My Bookish Goals for 2021

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I’m a bit late, but who says we have to set goals in January anyways? Every year, I love hearing about the kind of bookish goals and intentions other readers have, especially ones that go beyond a number of books to read (though that can be very fun). I took some time to reflect on my reading and book-buying in 2020 and made a list of goals as a result. So here are my 7 bookish goals for 2021!

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1) read what I have

I recently counted all my unread books and the number genuinely shocked me. I currently own around 270ish unread books. Most of them are ebooks and audiobooks so they don’t take up physical space, but the bookshelves in my room are also filled with unread books. So for 2021 I want to make an effort to reduce my TBR! I haven’t set a goal number and I probably won’t unless I find myself not tackling it at all. For now, I’ll just let the piercing stares of the unread books do the work.

1) buy fewer books

In line with me tackling my TBR, I also want to buy fewer books. I have a tendency to get excited about books and buy them immediately…only for them to sit on my shelf for ages. Don’t get me wrong, I will still be buying books but my focus will be on new releases by marginalized authors that I want to support. The only cis white man who gets a new spot on my shelf is going to be Andy Weir with his new sci-fi novel.

3) read more books with disability representation

I am constantly thinking about the kinds of stories I read and the representation that’s missing in my personal library. And disability rep is a gaping hole right now! Hopefully, I can start closing that gap over the course of 2021 and in the future.

4) read at least 33 books, 12 death books

Reading 33 books has been my goal for the past 5 years or so. It’s a fun number that’s also very achievable for me in an average year. The 12 death books, however…not that much. For a self-titled friendly neighbourhood death lady, a shocking amount of the death books on my shelf are untouched. I’d like to average a death book a month this year so I can finally stop talking about the same handful of books I’ve read and loved.

5) read 5 translated books

Oh, translated fiction. Another gap in my reading! Luckily, I already own a few books to get me started, one of them Hotel Silence which I talked about in my 21 Books for 2021 post. If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments or let me know on Twitter!

6) read 2 German books in genres I like

In a similar vein, I want to rediscover the literature of my own country! I am totally out of touch with the books that are being published in Germany. But I refuse to believe that there are no books by German authors I would love. So if you happen to know some good German literary fiction, sci-fi or fantasy (preferably queer and lighter on the romance), let me know!

7) catalogue my library and get some stats!

I have already started this process by cataloguing all my books but I haven’t gathered that much additional data about them yet. Eventually, I would like to have an estimate of which identities and stories are represented on my shelf so I can address any gaps and biases I have.

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Do you have any bookish goals for 2021 besides a number of books to read?