Somehow, 2020 Stephanie thought that 2021 would bring about some kind of “conclusion” to the collective dumpster fire the world has been stuck in. Oh, you sweet summer child. As I was literally putting this post together I heard the news that 2021 got Betty White. 🙁
So, y’all, what can I even say about the possible chaos that awaits us in 2022? Stay healthy. Stay sane. And if books help you with that, then I hope your TBR is forever fruitful.
Sarah
Wait, wait, we’re still doing resolutions? Even though, to quote a recent SNL sketch, we’re no longer “where time is”? I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that another year of the pandemic came and went, but I do owe my sanity in large part to the books I’ve read, so sure, I’ll resolve something!
Over the course of 2021, I realized a pretty basic formula: the more time I spent consuming books, the less time I spent consuming social media, and since the latter is not always what you’d call a mood lifter, my brain vastly preferred the company of literature. So I’m gonna make sure I keep my ratio of books to social media high (is that right? I barely made it through Stat 101 in college, sorry Dad) in order for my brain to not only survive 2022, but to hopefully flourish. It’s not a concrete resolution, I know, but it’s one I think I can keep, and y’all, that counts for a lot these days.
Mandy W.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I resolve to get my review pile under control LOLOLOL. The good news is that I actually reviewed, like, books in 2021! I even almost accomplished my 2020 goal (another lol) of writing 1 review per month. (Dreaming big, I know.) So now I’m turning my attention to the other half of that: keeping pace with the review books that I’ve requested. Which is SO DIFFICULT when there are SO MANY GREAT BOOKS UGH and my eyes are always bigger than my reviewing capabilities. At the very least, I’d like to read all of my Most Anticipated picks for the year. (I’ve accomplished this exactly 0 times since my first list in 2014.)
I’d also like to use our new Voices category to keep myself and all our book reviewers at FYA more accountable. Even though I make a conscious effort to read diversely, there’s definitely always room for improvement, and now I’ll actually have real numbers and statistics to track. (I’m already looking forward to the Voices analysis that I can conduct for our 2022 book reviews, in case there was ever any doubt that I’m ginormo nerd.)
Mandy C.
Although it doesn’t look like it from the outside—I read 78 books, which is a good amount, but actually the fewest I’ve read in close to a decade—I struggled this past year to get through books. Part of my problem was that I struggled with reading in general; thanks to pandemic brain and a variety of other life stressors, it was so hard for me to really get caught up in a story, something that pains me deeply as someone whose main hobby is, well, reading. So my top resolution for 2022 is to enjoy reading more. That might mean being more choosy with my books, reading them more slowly, or not forcing myself to finish books I’m not enjoying. We’ll have to see what 2022 brings.
I also would love to make a dent in my towering TBR, which I know is a near impossible feat when publishers/authors continue to release amazing books pretty much every week of the year. Do they not understand how hard they’re making it on us all?!
Rosemary
I know this is against the law of book reviewers, but I’m resolving to get better about DNFing books guilt free. If I’m reading a book to review and hating it, I usually finish it for the sake of the work we do here. And that approach tends to spill over into my non-review books too. But life is too short and there are TOO MANY BOOKS for me to read the ones I’m not enjoying!
My other resolution is to go on reading lunches once a week. I work alone, from home, and especially since the pandemic started, I can go days without leaving my house. I need something to get me away from my desk and out of the house this year. The thought of a long lunch with just me and my book sounds freaking LUXURIOUS.
Stephanie
UGH, GOODBYE 2021. This was the first year I really struggled in maintaining an interest in reading in a long time. I think all the time and effort we put into making the new website and having to migrate everything over also took up a lot of my “free” time I would’ve normally spent reading. Looking back at last year’s resolutions, I DID end up finishing The Diviners series (so, so good) and the first book of Chaos Walking, woot. I definitely did not make my Goodreads goal since I couldn’t count the massive amount of fan fiction I consumed this year in an effort to find happy, uncomplicated stories I didn’t have to think too deeply about.
My goals for 2022 are: 1) Make a lower reading goal so I don’t feel “obligated” to myself to read a certain amount. 2) Continue to DNF when a book isn’t working for me. 3) Be more choosy in the review books I say yes to so I can go back to the 2021 ones I didn’t finish. 4) Read something from an author I’ve been meaning to for years.
Brian
I’m going to make more of an effort to read books for fun. Every year I help with a presentation at the Missouri School Librarian’s conference about what’s new in YA, and I find myself refusing to pick up any books that were not published in the past year as they can’t be used for the presentation. I’m going to remind myself that reading is something I can do because I enjoy it. Even if it does mean the other librarians are going to beat the tar out of me and leave me unconscious in the mud for not being prepared (again).
Also, now that we have the voices tag, I’m realizing how many of my reviews were books about white, straight people. I’m going to make more of an effort to balance that out.
What are your 2022 reading resolutions? Let us know in the comments!
