Fourth Quarter Check-In/Wrap-Up: 2022 Plans and Challenges

I don’t know if anyone actually reads these (or cares), but I enjoy putting them together—if only so I can think about what I’ve read and plan for the upcoming quarter/year/etc.

I didn’t have many concrete plans for 2022, but one that I mentioned was “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but I made some strides last year).” How am I doing on that?

That’s…um, not bad. I wanted better and I thought I was making a concerted effort on that for the year. It’s a start. Also, I did read 88% of the books I was given or purchased in 2022—that’s the sole encouraging thing I can take away from that chart. For the sake of my fragile ego, I’d also point out that the TBR work on the paper books would look a lot more impressive if I hadn’t been given 7 books in December with no time to read any of them. (don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful…but ouch)

How’d I do with the rest of my plans and move on to the Reading Challenges…
2022 Book Challenges

12 Books
I had a lot of fun with this one—and definitely found a series (maybe two) to read and a couple of authors to read more of. I’ll be sharing my 2023 Challenge soon.

2022 While I was Reading

I posted this list last week, but I’ll repeat it here because I did that for the first 3 quarters.

1. A book with a question in the title: Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham
2. A book of non-violent true crime: Blessed Are the Bank Robbers: The True Adventures of an Evangelical Outlaw by Chas Smith
3. A book with a cover you don’t like: Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker
4. A historical fiction novel not set in Europe: A Snake in the Raspberry Patch by Joanne Jackson
5. A book with a character’s name in the title: With Grimm Resolve by Jefferey H. Haskell
6. A book featuring paranormal activity (fiction or non): (that feels like half of what I read) Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
7. A book with a number in the title: Citizen K-9 by David Rosenfelt
8. A food related memoir: Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson with Veronica Chambers
9. A book that’s won an award: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Winner of The Booker Prize, 2011)
10. A middle grade novel: How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman
11. A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign: Radio Radio by Ian Shane
12. A book that’s a combination of genres: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog

Your TBR Reduction Book Challenge

I was almost successful with this one, I didn’t read one month’s category—but I did hit two Stretch Goals (including the Stretch Goal for the month I didn’t/couldn’t read). So that’s 14 off the pile. Not as good as I’d hoped, but better than I expected. The 2023 version looks fun, too.
January – New Beginnings I give you permission to read the most recent book you got on top of your TBR.: Bloodlines by Peter Hartog
Stretch Goal – Read the oldest book in Mount TBR it has waited long enough: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
February – Valentine’s Day Gift
Is there that book by an author you love you picked up and still haven’t read because you do not deserve it just yet? Other items got in the way? You have for this challenge to pick that book up and read it: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
March – Fresh blooms
For the beginning of Spring I want you to open a book in the TBR pile by an author you’ve never read before: The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
April – New Openings
April is derived from the Latin for ‘to open’ In Mount TBR there may be the first book of a series. Your challenge is to read: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
May – Randommmmm
You MAY pick one random book out of Mount TBR and you must read it: Conjured Defense by J.C. Jackson
June – The Longest Day
Find the longest book in Mount TBR and you must read it: The Border by Don Winslow
July – You Came, You Read and You Conquered
In your TBR there may have been a book you know will be a challenging read. Show it who is the Emperor and read that book until it screams for your mercy and then finish it! AMORALMAN by Derek Delgaudio
August – Holidayyyyy
Pick a book that takes you away to another place. Read it and relax: The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove
September – Back to School
Pick a book with some link to education. Dark Academia; dangerous school, etc.: The Days of Tao by Wesley Chu (I had a hard time finding something for this prompt, and was so happy when I remembered this started at a summer class)
October – Booooo and Eeek
Read a horror or dark themed tale (crime counts too!) you want to be unsettled!: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
November – Short and Sweet
Read three novellas: I only had one novella (and forgot to read it), so I technically failed this. But I did accomplish the Stretch Goal.
Stretch Goal – read the 11th book from the beginning or end of your TBR pile: Less by Sean Greer
December – Happy Endings
Have you been holding back the finale of a series? Now time to see where it ends.: I accidentally read the book I’d slotted for this during the 20 Books of Summer—whoops! (The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham). Thankfully (not for my TBR, but for the sake of this challenge), I had another series ending that I could read: Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)