2021 WRAP UP | Reflections and Stats!! ft. Rating books based on Disney References

Hello friends!!

ONE DAY MORE. ONE MORE DAY TO REVOLUTION 2022.

I’m echoing everyone’s sentiments: How is it already the 31st of December, with 2022 being… tomorrow? Well regardless, there’s one last day of closure for 2021, and I’ve a record for being notoriously late to blog milestones and all, so for once here’s a wrap up that’s just in time. I’m excited to review 2021 in all its bookish, Poppy-War-ish glory!

2021 READING STATS

For 2021, I set my Goodreads goal to 60 books, and I managed to exceed it by 9 books! There was a period of time where I was 5-6 books behind, so I’m pleasantly surprised by that. Another thing I’m happy about would be my balance of YA and Adult books, 2020 was a year of mostly YA books and this year I wanted to venture more into the Adult category, definitely will be doing so again next year!

One of my biggest goals from 2020 was to read more diversely, specifically, books by Asian authors, as I could directly resonant more with them being Asian myself. I’ve been intentional about selecting books by Asian authors, particularly Chinese or Singaporean authors (starting off with my own culture!!), and it’s been so eye-opening. There’s something inherently different reading a book by someone who grew up with the same culture as you did, I’ve found so many books where I was able to appreciate the mythology in its fullness, and others where I resonated so deeply with, something simply reading books by White authors has never made me feel before. Truly heartening to see the book community diversify as well!

This comes as no surprise to me. This year of school was stressful, so what a reprieve fantasy was! Historical fiction was high as well, another of my favourite genres. I also found some sci-fi books that I loved more than expected. My only disappointment would be the lack of non-fiction books, oops.

My average rating for this year is 3.1 stars which is… good? I’ve met quite a few disappointments this year, but at the same time found many 4 stars and above reads!! Hoping to be more selective in the books I read next year and bring the rating up to 3.5 maybe?

This next segment was based on a whim, and is entirely Encanto’s fault. I watched Encanto not too long ago, and with its songs reverberating in my head non-stop, I was drawn back once again into a Disney craze. Thus, in order to highlight some memorable books of the year, here they are matched to some Disney lyrics!!

YOU’LL BE IN MY HEART, ALWAYS

FROM THIS DAY ON, NOW AND FOREVER MORE; my absolute favourite books

Related Post: My Top 10 Books of 2021

YOU’RE A SPINELESS, PALE, PATHETIC LOT

AND YOU HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE; the worst books of this year

TALE AS OLD AS TIME

TUNE AS OLD AS SONG, BITTERSWEET AND STRANGE; books that are/should be classics

WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO, NO, NO, NO

SEVEN FOOT FRAME, RATS ALONG HIS BACK; the biggest disappointments i don’t want to think about

SCRUB THE DECK AND MAKE IT LOOK… SHINY

LIKE A TREASURE FROM A SUNKEN PIRATE WRECK; the book covers that make me have heart eyes

YOU GOTTA DIG A LITTLE DEEPER

FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE; books that took time to process being incredibly thoughtful

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER

NOTHING’S IN MY WAY; the most intriguing premises of books i’ve read this year

BLOGGING

One word to describe my blogging journey in 2021 would be sporadic. I literally posted whenever I felt like it, and when busy seasons gone, well, my blog would be empty for a few months. Nevertheless, I managed to write 31 posts, and out of them, here are some of my favourites:

• If You Liked that Marvel Movie, Read this Book! – My first recommendations post in a year, coinciding nicely with a newfound Marvel craze! (So excited for the MCU content 2022 is going to bring!)
• My 1st Blogiversary | Reflections and Gratitude – I was more than a month late to my own blogiversary, would not recommend!! But truly, I’m so grateful for this platform and I loved reflecting and shouting out to bloggers as I wrote the post!
• My Top 10 Books of 2021 – !!!
• 2021 Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag – I was at my peak of my Poppy War obsession whilst writing this haha

Other milestones

• We hit 499 followers!! I find this really funny, and insane!
• I started to be granted ARCs towards the end of the year and be approved by publishers when I directly emailed them!
• I started a bookstagram, and despite being a person who has no aesthetic sense, it’s been a marvellous experience.
• A whole lot of people have read The Poppy War after hearing my cries, and many have loved it!

And that’s a wrap! I have a lot of specific goals and plans for next year, so I think I’ll save it for its own post!

I hope that amidst all the rocks and boulders 2021 threw us, everyone managed to have a pretty decent year. If not, here’s my wish that 2022 would be Poppy War level excellence (minus the pain) for you!!

How was 2021 for you? Are you excited for 2022? Have you read any of the books mentioned here and agree with my ratings?

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