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 36 (of 52) – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab

In 18th century France, a young girl makes a deal with a devil to avoid marrying a widower she does not love.  In exchange for her soul, she gets to live as long as she likes, retaining her youth and beauty, but she will be unable to make any mark on the world and no one, including her parents, will remember her once she leaves their sight.  In the early 21st century, after nearly 300 years of being cursed, she meets a man who somehow is able to remember.  Their relationship, however, has a pre-destined end date, unless she is able to convince her devil to alter one of his deals.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab, is not my usual fare, but I greatly enjoyed the ride.  I’m not entirely sure how this got on my radar, but I’m glad it did.  Schwab’s other works look to be of the type of fantasy that I do not really go for, so this may be a one time visit to the world of her work, but if she follows this up with something as strong, I’m sure it’ll find its way to my Kindle.