2021 – The Year of Mood Reading

How is the new year treating you so far?

I took a reading break! To be honest, I feel a little burnt out after a busy end of the year and reading so many books last year. I spent the first few days of 2021 sorting my physical copies, setting up my reading journal and thinking about my goals this year.

Last year I had a list of specific and time limited goals to hit like “read 1 nonfiction book per month” and “read at least 2 books per week”. Guess what? I failed to meet them. And I felt really bad. Which is silly because no one forced me to make those goals, it was pressure I put on myself! How did I read 155 books last year and still feel as if I didn’t do enough? I think being part of the blogging and bookstagram community also contributes to this FOMO where I feel like I have to constantly read new releases even while my TBR piles up. Sometimes I think reading has turned into a competition and there’s a constant rush to read more and achieve more that I lose sight of why I’m reading in the first place. For my own sake, I need to let that go.

So this year I’ve set zero reading goals. I still have a numbers goal on Goodreads and I do want to read more from my Nordic noir backlist. But I’m going to try to be less stressed if I don’t read as much or if I don’t get to read the latest and newest books. I’ll still be reading but it’ll be on my own terms. This is the year of mood reading!

Do you have any reading goals for 2021? Am I playing with fire by not making specific goals? Let me know what you think!