My 2021 Reading challenge started with 50 books that I increased to 60 by October, thanks to a few short stories and some books I couldn’t complete. Overall, it was a good year for reading. 

I am glad I got over my compulsion for finishing a book I wasn’t enjoying. It has saved me a lot of grief and given me time for discovering books I loved.

I track my reading on Goodreads, a poorly-designed website and an even worse app. It was the only one available when I started tracking my reading almost a decade ago. I’ve invested a lot of time over the years in logging my books and reviews on it to shift to another reading site where I’d have to do it all over again. So, for now, I’m sticking with it.

I am also disappointed with Goodreads’ annual awards, which only considers books published in the US as if they’re the only ones publishing good books! 

So, I made my own award list based on my reading shelf this year. What were some of your favs in 2021?

• Best Shorts: Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin
• Best Romance: Call me by your Name by André Aciman 
• Best Poetry: Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi: The World Of Urdu Ghazal by Anisur Rahman
• Best Fantasy Fiction: The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec 
• Best Non-Fiction: Hunger by Roxane Gay
• Best Mystery or Suspense: The Nothing Man by ​​Catherine Ryan Howard 
• Best Audible: The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
• Best Fiction: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
• Best Fiction about Blue-skinned people: Blue-Skinned Gods by S.J.Sindu
• Biggest disappointment: The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
• A book that went around in concentric circles leading to nowhere: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• 2nd novel disaster: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
• Overrated classic: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

Do you agree?

I will, of course, be posting a category-wise short review of the books I read in 2021 over the next week or two. I would love to hear some good book recommendations as well.

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