2021 Reading Goals

2020 was a very 'bad' reading year for me. 

After both of my kids entered their preteen years I decided I needed to get back into reading more. I've always loved books, a love that came from my mom. I have distinct memories of my mom sitting at the foot of her bed reading. I had to pass my parents room when coming out of my room and these memories are from all times of the year, all times of the day. You never knew when you'd find mom taking a moment to read a little in her room. My guess is that it was a form of meditation for her.

Moving on....when I found the Goodreads yearly reading challenge in 2016 I figured that would be a good way to help make a priority of reading, by setting an arbitrary goal for myself. It seemed to work. I met my goal every year and every year I read more books than the last. Until 2020. I'm not sure why. I did spend more time crocheting than normal, making scarf and ear warmer sets for my husband's coworkers for Christmas gifts. But I just could not get into books as much last year. Now I did read 11 which is probably more than the average American but for me it was a failure.

So, for 2021 I'm getting in the right frame of mind. Staring to think of what books I want to try to get to.

I have a handful in progress now:

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

My daughter is reading this book for her AP English class. I decided that I'd like to read whatever she is reading for school, for my own enrichment and so she and I can discuss it after. This one has top priority because she needs to return it next week. 😄

1984 by George Orwell

Another AP English pick, but I'm behind on this one, she was done reading this before Christmas. I will get it done though, I honestly am a little embarrassed that I made it this long without reading or even owning it.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Completely random pick here. I had a couple doctors appointments one day with an hour and a half between them. I opted to stay at the clinic and wait in between and found this one in the Libby app available for checkout from my public library. I was not disappointed and will finish it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

OK, I know I'm 30 years late here but I'm finally going to start this. I've been thinking about it for a while but when I saw how many books are in this series and the length of each I got flashbacks to when I plowed through the Game of Thrones series. It was like a part time job and I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to another long series. But I WILL NOT watch the Showtime series until I've read the books. I started Outlander and got about 40 pages in so I'm going to commit and finish it.

Other books I'm thinking about for this year:

The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series) by Stephen King

At least one or two Dean Koontz books - I have a shelf of them (mostly unread)

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (saw his podcast with Jordan Peterson, this looks promising)