There’s Something About A New Year✨

Goodbye 2022, hello 2023.

2022 Reading Reflections

Looking back on the most recent years, my reading has been stellar. In 2020 I read 62 books, which was a big jump from the number of books I read in 2019. In 2021 I read 88 books, mainly thanks to Scribd ebooks and audiobooks, so I was quite optimistic heading into 2022. I set out to read six to eight books a month, which is about what I accomplished in 2021, but much like my 2022 blogging aspirations, I fell quite short of the actual goal.

I did manage to update my StoryGraph more often like I had wanted to, which I will take as a win. As such, I know it’s a pretty reliable indicator of my reading habits in the last year, and what it tells me is I read 29 books in 2022. Reading roughly two books a month is not bad, especially since one third of those books were between 300 and 500 pages long. But comparatively, I don’t feel great about that number. I certainly had time to read, I just didn’t prioritize it enough. Even with my Classics Club Reading List and many new releases to anticipate, not to mention the plethora of unread books in my possession, I didn’t find myself reaching for books in my downtime.

 

Romance and Contemporary Fiction were my top two most read genres once again, and thanks to the handful of Brandon Sanderson books I read this year, Fantasy was my third most read genre. This comes as no surprise to me, of course; my Scribd library is full of the Romance stories I encountered (including the many I DNF’d) throughout the year, and I have always reached for Fantasy novels and series, especially during slumpy reading periods.

While I am currently reading (or more accurately, have been reading) a work of nonfiction (Dessert Can Save the World by Christina Tosi), for nearly the entirety of 2022 I read only fiction. This also comes as no surprise to me, especially in a year where I barely read fiction, it takes a certain mood and headspace for me to get into a work of nonfiction.

Overall, I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t have a better reading year in 2022. But as I mentioned in my Blogging Review and Goals post, there’s something about the first weeks of January that instill a fresh sense of optimism in me, regardless of how the previous year’s “failures” present themselves. With that said…

2023 Reading Outlook

I’m setting my sights back on a number of books that reflects my 2021 reading, which is to say I am challenging myself to read 70 books in 2023. I would like to prioritize books I own but have not read, however, I’m not going to limit myself to just those.

NetGalley is a platform I want to get back to using more frequently, so I’m hoping to stack myself up with books to review (I already have a few lined up for this month). I’m also still part of The Write Reads Blog Tour group, and I’m still on a couple of publishers’ blogger lists for review/blog tours, so I want to jump at more of those opportunities this year, too.

And once again I am focusing on creating monthly reading previews rather than specific TBRs, because I’ve enjoyed the less restricting (lower risk) outline that gives me. This may vary depending on season or if I join in on any specific reading challenges throughout the year, but the monthly reading preview format will be the default.

I’m going to work on directing some attention each month to Reading Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales, and I am way behind on my Classics Club Reading List, so that will definitely be a priority, too.

As for which book(s) I’m starting 2023 with—and, since it’s January seventh, the books I’ve started with—I’ll talk all about it in my January Preview.

Finally, if you want to follow me on The StoryGraph, you can find my profile here. I’ll also be keeping track of the books I’m reading in my planner, as well as on Instagram.

 

So there it is – my 2022 reading year in review and my plans for 2023. If you read through to the end of this post – thank you! And if you have made any reading goals or plans for the new year, share them below, and feel free to leave any book recommendations for me and others – my TBR could always use new additions. 😉

Cheers to another year of reading! 📚
-Kelsey