2022 Reading Wrap Up

Another year, another reading challenge met! I am very proud of myself for meeting my 100 book challenge. 100 books a year sounds like a lot, but its really only 2 books a week. I also count audiobooks, and it’s really easy for me to make that number when counting those. This is such a fun challenge for me and I love keeping track of all the books I read throughout the year. I use both Goodreads and Storygraph to track my stats (GR because it has more reviews, SG because it’s easier to use), and I love that Bookstagram and Booktok help me find so many great reading recs.

Looking back on my stats, I am proud that I kept my formats balanced (for the most part!), but for next year I would like to add an sub-goal addendum to my challenge: I want at least 52 of my reads to be physical books, and 52 to be audiobooks, for a total of 104. Also, I would like to read more e-books in the next year!

𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗟? Yes! I exceeded my 100 book goal and read 113 books this year, and I am very proud of myself

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗟: 104+

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯? I hope to finish all of Jane Austen’s works in ’23

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall and Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: Pride and Prejdudice, Flower Fables, and Honeycomb

𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦: for at least 52 of the books I read to be physical books and at least 52 audiobooks. Also, I’d like to read more e-books! 

💬QOTD: Have you met your reading goal? Any bookish resolutions going into 2023? 

Thank you to @mommas.library and @honeydukesbooksfor sharing this 2022 book tag!

The Five books that define your reading taste?

Five books that define your reading taste?
This was so much harder than I thought it would be! I went back and forth, but finally I pulled these together—I think they represent my favorite genres pretty well. I enjoy mythology, witchy fantasy, magical realism, nature poetry and classics. And of course my ultimate favorite is Jane.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It’s no secret that this is my favorite book. Anyone who knows me knows of my obsession with all things Jane Austen. (I wont go into it here because this is a post for the 5, but if you want to read more about how I fell in love with Jane read my blog post here!)

Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life

I love books about nature, because I want to gain a better understanding of our amazing home and how it works. We are all connected and I want to understand that relationship, and sustain it when I can. It is important as a human being to know about the world you live in. I believe it is our duty to protect the environment and hopefully make the world a better place, if possible. We affect nature, we are nature. Dickinson’s musings on nature give us all a great reason to remember and reestablish that relationship with Mother Earth, and I love coming back to the lines in this book when I need to realign myself with nature.

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves

I have loved Greek Mythology since I was a teen. I first read this book, along with Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, and they sparked a huge love of myths that I never could shake! I was lucky enough to be offered classes in both high school and college that taught me so much more about the myths, but I will never be done learning about them. C. S. Lewis’ Til We Have Faces was the first ‘myth retold’ that I ever picked up, but not the last.

Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott

I love this book. So so much! It is a lovely little collection of shorts, telling of all the good deeds done by the fairies of the flowers. Elves and Spirits, Kings and Queens, Roses and Clovers, Birds and Butterflies — nature spirits dwell all around us. “Few are the mortals to whom we give this lovely gift;” But, if you can learn to look and listen, you will find them, in the sweet melody of songbirds and the sweet scent of the flowers. This is essential cannon if you love fae folk!

The House of The Spirits by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is another one of my all-time favorite authors. I love her books and will seriously read anything she writes. I just love the way she weaves together history and whimsy and romance!

September Wrap-Up + One-Word Reviews

Pizza Girl — messy
Marionette — possessing
Funeral Girl 🎧 — ghostly
Marple 12 new mysteries — disappointing
Tales to keep you up at night 🎧 — layered
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau — scientific
Maria, Maria — fantastical
Melissa (previously called George) 🎧 — inspiring
Feed 🎧— discomforting
Neon Gods — smutty
Women and Other Monsters — feminist
Sistersong — folkloric
Selected Ghost Stories by Edith Wharton — spectral
The Mary Shelley Club 🎧— dramatic

Progress: 69/100 | 🎧 *audiobooks

ʜᴏᴡ ᴍᴀɴʏ ʙᴏᴏᴋs ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪɴ Sᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ? 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 14!

August Wrap-Up + One-Word Reviews

🌸A Lady For A Duke—Extraordinary
🏝Happily Ever Island—cute
🧙‍♀️Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch—historical
🔍Agatha Christie The Body in the Library—logical
📖Girl In Translation Jean Kwok—persevering
💐The Neapolitan Sisters—tripartite
🐝The Bees Laline Paull—scientific
🪴Cosmic Botany—genius
✨Magic of Birthdays—educational
🔮The Modern Art of Brujería—insightful
🌿The language of Herbs—glossary
🌹Flower fables Louisa May Alcott—Enchanted
📎office BFFs—funny

QOTD: How many books did you get through in August? Any favorites? My top 2 were A Last For A Duke and Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott!

Progress: 55/100