Several of you are dealing with frigid temperatures, some are dealing with power/heating issues, but hopefully even more of you are in getting an extra day or two off from work and maybe even getting to enjoy some time with friends and family. (Please, please, let the verb be “enjoy” and not something less pleasant.) Anyway, I hope you’re having a good one and are able to stay warm enough for whatever you’ve got going on this weekend.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.
bullet Lit Hub has collected the Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 50 to 31, 30 to 11, and the Biggest 10
bullet How a Great Audiobook Narrator Finds Her Voices
bullet Shop Talk: The Year in Review—I’ve really enjoyed seeing behind-the-scenes with Eli Cranor’s series this year. Here, he looks back on the last year of Shop Talk.
bullet Six Classic Books That Live Up to Their Reputation
bullet We’ve got some great Best of ’22 lists to embiggen your TBR Stacks (I’m taking notes off of these and am starting to worry about the number):
bullet CrimeReads posted 9 different lists this week (so I’m not going to provide individual links), and all of them have some great stuff.
bullet LitReactor has enough staff that it took two posts to get theirs up. The Best Books of 2022 – Part I and The Best Books of 2022 – Part II
bullet These are favorite book characters in 2022, read and published in 2022.—favorite characters might be a better idea than favorite/best books.
bullet Top Five Most Dramatic Twists I Read In 2022—not only a great idea for a list, but the way Stephen writes about them without giving anything away is pretty impressive. Ditto for his Top Five Most Dramatic Twists I Read In 2022.
bullet Favourite Reads of the Year – Stand-alone Edition!—another clever approach
bullet Top 12 Reads of 2022
bullet Weird, wonderful, and under-the-radar books that Jane Alice NEEDS you to read—Not necessarily reads from this year, but some great recommendations from a local bookseller
bullet I Read 365 Books This Year And Here Are My Recommendations For Your Highly Specific Needs—I didn’t want this to get lost in the rest of the list, because…wow.
bullet How Do You Measure a Year in Reading?—Unsurprisingly, this post by Molly Templeton has a lot of wisdom and food for thought.
bullet Let’s Talk About Reviewing—the 1000th post on Queen’s Book Asylum has some good thoughts on reviewing
bullet 10 Fun Ways To Choose Your Next Read—I’ve tried several of these already but looking to use some more of them.
bullet PSA: How To Read 100+ Books A Year—for those who aren’t introspective misanthropes like the Bookstooge, he has some handy tips.
bullet What Challenges are you setting yourself for the New Year?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Elias, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.