Today I’m sharing my New Year bookish resolutions for 2021. I’ve been doing this fun book tag every year since 2019 (click here to see 2019 and 2020’s posts) and I love seeing how my reading is progressing and what books I intended to read, and of course seeing whether I managed to stick to those resolutions last year. 🙂 Unfortunately I’m embarassed to say that almost all of last year’s resolutions were not met and I still have lots of books I’d like to read that I planned to read last year. But let’s see if I still have the same drive to read those books now or are there others that I’m more keen on in 2021? 🙂
1. An author you’d like to read that you’ve never read?
I think I’ll pick C. J. Tudor author of The Taking of Annie Thorne (the book I didn’t quite manage to read for #Febookary last year). Her new novel The Burning Girls sounds super creepy and so interesting with the small town of Chapel Croft having a dark history, martyrs burned to death 500 years ago, teenagers gone missing 30 years ago and then two months ago the vicar committed suicide. The new vicar and his daughter move to the area for a fresh start but soon his daughter Flo starts seeing visions of burning girls. The whole story sounds sooo brilliant and I’m actually ready to try a truly creepy horror story that I hope will not disappoint. I’m actually signed up for the blog tour for this book which I’m soon gonna start reading so not only can it count as a book by an author I’ve never read before, but it’s also a book I can put towards #Febookary, having never read a truly really scary horror story before, which I assume this will be! 🙂
2. A book you’d like to read?
There’s so many, too many in fact! But one I hope to get the chance to read is End of Men by
3. A classic you’d like to read?
All of them! Ok well I have only read a few and of course one day I’d love to delve into all of them but, you know, I have been wanting to read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas lately. I’ve seen the old movie a few times as a child (the one with Michael York whose voice is memorable but not necessarily my favourite for the character -no offense to any fans-😅), and really loved the newer The Man in the Iron Mask with Leonardo DiCaprio which features some of the same characters years later. My mum was an avid fan of Dumas as a teeanger herself. She read his books over and over and I can’t get a better recommendation than that can I? 😀
4. A book you’d like to re-read?
Well I’ve just finished reading a book over the weekend and the review will be up tomorrow but I definitely have to say that Shine Until tomorrow by Carla Malden is a story I just loved! It’s a coming of age story but with a brilliant twist where the main protagonist Mari ends up going back in time to the sixties summer of love! It’s an amazing story for me, I really couldn’t put it down and I just wanted to re-read it as soon as I finished! Apart from that (which maybe doesn’t count as it’s too recent?) I’d really love the chance to re-read Caraval by Stephani Garber or Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. I absolutely adored those books but wow do I not remember most of the details now! 😮
5. A book you’ve had for ages and want to read?
The Martian by Andy Weir. I was given this book a couple of years ago, but had on my tbr pile for longer, on the recommendation of a family member and I really do want to read this one. I’ve been more keen this year for some odd reason although I don’t know if I’ll actually get the chance to read it yet as my tbr (to-be-read) pile from publishers is just sooo long! But the story is one that I am being cautious not to spoil for myself and to not see any of the movie or read anything about it as I just really want to surprise myself with it. I just have heard so many good things about this book and I really can’t wait to read it!😃
6. A big book you’d like to read?
What counts as a big book? How many pages constitutes big? 🤔 For everyone a big book is different, for example to the avid bookworm a big book could be something over 600 pages whereas for me, someone who used to be a reluctant reader and still struggles sometimes when I see a big book, a big book is anything above 400ish pages. This year I would love to finally read The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan. I got a proof of this years ago when publisher The Borough Press was just three years old and they were giving away three proofs to three winners (get it 😉 ). I just love the story idea and the proof looks beautiful but I still haven’t read it after accidently misplacing the proof when packing for a house move. 😮 I’m unearthing a lot of things hidden away in stray boxes this year and now I’ve finally re-found this I really want to read it this year. It’s just over 450 pages and technically bigger in height and width than your average paperback so I think that counts as a big book, no? 😉
7. An author you’ve previously read and would like to read more of?
Again there are too many to mention although I really do want to read more books by Patrick Ness. I have recently gotten a book haul from publisher Walker Books with the latest book by him called Burn which features dragons. So I’d really love to read that this year and well, anything by him after really enjoying And the Ocean Was Our Sky which is illustrated by Rovina Cai with some truly magical illustrations!😍
8. A book you got for Christmas and would like to read?
I haven’t shared all the books and things I got for Christmas on this blog (at least not yet) but one book that I would love to read is The Time Machine and Other Works by H. G. Wells. I remember reading this book back around 2003 or ’04 when I was studying and wow did I miss this. I read almost the whole story while sitting in a cafe and I actually can’t remember the ending to The Time Machine and I’d love to re-read it. I was waiting to get/find a copy that had some other stories in it too, in fact I was looking for the same copy that I read in 2003/4. I’m not sure what I have now is that exact copy but it looks awfully similar and now that I was given it as a gift I can’t wait to get reading. 😀
9. A series you want to read from start to finish?
Can I say the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz? While I’ve read a couple of books at the end of the series including one filled with short stories, I have yet to read the whole series and I really really want to!
10. A series you want to finish that you’ve already started?
I still haven’t finished the Caraval series or Strange the Dreamer, in fact for both I’ve only read the first book in each series!😭 I loved them sooo much, especially Strange the Dremer which is one of my all time favourites. I just really want to read it but keep putting it off as I have so many other books to read.
11. Do you set reading goals? If so how many books do you want to read in 2021?
I have set my Goodreads Challenge goal this year at 70 books. It’s a step down from the 105 that I set last year which I didn’t make, but a decent amount to strive for which I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to make and surpass. 😀 I’d rather have a win this year than feel a failure for missing the goal again, especially as it’s a pink challenge this year (Goodreads has a different colour ever year for the challenge) and you guys know how much I love pink! 😍
12. Any other reading goals?
My only other goal is to read something new and not my usual genres for #Febookary. I’m looking to hopefully manage more than one book that month, and hopefully will find something exciting and very different to read, fingers crossed.
13. (my own additional question as I had resolutions last year) Are there any reading goals from last year that you’d like to carry into this year?
Yes, oh yes!!! I still haven’t read Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up, yes I know that’s very bad, especially as it was a book from a publisher but I still want to read it I just haven’t had the time and have put it off for some daft reason…(reason: actually forgot about it for months as it was hidden at the bottom of a pile of other books in a box🤦♀️). In fact if you look back over last year’s post, I think almost all of my resolutions are ones I still want to achieve though I don’t know if I’ll be able to, we’ll just have to see how things go this year, but I’m feeling positive. 🙂
So I hope you liked this book tag and my new year bookish resolutions. Let’s hope I achieve some of them this time, lol! 😅 Let me know your resolutions, book-wise, for 2021, either by doing the tag or commenting below. And whatever you plan, or don’t plan, to read this year, I hope you have a wonderful 2021 and that you enjoy all the books you read. Happy New Year everyone! 😀
What do you think of my New Year book resolutions? What resolutions have you made? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
The Strawberry Post 
Looks like some potentially great reads there – hope you get around to reading at least some of them this year. And good luck with your Goodreads challenge.
By the way, I’ve read “The Martian” and it’s a really great book, especially if you’re a fan of real astronomy/space exploration facts being in the books. The one he wrote afterwards, which is called “Artemis” is good too, but not nearly as good as “The Martian” in my opinion.
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Thank you! 🙂 Wow, such a great endorsement of The Martian, I want to read it even more now, I love it when books incorporate real facts into the stories. 🙂 I didn’t know about his next book Artemis though, thank you for mentioning it, in the meantime I’ll tell that family member about it, I’m sure they’ll want to read it even if it’s not as good as The Martian. 🙂
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