2022: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2022, my second full year of remote working, I managed to surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 55 books, an increase of one book over last year and my second consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total with a mere three days remaining in 2022.  I read (or listened) to 19,328 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the third time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, fifteen were non-fiction and, of the remaining 40 novels, only two were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 44 e-books and three audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 37 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

A little more than half of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Adam Nedeff Kelsey McKinney Simone St. James Laura Dave
Jeff Warren Carlye Adler Matt Paxton Jordan Michael Smith
Alyssa Milano Alex Finlay Taylor Jenkins Reid Emily Ratajkowski
Samantha Downing Dave Grohl Mary Lynn Rajskub Stephanie Perkins
Michael Schur Joseph Henrich V.E. Schwab Brianna Madia
Jimmy Piersall Richard Whittingham Richard Osman Colleen Hoover
Jenette McCurdy Sally Rooney Josh Malerman Alice Sebold
Katie Mack Penn Jillette Elin Hilderbrand Nita Prose

Alex Finlay, Simone St. James, Karin Slaughter, Megan Goldin, Jeffery Deaver, and Richard Osman were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2022.

16 of the books I read were released this year, while only two of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1953.

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Book 12 (of 52) – Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book – Dan Harris, Jeff Warren, and Carlye Adler

Catching up on the books I read while in Hawaii on vacation.

Following up on his previous book on meditation, Dan Harris returns, along with Jeff Warren and Carlye Adler, with Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics.  In 2017, Harris and crew rented a tour bus and hit the road, embarking on a cross-country trip to tackle some of the myths and misconceptions that stop people from meditating.  This book tells the story of that trip, along with practical meditation instructions to tie into the reasons people give for not meditating.

Meditation was something I had been interested in dating back to 2017.  I had done it off and on, more off than on to be honest, until last year, where I tried to stick with it every day.  That has carried into this year, at least so far.  Has it improved my life?  I think so, at least a little bit.  Has it transformed my life?  I’m not quite ready to go that far just yet.