If 2020 was a year when I thought I lost my reading groove, 2021 was pretty much a repeat. I started the year with two virtual book groups, and ended the year with none, both having run their course. I am now, for the first time in a long time, book group-less. I don’t quite know how to feel about this.

I set a goal to read more books by BIPOC authors, and I did (in large part thanks to a class I took in the fall). But, I still felt like I was struggling reading. My total books are up from 2020, but only by one. I had two surgeries and started working full time (buying gift items for the store, so I am no longer talking books with people when they come in, and I have lost the urgency to know about books that are coming out) and just felt like I didn’t have the brainpower to read.

By the numbers:

Adult fiction: 24
Young Adult Fiction: 34
Middle-Grade Fiction: 19
Non-Fiction: 23
Graphic Novels: 19
Grand total: 119

Number of those that were audiobook: 16
Number that was speculative Fiction (not including graphic novels): 29
Number by BIPOC authors: 54 (45% of my total reading; almost half!)
Number I reread: 2
Number I abandoned: 2

But, I did still read. I did still find a number of books that I loved. The following are all the books that I completely fell in love with:

That’s a good list, and I’m proud of it. While it’s not been the best year ever, it’s not been a bad year. Which is a good thing.