2022 READING WRAPPED
Inspired by Spotify Wrapped and TikTok's trending Dating Wrapped, I bring you my 2022 READING WRAPPED, a summary of everything I read this past year-- with fun charts!
2022 was a year of returning to routine, getting back to normal post-pandemic, and figuring out what this new normal really was. I've called it a year of re-discovery, as I returned to things I've loved in the past and figured out what still worked for me in my present. One thing is clear, reading still makes me happy, and with 78 books read this year, I spent a fair amount of my free time consuming stories. But what kinds of stories, by who, and when? That's what I decided to find out, by creating a massive spreadsheet and then turning that into a powerpoint. You can catch the presentation on my TikTok, or read on!
That total of 78 is a couple higher that 2021, which, considering lockdown was lifted for most of the year, is impressive to me! It's also 3 more than my goal of 75 of this year, so go me!
I averaged a three-star rating this year, which makes sense to me since that's pretty much my baseline rating.
For reference:
1 star - I can’t believe I finished this
2 star - this wasn’t really a good read for me
3 star - liked but didn’t love/good for what it was
4 star - loved
5 star - obsessed with and can’t stop thinking/talking about
It's worth noting that I almost never actually finish books that would end up with a one-star rating. I have no qualms about DNF-ing a book and moving on, I read for fun so if I'm not having fun, it's not worth it.
Of those 78 books, there were 12 five-star reads. I think my favourite read of the year was Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn. It's the second in the Legendborn series and it's truly astounding. All of these books have special places in my heart for different reasons, though, so you should really read them all. For full reviews, click here!
Those 78 titles were written by 65 fantastic authors. Notably, I only read multiple books by eight authors this year: Meg Cabot, Tessa Bailey, Nora Roberts, Ali Hazelwood, Jasmine Guillory, Sarah Smith, Donna Schwartze, and Christina Lauren. I love a series, especially ones that already have multiple titles that I can binge, but there wasn't a lot of that this year, I read a lot of one off, standalone titles which let me discover a ton of new-to-me authors.
Based on available online information, the demographics of the authors I read were almost entirely female and skewed mostly white. I read one book that was co-authored by a male author, every other book came from a female author. I suppose that makes sense given the stories, genres, and characters I find appealing, but it's still a bit shocking to see! I wasn't surprised, however, by the race chart. BIPOC authors continue to make up a smaller percentage of published books and an even smaller percentage of marketing budgets, so it makes sense that they make up a smaller part of my reading. It's something I'd like to continue to be aware of in 2023. The more diverse voices and stories I'm consuming in the new year, the better it will be!
Speaking of genres I enjoy, clearly contemporary romance is the main one! I feel like we are in the midst of a rom com golden age in books (I would love that to transfer over to the movies!) and I devoured many of them this year! Rounding out my seven genres were paranormal romance, fantasy, fiction, historical romance, YA fantasy, and YA romance, but 64 of 78 books were contemporary romance! Time to read out of my comfort zone a bit this year and break out of this rom com addiction.
Not too surprising, given my genres of choice, was this breakdown of the publishers and imprints represented in my 2022 read pile. Berkley has the biggest piece of the pie by a lot, and given their massive list of commercial fiction, including romance, that makes sense. Self-published made up a larger piece of the pie than I would've guessed, a result, I suspect, of my Kindle Unlimited subscription and of the discoverability on KU of self-published authors.
January was my best reading month, no matter which way you slice it. January was a partial lockdown month here in Toronto, with bars and restaurants closed. It's clear how I used that extra time!
I read 10 books in January, more than any other month in 2022.
And even broken down by pages read, January comes out on top.
As I went down memory lane, through all the books I read this past year, these were ones that I was surprised by my ratings. I always rate my reads on GoodReads immediately after finishing them, while they are fresh in my mind. In the case of these books, time has made them better, with them sticking with me long after 'the end'. It could be that the writing styles weren't my favourite at the time or they dragged at times or there was some other small thing that had me giving them less than five stars, but looking back I only remember the good. One Italian Summer and A Certain Appeal especially are two books that I've recommended numerous times since reading, and I even got One Italian Summer as a gift for several people in my life this holiday season, despite giving it a less-than-perfect rating!
Looking forward to 2023, I'm excited to expand my network of fellow readers, read out of my comfort zone, encounter new voices, and explore lots of great stories. What are you excited to read this year??
