focus on Reading -Week 22 as we get ready for 2022

[Booknblues]

So it is the end of 2021 and we are heading for 2022, what was this last year's reading like for you?
Any overall themes or thoughts?
How do you foresee your reading in 2022?

[Theresa]

I had a good year of reading. I had set my goal at 160 books and read 165. First time I hit goal in 3 years.

I finished my challenges that were set to finish this year except Unofficial Trim where there were hangovers. No surprise as most of my list was doubled up from not finishing the prior year.

I read 2 big books on my reading bucket list - A Suitable Boy and A Brief History of Seven Killings.

I read or more accurately reread a couple of classics like Rebecca and Frankenstein: The 1818 Text gleaning new insights.

The vast majority of my reads were first rate, and they got good reviews and ratings from me. My average rating was around 3.5 stars.
In fact there were only about a dozen reads that were disappointing, of which only about 3 were awful.

I do have 4 or 5 DNF which will get finished. None that I am totally abandoning.

I was transported by some books by authors new to me like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic

Lastly, at least 90% were books I already owned or had on my TBR!

[KateNZ]

I had an average reading year in 2021 - but that was better than 2020, which started ok then fell completely to pieces lol.

Most of mine were on audio - the one thing I did do in 2021 was to get properly back into stitching again, so audio lets me ‘read’ at the same time. And it bypasses the limitations of my currently very short attention span for print.

Also, most were four star, which was nice. In passing, I found a couple of neat urban fantasy series - the first was the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka (now complete) and the second the completely delightful Kings Watch series by Mark Hayden (three more books still to be written).

Now the trick will be to keep up the stitching (I have to, since I’ve signed up for a formal certificate course, eek!) and also try to build the print reading up to something more like normal levels. If it happens, it happens - I’m not making resolutions or stressing about it - but some of the challenges this year make that a little more likely than it would otherwise be: thanks!!

[Peacejanz]

At the beginning of the year, I promised myself that I would read more poetry - since I felt that I was ignoring that genre, even though I know so little about poetry. I did read more poetry. I finished 8 or 9 books of poetry by reading a few pages each night before my leap into whatever I was reading for book club or whatever. I read fewer mysteries than ever but a lot more varied stuff - book club books - a few rereads from 50 years ago and lots of new stuff getting a lot of press. One of my best was the new book by Amanda Gorman - a whole book or poetry with themes of peace and understanding and getting along in this world, along with some frustration about being cooped up because of Covid.
Call Us What WE Carry.
Thanks for asking. Too many books still on my TBR list. It never goes down because I keep adding. peace, janz

[Jgrace]

Until I started to make my top ten list, I thought I'd had a fairly bland reading year, lots of 3 star books, far too many cookie cutter Regency romances. But, looking it over I did read some exceptionally good books. I'm pleased with that.

I'm pleased that I participated in both PBT challenges. I wasn't interested in actual competition. I just wanted to take a stab at them. I've enjoyed it. But, I think I'll bow out of the 2022 challenges. I'll be cheering from the sidelines and watching the show.

I read one or more books for each monthly tag. I can't remember a month that I haven't managed that in the past 13 years. I've already got books cued for January.

I want to focus on the quality of my reading in the next year. Fewer books with more substance. Maybe. Sounds good at the moment.

I still have 3 or 4 reviews to write. I never seem to keep up with them.

[Theresa]

I forgot to mention a couple of benchmarks in my reading year!

One was my IRL book club Feminerdy. I first joined and attended only because a specific book was being discussed. My first meeting was A Game of Thrones. I popped in but stayed mostly out. Then I started enjoying not just the variety of books chosen that were pulling me into more fantasy and scifi, but the dynamic discussions of this core group. Now I am loyal to the point of reading Dune, a book I have shunned for about 35 years or more after several failed attempts to read it.

Another was reading along with others so many of the Edgar nominees at the beginning of the year. Mysteries are my deepest reading passion, and as a result of that Edgar Read, I have a whole new set of crime fiction authors in my life.

A major disappointment was not having time in December to wallow in Christmas romance and mystery. Not enough reading time and too big a book to finish. Fortunately Christmas in July is only 6 months away!

[Book Concierge]

I managed to finish 166 books in 2021. I never set a reading goal, but this is not the highest # of books read in one year ... nor the lowest.

Thirteen of those book were 5-star reads ... although of those 13, five were re-reads.

I just finished my last (unofficial) trim book ... but haven't gotten the review written or posted ... yet.

I kept up with my F2F book clubs, though one club fell apart due to Covid. It was a group curated by the English department of a local university. The selections were diverse and the discussion stimulating. They decided to try an on-line format through some company that "facilitates book club discussion." Only two of the regular attendees even tried this on-line effort and we've both abandoned it. I don't need to slowly read a book over 2 months with a new question every two weeks.

[Robin P]

For many years I read between 70-100 books a year. In 2020, because I was home so much, I read 151. I actually hoped I would never read that much again, because I would start traveling and going to more events. But in 2021, I read 223 books! Some of that was due to health issues that kept me home even between pandemic surges. Some was because I joined some challenge groups on GR that pushed me to finish more books faster. However, somehow my number of unread books never diminishes!

My average is probably about 3.5, since most books get a 3 or 4. I had 10 5's, but 4 of them were rereads. That is pretty typical, I am stingy with 5-star ratings, only giving them about 2% of the time. I had several 2-star ratings, but have resolved for the new year to stop reading books I don't like, even if I "need" them for a challenge or a local book group.

[Joanne]

In 2021 I read 124 from my goal of 130. Not my best year, but not worst either. I had a terrible reading slump that started in the summer and ran into fall and I never really climbed out of it. I set my 2022 goal to 130 again, let's give this another try.

More than half the books read in 2021 fell between 4 and 5 stars-so that makes for a pretty decent reading year! Most of those books were from my favorite genres HF and Sci-Fi, the others were Non-Fiction. I think the very best of the best this year was Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty.

I had some stinker 2 stars but anything that fell below that was a DNF for me. I think my average rating was 3.7.

For 2022, no more 2 star books-they will go in the DNF pile.

[Kimber]

I read a lot of good books this year, and even added one to my all time favorites list: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

I'm planning to have a pressure-free year of reading, and have the following simple reading resolutions in mind:
- Read more print books
- Read more books from my own shelves (this dovetails with the above)
- Explore listening to audio while doing household chores

[Rachel N.]

I ended up two books shy of my 75 book goal but it was overall a much better reading year than 2020 so I'm happy. One of my favorite activities from the year was reading edgar nominees with several other PBT members. I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. I enjoyed fly the PBT skies. Looking for items for pursue it became too stressful so I dropped that challenge sometime in the middle of the year.

[LibraryCin]

Robin P wrote: "For many years I read between 70-100 books a year. In 2020, because I was home so much, I read 151. I actually hoped I would never read that much again, because I would start traveling and going to more events. But in 2021, I read 223 books! ..."

Wow, Robin! I am so looking forward to being retired... :-)

[LibraryCin]

Robin, like you, I don't give out 5 stars very often, but I'd never figured out a percentage. I think a year or two ago, I gave out zero 5 stars through that year.

This year, though, I have a few more. 5/170 = 2.9%. That's high for me, though. I know I don't usually give out that many 5 star books!

[Booknblues]

I tend to read a high number of heavier literary fiction, but this year, I read from the Edgar list with other members and it reminded me of how much, I enjoyed mysteries and began to add more of those into my reading mix.

Then in June, I retired right when we had the tag of Beach Reads, and I enjoyed a number of them so began mixing them into my reads.

Being retired during a pandemic skyrocketed my reading with a 132 books, far more than I usually achieve.

I had over 10, 5 star reads which is high for me.

I did many mini personal challenges and in the end it was an enjoyable reading year.

[Meli]

I had a great reading year even though I missed my goal by 5 books, 43 out of 48 targeted :( But I set the 48 goal for 2022 so I'll try again! I slowed down toward the end of the year with holidays and we got a switch so I was playing a lot of Animal Crossing! I also read a couple chonkers this year (A Brief History of Seven Killings) and The Sympathizer which was more dense than long.

Like PeaceJanz I also set out to read more poetry and I failed completely! It should be easy, just read one poem a week or so but I didn't even bother. My reading was mostly driven by book clubs.

I finished the Fly the Skies challenge which was awesome!

This year I will not pressure myself because I am participating in no challenges so I just need to read for book clubs and pleasure as I am able.

[Holly R W]

For the past few years, I've had fun noticing unconscious patterns in the books I was reading. 2021 began with reading a lot of coming of age stories about teens. Then, towards the middle of the year, I began to read books about aging characters. And then, the books began to be narrated by children. Where oh where were the middle aged characters hanging out, I wondered. I'll call this My Year of the Life Cycle, for want of a better title.

Despite a brief reading slump, I've had a very enjoyable year reading. Books have given me hours of reading pleasure. My favorites continue to be fiction and memoirs. I've read more short stories than in the past. I have two special GR shelves for categories of books that delight me: "Gentle Reads" and "Playful".

I have no special plans for 2022. I'll participate in the monthly tags here and in the Walking Through History challenge. I love to keep things loose and see what emerges in my reading.

Wishing everyone here a happy, healthy New Year!

[Theresa]

Holly R W wrote: "Where oh where were the middle aged characters hanging out, I wondered...."

That's easy .... they were reading or writing all those other books!

I too love how some random connections happen in my reading - I call them rabbit holes: I had a Tudor Rabbit Hole a few years ago - and it wasn't just reading; it was opera, and art, and stitching projects. Another time it was Middle East History Rabbit Hole from late 19th through US Invasion of Iraq.

Doesn't happen all the time but when it does it's fascinating.

[Holly R W]

Theresa wrote: "Holly R W wrote: "Where oh where were the middle aged characters hanging out, I wondered...."

That's easy .... they were reading or writing all those other books!

I too love how some random conne..."

I'm smiling from ear to ear. So, that's what the middle-agers were doing. It all makes sense... I like hearing about your rabbit holes!

[Theresa]

Holly R W wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Holly R W wrote: "Where oh where were the middle aged characters hanging out, I wondered...."

That's easy .... they were reading or writing all those other books!

I too love how s..."

2021 saw a gothic rabbit hole...and it even influenced my stitching projects! Oh and movie streaming!

[Linda C]

2020 and 2021 I participated in several team challenges on a variety of Reading Groups which got my reading up to 250 books for each year. The total number of pages was also higher, but many of the books were at the shorter end of the scale.

However, some of the books were read more for the challenge than the quality. And another down side was overlapping challenges where books did not work for both challenges and weakened my input to each individual challenge.

So this year I am going to avoid overlapping competitive. I may miss some fun challenges but the gaps between them will give me time to focus on some personal challenges and my TBR pile.

I had a personal challenge to read 25 books from the books I added the first year I joined GR. I only got to 21 of those because they didn't fit any game challenges. And I didn't complete my Unofficial Trim Challenge on PBT.

So this year I am not setting either of those goals but one overarching goal of reading as much as possible from existing TBR books.

To read the volume to satisfy challenges I was part of Kindle Unlimited and picked up books at thrift stores, book sales and the library. I added 472 books to my TBR this year and read 104 of them. That left only 152 from my existing TBR. So 350 books added to my TBR.

Changes
1. Canceled Kindle Unlimited
2. Be more selective at the thrift stores and book sales
3. Continue to use the library but for books that I don't want to physically add to my collection
4. Weed out my collection of TBR - there are lots of books there that no longer are of interest

Let's hope this is a New Year's Resolution I can keep.