So, 2021 didn’t exactly see life go back to normal but I am, at least, out of the house again. It feels good to not be shielding as much but, with cases rising, I suspect I’m going to have to start being careful again. Ah well, it just gives me more time to read. Last year I was so close to reading 100 books that I was secretly hoping to pass that this year. However, I didn’t want to put the pressure on and only set a target of 60. I knew that would be possible but would motivate me to keep reading. Did I manage to smash my target or did everything fall apart?

Blog

Number of posts: 217
Number of words: 180,620
Total followers: 609
Most viewed post: Friday Favourites: Fictional characters born in March

Books

Reading Stats

Reading Goal: 60
Number of Books Read: 106

Number of paperbacks: 27
Number of hardbacks: 24
Number of audiobooks: 42
Number of ebooks: 13

Fiction: 93
Non-Fiction: 5
Poetry: 1
Graphic Novel: 7

Written by men: 54
Written by women: 48
Written by non-binary writer: 2
Written by BIPOC: 16

Shortest book: 32 pages – Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen
Longest book: 453 pages – Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Book Ratings

Average rating: 3.5 stars

5 stars: 12 books

In alphabetical order by title:

• The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (audiobook)
• A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
• All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman (read twice)
• Belinda Blinked: Lockdown 69 by Rocky Flintstone
• Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
• Crooked House by Agatha Christie (audiobook)
• Endless Night by Agatha Christie (audiobook)
• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Taste by Stanley Tucci (Audiobook)
• The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman

4.5 stars: 1 book

• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (audiobook)

4 stars: 45 books

Notable mentions:

• The Appeal by Janice Hallett
• Burncoat by Sarah Hall
• The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter
• The Employees by Olga Ravn
• The Fell by Sarah Moss
• The Hellion by Harriet Young
• Jokes for the Gunmen by Mazen Marrouf
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
• Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg
• Poison For Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
• Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
• Summerwater by Sarah Moss
• The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie (audiobook)
• The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke

3 stars: 33 books

2 stars: 13

1 star: 1

Films

Film Stats

Number of films reviewed: 50
Number of new/recent releases: 26
Number of TBT films: 24

Number of rewatches: 14

Film Ratings

Average rating: 3 stars

5 stars: 3 films

In alphabetical order by title:

• The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (TBT, rewatch)
• Promising Young Woman (2020)
• Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) (TBT, rewatch)

4.5 stars: 0 films

4 stars: 13 films

Notable mentions (in alphabetical order by title:)

• Baby Done (2020)
• Bigfoot Family (2020)
• The Green Knight (2021)
• Luca (2021)
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
• No Time To Die (2021)
• Palm Springs (2020)
• Shang-Chi (2021)
• The Suicide Squad (2021)

3.5 stars: 9 films

3 stars: 9 films

2.5 stars: 5 films

2 stars: 8 films

1.5 stars: 1 films

1 star: 2 films

2022 Goals

2021 was the year that I finally went beyond that 100 books milestone. I had secretly been hoping to do it but knew that it might be tricky once life started getting back to normal. Heading back to the office did cause a change in how I was reading but I just about managed to keep my pace. That’s partly due to changing the way I review films. Only doing 1 film review per week gave me much more time to read.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with films this year. Now that we are getting new releases again, I feel like I’m missing out on some great films. Maybe I don’t need to do the TBT quite so often? That would allow me to watch more of the bigger releases in 2022? We’ll see how it goes.

In terms of reading, I’ve set myself the goal of 70 books which should be doable given this year’s total. However, I won’t be giving myself an extra challenge like 2021’s Spell The Month challenge. I’ll be reading what I want when I want. This will hopefully include more diverse books and ones that feature more LGBTQ+ themes. I was happy to have read mostly female authors in 2021 but why not try and make the gap bigger in 2022?

Mostly, my goal is to continue to enjoy reading and blogging. I don’t want this to get stressful or impact my life too much. Everyone is struggling right now, so I want to limit the additional pressure. Don’t push myself to finish books I don’t want to read and don’t publish posts just to stick to a self-imposed schedule. 2022 is the year of prioritising mey mental health.