This is a post I have never done but at the beginning of 2022 I decided I wanted to keep track of all the books I finished in the year. So I'm recording that here. I won't print it in my yearly blog book but it will be fun to have a record somewhere anyway.
Books I read-
I have always been an avid reader, I am always reading a book and I usually take a book with me every where I go in case I end up with extra time to squeeze in a page or two. As I've gotten older and taken on more responsibilities, I don't get through as many as I would like but I still manage to make it through at least one each month. I mostly read at meals, before bed, and when I'm waiting in the car for a kid to finish up an activity. I prefer fiction and tend to stay away from non-fiction...they just don't hold my attention and I am all about reading for enjoyment rather than something I have to do. I love historical fiction. I also try really hard to prioritize starting the day out in scriptures...Come, Follow Me, General Conference talks, or the Book of Mormon before being in my "fun" book. These are the books I read and maybe a little something about them...
-Far From Home (third book in the series-I read these in high school and decided to come back and read them again at the end of 2021)
-The Book of Lost Names (this was pretty good and interesting)
-When We Meet Again (Book 4)
-The Midnight Library (this was highly acclaimed but I just didn't like it; I was underwhelmed and disappointed in this book)
-As Long As I Have You (last of this series and I enjoyed re-reading them)
-The Help (also a re-read but so good!)
-Breakout (read to Stockton)
-Firefly Lane (I loved this book but definitely a PG-13 rating)
-Killer Instinct (Book 2 in a series recommended by Molly-I listened to the 1st one)
-Lessons in Chemistry (very good)
-Ways to Make Sunshine (read to Brynn)
-Where the Lost Wander (so good!)
-What the Wind Knows (Amy Harmon is becoming one of my favorite authors, I also loved Running Barefoot that I listened to a few years ago)
-The Clause in Christmas (Hallmark movie in book form which was exactly what I was going for)
21 total for the year
Books I listened to-
This is how I get through the bulk of the books I "read". I listen to audiobooks while I'm cleaning, driving in the car, in the shower, making dinner, etc. Like reading books, I do try to prioritize listening to spiritual things in the morning and audiobooks after lunch...I like the Follow Him podcast, BYU speeches, and old and current Conference talks. I get all my audiobooks from Libby, the online library system, and if I listen to them at 1.25 or 1.5 speed, can get through them fairly quickly. Audiobooks for 2022:
-Her Last Flight (really liked this but not as clean as I would have liked it to be)
-Last Christmas in Paris (this was good and sweet)
-Allegedly (this was awful. I listened to it because Molly's English teacher recommended it but the amount of language was so distracting from the story, which was pretty bad in itself. Definite waste of time and brain space.)
-The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (sequel to The Henna Artist which I really liked. I remember the narrator being excellent as well)
-The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
-A Well-Tempered Heart (second book in series)
-Ink and Bone (this must not have held my attention very well-I don't remember a single thing about it!)
-The Naturals (the first book in the series)
-The Heart Remembers (third book in series)
-The City Baker's Guide for Country Living (cute book, could have been cleaner)
-This Time Next Year (British romances aren't always the most appropriate but they always delight me and make me giggle)
-The Secret of Nightingale Wood (this was a children's book which I didn't know before I started. I'm glad I listened to it because it was excellent!)
-The Downstairs Girl (really good)
-The Two Lives of Lydia Bird (I think this was good? Fuzzy on the details.)
-Love Lies: A True Story of Marriage and Murder in the Suburbs (this was like a true crime podcast in book form)
-Good Girl, Bad Blood (sequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder that I read when we were on our Yosemite trip)
-Framed (also fun for kids!)
-The Four Winds (Kristin Hannah is just so good!)
-Center Stage (good but I didn't bother with any sequels)
-As Bright As Heaven (loved it, as well as other books by Susan Meissner (Secrets of a Charmed Life and The Nature of Fragile Things))
-Lost Roses (second in series following The Lilac Girls)
-Sunflower Sisters (final in series)
-Surviving Savannah (really enjoyed this!)
-The Yellow Wallpaper (this was totally weird but also only 15 minutes long)
-As Good as Dead (third in series. I liked them all but was disappointed that the language by the third book had amped up more and more)
-Tweet Cute (cute for an older teen but it kind of dragged on and could have been shortened)
-The Paris Library (this was good)
-Finlay Donovan is Killing It (this was fun and silly and I will probably be listening to or reading the other books in this series)
36 audiobooks for the year
57 books in 2022 = 4.75 each month
How do I find books? I use recommendations from blogs and friends and I rely on Goodreads rankings a lot. I do try to keep it fairly clean although a little language/sex doesn't bother me too much. I have a lengthy list of books on my phone I want to read/listen to and there is no way I will be able to make much of a dent in the list since I am always adding to it. I am old school and get all my books from the local library or the online library and that works for me since there is plenty to choose from on those platforms.
Good work! Historical fiction is my favorite too but I haven't read most of these so I'm going to look into it.
ReplyDeleteI read Midnight Library last month for our neighborhood book club and didn't like it and wondered why people did like it.
Have you read The Q by Beth Brower? Hands down my most favorite book.