My 2022 reading year did not feel as varied as I was hoping it to be at the beginning of the year. I think I need to make more of an effort to step out of my reading comfort zones. I am still enjoying sitting down a day or two after I finished a book to write a few thoughts down about it. That small effort really does help me retain what I read.
I was able to continue my trend and read about one nonfiction or spiritual/apologetics type book a month (14 total), and that helped me to expand my reading at least a little. I am going to do my best to continue that for 2023.
Mysteries are still one of my favorite genres. I read 31 including Young Adult mysteries. I discovered the author Ngaio Marsh this year. Her Inspector Allyen is a delight.
I intended to read then watch a few book to movie adaptations, but I never got around to the movie part of it. Oops. Maybe in 2023?
I’m still enjoying young adult fiction (23 total). I read a three book science fiction series and a really enjoyable five book fantasy series along with the other Young Adult books. The Trixie Belden mystery series is always fun.
There were a several books that I read in 2022 that I did not like at all. While I have been asked why in the world would I finish I book I wasn’t enjoying, the answer is, well, I’m not always sure. The best I can say is that sometimes, the book does pull the me along and I am hoping for a “good” resolution, so I stick with it. Sometimes, I think I’m just being stubborn. Also, there is this, if I really do not like a book or an author, I want to be able to say exactly why. If I don’t finish, well, then is my opinion really worthwhile?
Reading will always be a part of my everyday life. I cannot imagine my life without books and reading. I hope all of you have something in your lives that gives you as much joy as reading does mine.
Thank you for sharing my journey and Happy Reading in 2023!
The Stats for 2022:
Total Books read: 94
Total Pages read: 28,493
Nonfiction/Spiritual: 14
Fiction: 57
Junior/Young Adult Fiction: 23
Favorite Re-Reads: “Emma” by Jane Austen, “Mansfield Park” by Jane Austen, “My Friend Flicka” by Mary O’Hara, “The Eye of the Heron” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Favorite First Time Reads: “I am the Messenger” by Markus Zusak, “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver, “The Hollow Man” by Dan Simmons, “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson, the five books of “The Dark is Rising Sequence” by Susan Cooper
Least Favorite Reads: “The Judas Pair” by Jonathan Gash, “Everything I Never Told You” by Celeste Ng, “The St. Zita Society” by Ruth Rendell, “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Kruger, “Heresy: an Elizabethan Thriller” by S. J. Harris
Hi Cheri, I keep following your blog out of interest for what I may need to someday read. I’ll never get it all done of course. That’s the good thing about reading. I did complete one self help book this month, and it was an audible book. But it made sense to do it that way for me. “13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t do” by Amy Morin.
As for actual sitting down and reading, it is still not one of my disciplines. I am reading Harlen Coben’s “Gone for Good” a little each night. I go after such books very slowly (unlike a chocolate chip cookie which isn’t going to be in my life more than 3 hours if it’s in my house).
I read—-and very fast because the subject is totally engrossing for me—-William Whipple Warren’s epic non-fiction “History of the Ojibway People.” I received it through the Michigan lending system for a specific purpose and little did I know what I was in for! If you are interested in American history other cultures it’s a can’t miss. It would take too long to explain the book. There are online reviews. They are not really useful, and also I didn’t read them! All the better actually. The preface and introduction in the copy I got were as amazing as Warren’s humble and knowledgeable story. It is now a book I am hoping to *maybe* purchase in the future. Well, also, I checked it out to try and understand part of my genealogy. It helped me not at all, but gave me an appreciation for the times and people who came before us in Michigan.
Hi Hope! It sounds like you have had several interesting books in your life recently. I am totally with you about the chocolate chip cookies. They are hard to resist. I hope you do find a book or two on my blog that you can enjoy. My ‘to be read pile’ is ever growing, so I understand the feeling of never being able get all the reading in you would like. I am planning on looking up your “History of the Ojibway People” book. I love history.