Lindsey G's "Keep Having Fun" 2022 Challenge

[Lindsey]

Last year my challenge was about just breathing after a rough 2020. I needed to get my reading groove back and thankfully I found it!! By taking the pressure off and just focusing on reading challenges I like, i was able to have fun with reading again. So my 2022 approach is the same. Just have fun reading! No pressures to hit a bunch of goals. Here is what waa fun for me this last year:

📚 -12+4 challenge
📚 - Popsugar Reading Challenge
📚 - Color Challenge
📚 - ATW/State Challenge
📚 - Tackle my backlog of books to hopefully clear off some bookshelves!! 🤣🤣
📚 - Read next in series
📚 - Tackle my Netgalley list

And I love buddy reads!! So let me know if you see anything that's on your list too and let's do a buddy read!

[Lindsey]

12+4:

My 12:
1. The Four Winds
2. Survive the Night
3. The Family
4. Not a Happy Family
✔5. We Are the Brennans - 1/19
✔6. Razorblade Tears - 2/17
7. What Comes After
8. The Neighbor's Secret
9. The Lincoln Highway
10. Somebody's Daughter
11. The Survivors
✔12. People We Meet on Vacation - 4/20

Plus 4:
✔1. Outlawed - 2/24
✔2. How Lucky - 5/19
✔3. A Flicker in the Dark - 3/3
4. Everything We Didn't Say

[Lindsey]

My Popsugar Reading Challenge: (24/50)

2022 Challenge- REGULAR prompts
1. A book published in 2022
2. A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship
3. A book about or set in a nonpatriarchal society
4. A book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title
✔5. A sapphic book - Outlawed
6. A book by a Latinx author
✔7. A book with an onomatopoeia in its title - A Flicker in the Dark
✔8. A book with a protagonist who uses a mobility aid - How Lucky
✔9. A book about a "found family" - True Biz
10. An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner
✔11. A #BookTok recommendation - People We Meet on Vacation
✔12. A book about the afterlife - The Book of Cold Cases
13. A book set in the 1980s
14. A book with cutlery on the cover or in the title
15. A book by a Pacific Islander author
16. A book about witches
✔17. A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2022 - Pieces of Her
18. A romance novel by a BIPOC author
✔19. A book that takes place during your favorite season - A Good Neighborhood
✔20. A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read - The Road to Grace
21. A book about a band or musical group
22. A book with a character on the ace spectrum
✔23. A book with a recipe in it - Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love
✔24. A book you can read in one sitting - The Walk
✔25. A book about a secret - The Club
26. A book with a misleading title
27. A Hugo Award winner
✔28. A book set during a holiday - Miles to Go
✔29. A different book by an author you read in 2021 - The Record Keeper
30. A book with the name of a board game in the title
31. A book featuring a man-made disaster
✔32. A book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover or Amazon page - A Million Reasons Why
33. A social-horror book
34. A book set in Victorian times
35. A book with a constellation on the cover or in the title
✔36. A book you know nothing about - The Christie Affair
✔37. A book about gender identity - Razorblade Tears
✔38. A book featuring a party - The Younger Wife
39. An #OwnVoices SFF (science fiction and fantasy) book
✔40. A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - 22 Seconds


2022 Challenge - ADVANCED prompts
41. A book with a reflected image on the cover or "mirror" in the title
✔42. A book that features two languages - Honor
43. A book with a palindromic title
✔44. A duology (1) - The Finders
45. A duology (2)
46. A book about someone leading a double life
47. A book featuring a parallel reality
✔48. A book with two POVs - The Golden Couple
✔49. Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" (1) - We Are the Brennans
✔50. Two books set in twin towns, aka "sister cities" (2) - Black Cake

[Lindsey]

Color challenge:

January - A Good Neighborhood, We Are the Brennans, The Golden Couple
February - Razorblade Tears, Outlawed
March - The Walk, Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It
April - Miles to Go, People We Meet on Vacation, Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love
May - The Road to Grace, How Lucky, The Favor
June -
July -
August -
September -
October -
November -
December -

[Lindsey]

ATW Challenge: (1/5)

Africa 
Algeria - Angola - Benin - Botswana - Burkina Faso - Burundi - Cameroon - Canary Islands - Cape Verde - Central African Republic - Chad - Comoros - Congo (Republic) - Congo (DRC) - Djibouti - Egypt - Equatorial Guinea - Eritrea -
Ethiopia - Within These Wicked Walls (2021)
Gabon - Gambia - Ghana -
Guinea - Sankofa (2021)
Guinea-Bissau - Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) - Kenya - Lesotho - Liberia - Libya - Madagascar - Malawi - Mali - Mauritania - Mauritius - Morocco - Mozambique - Namibia - Niger -
Nigeria - Cross Country (2017)
Reunion - Rwanda - Sao Tome & Principe - Senegal - Seychelles - Sierra Leone - Somalia - South Africa - South Sudan - Sudan - Swaziland - Tanzania - Togo - Tunisia -
Uganda - One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It (2018)
Western Sahara - Zanzibar - Zambia - Zimbabwe

Antarctica 

Asia 
Bangladesh - Bhutan - Brunei - Cambodia - China - Georgia - Hong Kong -
India - The Orphan Keeper (2018)
Indonesia -
Japan - Tokyo Ever After (2021)
Kazakhstan - Korea, North - Korea, South - Kyrgyzstan - Laos - Macau - Malaysia - Maldives - Mongolia - Myanmar - Nepal -
Pakistan - I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (2017)
Philippines - The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home (2018)
Singapore - Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Tajikistan - Thailand - Tibet - Timor Leste - Turkey - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Vietnam 

Caribbean
Anguilla - Antigua & Barbuda - Aruba - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Curacao - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Dutch Caribbean (Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius) -
French West Indies (Guadeloupe, St. Barts, Martinique & St. Martin) - Black Cake (2022)
Grenada -
Haiti - Everything Inside (2020)
Jamaica - Montserrat - Puerto Rico - St. Kitts & Nevis - St. Lucia - St. Maarten - St. Vincent & the Grenadines - Trinidad & Tobago - Turks & Caicos -
Virgin Islands - Winter in Paradise (2020)

Europe
Albania - Andorra -Armenia - Austria - Azerbaijan - Azores - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - 
Czech Republic - Cilka's Journey (2019)
Denmark -
England - The Secret Keeper (2018)
Estonia - Faeroe Islands - Finland - 
France - The Da Vinci Code (2018)
Germany - Gibraltar -
Greece - The Jetsetters (2020)
Greenland - Hungary - Iceland -
Ireland - Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (2019)
Italy - The Tuscan Child (2018)
Kosovo - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Macedonia - Madeira - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Montenegro - Netherlands - Norway - 
Poland - The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2018)
Portugal - The Guilt Trip (2021)
Romania - Necroscope (2017)
Russia - Lost Roses (2019)
San Marino - 
Scotland - At the Water's Edge (2017)
Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain -
Sweden - A Man Called Ove (2018)
Switzerland - The Sanatorium (2021)
Ukraine - Vatican City -
Wales - In the Blink of an Eye (2019)

Latin America
Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil -
Chile - We Were Never Here (2021)
Colombia - Infinite Country (2021)
Easter Island - Ecuador - Falkland Islands - French Guiana - Galapagos Islands - Guyana - Paraguay -
Peru - The Heart Between Us: Two Sisters, One Heart Transplant, and a Bucket List (2020)
Suriname - Uruguay - Venezuela

Middle East
Afghanistan - Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield (2017)
Bahrain - Iran -
Iraq - Jet Girl: My Life in War, Peace, and the Cockpit of the Navy's Most Lethal Aircraft (2020)
Israel - Killing Jesus: A History (2019)
Jordan - Kuwait - Lebanon - Oman -
Palestine - A Woman Is No Man (2020)
Qatar - Saudi Arabia - Syria - United Arab Emirates - Yemen 

North America 
Belize - 
Canada - Death du Jour (2018)
Costa Rica -
Cuba - Next Year in Havana (2018)
El Salvador - Guatemala - Honduras - Mexico - Nicaragua - Panama -
USA - When Crickets Cry (2018)

Oceania
Australia - What Alice Forgot (2018)
Belau - Cook Islands - Fiji -
French Polynesia - Something in the Water (2018)
Guam & Wake - Kiribati - Marshall Islands - Micronesia - Nauru - New Caledonia - New Zealand - Papua New Guinea - Pitcairn Island - Samoa - Solomon Islands - Tonga - Tuvalu - Vanuatu 

[Lindsey]

ATW map placeholder

[Lindsey]

State Challenge: (13/51)

1. Alabama -
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California - Black Cake
6. Colorado - The Record Keeper
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Florida -
10.Georgia - Pieces of Her
11. Idaho - Miles to Go
12. Hawaii -
13. Illinois - The Finders
14. Indiana
15. Iowa -
16. Kansas
17. Kentucky
18. Louisiana - A Flicker in the Dark
19. Maine
20. Maryland
21. Massachusetts -
22. Michigan -
23. Minnesota
24. Mississippi
25. Missouri
26. Montana
27. Nebraska
28. Nevada -
29. New Hampshire -
30. New Jersey -
31. New Mexico
32. New York - We Are the Brennans
33. North Carolina - A Good Neighborhood
34. North Dakota
35. Ohio -
36. Oklahoma
37. Oregon - The Book of Cold Cases
38. Pennsylvania -
39. Rhode Island
40. South Carolina
41. South Dakota - The Road to Grace
42. Tennessee
43. Texas -
44. Utah
45. Vermont -
46. Virginia - Razorblade Tears
47. Washington - The Walk
48. West Virginia
49. Wisconsin -
50. Wyoming

Washington D.C. - The Golden Couple

[Lindsey]

Backlog of Books to Pick From: (2/5)

Missed books from 2018 challenges:

11/22/63
The Red Tent
Pride and Prejudice
Reconstructing Amelia
Fly a Little Higher
Angela's Ashes
Where the Crawdads Sing
One Day in December
The Vanishing Year
Our Kind of Cruelty
Lying in Wait
The Dutch Wife
Calling Me Home
The Wife Between Us
Dad Is Fat
Wonder
All the Missing Girls
I Am Watching You
America's First Daughter
The Handmaid's Tale
Bridge of Sighs
The Aviator's Wife
The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader

Missed books from 2019 challenges:

The Woman in the Window
A Nearly Normal Family
See Me
Delicious!
The Forgotten Road
The Joy Luck Club
Lab Girl
The Flight Attendant
Lying in Wait
The Lost Girls of Paris
When Life Gives You Lululemons
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
The Other Daughter
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Huntress
The Turn of the Key
The Secrets We Kept
The Medical Examiner
The Last House Guest
The Cactus
The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears
An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude
The Night Tiger
The Chef
Still Alice
House Rules
The Orphan's Tale

Missed books from 2020 challenges:

Beneath a Scarlet Sky
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Scent Keeper
The White Princess
Please See Us
The Marriage of Opposites
Still Alice
Shopaholic Ties the Knot
Dark Places
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America's Future
Furia
Take It Back
Paris Never Leaves You
My Mother's Choice
✔ Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It
What My Husband Did
If Only I Could Tell You

Missed books from 2021 challenges:

✔ A Good Neighborhood
Golden Child
The Silent Wife
Burying the Honeysuckle Girls
The Island of Missing Trees
Daughter of Fortune
They Turned the World Upside Down: A Storyteller’s Journey with Those Who Dared to Follow Jesus

Books I want off my bookshelf:

The Nest
Eight Perfect Murders
The Road Home
Sometimes I Lie
Unwritten
The Dead Don't Dance
Chasing Fireflies
Winter Solstice
GodSpace: Embracing the Inconvenient Adventure of Intimacy with God
Winter Garden
The Perfect Stranger
Where We Belong
The Matchmaker
The Dog Who Saved Me
Picture Perfect
Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service
The Dutch Wife
Summer of '69
Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
Beyond Justice
Imperfect Justice
The Stationary Shop of Tehran
When Life Gives You Lululemons
The Night Olivia Fell
Where We Belong
Not My Boy
First Comes Love
Paris for One and Other Stories

[Lindsey]

Next in Series to catch up on:

Alex Cross:
Alex Cross, Run
Cross My Heart
Hope to Die

Women's Murder Club:
✔ 22 Seconds

Lincoln Rhyme:
The Vanished Man
The Twelfth Card
The Cold Moon

Grant Series:
Kisscut
A Faint Cold Fear
Indelible

Quincey & Rainey:
Say Goodbye
The 4th Man
Right Behind You

Kay Scarpetta:
Cause of Death
Unnatural Exposure
Point of Origin

Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Shopaholic:
Shopaholic Ties the Knot
Shopaholic and Sister
Shopaholic & Baby

Tudor Series:
The Lady of the Rivers
The White Queen
The Red Queen

[Lindsey]

Buddy read placeholder

January - A Good Neighborhood
February - Black Cake
April - The Book of Cold Cases

[Lindsey]

Netgalley list: (12/20)

1. The Golden Couple
2. The Living and the Lost
3. Black Cake
4. The Christie Affair
5. The Club
6. Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It
7. The Record Keeper
8. A Million Reasons Why
9. Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love
10. The Finders
11. The Younger Wife
12. The Favor

[Bill, Moderator]

It'll be interesting to see how you flesh out your lists, Lindsey. Enjoy your 2022.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Good luck, hope you can have another year of fun reading

[Ioana]

This should be fun, happy reading!

[Emily]

Good luck, Lindsey! 🐾

[Lindsey]

Bill wrote: "It'll be interesting to see how you flesh out your lists, Lindsey. Enjoy your 2022."

Thanks Bill! Got my list all posted. Now I'm ready to tackle 2022!!

[Lindsey]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Good luck, hope you can have another year of fun reading"

Thanks Delsley! I think it will be another fun year of reading! 😊

[Lindsey]

Ioana wrote: "This should be fun, happy reading!"

Thanks Ioana! 😊

[Lindsey]

Emily wrote: "Good luck, Lindsey! 🐾"

Thanks Emily! 😊

[Bill, Moderator]

Lindsey wrote: "Bill wrote: "It'll be interesting to see how you flesh out your lists, Lindsey. Enjoy your 2022."

Thanks Bill! Got my list all posted. Now I'm ready to tackle 2022!!"

You're going to enjoy your 2022 reading.

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

From your 2018; 11/22/63 is a must read! I never thought the underlying love story would pull me in; but it was all written so well. Highly recommended.

From 2019: The Joy Luck Club. Great familial innerworkings and drama, but in a good way. Great pacing too. Just my opinion.

From 2020: The Lion, the Witch...... because it's a class; it's fantasy, and even though it is considered christian fantasy/fiction; it is not preachy.

From 2021: I got nothing for you!! LOL

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your reading.

[Lindsey]

Finally getting around to updating my challenge here. I ended December getting a really nasty upper respiratory infection. Then in January I caught covid and thst turned into pneumonia. So it wasn't until about mid Feb thst my ability to read came back. I did get a few books in Jan but not that many.

[Lindsey]

January's Update:

I only read 4 books, one of those being with my son.



My favorite book of the month was Honor. A great book I highly recommend.

The most interesting book was A Good Neighborhood. I did this as a buddy read. While i wasn't crazy about the book, it did spark a lot of great conversation and that made it fun for me. This book is definitely one I would recommend for book clubs. I think being able to have all the discussions around the topics of this book will make it enjoyable even if the book itself was just an okay book for you.

Not a strong month but i was recovering from the upper respiratory infection and then bam i catch covid.

[Lindsey]

February's update:

Surprisingly I read 11 books,, although a numher of those were books with my son. Here were ones just by me:



The best book of the month was Razorblade Tears. Read this book! It was so emotional and powerful.

The worst book of the month was Outlawed. Its a quick read, it just wasn't the story for me.

My son Jack and I finished a series he's been reading by Stuart Gibbs. Its a great series that we both really enjoyed- . Its a great series for 8-13 yr olds.

My covid turned into pneumonia which sent me to the hospital. I couldnt even focus to read until mid February. It felt so good to read again. Now i have alot of catching up to do.

I made progress on all of my challenges except for series. Need to try to squeeze one or two in. And i definitely have to knock down that backlog of books. A ton of those are on my physical bookshelves at home. My husband this I'm crushing the foundation of our house with the weight of all of my books. 🤣🤣🤣

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Sorry you ended up in hospital and were too poorly to read, hope you are on the mend now.

[Ioana]

Glad to hear you're feeling better; Razorblade Tears is on my short list, so I hope to get to it soon.
Please take care of that house and its foundation 🤣

[Lea]

Wow, Lindsey, sorry you were so sick. I'm glad to hear you're feeling well enough to read again. It sounds you need to continue to read books. For the sake of your house and all. :-)

[Lillie]

Sorry to hear about the pneumonia and then covid! A rough month :( Glad you're doing better.

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Lindsey wrote: "Finally getting around to updating my challenge here. I ended December getting a really nasty upper respiratory infection. Then in January I caught covid and thst turned into pneumonia. So it wasn'..."

Awww, Lindsey. Sorry you were ill like that; covid is horrible. Glad you are doing better! 🤗🤗

[Lindsey]

I'm so bad about posting my monthly updates. Just updated all of my challenges so I'll try to get caught up on my monthly updates. As they say, life gets in the way. 🤣🤣

[Lindsey]

March's Update:

I read 27 books that month. There was a big reading challenge going onnat my son's school, so alot of the books were with him for his challenge.

Here are my books:


Here are the ones I read with Jack:


Best Books of the Month -

I cannot recommend The Walk enough!!! Read this book!!! It's a series and it is AMAZING!

Worst Book of the Month - - i say worst because it was the most disappointing. I still gave it 3 stars, I was just expecting the story to be better than it was.

[Lindsey]

April's Update:

I read 7 books this month.

My books:


Books with Jack -

This was a good month for reading for me, most of my books were 5 stars.

Best Book of the Month -
But definitely high mention to , and

Worst Book of the Month - - but again, its only because I was wanting more from the story. I still gave it 3 stars.

[Lindsey]

May's Update:

I read 8 books this month.

My books:


Books with Jack:

Best Book of the Month - - I am LOVING this series!!

This was another good month of reading. There really wasn't a bad book...

[Lillie]

Great reading month!

The Dan Gutman books bring back the days when my son would sit down with me to read. Such fun :)

[Lindsey]

Lillie wrote: "Great reading month!

The Dan Gutman books bring back the days when my son would sit down with me to read. Such fun :)"

Thanks Lillie!! My son just laughs and laughs when hebreads thise books. He's just about done with the whole series. While I've enjoyed the silliness of the books I'm ready to move on to something else. Lol

[〰️Beth〰️]

Sounds like a great May. I have to add The Walk series to my TBR. Several people I know rave about the series.

Hope June is filled with more good books!

[Alissa]

My oldest loves the Weird School books, they are so fun!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Wow! Look at all those book covers!! 📚📚📚📚👀😍😍😍

I really think I would have read The Weird School books with my kids. I mean, we read Captain Underpants together and quite a few others. This is right up our alley!

Kudos on your progress and I am so glad you are feeling better. 🤗