When we were trapped inside during the Great Quarantine of 2020, I read books to keep me sane. I had a good reading year, with 45 books completed, encompassing nearly 18.5k pages. My ego was high going into 2021, with my Goodreads goal set to 50. What my quarantine brain didn’t account for was reality and the return to a semi-normal, but mostly confusing, life. Between graduation, starting my first full-time job, and adhering to a strict writing schedule for my own novel, I lost the motivation to read. By the time 2022 rolled around, I hadn’t even reached half my goal, let alone 50 books. 2021, in my mind, feels like an utter flop in terms of reading.
Cue the overly ambitious reading goals of 2022. Not only is my Goodreads set back to 50 books, (this is the year I will be accomplishing this feat!!) but I’ve decided to tackle two buddy reads. That’s two more buddy reads than I’ve ever accomplished in my life. There was a poor attempt to buddy read Tolkien’s legendarium once, but that quickly fell to the wayside as we all chugged along at different paces. This time though, I’m determined to complete them. I even went as far as creating fancy Excel charts.
Would you peg international superstar Harry Styles, the man of almost everyone’s dreams, as an avid, analytical reader? Probably not, but people started paying attention and after compiling a list of every book he’s ever mentioned in interviews, came up with this fun challenge. If you know me, then you know two of my favorite things include books and Harry Styles. So, it was only natural when my friend Paige texted me, asking if I
wanted to form a 2022 Harry Styles buddy read, that I said yes. With 10 books total, we decided to round it up to 12, each picking an additional book we think Harry might be interested in, meaning we can tackle one a month. Half of the books I haven’t heard of, most of them honestly scare me, but I’ll admit it – I’m beyond excited. Love is a Mixtape, In Watermelon Sugar, and Norwegian Wood are books up my alley that I’m betting right now I’ll love (future me will update), but some of them, like Notes on Camp are ones I haven’t even heard of, which means I probably wouldn’t have ever put them on my TBR (to be read, for you non-readers) list if it weren’t for Harry Style and Paige.
Now, if there’s one thing I love more than former boyband members, it’s Harry Potter. For all of you that know me, this is truly shocking, I know. *Quickly covers up Harry Potter stars tattoo* This buddy read formed fairly recently, and if I’m honest, I can’t even remember how it came about. I think Kamryn (shoutout to my fellow English major) and I were discussing how much we want to re-read (and in Kamryn’s case, finish) the Harry Potter series. I probably would’ve done it alone, but the idea of having someone to call every few weeks to go on ramblings about my overanalysis or crazy fan theories is exciting. Below is the (over the top) Excel sheet I created for us. We discovered we both have our favorite character in common and let’s be honest, how could it NOT be Ron Weasley?
Besides being fun, buddy reads are a great way to hold yourself accountable. Between these two buddy reads, I’ll manage to knock out 22/50 books for the year. For those of you thinking that math doesn’t add up because, hey, there are only seven Harry Potter books, we decided to have a full-on immersive experience and include the Fantastic Beast screenplays and the Cursed Child script. If you’re looking for an engaging, but also liable way to get your book numbers up this year, then I highly recommend roping your friends into a few buddy reads yourself. Who knows, you might just discover some new favorites. Here’s to 2022 and reaching those daunting goals!