2022 Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

After a long hiatus I am back on the blog. The end of November ended with new jobs for both me and my husband, then we had an impromptu trip to see our folks, our kid got sick, I got sick, my husband got sick and then it was time for the holidays so we're skipping all the things to bring you instead the official wrap-up for 2022. 

I had a goal to read 52 books in 2022 and I ended up reading 114 books! Some were short and graphic novels or manga, some were audiobooks but I totally believe that reading is reading no matter what you're into. 

• 56% of my books were less than 300 pages, 41% were 300-499 pages, and 4% were over 500 pages. 
• 83% were fiction and 17% were nonfiction
• Top Genres
• 42 Horror
• 25 LGBTQIA+
• 21 Fantasy
• 18 Young Adult
• 17 Thrillers
• 15 Romance
• 15 Mystery
• 15 Manga
• 12 Contemporary
• 11 Graphic Novels
• Average Rating 4.27 stars out of 5

Then I have the worst books I read in 2022. I didn't read a lot of books that were truly bad but I did have some doozies. I have a list of 9 books that are rated three stars and lower. Six of these books are 3 stars, one is a 2.5 star, one is a 2 star and one is a one star book (I changed this rating after some thought on the matter). So from best of the worst to the absolute worst I give you the worst books of 2022. 

1. Halloween Fiend by CV Hunt: I read this in October and it's not a bad book, it was just lackluster and stalled in the middle of it. As short as it was...I think it could've been shorter but still not unenjoyable. I gave this a 3/5 stars. 
   
   
   
2. Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins: this is a thriller from April. This book promised rich people drama and a isolated mystery and while it had both, the thriller aspects were really not fleshed out very well. That being said the rich people drama did no disappoint and I still enjoyed it enough. This was also a 3 star read. 
   
   
   
3. A Jane Austen Christmas by Carlo Devito: this is a nonfiction book I read in December about Christmas traditions in the regency and how Jane Austen spent her Christmases. This was short but also boring so 3/5 stars. 
   
   
   
4. Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath: this was a book recommended by the Outside magazine book club immediately after I joined when they did a special event with Cheryl Strayed for the anniversary of Wild. This book was fine but super boring, especially for a story about a mysterious man who traveled the waterways in a canoe. I don't remember hardly anything at all about this book really: 3/5 stars. 
   
   
   
5. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell: this was a literati book club pick in August and I'd read I am, I am, I am by the same author earlier in the year and loved it. This was boring and I had a hard time following the storyline and exactly none of the characters were likeable or sympathetic. I didn't care about any of them or what happened to them. 3/5 stars. 
   
   
   
6. Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon: this is a romance/erotica about a blue alien on an ice planet and a human woman. This book was short, smutty and ultimately boring. Will not continue with the series but not 100% mad I read it but definitely not worth the hype. 3/5 stars. 
   
   
   
7. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury: this is a young adult Halloween story and I really didn't care for this. This book felt very white focused and all the moments in other cultural practices tied to Halloween ended up feeling very "othered". I gave this a 2.5 star rating and the whole book made me feel a little ick.
   
   
   
8. Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester: this book was so disappointing. I loved the premise and it was a book I was so excited about being released in 2022. I ended up really disliking this. The relationship between mother and daughter was lackluster, the monster not fleshed out well, the story was rushed and felt incomplete. I don't think this book would've been quite so bad if I hadn't been so disappointed in it. 2/5 stars. 
   
   
   
9. Nine Lives by Peter Swanson: this is it, the worst book I read in 2022. This is a thriller that is a retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie but this book was done so poorly, it spoils the entirety of the Agatha Christie novel early on and gives you no character development, no reason you should care about anyone-none of the victims, the killer, the original story, nothing. It was boring and it was obvious and I didn't care one bit about any of it. Save yourself some time and do not pick this book up. I think this book will put Swanson on my do not read author list. 1/5 stars.
   
   
   

Next we have the much more fun grouping, my FAVORITE books of 2022. While I didn't read a bunch of really bad books I did read a bunch of books that I absolutely loved. I have a list of ten books that were all 5 star reads and are my best books of 2022. From worst of the best to the best of the best here they are. 

1. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: this is a cozy fantasy that my husband and I listened to in the care when we went to the valley. This is about an Orc who decides she's done adventuring and instead opens a coffee shop. Once she starts her endeavor she attracts a band of a different sort to help her in her endeavor. I loved this book it's such a feel good cozy kind of book that makes you want to curl up with a book and a hot drink in a cozy Starbucks somewhere.
   
   
   
2. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: this is a romance about a grad student who ends up in a fake dating relationship with a doctoral advisor at her university that becomes a real relationship. I love me some fake dating and I loved Adam and Olive so much. This was such a great book and I loved it. 
   
   
   
3. Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. This is a thriller about two men in Georgia: one white, one black, who's sons were married to each other before their murders so the fathers join forces to figure out what happened to them and to get justice for their sons. This book was so good. The relationship between the two men and their relationship with their estranged sons and their ways of making amends for those shortcomings was so great. 
   
   
   
4. Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix: this is one of two nonfiction books on this list. This is all about the rise of horror fiction in the publishing industry and the different phases publishing went through. This book was so great. It was informative but also funny and interesting. I highly recommend. 
   
   
   
5. Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake: this is a queer romance about Delilah Green who has returned to her hometown to be the photographer for her step-sister's wedding and one of her step-sister's friends who is a single mother who owns a bookshop. This was my favorite romance of the year and I preordered the sequel almost immediately. 
   
   
   
6. Goddess of Filth by V Castro: this is a horror book that I read in October and discovered a new author. This is kind of like The Craft but in the séance held by these teenage girls one ends up a vessel for a Central American goddess who punishes sinners. I loved this book so much and I am excited to read more from her. 
   
   
   
7. Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare: I finally read this YA slasher about a town where during a party in a cornfield the town's 'mascot' Frendo walks among them slaughtering teens. This is everything I love in a slasher and I almost immediately read the sequel. I also follow the author on TikTok and I highly recommend that as well. 
   
   
   
8. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: this is the other nonfiction on this list. This is a memoir by a Korean-American woman (who grew up in my neck of the woods) and her discovery of herself through food and the loss of her mother and her complicated relationship with her own ancestry. This book is breathtaking and heartbreaking and I binged the audiobook and highly recommend it. 
   
   
   
9. What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher: this is the only book I've ever won in a Goodreads giveaway and I loved it so much. This is a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe and I really thought this would be the best book I read this year and I am so excited to keep reading from her. 
   
   
   
10. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney: this is a thriller and another retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie just like my worst book of the year oddly enough. This is about the Darker family who have come to the grandmother's isolated house on Halloween Eve for the grandmother's birthday and as the clock strikes midnight the first member of the family si found dead and one more person dies every hour counting down to when they can escape the island. The plot twist in this was amazing and this was just great. 
    
    
    

I also have two honorable mentions which are also five stars but are rereads so I didn't put them on my list. 

• Simon Snow Trilogy by Rainbow Rowell (Carry On, Wayward Son, Anyway the Wind Blows): Any Way the Wind Blows was a first time read but the trilogy itself was a reread and I absolutely love this trilogy and this world and this will always be one of my big comfort reads. 
  
  
  
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman: I listened to this on audible since the final book in the trilogy came out and I loved this book just as much on the reread/relisten. 
  
  
  

So finally I have my goals from the beginning of the year, let's see how we did. 

1. Read at least 12 nonfiction books this year (about 1 a month): I read a total of 14 nonfiction books, mostly memoirs still but I really enjoyed them. 
2. Listen to more audiobooks: I listened to 24 audiobooks this year which is really great for me. I'm hoping to listen to more in 2023. 
3. Read more of my backlist instead of just new. I have a kindle unlimited subscription which I read 4 books straight off that (and more that I read digitally using that that I also owned as a hardcopy book). I also got 20 books from the library either physically, digitally or audio. And I read 34 books that I owned prior to 2022 (this does not include books I borrowed either from the library or Libby or a friend). 
4. Blog more consistently. We all know this is a fail. 

So that's everything about 2022. I'm hoping as always that 2023 is a better year in every way. 

Happy Reading and Happy New Year!

Richelle

November Preview

 Hello Interwebs!

After a stellar October for reading I am looking forward to keeping that energy going for November as well despite November being a historically difficult month with my persistence in participating in Nonfiction November every year. I think I have a good groupings of books and I am breaking up the nonfiction with another readathon. 

So first up we have Nonfiction November which is a month long readathon that I found out by Abookolive on YouTube. So this readathon goes from the first to the thirtieth of November and the goal is to read at least one nonfiction book during the month, more if you're so inclined, and there's four one word prompts you can try to fulfill which I always do. 

This year's prompts are: 

• Record
• Element
• Border
• Secret

So I have two books I have selected for each prompt as well as a couple others I have that could work as well. That being said I have already finished one book and absolutely loved it. 

• Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction by Grady Hendrix: this is my first pick for RECORD under the interpretation that this is a historical record and putting on the record/creating a record of these books which are largely obscure and forgotten now. This follows the paperback pulp fiction horror publishing during its hay days in the 70s and 80s and I have both a paperback copy and an ebook copy and have been super excited about it. 
  
  
  
• Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach: this is my other pick for RECORD with a historical record and going on the record in a legal sense as this is about wildlife crimes. I've had this for a year and I am really excited for it so hopefully we'll get to this one too. 
  
  
  
• The Science of Stephen King: The Truth Behind Pennywise, Jack Torrance, Carrie, Cujo, and More Iconic Characters from the Master of Horror by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence: this is my first pick for ELEMENT as something that's "in my element" which is horror and Stephen King and science. This book is divided into sections by decade and then further divided into chapters each one for a book from that decade which discusses something about the science behind it. For example the first "chapter" is about Carrie and it talks about the science of religion and religious fanaticism as well as bullying. 
  
  
  
• The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum: this is my other choice for ELEMENT which I am interpreting in this case to be a chemistry sense. This is about the events at the beginning of the 1900s that led to the creation of the FDA and food safety standards. It sounds really interesting and I'm excited for it. 
  
  
  
• Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson: this is one of my picks for SECRET, which is something kept a secret or hidden from public view. This is a biography of sorts about Rosemary Kennedy, the Kennedy daughter who had birth injuries that led to her being hidden by her family and culminating in being lobotomized. I've had this on my shelves for quite a while and I'm excited to finally get to it. 
  
  
  
• Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen: this is my other choice for SECRET and is a true crime book I've had for a while about a sanatorium in Washington state that was purporting a miracle cure and the secrets to health and long life but it turned out it was a fasting cure that led to many many deaths. 
  
  
  
• Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva: this is one of my picks for BORDER and it's about this woman's search through several places and across borders of untamed foods, ones that are natural and unprocessed. 
  
  
  
• Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by Mayukh Sen: this is my other selection for BORDER in that it involves immigrants. This is about immigrant women who influenced American food in different ways and this sounds exactly up my alley and I'm very interested in it. 
  
  
  
• World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil: this is a collection of poems and essays about wonders of the natural world. I've wanted to read this for a while and it should be a quick palate cleanser of a book.
  
  
  
• Witches of America by Alex Mar: this is a memoir about the author's exploration into paganism and witchcraft in America. This is my literati book club pick for November and after flipping through it I'm not so sure this is something I'm here for but maybe I'll go for it. 
  
  
  

So the other readathon I'm going to do in November is Gilmoreathon which is a Gilmore Girls readathon from November 7th-13th (so starting Monday) and is hosted by Bookables on YouTube which was the first YouTuber I ever watched. There are seven Gilmore Girls based prompts and I kind of intend to make this work. The prompts that have multiple books on it are ones I'm going to pick one depending on what I'm vibing with when I get there. 

• Read a book set in a small town
• Broomsticks and Board Games by Amy McNulty 
  
  
  
• Death Overdue by Allison Brook
  
  
  
• Read a book with family drama
• Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
  
  
  
• Read a book set during fall/winter
• Mooncakes by Wendy Xu; Suzanne Walker
  
  
  
• Read a book with Complicated Love Interests
• Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood
  
  
  
• Stuck with You by Ali Hazelwood
  
  
  
• Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood
  
  
  
• Read a book by an Asian author or that has Asian representation
• Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien
  
  
  
• Bake a fall treat and watch your favorite episode
• My favorite Gilmore Girls episode is A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving which is from season 3 where Lorelai and Rory run from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving. It's a good one and so quintessentially fall. Also a favorite episode is You Jump, I Jump Jack from season 5 which is Rory's introduction to the Life and Death Brigade and the beginning of the Rory-Logan romance. I'm not sure what we're going to make but I've got pumpkin mixes all over the place. 
• Read a book with leaves on the cover
• Pumpkin Everything by Beth Labonte
  
  
  

So that's everything I have on tap for November 2022. I have high hopes for this month and we'll see how it all turns out. So far I have finished Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix and gave it a 5 star rating so I'm very very hopeful. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

October Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

So October 2022 has been my best reading month of the year so far with a grand total of 20 books read! Most of my books in October were novellas and/or manga but I also had a very consistently good reading month for a change. I read a total of 3,801 pages and gave my reading an average rating of 4.1 stars out of 5. I also managed to fulfill all the reading prompts for all of my readathons (even if I extended the weekend ones to encompass the entire week). 

• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury: This is a middle grade novel about a group of boys who go to a mysterious house on Halloween night with an even more ominous and mysterious man with a mysterious tree filled with jack-o-lanterns. They end up having to travel through time and space to learn about the history of Halloween to save their friend. I didn't care for this one very much, it was very dated and the treatment to others' belief systems was overly simplified in some places and downright disrespectful in others. I started and finished this book on October 2nd and gave it a disappointed 2.5 stars out of 5 stars. 
  
  
  
• The Promised Neverland 1: Grace Field House by Kaiu Shirai: this is the first volume in a Manga series following a group of orphans who find out a dark secret about the orphanage they live in, the adults around them, and the world outside the orphanage grounds. A strong start to the series. I read this from October 2nd to 3rd and gave it 4.75 stars out of 5. 
  
  
  
• Dead Leaves by Kealan Patrick Burke: this is a short story collection by an author I've really enjoyed in the past (Sour Candy is one of my all time favorite short story/novellas). This story collection had some high points and some mediocre ones but by and large I found the book pretty middle of the road and now by the end of the month I can barely remember what the book was about. I read this from October 2nd to the 4th and gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
  
  
  
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: this is the second novel of Shirley Jackson's that I've tired after not being impressed by The Haunting of Hill House last October. I liked this one much, much better. This is about a pair of sisters who live isolated in a huge manor house outside of town caring for their disabled Uncle after a tragedy claimed the lives of the rest of their family some time earlier. It is unclear if either sister had something to do with the deaths or if it was intentional and it was a good tense gothic style novel that I enjoyed a good deal. I listened to this book on audio from October 4th-7th and gave it 3.75 stars out of 5. 
  
  
  
• Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw: this is a young adult novel that follows Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas after the events of the movie and after she and Jack Skellington have married. After opening a door to a world far older than the holiday worlds, Sally accidentally releases an ancient force that wrecks havoc on the holiday lands before Sally has to fix what she's done and save everyone. This book was really good. I loved how Sally was written and even as a woman in my 30s I found Sally's story to be very relatable. I read this from October 6th-10th and gave it 5 stars. 
  
  
  
• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca: this is a collection of three horror novellas/short stories. The titular story is told through emails and instant messages between two women developing a relationship that gets more and more disturbing and sees one of the participants becoming more and more unhinged. I didn't mind the title story but I did not find it as disturbing or intense as other people had reported it being. That being said the other short stories were almost better and more compelling for me. In the end I gave this a 3.5 star rating and read it from October 8th-11th. 
  
  
  
• The Promised Neverland 2: Control by Kaiu Shirai: second volume of the Manga series read on October 11th and given 4.5/5 stars. 
  
  
  
• Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess: this is a slasher novella about an abandoned carnival where a bunch of deaths have taken place over the years and a group of students on a trip who have gone to explore. This book was a straight up carnival based slasher and I absolutely loved it. This is exactly what I was wanting out of my October reading and gave it a very solid 5 stars. I read it from October 10-12th.
  
  
  
• The Promised Neverland volume 3: Destroy by Kaiu Shirai: third volume of the Manga series read on October 12th and given 4.5/5 stars
  
  
  
• Attack of the 50 Foot Indian by Stephen Graham Jones: this is a short story about a mysterious 50 foot tall Indian who rises out of the ocean, stomps around Washington state and then disappears back into the sea. This book didn't have much of a plot line but it was still fun and enjoyable. I read this on October 12th and gave it a 4.25 stars. 
  
  
  
• The Promised Neverland Volume 4: I Want to Live by Kaiu Shirai: fourth volume of the Manga series read from October 13-14th and given 4.75 stars. 
  
  
  
• The Promised Neverland Volume 5: Escape by Kaiu Shirai: fifth volume of the Manga series read on October 14th and given 4.5 stars. 
  
  
  
• Halloween Fiend by C.V. Hunt: a novella about a town where every night the citizens put out a small live sacrifice for a creature they call Halloween and hold a "lottery" on Halloween for a human sacrifice for the creature. This all changes the year they bring in rides for the "harvest festival" and the carnies get involved with a town member. This book was not as good as it sounded and I struggled to finish it. I read it from October 12-16th and gave it a "fine" 3/5 stars. 
  
  
  
• Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana: this is an extreme horror novel about a woman who is involved with a convicted serial killer and is sent on a quest up the river to find the river man and give him something. This book was dark and disturbing in places but I really really enjoyed it overall. I read thsi from October 16-20th and gave it a 4.25 star rating. 
  
  
  
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (Southern Reach Trilogy #1): this is a sci-fi horror about an expedition into a mysterious quarantine zone (Area X) by a team of female scientists to study the area after previous expeditions suffered a variety of grim fates. This book was fine. It was too long and too wordy and got much too weird in places. By the end I wasn't disappointed I listened to it on audio but I also have no desire to finish the trilogy. Listened to the audiobook from the 17th-21st and gave it a fine 3.5 star rating. 
  
  
  
• Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield #2): this is a sequel to my favorite book of July and picks up on our trio of survivors a year after the events of the first book as they struggle to cope with the events of the previous year, the haunted attraction that has been set up on the site of the massacre, and the people both inside the town and outside it who either don't believe what happened or believe the teenagers were at fault. This book was not quite as good as the previous one but I still really liked it in all it's campy sequel glory. I read this book from the 20-25th and gave it a 4.5 star rating. 
  
  
  
• Goddess of Filth by V Castro: this is a book about a group of Hispanic girls who hold a séance for fun and end up having one of them possessed by an Aztec goddess who eats sin and exposes people around them for the sins they have committed. I really really enjoyed this one with the Aztec lore and the vibes that reminded me of The Craft. I read thsi from October 25th-29th and gave it a 5 star rating. 
  
  
  
• Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke: this is a novella about a man whose child has died and his child's favorite blanket which appears back in her room one day without any indication of how it got there. This story was pretty good. It was overall more sad than scary but it had that note of uncertainty when it comes to the ending that I really enjoy. I read it from October 29th-30th and gave it 4 stars. 
  
  
  
• Below by Laurel Hightower: this is a novella about a woman who witnesses a semitruck crash and goes to help the driver, discovering a winged creature out there in the snow in the mountains of West Virginia. As she goes to help him things get weirder and weirder with creatures and voices in the snow. This book had a very claustrophobic feel to it and while I really liked it and found it a quick read I also did not care for the ending at all. I read this from October 30th-31st and gave it 4.25 stars. 
  
  
  
• Shiver by Junji Ito: this is another horror manga short story collection by one of my favorite authors/illustrators. This was a pretty solid short story collection (one of the short stories is included in the book Tomie) and while there were only one or two standout stories for me, most of them were pretty solid. I read thsi on Halloween and gave it a 4 star rating. 
  
  
  

So that's all I read in the month of October and now I have my list of readathons and prompts that I completed during the month. 

Halloweekend Readathon

• Read a Host Favorite
• Goddess of Filth by V Castro
• Read a Book with a Halloween Related Word in the Title
• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (Halloween) 
• Read a book in your Favorite Horror/Thriller Subgenre
• Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare (slasher) 
• Read a Book that is set around Halloween or gives Halloween vibes
• Halloween Fiend by C.V. Hunt
• Read a Horror/Thriller Genre Blend
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (Sci-Fi horror) 
• Read a Novella
• Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke
• Read a Book by an Author You Love
• Attack of the 50 Foot Indian by Stephen Graham Jones
• Read a Book with Halloween Colors on the Cover
• Dead Leaves by Kealan Patrick Burke
• Read a Book with a New to You Author
• Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess
• Read a Book with a Cover You Love 
• Below by Laurel Hightower

Stabathon Readathon

• Ghostface: Villain POV
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• Dewey and Gayle: Romantic Subplot
• Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw
• Sydney Prescott: Final Girl Trope or Slasher
• Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess
• Jill Roberts: YA Thriller or Retelling
• Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare
• Tara Carpenter: Female Relationship
• Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana (sisters) 

Happy Haileyween

• Read an Extreme Horror Book
• Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana
• Read a Book That Takes Place on Halloween
• Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare
• Read an Indie Horror/Thriller Book
• Cirque Berserk by Jessica Guess
• Read a Spooky Book by a BIPOC Author
• Attack of the 50 Foot Indian by Stephen Graham Jones
• Read a Horror Book by a Queer Author
• Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

Weekendween: Monster Mash

• Let a Coin Toss Decide Your First Read
• Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke
• Read a Book with a Monster in it or a Monster on the Cover 
• Below by Laurel Hightower
• Listen to a Spooky Audiobook or Read a Horror Graphic Novel/Manga
• Shiver by Junji Ito
• Read a Book in the Dark or at Night
• Goddess of Filth by V Castro

So that's everything I read in October and all the readathons I participated in. I had a really good reading month and didn't 100% dislike anything I read. On to November and cozy books and nonfiction!

Happy Reading,

Richelle