2022 was the year, when our social lives stopped being dominated by Covid. It’s strange so remote the lockdowns and initial horrors already seem. Almost like a bad dream. Reading Covid themed books always take me by surprise. Wow, was it really that bad. Maybe it’s a natural ability of us humans, we prefer to remember the good rather than the bad times.
Walking along the Thames in central London serves as a brutal reminder. The Covid Memorial Wall runs for a long stretch along the river and every heart represents someone, who didn’t make it due to Covid.
Returning to more normal conditions seems to have affected my time spent on blogging and 2022 has left my blog feeling a tad neglected.
Anyway, let’s take a look back at the year to see how it all panned out.
Reading
2022 is the second year, I’ve used Goodreads to log my reading. I am therefore able to tell you, I’ve read 56 books. This is slightly fewer than last year, but still comfortably above the magic number, 52 (i.e. one book per week).
My 2022 reading hasn’t exactly been low quality, but by the end of August, I still hadn’t had a single five star read. In my head, I was already planning a series of blog posts, “in search of a five star book”. But then Still Life came along and more followed.
My favourites of the year cover a variety of genres. Still Life [2022] is historical fiction, Jude the Obscure [1895] a classic, Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time [2012] is nonfiction and If We Were Villains [2017] is dark academia.
The authors I’ve read in 2022 are almost equally split between males and females. That is slightly surprising. I actually thought there would have been an overweight of female authors.
On the other hand, it is fully expected, that I’ve mostly read books published between 2000 and 2020. The number of new releases on the list has increased, though. Before becoming a book blogger, I rarely read any new publications.
My biggest genres are General Fiction (29%) and Crime Fiction (27%), which doesn’t come as a surprise either. Classics, which isn’t a genre, make up 16% of my reads. All in all, I am quite happy with the distribution, but I would like to read more nonfiction in 2023. In theory, I would also like to read more international literature and more classics, but I’ve learned to focus on one thing at a time.
Blogging
I managed to write 25 posts in 2022, which is quite low compared to previous years. My most viewed posts in 2022 are:
- What I learned from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- What I learned from The Metamorphosis
- Which 21st Century Books Will Become Classics?
- The Relevance of Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds in 2021
- When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut – Rant Review Alert!
Only number 3 on the list is actually written in 2022, the others are older. But I am happy to see all of these posts on the list, since they are amongst my own favourites as well.
When I compare my content to previous years, there has been considerably less creativity. Hopefully, I can regain my stride in 2023.
I did still enjoy writing, though. Let’s have a look at some of the posts, I had most fun with. My Literary Locations posts are time consuming, but I always enjoy putting them together. In 2022, I wrote about hiking in Kyrgyzstan and read Jamilia by the Kyrgyz author, Chingiz Aïtmatov.
Also, I revived the Literary Duel as a Christmas Special featuring Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) and Christmas (A Boy Called Christmas).
Finally, I had a lot of fun thinking about Which 21st Century Books Will Become Classics.
My participation in book blogger events has been limited to Nonfiction November, but as usual I did a fair amount of memes and tags.
What will 2023 bring?
I’m even more reluctant than usual to set any goals for reading or blogging. But below are a few intentions.
- I will see if i can get back to a more regular blogging schedule even if the posting frequency might be lower than it used to be
- Hopefully, I will read more nonfiction
- I have enjoyed reading from the Best British Books list. When I am a bit further with that project, I would like to expand to other regions. First step would be to have a look at the American literary canon.
Alright. That’s all folks. See you in 2023.
I always find other people’s statistics fascinating, even though pulling together my own is the last thing on earth I would be capable of doing. I had a run of 5 star reads towards the end of the year on Goodreads, even though it’s an accolade a rarely award – and yes, Still Life was one of them. I always enjoy your posts, so please keep on posting, and all best wishes for 2023!
I am glad not to be the only one, who finds stats fascinating. For a special occasion (maybe my 5-year blogging anniversary?) I might put together the “big stats post”. 😆 You are right, 5 star reads don’t come across too often, but I would have been disappointed if none had materialised in 2022. Happy new year and best wishes for 2023!
I think all of your intentions sound great. I hope that you can make them happen. And I love how relatively balanced your stats are. That’s very cool. Looking forward to 2023 😀
I hope so too! Yes, my stats were surprisingly balanced considering I read at random and don’t keep track during the year. Happy new year, Tessa!
Hi. Your reading pace is admirable. 56 books in one year is a whole lot. I read 15 this year. I’m currently reading The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy. Not enjoying it as much as I expected, but I’ll see it through to the end.
It is a lot, although some book bloggers read 100+ books in a year. Before I discovered audiobooks, I only read a fraction of that number. The good thing about audiobooks is, you can listen whilst commuting, doing housework, etc. No need for dedicated reading time. Sorry that The Moviegoer doesn’t live up to expectations – hopefully it will improve towards the end.
Awesome recap, with a nice variety of genres.
I will publish my stats early 2023, as sometimes I get a last awesome book in. In fact, I just read the most amazing self-published scifi!
Happy 2023 reading!
Thanks! I will look out for your stats. True, it is a bit early to do the stats post, in December, but I don’t think anything will change for me. Self-published scifi, sounds interesting. Happy 2023 reading to you as well!
Whatever you choose to do in 2023, I’ll be reading your posts. You have a skill for writing interesting topics and I love your reviews…always provoking thought. Here’s to seeing you in the new year💜
Aww, thanks Jonetta, that is kind of you to say. I love your reviews as well, they are always clear and to the point. Absolutely, see you in 2023 and best wishes for the new year!
Rather good.
Thanks! 🙂
I’m very impressed by the pie charts, along with the stats they actually portray. Four five-star books is a good result.
I’ve enjoyed your reviews and look forward to more in 2023.
Thanks so much Rose, I’m afraid there haven’t been too many reviews in 2022, maybe 2023 will be better? I look forward to see what the year has to offer and send best wishes 2023!
Love reading stats, especially other people’s since I don’t have to do any work to enjoy them. You’ve reminded me to look at my own goodreads goal which I’ve probably achieved though only by adding in a few deliberately short reads in December. As for 5-star reads… I must look. But first I’m going to check out a few of your most popular posts. There’s bound to be some that i’ve missed!
Good to see I am not the only one, who likes stats! Hmmm, I’ve never set a reading goal in Goodreads (no commitment and all that 😆), but in my head I like to reach 52. Five star reads are relatively rare for me, but I would be disappointed to experience a reading year without any at all. Happy new year, Sandra, let’s hope the new year will bring lots of good books! 🎉🍾
A lovely post, and a happy 2023 to you too. My blogging has been erratic to say the least too – it’s never really got back on track post-pandemic and I’m puzzled as to why. Like you I’m reluctant to set too many reading and blogging goals because I don’t want to set myelf up to fail! But I’m hoping for regularity at least even if frequently is harder to achieve. All the best.
Thanks Julia. What I discovered in 2022 was, once you stop blogging it is exceedingly difficult to get back on track. On the other hand, it isn’t a big deal to be irregular blogger unless it’s part of your professional life. I will aim for regularity as well – but who knows what will happen in 2023. 😆 Best wishes for 2023 to you too!
“I have enjoyed reading from the Best British Books list….When I am a bit further with that project, I would like to….have a look at the American literary canon.”
This makes me want to take a look at the British list!
Obviously, these kind of lists are very subjective, but I think it’s fun to use them as inspiration. In case, you are interested, you can see the list from BBC here and my post about it here.
Great post! I read Jamilia too – found it fascinating.
Happy New Year.
Thanks Darlene, it’s always fun to read books from other cultures – it really was fascinating! Best wishes for 2023!
Yeah I found a lot of your posts creative. You hit on good ideas and I hope you post more often in 2023. I’m about to start Still Life for my book club. I like your graphs. Keep it going & Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Fingers crossed that you will enjoy Still Life. It is relatively slow, but the characters are just so wonderful! I just finished Ian McEwan’s Atonement, which was fine, but didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Uh-oh I remember really liking Atonement but that was quite a long while ago now, so who knows if I’d like it as much now. I did like the movie but it’s been since 2007. I am curious to read McEwan’s new novel Lessons. Hmm.
I did like, but not as much as expected. My review will go up in Feb I think, so you can see my thoughts (if you can bear to read it, looks like it’s going to be a rather long review…).
Sounds like a solid month to me. I do love the idea of aiming for a book per week but I know it would be daunting challenge when some of the books I do end up reading are huuuuge! I hope 2023 will turn out to be a good year for you. Happy New Year, stargazer! 🙂
Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. One book per week is just an average, in some months I read 1-2 books, in others 7-8. Haha, talk about long books, I have been reading Dickens’ Great Expectations for ages. But I am almost through. 😀 Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!
Always love to see some stats! Looks like your reading year picked up in the second half 🙂 I’m intrigued by Still Life, might give it a go :).
Belated Happy New Year wishes!!
Yup, I am stats person as well! It wasn’t a bad reading year, but all my favourites appeared in the last part of the 2022. Still Life was a proper feel-good book. I wonder if you’d find it too sentimental. But it had great characters. Thanks and the same to you!