A quick round up of the books I read over 2021 and how I progressed with my writing projects over the year.
Reading
Number of books read = 212
The link to my completed Goodreads challenge is here.
Another year over with. Another pile of books read. Another book written.
How was everyone’s 2021? I mean, compared to a pre-pandemic year, it was still pretty rubbish, but in comparison to 2020, I thought it was a vast improvement. I got to go on holiday this year! (Just to Devon, but that was enough for me!) I bought a car, which allowed me to spend more time exploring my local area. I got to spend more in-person time with my friends. I got to go to the cinema and went to a gig! (Enter Shikari if you are wondering, and it was amazing!). I got to see my work colleagues. And I got to go to comic con!
From May and until just before Christmas, life felt normal again. I was going back into the office, I was seeing friends, and going out to bars and the cinema. I’m writing this at a time when the UK government haven’t announced any further restrictions aside from “Work from home where possible”, but I have a feeling that restrictions will likely tighten again after New Year. Hopefully they will not be for too long.
BUT, you’re not here to listen to more COVID doom and gloom. Let’s talk about books!
In terms of reading, this has been my best year ever for reading. For the first time, I’ve managed to reach 200 books read in a year. I’ve got close before, but I normally end my year around 190 or 180. But this year I smashed through it. I’m thinking that first part of 2021 when we were in lockdown was likely the factor that allowed me to do it.
Pictured above are my favourite reads of 2021, and below I’m going to talk about my favourite books from the second half of 2021. These are in addition to my 2021 mid-year wrap-up post, which you can view here.
The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary
My book club read Beth O’Leary’s second book – The Switch – for book club first, which we all enjoyed. Then we decided to read The Flatshare together, and we agreed that her second book paled in comparison to her debut novel. The Flatshare follows the budding romance between Leon and Tiffany. Tiffany has just come out of an abusive relationship and needs somewhere to live. Leon needs some extra income, so puts out an advert for his flat, which Tiffany answers to. The deal: Leon, as a night shift nurse, gets the flat during the day to sleep, and Tiffany gets it at night, meaning they will never meet. But, of course, with this being a romance novel, they meet eventually and when they do feelings start to develop. Like any good romance novel, the book isn’t just about the main character’s blossoming romance, but is also about Leon and Tiffany’s personal growth. I thought it was really excellent of Beth to include a character who was recovering from psychological trauma obtained from an abusive relationship, which is something we rarely see in books, let alone romance novels – which can sometimes romanticise abusive relationships.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
This book was one of the best fantasy books I read in 2021. I really really enjoyed it. I found the sequels less enjoyable, but as the first instalment in the series, this book was something really special. In order to talk about why this book is so great, I’m going to go into spoilers, so please look away now if you don’t want to know! The Fifth Season follows who we are led to believe are three separate characters – a girl who has just been given away by her family to a government body; a young woman in the service of that government body who is on a mission; and a middle-aged woman whose husband has murdered her youngest child and kidnapped her eldest child. You think that all three characters are separate people that will meet up at some point, but they are in fact the same person and we are being told the story of the main character during different points of her life (so cleaver!) The world building is also amazing – it’s set in the far future, where the Earth is subject to extreme tectonic plate movements, and some humans have developed the ability to control the earth. It’s just a cool book, and is the first book I have read that features a polyamorous relationship.
Sweat and Soap by Kintetsu Yamada
I’m very glad that when I decided to start reading this series, that I bought all the volumes that were available, so that I could binge read it all. Because I don’t think I could have waited 2 months between each volume. The series is that good. It’s a really nice adult romance that isn’t just senseless drama between the two main characters – it’s as much as a growth story about the two of them as individuals as it is a growth story about their love for each other. The story follows Asako, a woman who works in the finance department of a toiletries company. She sweats a lot, and because of the bullying she experienced as a child, she is very cautious about keeping herself clean. But then one day a colleague who works in product development, Natori, walks past her and is intoxicated by her scent. The romance has a very strange start to it, but it blossoms into something so lovely, that allows the two characters to develop as individuals and find solutions to their problems together.
The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Before I read this book, I was seeing it everywhere on social media. I was a little sceptical about reading it because I was worried it was just one of those massively hyped books that would not live up to my expectations. As this book is on my favourite reads of 2021 list, you know that the hype was real! V.E. Schwab described this book as like “being wrapped up in a big gay blanket”. And I really do think that is the best description for it! The book follows Linus, who works for a government department that deals with the monitoring of magical children. His job is to visit orphanages that look after these children to ensure they are not being abused. He is good at his job, but is under appreciated by his company, lives alone at 40, and we get a sense that even though he tells himself he is OK, that he really is not OK. One day he gets sent on a special mission to visit a out of the way orphanage that is home to some very peculiar magical children. There, Linus learns the meaning of family and has to chose between his duty and his dreams. It’s just a lovely book, and I really enjoyed the magical realism.
Writing
Unlike 2020, 2021 has gone according to plan. At least on the writing front! I’ve managed to stick to my 2021 writing plan, and I actually finished Otaku Trash a month ahead of schedule, which was a huge delight after I was consistently missing deadlines for Six Hands of Fate!
Writing Otaku Trash was such a nice change of pace. I don’t think I knew how much I was struggling with Six Hands of Fate until I put it down to write Otaku Trash. Otaku Trash was just so easy to write. A breath of fresh air. I did enjoy writing Six Hands of Fate but it was hard. Keeping track of so many characters, having to create a whole world, and trying to create a story that completed itself in a book, but also left enough intrigue for the next in the series was HARD. It’s also quite dark, with lots of violence and very little humour. To go from that to Otaku Trash which is in a contemporary setting, filled with jokes, with a story I was able to wrap-up in one book that contained no violence, lifted a weight from my shoulders that I hadn’t known was there.
With Otaku Trash I was also able to do my first book launch, which was super fun. I kept it very low key, just doing some social media, and a friend threw a physical launch party for me with some friends, food and board games. But even if it was low key, it was super lovely, and added to my sense of accomplishment.
I had hoped to get a little more traction with Otaku Trash in terms of the readership. I’ve got 110 reads on Wattpad, which is better than any of my previous books have done, but that only means I’ve had about 3 people read the book, and I haven’t received any feedback on it. I know I need to get stuck into the Wattpad community in order to make this happen, and gain a following, but I haven’t quite got there yet… I am thinking about taking another turn with my self-publishing journey and going more “professional” but I need some time to consider the pros and cons before I do this.
So now that I’ve finished Otaku Trash, what’s the plan for Six Hands of Fate?
After I finished Otaku Trash, I read back over Book 2 of Six Hands of Fate to a) See how I felt about the series; and b) To check it over before I posted it on Wattpad. I read the book over and spent about a month editing it, so I can release it on Wattpad early next year. But, doing so made me realise that I feel very little enthusiasm for the series. It’s a bit of a mess, and it would take a lot of time to re-edit books 1 and 2 to make the series work. And I have fresh and exciting ideas that I want to work on more. Every now and again, I will get a flash of excitement for the series as I think about the characters and their journeys, but I honestly don’t think at the moment it would be worth carrying the series on. Who knows, perhaps in 10 years time I’ll come back to it, like I am doing with the YA Western.
And what’s my writing plan for 2022? Well, you’ll have to wait another day to find out. Keep your eyes peeled on this space…
Bookworm Scribe 