All the Books I Read in 2021 & a Major Life Lesson.

Hi friends!

Last January, I kicked off the year with the blog post 5 book recommendations to start your year off right. This year, I thought instead, it would be fun to recap the books I read in 2021, along with sharing my absolute favorites. I had a goal to read 35 books, which I did not meet unfortunately. But, as you’ll read about below, I experienced a massive shift in the intention and attitude I have towards reading this year.

I love sharing my reads on IG then doing a longer format recap at the end or beginning of the year of the past year’s reads. As always, I would also love to be Goodreads friends if we aren’t already. 

Without further ado, here are the books I read in 2021 (my favorites marked with a *):

Hood Feminism*

Something Borrowed

Let My People Go Surfing*

The First 90 Days

Nothing to See Here*

The Road Back to You*

Greenlights

Bossypants

The Heart of Understanding*

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding

Money Diaries by Refinery29

Atomic Habits

Big Friendship*

Rich Dad Poor Dad

The Getaway

The Hunting Party

That Sounds Fun

Who Moved My Cheese

The Last Thing He Told Me

To Shake the Sleeping Self

Set for Life

The Gifts of Imperfection (reread)*

Aside from the fact that I didn’t accomplish the number of books I had hoped, I learned an incredibly important lesson in 2021 in regards to reading. I learned how to fully enjoy reading and see it as giving myself something I need, rather than forcing it upon myself as a means of personal growth 100% of the time. You see, I had this annoying habit of turning traditionally enjoyable things like reading into a competition with myself to see how I can do it the best. I have always been a voracious reader, but for the past several years post-grad, I looked at reading as simply a means of continuing education.

This year, I learned to take my time with a book, to let the pages romance me. When I needed a new book, I would walk up to my bookshelf and let a book speak to me, rather than forcing myself to read the next greatest personal development or career-oriented book. This was a huge lesson for me to learn and in turn, I realized how much more joy and contentment I gained out of this…probably more than any self-help book could teach me. 

Since I tend to read so many personal development books, this shift began when I chose to read Something Borrowed (book 2 of 2021) for personal enjoyment. It wasn’t one of my favorite reads of the year but it was while reading that I reignited the feelings of joy that came about when I read something just for fun.

Now, I anxiously await reading for 20-30 minutes before bed or for hours on Sunday afternoons instead of looking at it as a chore to check off my list. I sneak a chapter or two in at lunch and find myself mentally time-blocking reading into my schedule. For me, reading has become once again the soothing pastime I had as a carefree child…and to finally recognize that, is priceless.