This article is not sponsored. All opinions are 100% my own.
One of my new year’s resolutions is to read at least ten books. Last year, I had ample time to read and read about 30 books–with a little bit of help from audiobooks.
Suppose you are not an avid reader but are interested in reading a bit more this year, too. In that case, I highly recommend you consider signing up for a library card at your local library and the library within the capital of your state. They’re both free and will be your best resource in tackling your reading goals this year (or any year, as long as you renew the card accordingly). For example, I have a library card in my town’s local library, and I also have a library card at the Boston Public Library. Another perk of having two library cards is if one library doesn’t have an available copy of the book you want, the other library (especially the city-based libraries) will probably have it!
Another tool to assist you in achieving your reading goal is the iOS app called Libby. It’s an e-book and audiobook service that allows you to sync your library card and borrow, hold, and categorize the books (e-books and audiobooks alike).
Still not convinced that you can read more books this year? If there is one tool that you MUST have, I am 95% confident that this next tool will convince you otherwise.
My final must-have that will help make your reading goal a reality is GoodReads. It’s a website and an iOS app that enables you to find your next favorite book and explore genres you usually don’t read. You can categorize books into shelves. GoodReads has pre-made bookshelves such as “To Be Read,” “Currently Reading,” and “Read.” But you’re not limited to those shelves; you can create bookshelves of your own. For example, I made bookshelves such as, but not limited to, “Favorite Reads,” or “School Reads,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Adoption.”
GoodReads has a Reading Challenge feature for which you set a reading goal. When you move your books from the “Currently Reading” to “Read” bookshelves, GoodReads will tell you how many you’ve read this year and whether you’re on track with your goal, or if you’ve exceeded your Reading Challenge–it will even say how many books you need to read to catch up and get back on track with your reading goal if you haven’t read enough books. If you are scared to commit to a definitive number of books, you can always keep your reading goal at 1 book and feel [X] times more accomplished when you exceed your goal of one book. It may just help you feel that much more accomplished if you exceed your 1 book reading goal when you realize you’ve read three books!
If you are looking for a book with which to start your reading journey, I highly recommend referring to the GoodReads Choice Awards for the year prior. For example, I have listed below titles of books from across various genres that are featured on the GoodReads Choice Awards of 2020 Any books with an asterisk, I have read, and I highly recommend. All other books are pulled from the GoodReads Choice Awards and are on my TBR.
Genre: Fiction
The Midnight Library By Matt Haig
Anxious People By Fredrik Backman
American Dirt By Jeanine Cummins
Such a Fun Age By Kiley Reid
The Girl With the Louding Voice By Abi Daré
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
The Guest List By Lucy Foley
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
The Night Swim By Megan Goldin
The Sun Down Motel By Simone St. James
One By One by Ruth Ware
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Jane Austen Society By Natalie Jenner
The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Genre: Fantasy
Crescent City By Sarah J. Maas.
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue By V.E. Schwab
The House of Cerulean Sea By TJ Klune
Rhythm of War By Brandon Sanderson
The City We Became By N.K. Jemisin
Genre: Romance
From Blood and Ash By Jennifer L. Armentrout
Beach Read By Emily Henry
In Five Years By Rebecca Searle
Regretting You By Colleen Hoover
Take a Hint, Dani Brown By Talia Hibbert
Genre: Science Fiction
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars By Christopher Paolini
Harrow The Ninth By Tamsyn Muir
Network Effect By Martha Wells
The Space Between Worlds By Micaiah Johnson
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor By Hank Green
Genre: Horror
Mexican Gothic By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
If It Bleeds By Steven King
The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires By Grady Hendrix
Devolution By Max Brooks
The Bright Lands By John Fram
Genre: Humor
Strange Planet By Nathan W. Pyle
A Very Punchable Face By Colin Jost (yes, from Saturday Night Live!)
The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s By Andy Greene
F*CK Your Diet By Chloe Hillard
Is This Anything? By Jerry Seinfeld
Genre: NonFiction
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You By Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Hood Feminism: Notes From Women That a Movement Forgot By Mikki Kendall
Me and White Supremacy By Layla F. Saad*
Don’t Overthink It By Anne Bogel
Get Out of Your Head By Jennie Allen
*As a W.O.C. raised in a White community, I highly value this book, which doubles as a journaling guide.
Genre: Memoir & Autobiography
A Promised Land By Barack Obama
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson.
The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life By Alex Trebeck (R.I.P. to an Educational King.)
Hollywood Park By Mikel Jollett
Genre: History & Biography
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents By Isabel Wilkerson
The Splendid and The Vile By Erik Larson
A Black Women’s History of the United States By Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
The House of Kennedy By James Patterson
The Extraordinary Young Women of The First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz By Heather Dune Macadam
Fight Of The Century By Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman (and more!)
The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual and The United States of America By Eric Cervini
Genre: Science & Technology
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future By David Attenborough
How To Argue With a Racist By Adam Rutherford
Breath By James Nestor
The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis By Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Genre: Food & Cookbooks
Modern Comfort Food by Ina Garten
Quick and Delicious By Gordon Ramsay
Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering, Volume 2 By Joanna Gaines
100 Cookies By Sarah Keiffer Dessert Person By Claire Saffitz
Genre: Graphic Novels & Comics
Heartstopper By Alice Oseman
I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf By Grant Snider
Fangirl By Rainbow Rowell*
Sapiens By Yuval Noah Harari
The Times I Knew I Was Gay By Eleanor Crewes
Almost American Girl By Robin Ha
The Stars Are Scattered By Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
* I read the novel version of this as a First-Year at St. Lawrence University, and it helped me feel less alone and helped me understand that everybody is doing their best to acclimate to the college lifestyle.
Genre: Poetry
Dearly By Margaret Atwood
Break Your Glass Slipper By Amanda Lovelace
Swimming Lessons By Lili Reinhart
Home Body By Rupi Kaur
On The Horizon By Lois Lowry
Genre: Debut Novel
Cemetery Boys By Aiden Thomas
My Dark Vanessa By Kate Elizabeth Russell
The Year of the Witching By Alexis Henderson
One To Watch By Kate Stayman-London
You Deserve Each Other By Sarah Hogle
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder By Holly Jackson
One of Us Is Lying By Karen M. McManus
Felix Ever After By Kacen Callender
You Should See Me In a Crown By Leah Johnson
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
The Queen of Nothing By Holly Black
These Violent Delights By Chloe Gong
The Extraordinaries By T.J. Klune
All The Stars and Teeth By Adalyn Grace
The Shadows Between Us By Tricia Levenseller
Genre: Middle Grade & Children’s (these are on the Choice Awards for a reason!!)
The Trials of Apollo By Rick Riordan (we love Rick Riordan and Greek Mythology)
The One and Only Bob By Katherine Applegate
Before the Ever After By Jacqueline Woodson
We Dream of Space By Erin Entrada Kelly
The List of Things That Will Not Change By Rebecca Stead
Genre: Picture Books (and we love a little break from reading, right?!)
Antiracist Baby By Ibram X. Kendi; Illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
Just Like Me By Vanessa Brantley-Newton
I Am Every Good Thing By Derrick Barnes; Illustrated By Gordon C. James
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read By Rita Lorraine Hubbard; Illustrated By Oge Mora
We Are The Water Protectors By Carole Lindstrom; Illustrated By Michaela Goade
I hope this non-exhaustive list helps you conquer your reading resolutions this year! What books are you adding to your TBR (to-be-read) list? Let us know!
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