MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The 2022 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread

Pjama · 12-22-2021, 08:56 PM

I would like to join.

My goals are to finish reading 5001 Nights at the Movies by Pauline Kael and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Other than that my goals are to read ten books in French, 35 in English and maybe one in Spanish. This may change.

Completed goal to read one Spanish book in 2022. La Chica del tren, completed January 19. 1/5 I have read this twice in English, which meant I could skim over the banal, repetitive text - great for learning vocab in a new language though, but a turgid read.

January 2022
Short version: Finished 5 English books, 1 Spanish.

Long version:
Finished 5001 Nights at the Movies. 5/5 I actually finished this in December, so I need to take it off my goal list for this year.

Source: Kindle store

Finished Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence. 4/5 Source: Project Gutenberg

And I just borrowed La Chica del Tren, which I have previously read a couple of times in English, so should be reasonably easy for me as my Spanish book - thought I would try and get that out of the way at the start of the year. Source: Overdrive
Just finished reading my very first Spanish book, on Jan 19, took me a long time, but I definitely became more fluent toward the end, looking up fewer words, etc. Next book will be in English and should be a breeze to finish after that.

Finished The Song of Achilles 2.5/5 on Jan 21, 2 days to read (from Overdrive) and also finished The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch on Jan 25, 3.5/5 (EPUB, owned).

Reading Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson, borrowed from Overdrive but I forgot I previously bought it on Amazon so will convert to Kepub and see if my version’s formatting looks as good as the Overdrive one.

- It did look almost the same, but I am probably not going to finish this one right now. I am not in the mood for his imaginative 'faction' at the moment. (Meaning, a supposedly factual book, but with so much supposition (regarding people, their motives, etc. that it is practically fiction.)

Reading Hallucinations by the late, great Oliver Sacks. Source: Overdrive NB. Abandoned as case studies too worrying for me at this time.

Reading The Amazing Spider-man compilation by dipping in and out between longer reads. Source: Kindle Unlimited free trial

Finished A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch, this was a reread. Source kindle store

Re-reading Candide, ou l'optimisme by Voltaire.
Also listening to this on Audible for the nth time.

February 2022
Short version: Finished 5 English books, 1 French book.

Long version:
Finished A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler and wish I’d stopped at 80% when I knew it was going to go from bad to worse. It started quite promisingly as well. Disappointing. 2/5 Overdrive borrow.

Finished Le Meurtre de Roger Ackroyd by Agatha

. One of my favorites to read and reread. 5/5

Finished (read the same day I finished the Agatha Christie above) Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick, one of his I hadn’t read yet. Almost perfect.

4.5/5

And, also on same day, started reading The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick, which has 3444 pages !!!!! (Bought on Kindle for only $3.99, which is insane, five volumes). And so, I will be reading this gradually, throughout the year. Also read a little of the Exegesis, which I started reading a couple of years ago.

Finished The Hobbit for the first time since I read it as a child. Blasted through it this time in two days. Really enjoyed it - so much more imaginative than the turgid movies. 4/5

Finished The Amazing Spider-man Epic Collection #18-38 by dipping in and out between longer reads. Source: Kindle Unlimited free trial

Reading The Lord of the Rings, currently halfway through, reading for the third time in my life, the other two times I have given up 100 pages from the end. I hope to make it all the way to the end this time, finally!

Finished The Fellowship of the Ring.
Finished The Two Towers.

March

Finished The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King
I finally finished it! Third time I’ve tried over my life. Wonderful. 5/5

Reading The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael
Reading Therèse Raquin by Emile Zola in French - a reread as I love this book - started rereading it last month and broke off to read the Tolkien as it was not the right time for the grim Zola due to personal circumstances. But I think I will be able to return to it soon.

Finished American Dirt, an excellent novel about Central American migrants traveling to the U.S. 4/5 Overdrive borrow.

Finished Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K. Dick, one of my top authors. 4/5 Loved it, complex.

April

Completed Les Sept cadrans by Agatha Christie - French version of The Seven Dials Mystery - comfort reread.
All ebooks, will note if not an ebook.

Read Winston Churchill, Their Finest Hour, second volume of his World War 2 series. Kindle purchase.
Thèrese Raquin, French reread, loved it again.
Read The Judge's List by John Grisham, ho hum. Overdrive borrow.

May
The Unexpected Guest, Agatha Christie, novelization of a play, noticeably a lot less richly detailed than her usual books. Kindle purchase.
Read The Plot by Korelitz. Not as smart as it thought it was but quite entertaining I suppose. Overdrive borrow.

June
Reread Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, still stunning. In bed with Covid, this helped.
Reread Henry and Cato by Iris Murdoch, exceptional as ever.
Read Ebert, The Great Movies, volume 2.

July

Reading Living on Paper, letters from Iris Murdoch, an actual hard back book. Which recommended La Peste, which I am now reading before coming back to this.

Reading La Peste by Camus, really enjoying it.

Halfway through the year, I have read at least 24 books, 1 of which Spanish, four of which French.
I’m sure I have read others but I have not been good at keeping records.
Just about on target.

The Woman in the Window by AJFinch. 2/5 Very silly, could see twist a mile off. But quite funny after watching the Netflix spoof as could picture that in my head. Overdrive borrow.

August
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. 4/5
Surprised by how well this was written. I have zero expectations of modern books but I wanted easy books to get me back into reading more again. This is a good'un.
Truly, Madly, Guilty.
What Alice Forgot.
Big Little Lies. All by Liane Moriarty. Excellent books, and very interesting to read modern books set in Australia.
All Overdrive borrows.

Purchased and started reading the Satanic Verses after Salman was horribly attacked.

September
Started reading the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Free on Project Gutenberg, but no illustrations.
Started reading the Natural History of Pliny. Free on Project Gutenberg.
Read an excellent book of essays, Inventing the Enemy, by the late lamented by me Umberto Eco. Purchased on kindle.
Started reading Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and am going to finish this after Christmas, when I get my new Kindle Scribe, so I can have a really good look at all the notebook pages, etc. Purchased on kindle.
Currently rereading A Place of Greater Safety by the sadly recently late and much lamented Hilary Mantel.
Started reading Héloise by Rousseau

October

Reading Travels in Hyperrealities by Umberto Eco, scintillating essays, bought on kindle.

Back to comfort reading due to lowered attention span.
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. 3/5
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. 4/5 V good, this one.
Argent Sale by *shudder* Lee Child and *shudder* Karin Slaughter. Utterly appalling book, plus a con as only 100 pages, with the last THIRD taken up by an 'exclusive extract'. The most boring *thriller* I’ve ever read. I only read this to get one of my ten books in the French language for this year, as I’ve fallen behind. My first full read on my new Kobo Clara 2E which I got as my local library has just started to provide French books on loan! A small collection as yet, hence my picking this travesty. (Argent Sale = Dirty Money) 0/5, but 5/5 to both authors for becoming millionaires by writing this utter dross.
All overdrive borrows.

November and December.

Finished the year with lots of comfort rereads:

Completed:

The Last Anniversary by Laine Moriarty

Harry Potter Books 1-5.

Abandoned:

Blonde French edition by Joyce Carol Oates, excellent but became far too depressing to continue with.

Read a lot of wonderful Umberto Eco essays this year. Can’t remember the name of the last one I read right now.

I did a lot of reading of essays here and there which is not recorded here. My list of books here sounds pretty dumb and I don’t think I’ll do this next year.
For example, I have a huge book of every short story Philip K Dick ever wrote, and I have no intention of reading it cover to cover, nor do I want to feel I am failing at something by dipping in and out of books.

Goodbye to 2022 (It's December 31).

12-22-2021, 08:56 PM	#18
Pjama Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 2347200 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: TX Device: Scribe and Libra Colour	I would like to join. My goals are to finish reading 5001 Nights at the Movies by Pauline Kael and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Other than that my goals are to read ten books in French, 35 in English and maybe one in Spanish. This may change. Completed goal to read one Spanish book in 2022. La Chica del tren, completed January 19. 1/5 I have read this twice in English, which meant I could skim over the banal, repetitive text - great for learning vocab in a new language though, but a turgid read. January 2022 Short version: Finished 5 English books, 1 Spanish. Long version: Finished 5001 Nights at the Movies. 5/5 I actually finished this in December, so I need to take it off my goal list for this year. Source: Kindle store Finished Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence. 4/5 Source: Project Gutenberg And I just borrowed La Chica del Tren, which I have previously read a couple of times in English, so should be reasonably easy for me as my Spanish book - thought I would try and get that out of the way at the start of the year. Source: Overdrive Just finished reading my very first Spanish book, on Jan 19, took me a long time, but I definitely became more fluent toward the end, looking up fewer words, etc. Next book will be in English and should be a breeze to finish after that. Finished The Song of Achilles 2.5/5 on Jan 21, 2 days to read (from Overdrive) and also finished The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch on Jan 25, 3.5/5 (EPUB, owned). Reading Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson, borrowed from Overdrive but I forgot I previously bought it on Amazon so will convert to Kepub and see if my version’s formatting looks as good as the Overdrive one. - It did look almost the same, but I am probably not going to finish this one right now. I am not in the mood for his imaginative 'faction' at the moment. (Meaning, a supposedly factual book, but with so much supposition (regarding people, their motives, etc. that it is practically fiction.) Reading Hallucinations by the late, great Oliver Sacks. Source: Overdrive NB. Abandoned as case studies too worrying for me at this time. Reading The Amazing Spider-man compilation by dipping in and out between longer reads. Source: Kindle Unlimited free trial Finished A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch, this was a reread. Source kindle store Re-reading Candide, ou l'optimisme by Voltaire. Also listening to this on Audible for the nth time. February 2022 Short version: Finished 5 English books, 1 French book. Long version: Finished A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler and wish I’d stopped at 80% when I knew it was going to go from bad to worse. It started quite promisingly as well. Disappointing. 2/5 Overdrive borrow. Finished Le Meurtre de Roger Ackroyd by Agatha . One of my favorites to read and reread. 5/5 Finished (read the same day I finished the Agatha Christie above) Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick, one of his I hadn’t read yet. Almost perfect. 4.5/5 And, also on same day, started reading The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick, which has 3444 pages !!!!! (Bought on Kindle for only $3.99, which is insane, five volumes). And so, I will be reading this gradually, throughout the year. Also read a little of the Exegesis, which I started reading a couple of years ago. Finished The Hobbit for the first time since I read it as a child. Blasted through it this time in two days. Really enjoyed it - so much more imaginative than the turgid movies. 4/5 Finished The Amazing Spider-man Epic Collection #18-38 by dipping in and out between longer reads. Source: Kindle Unlimited free trial Reading The Lord of the Rings, currently halfway through, reading for the third time in my life, the other two times I have given up 100 pages from the end. I hope to make it all the way to the end this time, finally! Finished The Fellowship of the Ring. Finished The Two Towers. March Finished The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King I finally finished it! Third time I’ve tried over my life. Wonderful. 5/5 Reading The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael Reading Therèse Raquin by Emile Zola in French - a reread as I love this book - started rereading it last month and broke off to read the Tolkien as it was not the right time for the grim Zola due to personal circumstances. But I think I will be able to return to it soon. Finished American Dirt, an excellent novel about Central American migrants traveling to the U.S. 4/5 Overdrive borrow. Finished Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K. Dick, one of my top authors. 4/5 Loved it, complex. April Completed Les Sept cadrans by Agatha Christie - French version of The Seven Dials Mystery - comfort reread. All ebooks, will note if not an ebook. Read Winston Churchill, Their Finest Hour, second volume of his World War 2 series. Kindle purchase. Thèrese Raquin, French reread, loved it again. Read The Judge's List by John Grisham, ho hum. Overdrive borrow. May The Unexpected Guest, Agatha Christie, novelization of a play, noticeably a lot less richly detailed than her usual books. Kindle purchase. Read The Plot by Korelitz. Not as smart as it thought it was but quite entertaining I suppose. Overdrive borrow. June Reread Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, still stunning. In bed with Covid, this helped. Reread Henry and Cato by Iris Murdoch, exceptional as ever. Read Ebert, The Great Movies, volume 2. July Reading Living on Paper, letters from Iris Murdoch, an actual hard back book. Which recommended La Peste, which I am now reading before coming back to this. Reading La Peste by Camus, really enjoying it. Halfway through the year, I have read at least 24 books, 1 of which Spanish, four of which French. I’m sure I have read others but I have not been good at keeping records. Just about on target. The Woman in the Window by AJFinch. 2/5 Very silly, could see twist a mile off. But quite funny after watching the Netflix spoof as could picture that in my head. Overdrive borrow. August Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. 4/5 Surprised by how well this was written. I have zero expectations of modern books but I wanted easy books to get me back into reading more again. This is a good'un. Truly, Madly, Guilty. What Alice Forgot. Big Little Lies. All by Liane Moriarty. Excellent books, and very interesting to read modern books set in Australia. All Overdrive borrows. Purchased and started reading the Satanic Verses after Salman was horribly attacked. September Started reading the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Free on Project Gutenberg, but no illustrations. Started reading the Natural History of Pliny. Free on Project Gutenberg. Read an excellent book of essays, Inventing the Enemy, by the late lamented by me Umberto Eco. Purchased on kindle. Started reading Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and am going to finish this after Christmas, when I get my new Kindle Scribe, so I can have a really good look at all the notebook pages, etc. Purchased on kindle. Currently rereading A Place of Greater Safety by the sadly recently late and much lamented Hilary Mantel. Started reading Héloise by Rousseau October Reading Travels in Hyperrealities by Umberto Eco, scintillating essays, bought on kindle. Back to comfort reading due to lowered attention span. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. 3/5 Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. 4/5 V good, this one. Argent Sale by shudder Lee Child and shudder Karin Slaughter. Utterly appalling book, plus a con as only 100 pages, with the last THIRD taken up by an 'exclusive extract'. The most boring thriller I’ve ever read. I only read this to get one of my ten books in the French language for this year, as I’ve fallen behind. My first full read on my new Kobo Clara 2E which I got as my local library has just started to provide French books on loan! A small collection as yet, hence my picking this travesty. (Argent Sale = Dirty Money) 0/5, but 5/5 to both authors for becoming millionaires by writing this utter dross. All overdrive borrows. November and December. Finished the year with lots of comfort rereads: Completed: The Last Anniversary by Laine Moriarty Harry Potter Books 1-5. Abandoned: Blonde French edition by Joyce Carol Oates, excellent but became far too depressing to continue with. Read a lot of wonderful Umberto Eco essays this year. Can’t remember the name of the last one I read right now. I did a lot of reading of essays here and there which is not recorded here. My list of books here sounds pretty dumb and I don’t think I’ll do this next year. For example, I have a huge book of every short story Philip K Dick ever wrote, and I have no intention of reading it cover to cover, nor do I want to feel I am failing at something by dipping in and out of books. Goodbye to 2022 (It's December 31). Last edited by Pjama; 12-31-2022 at 12:47 PM.