2021 Reading Plans and Setting Up My Reading Journal

I have ambitious reading plans for 2021.

Like many, the chaos and never endingness at the beginning of the pandemic and the impacts on all aspects of life left me feeling sluggish and unable to concentrate long enough to read. However, in June I started to create some routines around reading which I wrote about HERE, and I've been able to get back into the habit. 

My reading slowed down again -- actually almost stopped -- in October and the first half of November with all of the uncertainty of the US Presidential election, but I ramped way back up in mid-November and am almost at my pre-pandemic reading rates. 

For 2021, I decided I would set some goals and themes for the year and that I would set up a reading journal.

For the journal, I selected a notebook from my vast collection and decorated it with some stamp pads from Ranger and Hero Arts and stamps from Studio Calico, Hero Arts, and elsewhere. It was so much fun! I know that this journal will keep me inspired to read throughout the year. 

Once the stamping was done, I planned out what I hope to read in January. A few books will be read a little bit at a time over the course of the year while others will be read just like any other book I might read for pleasure. 

In 2020, I had originally planned to take part in a challenge to read all of William Shakespeare's works in a single year as part of a project that you can learn more about HERE, but the pandemic derailed that pretty fast. I'm committing to the challenge for 2021. I'm also joining a reading challenge focused on reading children's books, and I'll be reading at least two poetry collections per month, as well as doing some normal pleasure reading.

I have ambitious plans for my 2021 reading. Here's what's on deck for January:

Shakespeare: 

• Twelfth Night
• Henry VI, Parts I, II, III

Bill Bryson's The World As Stage (all about Shakespeare)

Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project -- to be read one chapter per month (each chapter corresponds to the months of the year)

• Chapter 1: January -- Boost Energy, Vitality (read about it HERE)

Children's books:

• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn (read my review HERE)
• The Dragons are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky
• Let's be Enemies by Janice May Udry
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths -- to be read in segments over the course of the year:

• In Olden Times, Gaea, The Titans
• Zeus and his Family
• Hera
• Hephaestus

Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic -- already started and will be reading chapters 5 through 11

The Black Painting by Neil Olson

Poetry:

• Blood Oranges by Dylan Brennan
• Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen

Amy Tan's The Opposite of Fate -- to be read one chapter/essay per week over the course of the year

• Chapter 1: The Cliffs Notes Version of My Life
• Chapter 2: How We Knew
• Chapter 3: A Question of Fate
• Chapter 4: Faith

Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet -- to be read one letter per week

• Letter One
• Letter Two
• Letter Three
• Letter Four

Drop a comment and tell me about something ambitious you have planned for 2021!

Want to read along? You can find all of the books above (where possible) on Bookshop in the USA HERE. I like Bookshop because you can support independent booksellers and readers more easily and directly than through Amazon, but Bookshop does have limits, including much smaller inventories than Amazon and lack of overseas availability.

These books are not available via Bookshop as of this writing:

• You can find Blood Oranges by Dylan Brennan on Amazon Kindle HERE.
• Let's Be Enemies by Janice May Udry on Amazon HERE.

Want to try to recreate my stamping project? You can find these supplies on Amazon:

• Ranger Archival Black stamping pad
• Hero Arts Lemon Yellow stamping pad (I used sunflower yellow but could not find it on Amazon)
• Stamping blocks 
• Dandelion stamp from Hero Arts (I couldn't find the exact one I used in this project, but I also have this one and love it!)
• The Studio Calico stamp set I used is sold out everywhere, but THIS stamp set is pretty cute!
• As far as notebooks, I suggest you find and use any notebook that you think will bring you joy every time you open it.

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