A 2021 Reading Challenge

Hello Hello! Bet you didn't think you would hear from me so soon, yet here we are. While my paper deadlines loom over my head, I have decided to completely ignore them all and dedicate all my mental energy to creating a 2021 Reading Challenge. Classic. 

So here are a list of book-related challenges for 2021 if you too are interested in participating in arbitrary, unnecessary challenges that mean nothing, but you have nothing else to do to make life interesting. 

1. Read a book from an author you have never read before

I am 100% guilty of doing that thing where I just hear that an author is really great and then I just buy a bunch of books by them even when I haven't read one of their books. Like, why did I buy 2 more Virginia Woolf books when I haven't even read the first one that I had? So this challenge is for those authors. 

2. Read the book that has been sitting on your shelf, unread, the longest 

This challenge is because I have books that have been sitting on my shelf for YEARS, unread. YEARS. 

3. Read a book you have not read by an author you really enjoy

This challenge is because there are quite a few authors that I've been meaning to check out more of their books but never have. I'm looking at you Riley Sager, Haruki Murakami, Wilkie Collins and Lisa Jewell. 

4. Read a book recommendation from a friend!

This challenge is because my friends are so nice and give me so many good recommendations which I also keep aside to read books that I have recommended for myself and I should really be giving those a chance cause they might become my next absolute favorite book ever. 

5. Read a book set in your home state

I clearly didn't think this challenge through, because out of the 186 books on my 'Want to Read' list apparently none of them are set in New Jersey. Love that for me. If you are also from NJ and want to do this challenge, there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to 'Novels set in New Jersey'. You're welcome.  

6. Read a book that you've started and never finished 

This challenge was created because I tend to do that thing where I start a book and then never come back to it even though it was going fine. I have like 7 books that fit this description that deserve to be finished. 

7. Read a book from a genre you typically avoid 

This challenge is so that I finally read the one Science Fiction/Dystopian book on my shelf because everyone who knows me knows that I avoid Sci-Fi and Fantasy like the plague. 

8. Read a book set in a country you want to visit

Since traveling is currently a ?, why not travel through books? 

9. Read a book from the New York Times Best Seller List from the week you were born 

Shamelessly adapted this idea from the Youtube Channel 'Drinking by my Shelf'. Here is the list from the week I was born. Tbh I don't really know about any of the books on this list other than 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. 

10. Read a book released in 2021

So that we're not all reading only old books lmao. Also I have like 10 new releases already on my 'Want to Read' Shelf. 

So there you have it, a reading challenge to get you through 2021. If you decide to participate, let me know, or not, it's really up to you.