
Map indicating the author’s country of birth for all the books I have read in 2021
So, 2021 is finally over. It did have some highlights, but for a large part it was a dreary, exhausting year (I hate border closures with all my heart). Blogging largely fell to the side in pure exhaustion, but I did read quite a bit. Exactly 100 books in total.
As usual I read most of the books in English (64), followed by Swedish (30) and Norwegian (6). 53 of the books were written by women and 47 by men, a surprisingly even split. Authors from the United Kingdom (33) dominated, followed by Swedish (16) and US authors (11), but authors born in 31 different countries (a new record since I started to keep track!) were represented in my reads. In addition the books were published in 17 different decades.
Early in my blogging days I started the 30-20-10 challenge where the goal was to read books by authors from 30 countries, 20 books written by a woman and 20 by man, and in 10 different decades. At that time I had no real intention of finishing in one year (and I didn’t), but it pushed me to broaden my reading and in 2021 I succeeded without even trying, which feels really good.
Memorable first time reads
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- A wilder time by William E. Glassley
- Daughters of smoke and fire by Ava Homa
Most read blog posts in 2021
- Why everyone needs to read The Brothers Lionheart (from 2018, a newer post on the same book can be found here)
- More a tadpole than a fish (from 2017)
- The importance of language
Reading plans for 2022
I loved the ReadIndies month that Karen and Lizzie hosted last year and really look forward to the 2022 edition. In addition I plan to join the Narniathon, but other than that my ambition is to read often, widely, but most of all for enjoyment.
Happy New Reading Year!
Nice work! I’m hoping to find some indies on my TBR for next month, as I’m once again only doing challenges I can do with books already on the physical TBR. Of course I’ve just read an indie this month!
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Thank you! I hope your TBR has some hidden indie gems for February.
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So glad you plan to join in with #ReadIndies2 – it’s an event very close to my heart!
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Already collecting books for it…
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What a great reading year you had! I hope this year can be a bit more relaxing. . .
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So glad to see Piranesi on your top books list. Lovely to see you at my #NordicFINDS challenge too – thank you.
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