Maybe it’s a little early to be making plans for 2021, but I’m so over 2020 that I can’t help but do a little daydreaming about what I’m hoping will be a better year. Anyway, in previous years, I’ve done the PopSugar Reading Challenge, the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge, put together my own reading list, and also just read with total freedom. There were aspects of all of those approaches that I loved (structure, forcing myself out of my comfort zone, freedom, etc). There were also aspects that felt really restraining (reading a book or genre that I hated, not being able to pick books that felt right in the moment, books that I was excited about sitting on my shelf for months or years, etc.).

In 2021, I’m doing something totally different with my reading plans. In 2021, I’m picking 12 categories, one for each month. I’m not assigning a category to a particular month, so that I can use discretion about which category is the best fit for me in a particular month based on life circumstances, number of books in the category, or just what feels right that month. Instead I will be pick which category I want to fulfill at the start that month. I’ve also left a couple of months as “whatever strikes my fancy” so that I can delve more into genres that I read more often, revisit a category from another month, or just read whatever the heck I want to.

Within the category, I’m listing books that I already own that fulfill that category. Some categories have more books than others. The goal will not be to read all of them, as that would be unrealistic. Instead the goal will be to read from books that I already own or have borrowed from others, and to make the bulk of that month’s reading come from that category. I think this will help me to broaden my horizons for some months, or really ‘dive deep’ in other months.

This probably sounds complicated, but it’s really not. I think I’ll just dive into my categories and the books that fulfill those categories, and this will make a lot more sense. For the books, I’ll italicize Kindle books, underline audiobooks, and leave in plain text the physical books. So, here we go…

#1–Borrowed Books

• The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (Borrowed from friend Sierra)
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (Borrowed from mother-in-law Vonnie)
• Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Borrowed from friend Sierra)
• All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot (Borrowed from friendDennis)

#2–Mysteries

• A Fire Sparkling by Juliana MacLean
• The Man Who Played with Fire by Jan Stocklassa
• The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
• A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
• The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett
• The End of Temperance Dare by Wendy Webb
• Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie
• The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
• A Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
• Crooked House by Agatha Christie
• Third Girl by Agatha Christie
• Spider’s Web by Agatha Christie
• An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
• The Real Sherlock by Lucinda Hawksley
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

#3–Frank McCourt Books

• ‘Tis
• Angela’s Ashes
• Teacher Man

#4–Nebraska Authors

• Love Song to the Plains by Mari Sandoz
• Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglala by Mari Sandoz
• The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories by Willa Cather
• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
• Selected Stories by Willa Cather

#5–Children’s/Middle Grade/YA

• Go by Kozumi Kaneshiro
• Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• The Complete Emily Starr Trilogy: Emily of New Moon + Emily Climbs + Emily’s Quest by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• The Wrong Door by Paul E. Richardson
• Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

#6–Books by “John”

• Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike
• The Short Novels of John Steinbeck
• A Hundred Fires in Cuba by John Thorndike
• Faith of My Fathers by John McCain

#7–Memoirs

• Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
• Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush
• When It Was Our War: A Soldier’s Wife on the Home Front by Stella Suberman
• Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda by Rosamond Halsey Carr
• Girl Unbroken: A Sister’s Harrowing Story of Survival from the Streets of Long Island to the Farms of Idaho by Regina Calcaterra and Rosie Maloney
• The Son and Heir by Alexander Munnghoff
• Your Blue Is Not My Blue by Aspen Matis
• Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Eduardo Strauch
• The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife by Peter Gatien
• West with the Night by Beryl Markham
• Thicker than Water by Tyler Shultz

#8–Witch Books

• Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (I also have the physical book)
• The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston
• The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston

#9–International Authors

• The Girl in the Tree by Sebnem Isiguzel
• Life by Lu Yao
• The Price of Paradise by Susana Lopez Rubio
• The Passion According to Carmelaby Marcos Aguinis
• About the Night by Anat Talshir
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevski
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
• Island Beneath the Seaby Isabel Allende
• Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende
• The Two Towers: Book Two in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Return of the King: Book Three in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende

#10–Adventure Stories

• Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne
• From the Earth to the Moon and Round the Moon by Jules Verne
• Letters from Steven: Stories from the First Solo Walk Around the World by Steven M. Newman
• The Haunting of H. G. Wells by Robert Masello
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles

#11/12–More from Above Categories, or Whatever Strikes My Fancy