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In recent years, I've been reading fewer total books each year for various reasons. I hoped that I would be able to get my totals up in 2022, but there's no way I could have foreseen all the interruptions to "normal" I would experience over the year, and how that would impact my time and interest in reading. So although I didn't reach my goals, I made progress, and I will be doing the 2023 version of these challenges as well. Watch for that post coming up soon!
I attempted two specific challenges hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader:
For the 2022 European Reading Challenge participants tried to read books either set in Europe or by European authors. I decided to try the Four Star (Honeymooner) level participation. My goal was to read four books set in four different European countries, or by authors from four different countries. I did manage to read books representing at least four different countries, but in only three books:
- A Brush With Shadows - Anna Lee Huber (United Kingdom)
- A Rose For The Resistance - Angela K. Crouch (France)
- The Master Craftsman - Kelli Stuart (Russia, Finland)
From Rose City Reader:
THE GIST: The idea is to read books set in European countries or books by European authors. The books can be of any genre - fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, whatever. You can participate at different levels, but each book must represent a different country - either written by an author from a different country or set in a different country, no two books from the same country. It's supposed to be a tour!
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The TBR 22 in '22 Challenge is meant to encourage us to read the books already on our shelves (including eReader shelves) and maybe make room for more! I thought this was a great idea, since I have a lot of books on shelves, in boxes, and in the library of my Kindle that I haven't read yet, despite all my good intentions. Many of them I'm quite willing to pass on to others, but I don't feel right about doing that if I haven't even tried to read them! So it seems like a good idea to read before I purge. Once again, who knew that I'd need to purge those shelves in a hurry in order to make a move! And thanks to my reduced reading time, I did focus on books that I was supposed to review rather than plowing through the ones I already had. I'm not sure how I'll manage this in 2023, unless I focus mostly on the books in my Kindle. But that's a goal I'll decide on in the next week or so. So, sadly, I reached only a fraction of the goal - just six books from the existing library:
- High-Wire Heartbreak - Anna Schmidt
- A Brush With Shadows - Anna Lee Huber
- An Artless Demise - Anna Lee Huber
- Pudd'nhead Wilson - Mark Twain
- A Stroke of Malice - Anna Lee Huber
- A Wicked Conceit - Anna Lee Huber
From Rose City Reader:
"TBR" counts as any book that was on your shelf prior to January 1, 2022. "Shelf" includes your ebook reader and audiobooks you own, but it doesn't include library books. This is a TBR challenge, so the goal is to read the books you own to make room for more books.
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Partway through the year, I added another specific challenge - The 52 Book Club's 2022 Reading Challenge. Since I started halfway through the year, I thought I might be able to complete about half the categories. Find out more about the 2022 Reading Challenge HERE. I didn't quite make it, completing 17 of the 52 prompts, but hopefully I can get a lot closer to 52 this coming year!
5. Pudd'nhead Wilson - Mark Twain (Chapters have titles)
7. Atomic Habits - James Clear (non-fiction bestseller)
11. The Bride of Blackfriars Lane - Michelle Griep (less than 2022 Goodreads ratings)
12. The Master Craftsman - Kelli Stuart (set on at least two continents)
15. A Promise Engraved - Liz Tolsma (A five-syllable title)
22. A Stroke of Malice - Anna Lee Huber (An unlikely detective)
23. Price of a Rose - Byrd Nash (author with an X, Y, or Z in their name)
25. A Wicked Conceit - Anna Lee Huber (a wealthy character)
26. An Artless Demise - Anna Lee Huber (has an author's note)
27. Mary - Shannon McNear (has a map)
33. A Rose For The Resistance - Angela K. Crouch (A bilingual character - protagonist Rosalind is French but also speaks English well, and works hard to learn German during the story)
37. Season Of My Enemy - Naomi Musch (set in a rural area)
41. Off The Chain - Janice Thompson (involves a second chance)
44. Lumberjacks and Ladies - novella collection (an anthology)
47. Beneath His Silence - Hannah Linder (Read during the month of November)
50. Recitatif - Toni Morrison (A person of color as the main character - the twist is . . . the reader is not told which of the two main characters is black and which is white)
52. The Heart of the Mountains - Pepper Basham (published in 2022)
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