2022 Reading Year in Review

Many thanks to Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner for the fun year end book survey! I didn’t answer all of the original questions (especially the blogging related ones, as I do a separate blogging year-end post), so make sure to check out the OP. I also added a few statistical questions of my own.

Here’s a look back at my 2022 Year in Books:

2022 Reading Stats

Number of Books Read: 686

Ages Read:

• Board Books: 35
• Picture Books: 237
• Early Readers: 18
• Transitional Chapter Books: 63
• Middle Grade: 248
• Young Adult: 49
• Adult: 35

Formats Read:

• Audio: 77
• Electronic: 0
• Graphic Novels/Manga: 149
• Traditional Print: 460

Pages Read (ER-Adult): 95,826

Number of Re-Reads (ER-Adult): 14

Books in a Series (ER-Adult): 216 (52%)

Standalones (ER-Adult): 197 (48%)

Diverse Books (ER-Adult): 165 (40%)

Most Read Genres (ER-Adult): Fantasy and Romance

Best in Books

Best Book You Read: I don’t know about “best,” but here are some of my 2022 favorite books for each age group not mentioned below!

• Picture Book: Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty
• Early Reader: Archie & Reddie series by James Candy
• Transitional Chapter Book: Miles Lewis series by Kelly Starling Lyons
• Comic/Manga/Graphic Novel: Chef’s Kiss by Jarrett Melendez
• Middle Grade: Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
• Young Adult: Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson
• Adult: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More, But Didn’t: I LOVED The Sun Down Hotel by Simone St. James, but was bummed when I couldn’t get into her latest, The Book of Cold Cases. I really lost my motivation when the identity of the Lady Killer was revealed less than halfway through. The rest of the story unfolded disappointingly predictably.

Advertised as “wizard school meets Ghostbusters,” I couldn’t wait to read Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Födi. Middle Grade fantasy is my JAM, and this book seemed like it’d be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the author’s near constant casual fatphobia ruined what would otherwise have been a great book for me.

Most Surprising (in a Good/Bad Way): I was surprised by how dark Dan Santat got in The Aquanaut. I kept seeing this MG graphic novel advertised as “whimsical” and “adventurous” and “goofy,” which I guess is true, but those are definitely not the first or foremost words that come to my mind!

Book You “Pushed” the Most People to Read (And They Did!): According to class voting and catalog hold lists after school visits this fall, my most popular booktalk was the MG graphic novel Housecat Trouble by Mason Dickerson!

Best Series You Started/Continued/Finished: I’m a serial reader by inclination, so it’s impossible for me to pick just one! Here’s a few of my favorite series this year:

• A Taste of Magic by J. Elle (Park Row Magic Academy #1)
• Breaking Badlands by Scott Reingten (Talespinners #3)
• Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutano (Aunties #2)
• Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare (Clown in a Cornfield #2)
• Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #2)
• Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza by Laekan Zea Kemp (Omega Morales #1)
• Phoenix Flight by Jessica Khoury (Skyborn #3)
• Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting by Roseanne A. Brown (Serwa Boateng #1)
• Something Wicked by Ellen Oh (Spirit Hunters #3)
• Team Chu and the Battle for Blackwood Arena by Julie C. Dao (Team Chu #1)
• The Midnight Orchestra by Jessica Khoury (Mystwick #2)
• Witchlings #1 by Claribel Ortega
• Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White (Sinister Summer Series #1)

Favorite New Author: I found so many fantastic debut (and just new to me) authors this year! I’m a sucker for culinary romance so I was especially excited to see TJ Alexander break into the scene. I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out in 2023!

Best Book from a Genre Outside Comfort Zone: I don’t usually read memoirs, but I absolutely adored the middle grade memoir While I Was Away by Waka T. Brown.

Most Action-Packed/Thrilling/Unputdownable: I could not stop listening to None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney (YA)! I missed this when it came out in 2020. I’m so excited we’re getting a sequel in 2023!

Book Most Likely to Re-Read: I like to re-read earlier books when a new title is released in a series, so I dare say I will re-read Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza by Laekan Zea Kemp (MG) when Book #2 comes out in Fall 2023.

Favorite Cover: How can you pick anything besides Tumble by Celia C Perez (MG)? I mean, just look at that GORGEOUS cover art by Steph C!

Most Memorable Character: Some characters live on in our hearts and minds long after the last page. I know I’ll never forget the giant Pacific octopus Marcellus from the adult literary novel Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. 🐙

Most Beautifully Written: The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho (YA)

Favorite Passage/Quote from a Book: Speaking of…

My words were sword and shield. Together our words can be an army.

-Joanna Ho, The Silence that Binds Us 

Book You Can’t Believe You Waited UNTIL 2022 to Finally Read: Umm why did I wait so long to read Starfish by Lisa Fipps?!

Shortest & Longest Book: Most of the early readers I read came in at 32 pages, but apparently Goodreads picked Flubby Will Not Take a Bath as the shortest one. At 672 pages, Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell was my longest read of the year. I was really in the mood for classic English literature after our trip to the UK! I also enjoyed watching the BBC adaptation.

First & Last Book: My first book of 2022 was Malorie by Josh Malerman (Adult Horror). Wrapped up the year with The Midnight Orchestra (MG Fantasy) by Jessica Khoury!

OTP of the Year: Simone & Ray from Chef’s Kiss by T.J. Alexander 😍

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year: It’s a two-way tie! I loved the unlikely relationship between Marcellus the octopus and Tova the cleaning lady in Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt (Adult). I also loved the friendship between Mars rover Resilience and his drone, Fly, in A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga (MG).

Favorite Book You Read in 2022 from An Author You’ve Read Previously: Once again, I can’t pick just one! I automatically read anything new by these MG authors because they always knock it out of the park:

• Frizzy by Claribel Ortega
• Jennifer Chan is Not Alone by Tae Keller
• The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
• Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Valentina Salazar is Not a Monster Hunter by Zoraida Cordova

Best Book Recommendation: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (thanks Alyson!)

Best 2022 Debut: Freddie vs. the Family Curse by Tracy Badua (MG)

Best Worldbuilding: Wingbearers by Marjorie Liu (MG GN)

Most Fun to Read: It’s a tie between Two-Headed Chicken by Tom Angleberger (MG GN) and the picture book Endlessly Ever After: Pick Your Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings by Laurel Snyder and Dan Santat. This Choose Your Own Adventure-ish picture book is SO MUCH FUN to read aloud in school-age storytimes!

Book that Made You Cry/Nearly Cry: I read many a tearjerker this year, but I distinctly remember driving to work, crying in my car when I listened to THAT PART of A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga. 😭

Hidden Gem of the Year: I loved K. Tempest Bradley’s debut MG novel Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion! How does this fantastic book only have 40 ratings and 14 reviews on Goodreads?

Book that Crushed Your Soul: It took me more than a month to read The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho (YA) because it was so emotionally devastating, I had to pace how much I wanted to break my heart. Don’t worry, Joanna Ho puts your broken pieces back together again by the end!

Most Unique: A few books made me stop this year and say, “Huh. I’ve never read anything like that before.” 

• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds & Jason Giffin (YA Novel in Verse)
• Endlessly Ever After: Pick Your Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings by Laurel Snyder and Dan Santat (Picture Book)
• Little Monarchs by Jonathan Case (MG GN)

Book that Made You the Most Mad: The Weight of Blood (YA) by Tiffany D. Jackson made me so mad and sad, I felt almost sick to my stomach.

Blogging/Bookish Life

New Favorite Book Blog/Bookstagram/Youtube Channel: I always feel compelled to re-read earlier books in a series whenever a new title comes out. A friend and fellow serial reader recently introduced me to Recaptains, an amazing book recap resource to help you refresh your memory! I’m hoping this will help me catch up with all the series I have going without having to do so much re-reading in 2023.

Favorite Bookish 2022 Photo: I’m going to go with this photo taken during my last baby storytime. All the feels! 😭

Best 2022 Bookish Event: I was lucky to see several author panels this year! My favorites was the closing session at the 2022 ALSC Institute with B.B. Alston, Julian Randall and Young Vo. Julian Randall remembered me in the book signing line! 🤩 He really liked my question (which was – what is the best question you’ve ever been asked by a kid?)!

Best Bookish/Blogging Moment in 2022: The year started off with a high when Lindsey from Jbrary left the nicest Instagram comment about my my blog. 🤩 Several library workers have also reached out to me throughout the year about getting started with their own Bricks and Books Club!

Most Challenging Reading/Blogging Life Thing in 2022: Because my team has a rule that you have to read the books you bring for school booktalks, and because I have to bring new books for three different elementary school grade levels every month, I’ve struggled with finding time to read much YA or Adult. I love MG… but you know what they say about too much of a good thing! I’m starting to get book burnout.

Completed Challenges/Goals: As a judge, I kicked off the year by reading our 2021-2022 Battle of the Books titles (which the library I previously worked at facilitated in partnership with the local school district). One of my elementary schools won! I participated in both my local library’s summer reading program and my new library’s staff summer reading challenge (we used Bingo Baker to generate unique individual cards – so fun!) In the fall, I was selected as a winner in our first-ever Read It Forward program. I loved participating in MG Booktober on social media and in the Fall 2022 Bit About Books Reading Challenge!

Looking Ahead

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2022 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2023? I didn’t get around to reading the sequel to Legendborn last year, but I’m putting Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn (YA) on the top of my 2023 TBR!

Most Anticipated 2023 (Non-Debut) Book: Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf (MG)

Most Anticipated 2023 Debut: I’m stoked for Angie Thomas’s debut MG novel, is that cheating?

Most Anticipated Sequel: I know I already mentioned Ellie Marney’s forthcoming YA mystery/thriller, Some Shall Break (None Shall Sleep #2), and TJ Alexander’s forthcoming Adult culinary romance, Chef’s Choice (Chef’s Kiss #2), but I just want to say again how excited I am for these sequels! I also can’t wait for Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. I feel like I’ve been waiting for the finale of this MG Fantasy series for foreverrrrrrr!

One Goal for Your Reading/Blogging Life: This year I hope to finally transition from Goodreads to StoryGraph! I’d also like to connect more with the books I read and take the time to write reviews, not just rate them.

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That’s a wrap on my 2022 year in books! What were your favorites from 2022? What titles are you looking forward to this new year? Do you have any bookish resolutions for 2023? Let me know in the comments below!