2021 Reading Goals

For most of my life, I have been a reader off and on. As a child, I had limited access to books. My mom is an avid reading puts me to sleep person so she refused to spend any time in a library let alone a book store. So I read the romance novels or books I could borrow from my one aunt and cousin who were readers. I wasn’t really old enough to read those romances but it was the 80’s and rules weren’t invented yet.

When I started teaching and my sons were little I made sure that reading and books were a huge part of life. As a reading teacher, I filled my classroom with books I bought at Half Price Books, a discount bookstore chain in Houston. I also made weekly trips to my local library to check out books. I was voracious at that time. My family took yearly trips to Austin to attend the Texas Book Festival to meet authors and surround ourselves with other readers. When I moved to Ohio and started writing, I maintained a healthy reading habit even driving from Toledo to Cleveland because there was a Half Price Bookstore there.

When I moved to Syracuse, I no longer had access to that book store chain and work got in the way. I would occasionally buy and read a few books on my Kindle but nothing consistent.

On January 1, 2020, I started actively using Goodreads and created my first reading goal. I planned to read 24 books. I made this goal because I felt 2 books a month was manageable and realistic. Then the pandemic hit! By May 2020, I had exceeded my 24 book goal. I moved the bar changing my goal to 50 books. I really got into listening to audiobooks on my local library’s apps (Hoopla and Libby) so by July, I exceeded that goal. By the end of 2020, I read 89 books.

This year my reading goal is 60 books which translates into 5 books a month. So far, I’ve read 10 books so I’m on track to achieve my goal. My unspoken internal goal is to read 100. Fingers and eyes crossed I can hit my secret goal.

Do you have reading goals? Or any goals for this year?

Let me know in the comments below!