Christa's 2022 Reading Stuff

[Christa, The Renewed]

And so it begins. Looks like the first book I'll be logging for 2022 is Midnight in the Pentagram, a horror anthology that I checked out of KU back in October but never got around to. LOL So... here we go, into the new year!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Series (loose) goals:

Murderbot: Read 1-6 (ongoing series, currently caught up)

Joe Pitt: Read 1 - 4, To read 5

Sandman Slim: Read 1-8, To read 9-11 (ongoing)

Albert Samson: Read 1-2, To read 3-9

Hollywood's Garden of Allah: Read 1-2, To read 3-9

Themis Files: Read 1, To read 2-3 plus bonus online chapters

Southern Reach: FINISHED

Added this year:

The Expanse: Read 1-2, to read 3-9

[Christa, The Renewed]

Covers

January
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February
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March
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April
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May
- -

June
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July
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August
- -

September
- - -

October
- - - -

November
- - - - -

December
- - - - - - -

[Christa, The Renewed]

reserved

[Christa, The Renewed]

Done!

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

First! :)

[Christa, The Renewed]

Nyssa wrote: "First! :)"

:D Nicely done!

[DoodlePanda]

Happy new year! And good luck on your reading year <3

[Christa, The Renewed]

DoodlePanda wrote: "Happy new year! And good luck on your reading year <3"

Thanks! Same to you!! <3 z3

[HomeInMyShoes]

Another year. Another challenge to ignore, well, for me at least.

[Christa, The Renewed]

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Another year. Another challenge to ignore, well, for me at least."

LOL At this point, it's about tradition. I don't think many of us are particularly worried about our actual challenges, it's mostly our little social thing we converge around.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

^^^This!!^^^

[HomeInMyShoes]

I'm going to try to feign interest this year. I do have a few reading goals I wouldn't mind achieving for countries, but nothing overly specific. I'm thinking more Japan and Northern Europe and more kids' books. I'm really missing the books I used to read with my oldest who now reads on his own.

[Christa, The Renewed]

Three books down and logged.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Excellent! :)

[Christa, The Renewed]

Just had my first DNF last night. Dirty Little Midlife Crisis

I had misgivings when it was first-person present tense. (That can work, but not always.) Then came the shifting perspective between the two main characters. I really don't like first-person head-jumping. It's fine (and pretty common) in third-person, but first-person just... No. Then the H is this stoic perpetually-single emotionally closed-off guy who instantly melts into useless insta-love goo when he meets the h and I'm just... I can't.

I really wanted it to be good because we need more middle-age romance novels but alas, no.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Aww, sorry it sucked, hon, but at least you can now move to something you can enjoy.

[Christa, The Renewed]

January is a wrap! 6 books is a good start to the year. Not too invested the pace though, as I've got a couple of really long ones coming up that I want to read this year.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Excellent start! I hope you enjoy all of your reads for the remainder of the year! :)

[Christa, The Renewed]

Nyssa wrote: "Excellent start! I hope you enjoy all of your reads for the remainder of the year! :)"

Thanks! I hope we both have a fantastic reading year!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Realized I hadn't updated my covers post since the end of Feb. So that's done!

15 books so far this year. I'm happy with that.

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated my covers again. Currently at 18 books with the 19th nearly finished.

I'm in Florida at my mom's house at the moment. Still reading every night but a bit less than usual so The Dancing Plague is taking me longer than I expected it to, even after the chunk I knocked out of it reading on the plane last week.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

You're averaging just over a book a week which is excellent! :)

Enjoy the time with your mom and read when you can.

I'm only reading a few pages a night as well, mainly due to dithering between which book I want to read at the moment and tiredness.

[Christa, The Renewed]

I'm back home from Florida, got in last night. I was originally supposed to come home on the 5th, but I decided to stay longer.

Updated my covers. Currently working on the last book in the Southern Reach trilogy. It's a weird one. Good, but weird even compared to the first two.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Welcome back! :)
It's awesome that you got to spend extra time w/ your mom.

Oh, and congratulations on completing one of your series goals!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated my covers after realizing how long it had been. Also trying to decide what to read next since I'm DNFing the one I was reading. Might hit up Overdrive for the next Sandman Slim. Been wanting to get back to that series, seems like a good time for it.

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated covers again. I can't believe the year is half over already!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated covers. Also updated my reading journal. I can't believe there were only two books to add, but then I do have a short story collection in progress between books, and also I vaguely recall starting a book that I didn't get very far in. Can't remember what it was though.

Also, I hate the new book page. Mostly because it broke the Chrome extension that inserts library availability onto the page. Still works in shelf view, at least.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Hi, Christa! :)

I don't think the book page has changed on my browser yet. Or maybe, I just don't notice anything different.

[Christa, The Renewed]

Nyssa wrote: "Hi, Christa! :)

I don't think the book page has changed on my browser yet. Or maybe, I just don't notice anything different."

I think they are rolling it out gradually, but it's no longer in beta so once you've got it, you're stuck with it. I'll get used to it, it's just a pain constantly looking up stuff on my library's Overdrive page manually after having that extension for like 6 or 7 years. LOL Hopefully the extension developer will be able to update it to make it work.

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated covers. Realized I hadn't posted an actual comment in over a month. LOL

Bought my plane ticket to go see my Mom for Christmas. Gonna be there for three weeks so maybe I'll finally read Seveneves while I'm there. It's a long book, so allocating it to a 3-week vacation seems right. I've owned it for months but I keep rotating through ongoing series and library holds and such and just never get to it.

[Christa, The Renewed]

I did it! 40 book challenge completed! Suddenly and unexpectedly, too.

I think I want to start writing reviews again. Haven't done much of that in ages. I'll probably go back and start with this month, so that means I have two reviews to write. I may or may not be procrastinating by writing this instead.

October is spooky month so I'm reading spooky books. Two down, and my current book is a 3-in-1 omnibus and I don't yet know if I'm going to read them all at once or separately. I'll probably read and count them separately because there are several horror novels waiting for me and I would like to diversify my October reading among more authors.

Made a 2023 reading journal booklet for my pocket-sized traveler's notebook setup for ease of use. I'll still copy the reads into my main multi-year reading journal but the small one will be easier to manage on a regular basis because it's right there with my planner and other things. And because I designed it myself, I was able to include some pre-filled series tables for series I'm still reading, making it easier to keep track and figure out the next book in a series without having to check Goodreads. I also included some blank series tables for any new ones I get into, because you know I will.

Bought a few books in the past month. I don't need more books. Did it anyway. Reorganized some of my Kindle Collections on Amazon, and then wiped my Oasis, then only downloaded 35 books instead of 150 or so I had on there. Things feel a bit more manageable now. :D

Okay, I'm gonna go try to write a book review now.

[Bianca]

Congratulations!

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

1. Congratulations! :)

2. I would love to read your reviews! *You can do it!!* LOL

3. Enjoy the spook-fest. :) I think I'm only reading one horror novel this month.

4. Your reading journal sounds incredible. I'm not that disciplined. I don't know what I would do regarding tracking my reads if it were not for GR.

5. I've been thinking of resetting my Paperwhite, but then I get anxious and change my mind. I'm hoping a new version will come out in the next year - I'll then send my other two in and use the credit towards the newer one.

How do you like your Oasis? It looks "big" to me. Is it comfortable?

[Christa, The Renewed]

Thanks again, both of you! :D

Honestly, I still need GR because I often look up my recent reads because I usually don't log them in the notebook right away. If I didn't use GR I'd probably still need a spreadsheet in addition to the journal(s).

The current Paperwhite and Paperwhite Signature Edition just came out October 2021 so I don't think we'll see a new one for at least a year, probably longer.

I adore my Oasis but if I needed to replace it, I'd probably go with the new Paperwhite instead. Almost as much screen real estate, longer battery life, same pixel density and warm light, and a lower cost.

I do find the Oasis comfortable to use. I have a Ayotu cover for it that's got a really soft surface. Even with the cover, it's pretty light, and the buttons are right where my thumb can easily press them. (I would really miss those buttons if I switched. LOL)

I did a double-trade-in combined with Black Friday when I got the Oasis. I think with the sale discount, trade-in discount and trade-in gift cards, I ended up only paying about $50 for it.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Christa wrote: "I did it! 40 book challenge completed! Suddenly and unexpectedly, too.


Nice. I'm only slightly late on the congratulations.

[Christa, The Renewed]

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Nice. I'm only slightly late on the congratulations."

Thanks! :D

[Christa, The Renewed]

I found a replacement Chrome extension that gives me library availability even on the new book page layout. Yay! It's called Library Extension and it works with other sites too, like Amazon, etc. It's not as cleanly integrated but it works and that's the main thing.

Link for anyone interested: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/de...

Anyway. It looks like my Spooky Month total will be 5 horror novels, as I should have my current one finished in the next couple of days. I'm happy with that.

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Excellent! (Library Extension & Spookiness!) :D

[Christa, The Renewed]

Updated my covers.

Lots going on. I might hit 50 books by the time the year's out, but depends on whether or not I decide to try to read Seveneves next month, as it would likely take the whole month. LOL

Going to Florida for Christmas, from Dec 13th - Jan 4th, then I'm coming back home, renting a dumpster and downsizing my life by about 90%, then I'm moving to Florida permanently. The actual timing of the move is up in the air because of all I have to do before hand, and also because my "bonus sister" is driving up to get me and move me down in her SUV and we're not exactly sure when she'll be able to do that due to some family stuff she's got going on.

So yeah, that's happening. Woooooo!

[Nyssa, Series Addict]

Wow!!! Good Luck, Congratulations, (((HUGS)))

[Christa, The Renewed]

Nyssa wrote: "Wow!!! Good Luck, Congratulations, (((HUGS)))"
Thank you!! {{{HUGS BACK}}}

[Bianca]

Congratulations and good luck with the move!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Bianca wrote: "Congratulations and good luck with the move!"
Thank you! It's going to be exhausting it's the right decision. And there's something cathartic about starting over. :)

[Spacechik]

Congratulations! Good luck with the move. It's a lot to move homes but after it's done, it's done!!

[Christa, The Renewed]

Spacechik wrote: "Congratulations! Good luck with the move. It's a lot to move homes but after it's done, it's done!!"

Thank you! The last time I moved was almost 13 years ago, and I was holding on to a lot more stuff then so this time should be easier. I'm not taking any furniture and I'm not taking most of my books. That last bit will be painful to pick the ones I want to keep but since I do almost all my reading on my Kindle, anything that isn't a reference or art book is just a shelf decoration. LOL

[HomeInMyShoes]

Wow. Best of luck with the move.

[Christa, The Renewed]

HomeInMyShoes wrote: "Wow. Best of luck with the move."

Thanks! Right now it's just frustrating because there isn't a lot I can do until January. And then once I do start, it's going to be total chaos. :D

[Christa, The Renewed]

And we've come to the end of 2022! My goal was 40 and my final total was 57. Yay! December was my biggest month with 8 books from one series. LOL I'd still be reading it if I hadn't run out of books. #9 comes out in a few months.

I was going to write a wrap-up with genre totals and stuff but my reading journal is back in Nashville and I don't have a patience to manually figure it out on Goodreads. LOL