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reading in 2022
The best reading tracker app (Reading List, alas iOS only) I discovered this year simply tracks your read and to read books, with no social aspect. You can self-categorize and rate if you want, but it's simple and straightforward and I love it. Some basic stats too, though I may still use a spreadsheet tracker someone built for more in-depth stats. We'll see how lazy I am at filling everything in, tbh.
Total books read this year: 154
Books read posts: Just review this tag - pastime // reading
Series I read this year:
Cnovels I read this year:
How many books read in 2022?
154 - 10 more than last year.
Fiction/Non-Fiction?
Fiction: 129
Non-Fiction: 26
Male/Female authors?
Female: 70%
Male: 23%
Multiple/Various: 6%
Most books read by one author this year?
Hiromu Arakawa where I read 12 volumes of Silver Spoon manga but then my library didn't have the last three? I guess I live in suspense. (It's fine, it's a slice of life at a farming high school, so it's not like there are real cliffhangers on the plot.) The other manga was 7 volumes of A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai. The non-manga author I read the most this year was Jeannie Lin and her Pingkang Li mystery series, set in Tang Dynasty China. (It's actually more romance than mystery, tbh.)
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
Well, Jeannie Lin would make sense since I dove into her series. I also really enjoyed Sophie Irwin's debut regency, A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, so I'll keep an eye on her.
Format?
Ebook/online: 64
Physical: 91
How many rereads?
Only two: my favorite feelgood cnovel, You Boys Play Games Very Well, and a reread of The Long Road by Rachel Reid, the long-awaited sequel to Heated Rivalry. One of my reading goals for next year is to reread a lot more of my favorite novels.
Any in translation?
37 (3 cnovels, 21 manga, the rest are novels - Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Russian).
First book of 2022:
The Winging It Holiday Special by Morgan James and Ashlyn Kane - a sequel to an m/m hockey book. It was cute but unremarkable.
Last book of 2022:
Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews, #6 of the Innkeeper Chronicles. Intergalactic dating show! Extremely entertaining.
First book you will finish in 2023:
Just finished A Winter's Earl by Annabelle Greene and really hate-read the last 2/3 of that book. It's an m/m regency but both protagonists are insufferably selfish, self-absorbed, classist, and somehow rewarded by the narrative for it. There is very little description or action and way too much useless dialogue and notes about ~feelings, without the characters meaningfully interacting with the world outside of their codependent obsessiveness with each other.
Favorite?
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura. A touch of magical realism, but most a contemporary feminist Japanese novel resisting work culture and exploring strange mundane jobs. Very enjoyable in a "nothing much happens" way. Unraveller by Frances Hardinge is a close second. I just love her worldbuilding, character and character arcs, and prose.
Least favorite?
There were a few I didn't enjoy much but probably Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie was the worst slog. Sorry, Tommy & Tuppence already weren't my faves, and this one is set in their retirement years regarding a mystery from decades ago involving WWII that managed to be deeply uninteresting and removed from any sense of fun or action.
Book I most wanted to love but didn't:
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict. A family fighting about inheriting a house, with puzzles and a murder mystery! This could be like a fun Knives Out! Alas, it was too into its clever puzzles to build substantially interesting characters, the deaths were too rapid and cavalier to build real suspense, and the prose itself was mediocre.
Longest time to finish?
Oh probably Indelible City by Louisa Lim, about Hong Kong, that was neither history nor memoir but a weirdly paced mix of both.
Oldest?
I think Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853).
Newest?
Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews (December 13, 2022).
Longest title?
Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex At Its Own Game by Craig Calcaterra - mostly a baseball writer but this applied to all of sports. I only like to read critical takes of sports and sports fandom.
Longest in length (not counting cnovels which I have no idea how to tabulate for page count): The Winners by Fredrik Backman
Shortest title?
Lot by Bryan Washington - a collection of semi-connected stories set in various neighborhoods around Houston, featuring a lot of gay, Black and Latino, and HIV positive characters
Shortest in length (not counting the literal picture books I read!): The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (poetry) or The Botanist's Apprentice by Arden Powell (novelette).
Book that most changed my perspective:
Permission to Come Home: Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans by Jenny T. Wang. A much needed read and validation of the emotional and mental complexities of being an Asian American immigrant.
Book I learned the most from:
Either Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger, a memoir of her time in women's prisons, or Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick, about 10 specific cases where women lawyers utilized their skills and networks to fight back against the Trump administration.
Book that was the trope-iest/most comforting:
The Long Game by Rachel Reid. Perfect sequel to The Heated Rivalry. Hockey rivals in love. :)
Favorite character:
Honestly, I really like Daisy Dalrymple. :) Or maybe Dina from the Innkeeper Chronicles, who just wants to be an impeccable and hospitable innkeeper with no desires to claim more power or authority despite all her impressive connections.
General thoughts:
I continue to like memoirs for my nonfiction, unless they're sports critiques, read mostly mysteries/thrillers, and try various m/m romances that often disappoint. I think my goals for 2023 are actually to significantly tackle my TBR before adding or acquiring new books (the books I own often get ignored in favor of library holds), and also to make more time to reread some favorites! More Pratchett, Heyer, maybe the Queen's Thief, the Hilary Tamar mysteries, maybe Bridge of Birds, Captive Prince... so many books I love and want to revisit.
Total books read this year: 154
Books read posts: Just review this tag - pastime // reading
Series I read this year:
- Detective Kindaichi mysteries by Seishi Yokomizo - read #3/4, need to go back to 1 and 2
- Lady Hardcastle mysteries by T.E. Kinsey - read 1-3/9 but then lost interest
- Athreya mysteries by R.V. Raman - read 1/2 available, set in contemporary India, but poor prose means I probably won't continue
- Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers - 1-2/2 available<
- With or Without by J.L. Langley - 1-2/4 of m/m werewolves boning, but this is probably enough
- The Cemeteries of Amalo by Katherine Addison - 1-2/2 available
- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - 1-3/3 complete
- The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi - read 1/3 but probably won't finish the series, maybe Wikipedia can spoil the plot for me
- Daisy Dalrymple mysteries by Carola Dunn - 1-3/23 and plan to continue, it's a surprising delight
- The Pingkang Li mysteries by Jeannie Lin - 1-4/4 available
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - 2&3/3 available
- The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo - #3/3 available
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman - #3/3 complete
- Puckboys series by Eden Finley and Saxon James - 1-3/4 which I will now abandon, because I keep forgetting I hate the characters in this series
- The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews - #6/6 available
Cnovels I read this year:
- Your Memes are Better Looking Than You by Mao Qiuqiu, a prequel to Your Scandals are Way Cuter Than You. Also fun!
- You Boys Play Games Very Well by Yi Xiu Luo, a delightful reread
- I Can Do It by Jian Zi Bei, which is e-gaming story that taught me too much about LoL and has probably the best translation I've read in a cnovel to date
How many books read in 2022?
154 - 10 more than last year.
Fiction/Non-Fiction?
Fiction: 129
Non-Fiction: 26
Male/Female authors?
Female: 70%
Male: 23%
Multiple/Various: 6%
Most books read by one author this year?
Hiromu Arakawa where I read 12 volumes of Silver Spoon manga but then my library didn't have the last three? I guess I live in suspense. (It's fine, it's a slice of life at a farming high school, so it's not like there are real cliffhangers on the plot.) The other manga was 7 volumes of A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai. The non-manga author I read the most this year was Jeannie Lin and her Pingkang Li mystery series, set in Tang Dynasty China. (It's actually more romance than mystery, tbh.)
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
Well, Jeannie Lin would make sense since I dove into her series. I also really enjoyed Sophie Irwin's debut regency, A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, so I'll keep an eye on her.
Format?
Ebook/online: 64
Physical: 91
How many rereads?
Only two: my favorite feelgood cnovel, You Boys Play Games Very Well, and a reread of The Long Road by Rachel Reid, the long-awaited sequel to Heated Rivalry. One of my reading goals for next year is to reread a lot more of my favorite novels.
Any in translation?
37 (3 cnovels, 21 manga, the rest are novels - Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Russian).
First book of 2022:
The Winging It Holiday Special by Morgan James and Ashlyn Kane - a sequel to an m/m hockey book. It was cute but unremarkable.
Last book of 2022:
Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews, #6 of the Innkeeper Chronicles. Intergalactic dating show! Extremely entertaining.
First book you will finish in 2023:
Just finished A Winter's Earl by Annabelle Greene and really hate-read the last 2/3 of that book. It's an m/m regency but both protagonists are insufferably selfish, self-absorbed, classist, and somehow rewarded by the narrative for it. There is very little description or action and way too much useless dialogue and notes about ~feelings, without the characters meaningfully interacting with the world outside of their codependent obsessiveness with each other.
Favorite?
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura. A touch of magical realism, but most a contemporary feminist Japanese novel resisting work culture and exploring strange mundane jobs. Very enjoyable in a "nothing much happens" way. Unraveller by Frances Hardinge is a close second. I just love her worldbuilding, character and character arcs, and prose.
Least favorite?
There were a few I didn't enjoy much but probably Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie was the worst slog. Sorry, Tommy & Tuppence already weren't my faves, and this one is set in their retirement years regarding a mystery from decades ago involving WWII that managed to be deeply uninteresting and removed from any sense of fun or action.
Book I most wanted to love but didn't:
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict. A family fighting about inheriting a house, with puzzles and a murder mystery! This could be like a fun Knives Out! Alas, it was too into its clever puzzles to build substantially interesting characters, the deaths were too rapid and cavalier to build real suspense, and the prose itself was mediocre.
Longest time to finish?
Oh probably Indelible City by Louisa Lim, about Hong Kong, that was neither history nor memoir but a weirdly paced mix of both.
Oldest?
I think Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853).
Newest?
Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews (December 13, 2022).
Longest title?
Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex At Its Own Game by Craig Calcaterra - mostly a baseball writer but this applied to all of sports. I only like to read critical takes of sports and sports fandom.
Longest in length (not counting cnovels which I have no idea how to tabulate for page count): The Winners by Fredrik Backman
Shortest title?
Lot by Bryan Washington - a collection of semi-connected stories set in various neighborhoods around Houston, featuring a lot of gay, Black and Latino, and HIV positive characters
Shortest in length (not counting the literal picture books I read!): The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (poetry) or The Botanist's Apprentice by Arden Powell (novelette).
Book that most changed my perspective:
Permission to Come Home: Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans by Jenny T. Wang. A much needed read and validation of the emotional and mental complexities of being an Asian American immigrant.
Book I learned the most from:
Either Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger, a memoir of her time in women's prisons, or Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick, about 10 specific cases where women lawyers utilized their skills and networks to fight back against the Trump administration.
Book that was the trope-iest/most comforting:
The Long Game by Rachel Reid. Perfect sequel to The Heated Rivalry. Hockey rivals in love. :)
Favorite character:
Honestly, I really like Daisy Dalrymple. :) Or maybe Dina from the Innkeeper Chronicles, who just wants to be an impeccable and hospitable innkeeper with no desires to claim more power or authority despite all her impressive connections.
General thoughts:
I continue to like memoirs for my nonfiction, unless they're sports critiques, read mostly mysteries/thrillers, and try various m/m romances that often disappoint. I think my goals for 2023 are actually to significantly tackle my TBR before adding or acquiring new books (the books I own often get ignored in favor of library holds), and also to make more time to reread some favorites! More Pratchett, Heyer, maybe the Queen's Thief, the Hilary Tamar mysteries, maybe Bridge of Birds, Captive Prince... so many books I love and want to revisit.
no subject
I read Heyer for the first time this year, just to see what her style was like as I know she's hugely influential. And I get why she was popular! I also reread a lot of Pratchett last year. Deeply enjoyable, highly recommend.
Occasionally I put a pause on library holds so I can catch up on other books. Semi successful.
no subject
Instead of reading challenges, I think I have to do a monthly reread challenge to get myself to make time for these!
no subject