Hi friends! It’s been a real minute since I last updated you on what I’ve been reading. Quarterly Reading Updates have really turned into.. well not that! In my defence, my reading speed has really slowed down since the long-long reading slump last year. So a bi-annual reading update gives you a little more to check out. You’re welcome hehe 🙂
What did I read?
Over the past six months, I’ve managed to read through a respectable 12 books, across 4456 pages. Although comparatively it’s not that much, I have enjoyed the majority of those books. Personally I’d call this a successful first part of the year. My original reading goal this year was 12, but I’ve now set a new goal to 30 books before the end of the year. If I keep up this pace I should be able to hit the new goal, too!
I have really tried and made a conscious decision not to buy many new releases this year. I’ve of course failed a little, but glad to see that 75% of the books read so far in 2022 are backlist books! The unread shelf is no doubt eternally grateful to get some release from the weight of all those books!
Another not so surprising fact is that 2/3 of the books I read so far this year are in the form of a paperback. I do love a nice paperback, a floppy paperback is the personal favourite. I’m sure I added a star to The Lost Village just because it’s “the perfect floppy paperback” lol!
Interestingly, I currently have 104 paperback and 102 eBooks on the unread list. Although I have sold a few paperbacks recently and brought a ton of books in Estonian from my nan’s house last time I visited, so the Library definitely needs a refresh, but that’s where I’m at currently. The plan is to go through every single book on my book shelves just to make sure the Library is up to date for next update!
I’ve also started a few audio books this year, but ended up stopping. Audio books are great, but I’ve definitely struggled to keep attention on them recently and sometimes get to the end of the book and not remembering anything that went down. It’s as if I just zone out. Which is why I haven’t logged any completed audio books for the first half of the year.
Trying to concentrate on a few audio books is now another goal of mine before the end of the year.
Which genres did I read and what did I think?
Question – are we surprised that 59% of the books this year are Thrillers? I’m not! The favourite thriller was definitely The Marriage Pact.
The second highest read genre was non-fiction. Granted, it was only two books, but they were both very interesting. My favourite non-fiction out of both of them was Into Thin Air.
Looking at my overall stats, from when I started to log the books I read in 2018 to date, the top three genres are:
- Thrillers (40%)
- Other (12%)
- Joint third – Young Adult and Mystery/Crime (9%)
The gap between first and second place is astounding, isn’t it! It’s fair to say that I’m a thriller girl through and through.
Although I’ve read less than in previous years, I’ve had a really good time with pretty much all of them. I gave 8 out of the 12 books four or five stars!
Looking at my StoryGraph stats my average rating is currently 4.07 stars 🙂 Am I just being generous or am I just easily pleased? That’s for you to decide, I guess, but I can tell you that it’s been a blast.
Here’s to many more great books for me, and hopefully I can keep the rating high in the future, too.
Top 6 5 – Favourite Books
It’s not been easy to pick a favourite every month, but this is the top 5 (because I read nothing in February!) books I’ve read this year. If I had to pick a favourite out of those five, it would 100% be A Man Called Ove! Such a funny, heart-warming but also heart-breaking story, I simply cannot recommend it enough.
View review post here
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View post on Instagram
And that’s it, a successful and fun first 6 moths of 2022!
What have you been reading this year? Any new favourites? Let me know in the comments below!
