Hi Reader! I hope you are doing well and that you have been reading some good books. The last few days of December for me are usually for reflecting and taking stock. On today’s post I wanted to share the status of my goals and reading challenges of 2021 and we can both see I smashed them, or not.

NEW AUTHORS

I wanted to read 5 different authors who I have been keen on but always held off.  All things considered I would say I did well.

Daphne du Maurier

I read 2 out of the 5 books I had both of which I absolutely loved. The books are Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek.

Anthony Trollope

I have to say, Trollope has easily become one of my favorite classics authors. I managed to read 4 out of the 5 books I had.

The Warden

Can You Forgive Her?

Bachester Towers

Framley Parsonage

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Reader, believe the hype! Many a readers have said amazing and fantastic things about this author and her books and I am inclined to say that they are right. I have read all the 3 books she has out which I absolutely loved.

Kintu

The First Woman

Manchester Happened. Read my review here.

Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak is simply amazing and this is the year I fell in love with her. I managed to only read 2 books out of the 5 (I’ll be definitely reading on in 2022) which I absolutely loved.

The Forty Rules Of Love

Honour. Read my review here.

Khaled Hosseini

For years I have heard of Khaled Hosseini’s books and how good and heart wrecking they are and I’ll say, for me, they are good but I wasn’t as broken as I was told I would be. I read 3 out of the 4 books he has published.

The Kite Runner. Read my review here.

A Thousand Splendid Suns. Read my review here.

And The Mountains Echoed

Rainer Maria Rilke

This is one author I didn’t put much effort on. I only managed to read 1 book by Rilke, which is Letters To A Young A Poet.

READING CHALLENGES

12 Books In 12 Months

I really tried with the 12 books in 12 months but at some point in the year I got overwhelmed and just lost focus. I managed 4 books but I do plan on continuing with it in 2022

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste. Read my review here.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế

One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo. Read my review here.

Reading Chunky Books

Big books fear is actually real for me as I get reader fatigue. I am happy to report that I read 4 out of the 5 books I set out and even had one more as a bonus.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Read my review here.

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Mill On The Floss by George Eliot

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Read my discussion post here.

Reading Goals

  • Reading from my shelf. Happy to report that I actually managed to do this and it makes me quite happy!
  • Read 50 books. I read 200!
  • Read more Kenyan Lit, essays and poetry. I did read some but not as much as I would like.
  • Stick to my reading challenges. I did and actually already have my wrap ups of them.
  • Read out of my comfort zone. This I very much did. I picked up books that I never thought I would and I am impressed by how much I enjoyed them.
  • Conscious buying. 2021 saw me buying a lot of books but all of that was done with intention and happy to report that I stuck to this goal.
  • Have fun with reading. I DID!!!!! A Lot!

Blogging Goals

  • Get back to backlist reviews. I did about half of them and still working on the rest.
  • Review (more) classics. I did not review any lol. Maybe in 2022
  • Have a proper blogging calendar. I did not make one. My posting was erratic at best. We try again in 2022
  • Have fun with blogging. I tried. Seeing as I am still here and I haven’t quit.

Did you set out any goals? Tell me about them.