Best of 2022

by
with 20 comments
Best Of

Hi and welcome to my 2022 wrap-up, bookish and otherwise!

On a personal level, 2022 was a crazy year. I started the year with Covid, which exacerbated my MS symptoms, and I was a wreck for the better part of three months. I’d been fed up with my job for over a year, I was teetering on the edge of a burn-out, I was constantly knackered and my mental flexibility was shot. I’d been job hunting for quite a while but nothing stuck, they didn’t want me or I didn’t want them. But in February 2022, I was offered the job I’d been hoping for. So 2022 was the year I quit a job for the very first time (I had been at my first job ever since I left university college) and made a total carreer switch. I haven’t regretted it for a second!

On a bookish level, 2022 was great. I read so many fantastic books and selecting only a few to highlight today was a complete nightmare! I did well with my bookish goals and challenges and I carried over some bookish habits I made in 2020: I used audiobooks to quiet my racing mind and I was still very much a very fickle reader: I got bored easily, at which point I’d pick up another book, so while I’ve always been a one-book-at-a-time kind of reader, I now usually have multiple books on the go.

In numbers 2022 looks like this:

2022
I read 78,854 pages across 233 novels, novellas and short stories
I listened for 676 hours to 103 audiobooks

But out of 336 books, what were my favourites, what are the books that kept me glued to their pages and made me forget all else?

Let’s start with a shout-out to a brilliant series crime / fantasy series I binged in 2022: The Green Bone Saga. Epic in scope and execution, this is one of the series that marked my bookish year.

These fantastic reads are my 22 of 2022, an eclectic mix from an eclectic reader:

And then there is just one more category left to talk about: my book of the year! Since I make the rules and there is nothing you can do about that, my book of the year is not one, but three books, the magnificent Sturmtaucher trilogy by Alan Jones! And yes, I will keep harping on about it until you’ve read it so you’d better get a move on!

Thanks for joining me today! Seen any of your favourites among mine? I wish you all a fabulous 2023 and here’s to a whole new year of book love 🥂

20 Responses

  6. Jo

    What a fabulous bookish year, Kelly! And I’m glad that you’re in a better place in your work now. Here’s to a fantastic 2023! 🥂

  7. Laurence Westwood

    I didn’t realise the job you quit was the only job you’d had from college. That must have been scary! My first job after university I got sacked after 6 weeks for having a bad attitude. Same thing happened for my third or maybe fourth job – I forget!! LOL!! Hope the new job is working out well.

    • FromBelgiumWithBookLoveAuthor

      It was very scary but I’d reached a point where staying was even more terrifying than leaving 😄 You rebel 😂

  8. Alan Jones

    Thank you, Kelly, for taking the time to read my Sturmtaucher Trilogy, and for saying such lovely things about it. I’m so touched that it was your read of the year. As an indie author, the support you, and other bloggers and readers, have given, is immense.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *