I wasn’t going to publish my 2021 reading goals because until last week, it didn’t feel like I had any.  I was writing my winter 2021 recent TBR additions post, when I realized I mentioned at least 2 reading goals and figured it was time to formalize them. I didn’t rush to formalize or even create goals for 2021 because let’s be honest, everything is in such a weird fluctuating state right now both in the world and even in my personal life. I’ll get more into this below when I talk about the amount of books I want to read this year, but I’m currently in my last semester in a fairly intense graduate program and by the time I settle in for the night, I’m often too tired to focus on reading – I find that I have the most energy to read right when I get home if I don’t have to do work or attend a remote class.

Read at least 75 books, with the ultimate goal of reading at least 100 – You can probably tell that there is a bit of an explanation to how many books I want to read in 2021. I do the most amount of reading in the summer months, reading 12-15 books a month between June through August. I then on average read anywhere from 5-10 books during the other months, based on school commitments and work. I definitely got a boost in 2020 due to the state of the world and that I was the type of person who looked (and still looks) to reading as a way to relax and be distracted.  I wasn’t commuting whatsoever, I wasn’t living with my friends (who are awesome but definitely distract me from reading), I worked and went to school from home, & had a ton of beach and pool days.

That all being said, I think I will be able to read at least 75 books in 2021, which I set as my Goodreads goal. The ultimate goal is to read at least 100 books, since I’ve been able to do so each year since 2018. The reach, REACH goal is to read more than 133 books in 2021, which was the amount of books I read in 2020. I think in order to do so, I would have to cut out a significant amount of TV time out of my life. I do ultimately read more than I watch… but then I get to my monthly wrap ups and am always astonished about how much TV I did ultimately watch. Also add in the fact that after a long day of work and school, I tend to favor TV over reading because I feel like I can’t focus as much. I’m always caught between knowing I want to read more but also feeling tired, but ultimately, reading is something that I forever want to be able to enjoy and not treat as a chore.

Read at least 1 non-fiction book every 1-2 months/ at least 6 non-fiction books total – 2020 was the year of non-fiction for me… okay, I think I only read 8 non-fiction books out of the 133 I did read, but that is the most amount of non-fiction I read any other year. I’m going to try to regularly incorporate non-fiction into my reading life in 2021 by reading at least 1 non-fiction book every 2 months. I’d like to beat my 2020 total by reading more than 8, but I find that a non-fiction book really has to grab me in order to read it and I generally don’t have many on my TBR (aka leave me recs in the comments).

Catch up reading popular contemporary books/contemporary romances – I somewhat started this goal in 2020, but I want to catch up on popular contemporary or contemporary books that I haven’t yet read either because of the hype scaring me away, I wasn’t originally interested in the book when it first came out, or I just haven’t gotten to them yet. Some priority books for me include The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, The Friend Zone series by Abby Jimenez, Katherine Center’s books, and most of Christina Lauren’s backlist. Whenever I’m stressed IRL, I always reach for a contemporary book and I’m going to try & reach for these in those moments.

Actually reread books – Rereading is often a goal we all strive to do each year, and more often than not, I personally never reread as much as I’d like. I couldn’t tell you how many ‘rereading goals’ blog posts I’ve written over the past 4 years, but I could tell you that I most likely only reread maybe half of the books I listed. Between lockdown and my county library being closed for a few months last year, I ended up rereading 7 books, but once the libraries and bookstores opened up again, I basically kissed any rereading goals goodbye. I’d like to get back to my goal of rereading Rainbow Rowell’s contemporary books (I have Fangirl and Eleanor & Park left), Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Frost & Starlight and House of Earth & Blood before their respective sequels come out, Jenny Han’s Always & Forever, Lara Jean, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

What are your reading goals for 2021? Do you have any contemporary romance or nonfiction recommendations? Share in the comments!