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Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge Review

When the end of the year approaches, I love that the apps show infographic information about the year we left behind. One of them is the Goodreads. It creates an infographic called “My Year in Books” every year-end. I find it very successful that it encourages people to read by making Challenges at the beginning of each year, determining the number of books you will read for that year. Then, it creates a nice infographic for these yearly challenges showing how it’s going at the end of the year. In this article, I will talk about how my 2021 challenge went.

I had planned that I would try to read 20 books for 2021. However, with the effect of the Covid-19 lock-downs, I passed this goal and closed the year with a total of 27 books. This is really proud. Now let’s take a closer look at the books I read in 2021

I have categorized the books under 5 main headings. Of course, although some books belong to more than one category, we can say that I have made a rough classification.

  • History Books
  • Science Books
  • Science Fiction Novels
  • Trilogy
  • Miscellaneous

History 

I have included 8 books in this category. I’m listing them all with Goodreads links. 2 of them are in Turkish, not sure if they have English editions. Also, two of them were originally published in German. I didn’t find their English edition in Goodreads, so I listed them in the original name.

Remarks

One of the Turkish books called “Çağdaşlaşma Sancıları” can be translated as “The Pains of Modernization“. It is about the main problems that hinder Turkey’s modernization. The other Turkish book can be translated as “Anatolian Economic and Social Structure in the Byzantine Period“.

Das Alte Ägypten -> Ancient Egypt
Die Etrusker: Geschichte – Religion – Kunst -> The Etruscans: History – Religion – Art

Science

I read 3 science books this year.

Science Fiction

Since science fiction is one of my favourite genres in literature, it’s no surprise that many of the books I’ve read fall under this category.

Remarks

“The Clock That Went Backward” by Edward Page Mitchell published in 1881. It stands out for being the first known story about time travel.

Among these 8 books, ironically, I liked the “Kindred“, which has the most minor science fiction elements and more drama elements.

Trilogy

I’ve read two Sci-Fi trilogies this year. I think these books deserved their own titles rather than being under the Science Fiction category. That’s why I put it under a separate heading as a Trilogy.

Silo Series by Hugh Howey

Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy by Liu Cixin

Miscellaneous

This category belongs to the other books that I read.

Check out your 2021 year in books infographic from here

Resolutions for 2022

There are a few series that I plan to read in 2022. The first is Asimov’s Foundation series. The other is Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Although I am aware that I am late in reading these two classic series, let’s say better late than never. 

In the History category, I plan to do more reading on Byzantine history. I also have a few books on my list about Istanbul, the city I live in.

I read John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War in 2021, I will read the sequels in 2022. Apart from that, as science fiction, I will read the prelude to Dune books, which is the Dune: House trilogy. And I will be acquainted with many more books that I do not know for now. So see you in the review of the year 2022.