothing but reading a book. Not so much anymore. I could not find a free audiobook for any of these during the month of February.

March 2021

March went a little better, but not by much. For GirlXOXO "Countries & Cultures", I tried to read The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais. I DNF'd it. Snore fest. [Goodreads Review] For Uncorked 2020, I chose Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson. Down side is that it is book 9 in her Hagenheim fairy tale romance retellings. Up side, it's one of those series where you can totally read them out of order and they are great standalone romances. If you're a steel trap for details, seeing side characters appear that are going to be important in other books out of order is kinda a buzz kill. I didn't actually finish this until later in the year. Finally, for Uncorked 2021, "Historical Fiction ft. Inspiring Women", I chose Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. Again, didn't finish, let alone start it until later in the year.

April 2021

Everything completely devolved at this point. I suddenly had no desire to read new books by new authors I'd never heard of. I had all these partially read books that needed finished, and I was frankly in a reading slump. The prompts "Books on the Menu", "International Indie Novel", and "On a Train" did not inspire me. So I plugged through more of Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun, and Cat in a Leopard Spot by Carole Nelson Douglas. 

May 2021

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Of the various "princess" retellings that Disney has whitewashed, Mulan is probably one of my favorites. I wanted to be a mermaid under the sea, but she just had to be pretty and I wasn't pretty. (I was 9 when it was in theatres.) Pocahontas I'd actually heard about prior to the movie release, and I was quite disappointed in the portrayal, although I enjoyed that we were finally getting 'girl movies' that had some semblance to reality. (I was 15 when it hit the big screen.) But Mulan. I graduated high school the weekend it came out in theatres and she was badass.

So many of the familiar Disney elements are there, from taking her father's place in the army, to hiding her gender, to proving she was a capable soldier. But as this was book 9 in Dickerson's world that I've never read before, I was lost at the location. There was mention of Germany and Poland, and the enemy being the Teutonic Knights? Did not change the fact that this was a decent retelling of the legend, or at least the whitewashed Disney version. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review (For a fantastic breakdown from a Chinese perspective on Disney's Mulan, please click here. Author Xiran Jay Zhao pulls no punches! She has another scathing review that is a joy to watch of the 2020 live action redo they did as well.) 

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Gonna face some facts here. I love A Throne of Glass. I do not like A Court of Thorns and Roses. I am in the minority here and I am fine with that. Heir of Fire truly brought things home. And actually made me hate nearly every character for their patheticness. I still rated the characters pretty high in CAWPILE because frankly, the story felt like a natural progression for these characters. And I've started to root for Manon Blackbeak and Abraxos. Looking forward to finding time to move onto Queen of Shadows. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review 

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I am completely biased here. Takes place Down Under. Didn't know that when I picked it up. It was on a suggestions list for the February GirlXOXO 2021 prompt "Love & Laughter". And wow. I did not see that coming. Any of that. Whoa. To the point that I suggested and lent my copy to a colleague at work who liked "Big Little Liars", based on another of Moriarty's books. Plus, she carries the last name of Moriarty. Whether that's her real last name or not, I don't care. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review 

May's prompts did not get done. GirlXOXO was Magnificent Middle Grade. I wasn't in the mood. Uncorked for 2020 was Set in one of the 50 states. Nah. And Uncorked 2021 was Set in India. My original pick for this was The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I've heard mixed things and wasn't sure I wanted to jump into something so controversial right before summer.

June 2021

I purposely kept June light since I was spending the last week of the month in Colorado with my hunny for our anniversary. But needless to say, this month didn't get much done either. 

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Finally finished Lilian Jackson Braun's 4th book in The Cat Who... series. I'm only reading one more and if it doesn't have me glued like the first 3 did, I'm giving up on Koko and YumYum and Qwill. I mean for goodness sake. It took me 321 days to get from page 1 to page 249. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review 

For challenges, I started The Call of the Wild by Jack London for GirlXOXO's The Great Outdoors prompt, but couldn't quite get it finished before the trip. Also, since we were not going to the beach, Uncorked's 2020 prompt of "Summer read perfect for the beach" did not spark interest. Finally, Uncorked's 2021 prompt of "Beverage in Title" caused a bit of panic, but I read great spoiler free reviews of Lisa See's The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, but it was a long wait list for the audiobook via Libby.

July 2021

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Goodreads | My Goodreads Review Thanks to my anniversary trip with hunny, I was exposed to and contracted Covid and was down for much of the month. I did finally finish reading Jack London's classic, for which many movie adaptations have been made, but I mostly hung out in my son's room while he stayed at my father's and took care of him for me since I could not, and watched 22 Marvel movies in order in 5 days.

GirlXOXO's Short but Fabulous, Uncorked 2020 Set in a Bucket List Destination, and 2021's Set on an Island just did not happen.

August 2021

And then, the unthinkable happened. On the first day of school, when my son would have walked to his grandfather's house after school, the hospice nurse called me while I was at work. She told me that she walked into my father's house to find that he had passed.

Obviously the challenges weren't done, but early in the month, having returned to work after spending weeks in bed, I started reading again.

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In September 2020, I had picked up the first book in this series on a whim. I was bored, and Map of Bones sounded intriguing. I found my newest favorite thriller series. This was book 3 and wasn't disappointed at all. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review I finished early in August and immediately picked up the fourth.

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We went from Nazi genetic experiments in the present day to a mysterious viral strain from Marco Polo's time that has resurfaced. Talk about making my archeological curious heart go pitter patter! I did finish this while I was cleaning out the house, all the things I wanted to throw out for years that my father wouldn't let me. Into the garbage while my mind was somewhere else. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review

August's prompts, Girl XOXO Bag of Tricks, Uncorked 2020 Women in Translation/2021 Translated from Spanish didn't get hit this time. I chose Tentacle by Rita Indiana to cover both of Uncorked's prompts and will attempt it again this coming August. 

September 2021

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I started this in August, but finally finished in September. This was the final book in the Crown of Shards trilogy. I'd actually been awaiting publication of this when I got sucked down the reading challenge rabbit hole and had forgotten about it. I picked up the first one as an "Available Now" audiobook when I was awaiting either a Throne of Glass or a Shadowhunter book, and I was quite pleased. This final book made me crave still more. Actually hoping she'll do another trilogy in this world. Goodreads | My Goodreads Review

DNR

I started the Midnight Louie Series when I was in high school. An alphabet series, each book has a title with a color/pattern named in it that goes along the alphabet. There has been some naming convention changes throughout the series, and I've actually gotten a little bored with it. It is also hard to find audiobook version of Douglas' books for free. There is not enough interest in the series at this late date to make it worth the library's while to get a digital copy of one, if it even exists. At this time, I have not rated Leopard Spot. It took me 370 days to get through all 419 pages. First it was as a physical copy, then I had to return it, then Covid shut down the libraries, library didn't have an ebook. Finally finished it using the free library at archive.org, where someone painstakingly scanned in every page of a physical book. I'll rate it eventually. If I remember. This book was also 20 years old at the time I was reading it. So... the setting is a little, shall we say, dated? Goodreads

GirlXOXO - Back to School, Uncorked 2020 - WWII, 2021 - Banned Book from the 21st Century. Yeah. These didn't happen.

October 2021

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This was supposed to be for Uncorked 2021 of June. I'd picked it off one of their lists. It sounded intriguing just from the title. While I may not have completed the challenge book on time, I did complete it in that year and I'm so glad I did. This was the last book that is currently rated for me on Goodreads. Occasionally a book moves me so much that it goes into a special shelf: "Life Changing". This was definitely a life-changing book for me. As an adoptee, I know how the search to discover one's roots can haunt some adoptees. Not all, but a significant number of us spend our lives wondering "where did I come from?" and "how did I get here?" Many never find the answer. Some of us wish we never did. Still others had a life changing experience that made life better. The father that I lost shortly before this was my biological father that I had not met until I was 23. This hit me in all the feels. Goodreads 

The actual October prompts (GXOXO: Lurking in the Shadows (Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold), Uncorked2020: International Creepy Classic (Bram Stoker's Dracula), & Uncorked2021: True Crime Novel (Who flippin' knew?)) also never happened.

November 2021 - December 2021

Of the final 5 books of the year, none are rated yet, but I will be going back and doing so. Of the 5 only one isn't by Cassandra Clare and set in the Shadowhunter world. I needed to escape and the world of Shadowhunters does that for me in spades. City of Heavenly Fire, The Bane Chronicles, and Lilac Girls were completed in November, while Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and The Lost Book of the White were completed in December.

City of Heavenly Fire

 

The Bane Chronicles

Lilac Girls

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

The Lost Book of the White

Lilac Girls was by and large a very eye opening tale. From three POVs, 3 women affected by the events of World War II, these are some of my favorite books to read outside archeological thrillers and young/new adult/adult urban fantasy. World War II was fascinating for what women accomplished and the ways we never went back to the old expectations. I used this to belatedly fulfill the March prompt for the Uncorked 2021 challenge, although since I did it so late in the year, I could have also used it for Uncorked's 2020 September challenge.

Needless to say November and December's prompts were not even attempted.

Wrap Up & The Future

I can't say that I had a favorite book of the year, but this next year, I am using some pages from MindJoggle's reading planner. Worth the $18 I paid for these reusuable, printable, adjustable planner pages. I'm using what works for me and am not worried about what doesn't. Since I'm using it in a DIY Happy Planner (more on that later), each month I spend time looking back over the books I read that month and picking out my favorite. 

At the end of the year, perhaps I'll use the CAWPILE average number (the seven categories added together and divided by 7) to determine which was my absolute favorite out of the 12 monthly books. We'll see if I get to the point of reading more than 1 book per month. Right now I'm off to a pretty good start, having read 3 in January and 8 already in February with 6 more days left in the month.