Reading Goals 2021

A number of years ago, Carrie Gelson started the #MustRead challenge. In her words:
This is all about making your own personal list of books that you want to commit to reading...Books can be published in any year, be from any genre, and from any category: adult, YA, MG, Graphics, NF, etc. All that matters is that they are books you want to be sure not to forget as that TBR list continues to grow! These aren’t the only titles you will read over the year, but a list to help guide your reading. A list to lure you back to a reading path you have set for yourself. Many, many new books will tempt you! Go ahead and read them but having a list like this ensures you will not forget some titles you were determined to read. That’s the intention and spirit of this challenge.

Leigh Anne Eck at A Day In the Life and I are taking over for Carrie this year. Add your list to Leigh Anne's blog post here. I will be the bossy one who reminds you about the voluntary updates in the last weeks of April, August, and December. (Note that it takes two people to handle what Carrie Gelson at There's A Book For That managed all on her own.)

It's been at least 5 years or so since I first joined this community. My reading goals and how I've addressed them have transformed over time. I remain grateful to Carrie for getting me started. Between auditing what I've been reading, and creating specific number related goals, I've been able to expand and diversify my reading life. This year I'm trying to figure out how to integrate my regular goals with Book Riot's #ReadHarderChallenge. This probably means I will just see how many I can cross off the list at the end of the year. 

NOVELS

My goal is to read at least 25 books from this list. Some have been on my MustRead lists for a few years. If I don't get to them this year, they get weeded. I crowdsourced some of these titles from my friends on facebook since I enjoyed the titles they recommended last year.

Amina's Song by Khan, Hena
Apple: Skin to the Core by Gansworth, Eric
The Bear and the Nightingale by Arden, Katherine
Before the Ever After by Woodson, Jacqueline
Black water by Robertson, David A.
Bloom by Panetta, Kevin
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia
Butterfly Yellow by Lai, Thanhha 

Child of a Mad God by Salvatore, R. A. 
Clash by Miller, Kayla
Closer to Nowhere by Hopkins, Ellen
Concrete Rose by Thomas, Angie
Cub by Copeland, Cynthia L.
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Khorram, Adib
Elatsoe by Little Badger, Darcie
Escape from Aleppo by Senzai, N.H.
The Fabled Stables: The Tattle-Tail by Auxier, Jonathan
Fighting Words by Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker
Finding Junie Kim by Oh, Ellen
Friend or Fiction by Cooper, Abby
Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) Wells, Martha
Go Tell It on the Mountain by Baldwin, James
Hatch by Oppel, Kenneth
Hazel's Theory of Evolution by Bigelow, Lisa Jenn
The Heaviness of Things That Float by Manuel, Jennifer
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Sánchez, Erika L.
The Island of Sea Women by See, Lisa
Jackpot by Stone, Nic
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Knisley, Lucy
The King of Jam Sandwiches by Walters, Eric
Letters from Cuba by Behar, Ruth
The Lost Spells by Macfarlane, Robert
Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish by Cartaya, Pablo
Mister Impossible by Stiefvater, Maggie
Once by Gleitzman, Morris
Our Corner Store by Heidbreder, Robert
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Balasubramanyam, Rajeev
The Reason You Walk by Kinew, Wab
Season of Fury and Wonder by Butala, Sharon
Stand on the Sky by Bow, Erin
Station Eleven by Mandel, Emily St. John
Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Perez, Celia C.
A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II by Wein, Elizabeth
Untamed by Doyle, Glennon
The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found by Glaser, Karina Yan
The Water Dancer by Coates, Ta-Nehisi
When Life Gives You Mangos by Getten, Kereen
Zenobia July by Bunker, Lisa

NONFICTION

I actually own some of these books but we moved last year and are now in the middle of renovations. I know where my boxes of books are but have no idea what book is in what box. I plan to read at least 12 of these books and will prioritize those that I own if we ever get them out of storage. 

All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward by Talaga, Tanya

All You Can Ever Know by Chung, Nicole

Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home by Wilson, Tom

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bryson, Bill

Educated by Westover, Tara 

The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Light the World by Winchell, Mike 

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Davis, Angela Y.

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Reichl, Ruth

A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency by Klein, Seth

The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution by Wrangham, Richard W.

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Munroe, Randall 

Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal by Loew, Patty

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Stevenson, Bryan

Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality by Frenkel, Edward

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Le Guin, Ursula K.

North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Person, Cea Sunrise 

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Klein, Naomi

The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce by Manfredi, Angie

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson by Johnson, Katherine G.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Kolbert, Elizabeth

Strong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves by Parker, Kate T.

Take Back the Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age by Loreto, Nora

The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth by Hudson, Wade

The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry by Berry, Wendell

PICTURE BOOKS

My want to read list on Goodreads was out of control. I had over 300 picture books that I decided I needed to deal with. My local library system has almost 200 of them. I deleted any picture books published earlier than a year ago that they don't carry. I'm planning on reading at least 100 of them. I'll be prioritizing Canadian, Indigenous and #OwnVoices authors. 

That list is available here. 

CANADIAN AUTHORS

Last year I planned to read at least 100 books by Canadian authors. I'm doing that again. They come from an ever evolving list. You can see it here. 

INDIGENOUS CANADIAN AUTHORS

I'm hoping to stretch out and read new to me Indigenous authors. Like my Canadian authors list, this one too is evolving. Here it is. 

DISCWORLD

I started reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series last fall as an antidote to the Covid 19 Pandemic's fear, angst, boredom, and frustration. I fell head over heels in love. Each book is like making or visiting friends. It's wonderful to see how the characters evolve over time. It doesn't hurt that the satire is screamingly hilarious. The more I read Pratchett, the sorrier I am for people who haven't yet discovered him. I've been listening to them narrated by Nigel Planer. He is as brilliant as the author himself.  It is a match created by the Gods. (You can stream them for free here at goldenaudiobooks.com) Anyway, this is just an ongoing challenge that will take as long as it takes.