2025 Reading Challenge discussion

2022 in Review

Wasn't it just yesterday, we were making our 2022 challenges and getting excited to start a new year? And now we are here... wrapping it up! We would love to hear how your year went with your reading!

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Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?


What were your favorite books this year?


What were your least favorites?


Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?


Did you discover any new genres or authors?


What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?


Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?


What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?


Is there something you would like to see more of?


We look forward to hearing your thoughts and starting a brand-new year in 2023!

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?
My 2022 book goal was 100, but I only finished 20 so far, with an additional 10 on my currently reading. If I finish those it will be a 30% finish rate. I doubt I will reach my goal in a mere month though..

What were your favorite books this year?
So many great books this year! I liked many books on book apps, like werewolf stories but those are not considered books, are they? ;) haha
I absolutely loved Children Of Blood And Bone, Crash Into Me, Five Lectures On Reincarnation (nonfiction), Meaty, Balanta (The Scales - romanian book about communism times, very enlightening).

What were your least favorites?
I read a book on the solar plexus chakra... it had so many gramatical error that it was a pain to read it, ugh.

Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Not really.

Did you discover any new genres or authors?
I read a lot of spiritual books this year, but I didn't finish many of them sadly...

What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
Mari Silva.

Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
Nope.

What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
I didn't, yet...

Is there something you would like to see more of?
Not sure yet.

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?
Just yesterday! Just have a few more books to finish to complete all of my yearly challenges.


What were your favorite books this year?
I re-read Lord of the Rings with the audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis and I loved them SO MUCH. But maybe that doesn't count because I've read them before. Otherwise...
His Majesty's Dragon
This Tender Land
The Golden Enclaves
Last Call at the Nightingale


What were your least favorites?
The Bridge on the Drina
The Moonstone (audio)
Fifth Business



Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Probably One Italian Summer. I don't care for romance.


Did you discover any new genres or authors?
New authors yes probably, but none stick out at the moment.


What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
Naomi Novik. I've read her Scholomance trilogy, Spinning Silver, and the first book of Temeraire and I have loved everything so far!


Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
A lot of my most enjoyed books came from the September challenge, Trust Exercises. So that!


What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
Buddy Reads 😉

This year was such a mixed bag!!
1. Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal? Nope - 27 of 50 :)
2. What were your favorite books this year? Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Project Hail Mary and 11/22/63
3. What were your least favorites? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Recursion
4. Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone? YES - 11/22/63 was the Longest book I've ever read and Ill never pick a 1000+ pages book again! :P
5. Did you discover any new genres or authors? Not new genres exactly, but I read more contemporary. And I realized I dont like romcoms!! lol
6. What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend? Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
7. Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favorites? Wanted to but could not.
8. What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year? Group reads are nice.
9. Is there something you would like to see more of? More genre based reading challenges.

*Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal? Yes

*What were your favorite books this year?
1.) "What Lies Between Us," by John Marrs was my favorite book read, this year.
2.) "Bone Deep," by Sandra Ireland.
3.) "Sooley," by John Grisham.

*What were your least favorites? I read a couple of classics that I didn't enjoy much. "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz" and "A Wrinkle In Time"

*Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
"Project Hail Mary," by Andy Weir. It's a good book. Highly rated. It took me awhile to really get into it, though.

*Did you discover any new genres or authors? Linwood Barclay

*What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend? My favorite book read this year, as mentioned earlier, "What Lies Between Us." I have recommended it to a friend.

*Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favorites? Yes. I participated in some monthly, quarterly and yearly challenges. I enjoyed Give Us A Clue.

*What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
Team Readathon. Looking forward to the next one.

*Is there something you would like to see more of? Nothing in particular comes to mind.

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?
Yes! My original goal for the year was 30 and I'm currently sitting at 56 books with at least a couple more on deck.


What were your favorite books this year?
I read so many good books this year so it was hard to only choose a few...
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Throne of Glass
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
The Silent Patient
SadieBook Lovers
Red, White & Royal Blue


What were your least favorites?
Clown in a Cornfield
Death by Bubble Tea


Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
Book Lovers was my first foray into romance and because of it I discovered a new favorite genre!


Did you discover any new genres or authors?
Romance and psychological thriller
Emily Henry
Sarah J. Maas


What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
Night of the Mannequins and I'm Thinking of Ending Things


Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
This was the first year I 100% completed my genre bingo card and I am super proud of that accomplishment! I also had the honor of hosting 2 readathons this year which were so much fun to participate in, too :)


What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
This year was my first signing up for Secret Santa and I've had so much fun searching for and prepping my Santee's gift!

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal? Yes, I'm quite sure I'll reach it


What were your favorite books this year?
I am not one for favourites as a rule, but did give six new-to-me books 5 stars this year. However, three of them were an author I've read before that I knew I liked, so I'm not going to count them even though I highly recommend all of the Vinyl Cafe books.

This leaves two, and one of them was not rounded up at all, so I'll say Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger for new authors, closely followed by A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles since those were both new-to-me authors.

My other 5 star reads besides the 6 mentioned or referred to (or one wasn't mentioned at all because I think it was a fluke with this author for me) above were re-reads.


What were your least favorites?
This year's one star list (Only books I finished) in order of reading them:
Miranda Warning (but it has a lovely cover!)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (and I LOVED his other big book, All the Light We Cannot See both times I listened to it, so this was a shock and it's not because it is so different, either.)
Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis


Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?

Yes, the unrated pair I read to compare and contrast dissenting black authors on political/racial issues since I loathe politics and am Canadian so this is American politics, etc, to boot (not that I like Canadian politics, either!) so a very different system.

So You Want to Talk About Race and Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed


Did you discover any new genres or authors?
New authors! Yes, of course. Too many new authors to list. Not new genres since I've read more genres than my shelves list and there are very, very few I haven't stretched myself to read over my life.

The two five star books I mentioned by name were new authors, but there were many other good authors I read for the first time this year.


What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?

Sorry, can't limit myself to one since just because I give a book 4 stars doesn't mean I wouldn't highly recommend it, it just depends on why I gave it 4 stars.

Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?Yes, but I don't remember all of them off the top of my head. This year I stuck to only to challenges that were no longer than a quarter.


What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?

This year I stuck to shorter challenges and some buddy book reads only.


Is there something you would like to see more of?

It's hard to say off the top of my head, so I'm probably all set here :)

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal? Yes, I read 3p books and so far went over by 5 books for a total of 35 books, yay!


What were your favorite books this year? The ruins of Gorlan, Ranger's apprentice book 1, it was really well written and I'm going to continue reading this series in 2023.

Cake Pop Crush, this was such an adorable tween romance. Middle school Main characters so very cute.


The Babysitters Club series, super cute will continue reading this series in 2023 as well

What were your least favorites?

Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone? The Red Pencil.


Did you discover any new genres or authors? Yes. John Flanagan author of Ranger's apprentice. Darcy Marks author of Grounded for All Eternity.


What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
John Flanagan


Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites? No, I found a middle grade group on goidreads and participated in challenges over there.

What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year? The animal reserve one from last year or earlier this year.


Is there something you would like to see more of? See above. But other than that no, Im focusing on the Middle Grade Madness group. Being active in two groups is a bit much.

Did you reach your 2022 reading goal?
Yes, all goals and challenges are ticked off and I’m very happy with that 🎊

What were your favorite books this year?
7 five-star books this year - which is more than last year, but since I joined GR it is in the low end… Am I getting pickier? 😜

What were your least favorites?
I had expected to like a couple of series, that I ended up DNF’ing very quickly, but generally I have not given very many low ratings, so at least Im getting better at steering clear of boring books 🤩

Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
I had a go at a Ken Follett trilogy years ago and barely made it through the first book… This year I tried another of his trilogies (Fall of Giants) and I liked it a lot! So giving it a go was certainly going out of my comfort zone 💪

Did you discover any new genres or authors?
I usually try out new authors every year, but if I should mention one here, it would be more like a re-discovery of David Baldacci (only read one of his books before, way back in my youth). I’ve now read the first of the Camel Club series (The Camel Club) and looking forward to reading more. 📚

What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
The Winners by Fredrik Backman - last book of a fantastic (but emotionally hard) trilogy. It was really outstanding! 🏆

Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
Yes, 4 yearlies - and then I did monthlies and quarterlies in private (without signing up). My absolute favorite, of course, was the Magical Mystery Tour 🕵️‍♀️

What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
I don’t usually take part in group activities, so don’t have a favorite, but I joined the World Mystery Readathon, and it went well 👍

I am getting less and less comfortable with time limits and deadlines, and not signing up for short term challenges and instead just doing them for myself this year, was a really good decision, and I will most likely continue to do that for the monthlies, because I still like them a lot!
I don’t think I will do a Readathon in 2023, but I might sign up for small goals in the quarterly challenges.

See ya in 2023 🥰

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?
I set my goal rather low this year on purpose, so I did :)
Currently 48/25

What were your favorite books this year?
Gallant, Lessons in Chemistry, The Once and Future Witches, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, The Secret Garden, The Wheel of time series

What were your least favorites?
The Song of Achilles, House of Sky and Breath, Assassin's Apprentice, One Italian Summer

Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
The Paris Apartment, I don't usually read mysteries.

Did you discover any new genres or authors?
Bonnie Garmus, Elena Armas, and some others.

What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
Becky Chambers

Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
Yes! I loved I Spy

Did you (or will you) reach your 2022 reading goal?
Yes, I did! Much to my surprise because this was a very busy year.

What were your favorite books this year?
1. My Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region by Alina Adams. A great story, a mix of fact and fiction, and beautifully written.
2. Keep It In The Family by John Marrs. The book with the most twists and turns.
3. It Came to Me on a Whim - The Story of Ingeborg Andersson, Child Murderessby Maria Bouroncle. This is non-fiction; a family history with complicated characters.

What were your least favorites?
1. American Mother: The True Story of a TroubledFamily, Greed and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World by Gregg Olsen. A horrible story with horrible characters. And it’s all true because it is non-fiction crime.
2. The Whispering Dead by David Mark. Never thought I would not finish a book by David Mark, but this one… after a couple of tries I gave up.
3. Replika: Sky's Mission by Hugo Bernard. Science Fiction I thought. Terrible.

Was there a book that made you stretch out of your comfort zone?
First Person Singular: Stories by Haruki Murakami. Apparently a ‘must read’ so I gave it a go. It’s ok, it reminded me of a Dutch author who write similar stories. It’s not that I now immediately want to read every book Murakami wrote, but I’m glad I got to know him.

Did you discover any new genres or authors?
Yes, well, Murakami (see above) and I discovered a very nice debut by Ania Bas titled Odd Hours

What is one book or author you read this year that you would recommend?
My mother’s Secret by Alina Adams.

Did you participate in any of our challenges this year? If so, what were your favourites?
No, I didn’t.

What is your favorite group activity that you took part in this year?
I did not part in any group activity. I'm way too busy for that, sadly.