“Books are a uniquely portable magic,” Stephen King. 

I’ve mentioned this a few times on this blog, but I am a pretty slow reader. So, at the beginning of 2021 I made it my goal to read 12 books – one book a month. I thought that wouldn’t be too hard to manage. Now, 2021 is behind us and I am incredibly proud of myself.

I found myself transported into more worlds and stories than I ever had in previous years.

When I initially made the goal of reading 12 books, I didn’t make it with the mindset of ‘I want to read more books and I only care about reaching this number’. 

No. 

I wanted to read more diverse books than I ever had before, I wanted to learn more, I wanted to sound out new words (and look them up to enhance my vocabulary), and ultimately … I wanted to start reading like I did when I was a kid – fully losing myself in the stories in the stories I immersed in.

The 27 books I read helped me achieve all these goals.

Here’s what I read in 2021 (in order of when I read them).

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

The 5 am Club by Robin Sharma

A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (one of my favourites)

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (one of my favourites)

Film for Her by Orion Carloto

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (one of my favourites)

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

Normal People by Sally Rooney

The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (one of my favourites)

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Call Me Indian by Fred Sasakamoose

Tornado Weather by Deborah E. Kennedy

Beach Read by Emily Henry

My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful–One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life by Anne Bokma

The Jane Austen Book Club Karen Joy Fowler

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin (one of my favourites)

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

Snowflakes at Mistletoe Cottage by Katie Ginger

Care of by Ivan Coyote (one of my favourites)

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

This year, in 2022, my reading goals are not much different. I still want to read more diverse books, learn more about the world through reading, and enhance my vocabulary. The difference from last year? I’ve upped the number by one. 

I want to read 13 books. 

Books