All About Books discussion

Last year I tried setting myself monthly reading goals, and it was a complete disaster - I still haven't finished one of the books from January, and my "currently reading"-list reached 40 at one point. Right now I have 26 unfinished books, and one of my goals is to finish all those in the course of this year. And eventually keep my "currently reading" books permanently below 10.

I've also made a folder with 50 unread books from my physical shelves that I'd like to read this year. The ultimate goal is to finish them all.

Apart from that, I've made some thematic goals. And while the two first categories are mutually exclusive, the thematic categories are not, so any of the books from the categories above can also be used for one or more of the thematic categories, which means that, in theory at least, I can complete all these goals by reading 76 books.

My total reading goal for 2021 will be 100 books. In 2020, I had the same goal and made it to 96.

Books started in 2019/2020 (goal: 26)
1. Madame Bovary Jan 3
2. Brott och straff Jan 4
3. L'amica geniale (audio) Jan 7
4. From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68 Jan 11
5. Der Goldene Kompass Jan 14
6. Grunnbok i norrønt språk Jan 21
7. Verdenslitteratur : den vestlige tradisjonen Jan 21
8. Marie-Antoinette Jan 22
9. Å lese drama Jan 27
10. Lyrikkens liv Feb 16
11. Harry Potter og viskusteinninn Mar 26
12. Tiempos recios Apr 21
13. Die Abenteuer von Aguila und Jaguar: Drei Romane in einem Band Jun 10
14. Vergils Aeneide Jul 15
15. Mastering Arabic 1 Dec 27

Books from my physical shelves (goal: 50)
1. Snöstormen Jun 2
2. Bisarre fortellinger Jun 4
3. Ostfriesennacht Jul 7
4. Rysslands historia Dec 21

Theme: Russia (fiction & non-fiction, goal: 5)
1. Brott och straff Jan 4
2. En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv Jan 20
3. Snöstormen Jun 2
4. Vinterdronningen Jul 18
5. Rysslands historia Dec 21

Theme: USA (fiction & non-fiction, goal: 5)
1. Wow, No Thank You.
2. We Need New Names Feb 17
3. The Color Purple Feb 19
4. American Dirt Feb 20
5. When the Emperor Was Divine May 7

Theme: history & society (n-f, goal: 5 books)
1. From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68 Jan 11
2. Marie-Antoinette Jan 22
3. Rysslands historia Dec 21

Theme: natural sciences (n-f, goal: 5 books)

Theme: Literature (n-f, goal: 5 books)

Theme: Art (n-f, goal: 5 books)

Good luck

Jade wrote: "Good luck"

Thank you!

Good luck and good reading in 2021, Maria!

I can empathize with your frustration with 2020 - sometimes goals, especially those we set for ourselves, can be very stressful and end up defeating their purpose. But 96/100 is very good and it looks like you are off to a good start for this year.

Leslie wrote: "Good luck and good reading in 2021, Maria!

I can empathize with your frustration with 2020 - sometimes goals, especially those we set for ourselves, can be very stressful and end up defeating thei..."

Thanks for the encouragement! It is indeed going very well so far - which is normal for January, I'd say, but it's still nice to get off to a good start.