Is it worth it to make 2021 reading goals when I so thoroughly ignored my 2020 goals? Probably not, but it’s fun for me to make a list of reading goals, so I’m going to do it anyways! Here’s hoping they go better than they did this past year.

While I don’t regret all of the books I bought in 2020, I do want to actually read them! But I also don’t want to get bogged down in trying to reach a zero TBR and potentially take some of the fun out of reading, especially when it’s already been such a challenge to read lately. Instead, I want to commit to reducing my physical TBR to 20 by the end of June, and we’ll see how things go from there. That means reading about two books from my shelves per month, and considering how short so many of them are, I think that’s entirely doable! I also want to reduce my kindle TBR, though that one is significantly bigger. I think I’ll stick to the same goal of reducing it by two books per month and see where that gets me by this summer.

Another goal of mine for 2021 is to read more from different genres. I read almost exclusively romance in 2020, and while that made sense at the time, I’ve recently started remembering how much I enjoy nonfiction and SFF, and I wonder if reading might be easier for me if I change things up from the rut I’ve been in and get back to normal by reading from a number of different genres. Maybe that won’t actually work, but a number of the physical books on my TBR are nonfiction, so I’ll be reading more of that at the very least!

Also, like last year, I want to commit to reading at least 40 percent books by authors of color, including 20 percent books by Black authors. Though my overall percentage should really be closer to 50 percent than 40 percent.

In a different and perhaps surprising change of pace, I want to commit to finishing the arcs I’ve agreed to review and then cut back significantly on requesting arcs. I’ve already started cutting back a lot as I’ve realized this past year that reviewing isn’t particularly fun for me. I do it because I feel obligated after receiving an arc, but I’m not sure how many reviews I’d really write if I didn’t feel like I had to. And the kerfuffle with authors piling on reviewers really highlighted how many excellent reviewers there are out there and how far off I am from accomplishing what they do! Plus I pressure myself to read arcs before their release date, which obviously makes sense, but then it makes reading those books more of a chore than a pleasure. I miss the days when I was so excited about getting an arc that I read it immediately! So I want to catch up on the arcs I promised to review but haven’t yet (because 2020), and then try to stop requesting them.

And last but not least, I want to finally finish my reading project with Jenica! It’s been so much fun, and I really do want to get back in the swing of things and finish it out. And of course I’ll continue to work towards completing #SnowInLoveBingo (and #SpringIntoRomBingo, coming this spring!).

I called my 2020 goals rather low key in my reflection post, but I think 2021 might be even lower key! Which makes complete sense, but yeah. I’ve really pared it back to what matters most to me: reading what I own, reading diversely, and making sure reading is fun. I look forward to the day that I feel up to making more elaborate goals, but that day is not today.