December was my best reading month out of the whole year (38 books!), and it actually wound up being a rather low-stress month. I always find myself reflecting on the year during December, and while 2021 was definitely another dumpster fire of a year, there was also a lot of good to be found in it. I’ve connected with so many great people, and read a ton of great books. In addition, there were so many books I didn’t get to, but that look incredible and that I can’t wait to read. So as expected, my TBR grew exponentially. There was also a great book sale that I took full advantage of right after the holidays, so now I have some more books to read. I even got out of my comfort zone and started a BookTok account! I did pretty well with my 2021 goals, so I decided to set some new ones for 2022.

I’m hoping to:

• Further grow my blog and social media. I gained another 23 followers on my blog, leaving 2021 with a grand total of 483. I’m still working towards hitting the 500 follower mark, and hopefully that one will come up soon.
• I’m one of those people who view buying books and reading books as two separate hobbies. So this year, I want to read the books that I already own. I’m still going to be a regular at the library, but I definitely want to get through my own bookshelves.
• I read a grand total of 335 books in 2021, and hopefully I can read more than that in 2022, even though I’ve set my goal for 200 currently.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for December:

December Totals:

• Books read: 38
• Books DNF’d: 1
• Pages read: 6,388.43
• Hours listened: 218 hours, 33 minutes, 44 seconds
• Average pages: 339.3
• Average hours listened: 10 hours, 24 minutes, 28 seconds

Cumulative Averages:

• Days per book: 2.91
• Pages read per day: 191.72
• Books read per month: 27.09
• DNF’d books per month: 0.75

Genres Read in December:

• Biography/Memoir: 2
• Fantasy: 13
• General Fiction: 5
• Historical Fiction: 4
• Mystery/Suspense: 8
• Romance/Erotica: 4
• Science Fiction: 2

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 15
• 2021 releases: 20
• 2022 releases: 3

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 36
• Nonfiction: 2

Format Read:

• Print: 11
• Digital: 5
• Audio: 22

Age Range:

• Adult: 27
• YA: 10
• Children: 1

Yearly Totals:

• Books read: 335
• Books DNF’d: 9
• Pages read: 70,170.43
• Hours listened: 1,426 hours, 33 minutes, 2 seconds

Format Read:

• Print: 103
• Digital: 92
• Audio: 140

Fiction vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 308
• Nonfiction: 27

Age Range:

• Adult: 212
• YA: 113
• MG: 9
• Children: 1

Genres Read: 

• Biography/Memoir: 9
• Fantasy: 106
• Folklore/Fairytales: 6
• General Fiction: 31
• General Nonfiction: 1
• Graphic Novel: 1
• Historical Fiction: 33
• History/War: 1
• Horror: 1
• Mystery/Suspense: 68
• Play/Theater: 1
• Romance/Erotica: 56
• Science/Nature: 2
• Science Fiction: 6
• Social Science/Current Affairs/Politics: 3
• Travel/Food: 10

Rating Breakdown:

• Half Star: 0
• 1 Star: 5
• 1.5 stars: 0
• 2 stars: 9
• 2.5 stars: 6
• 3 stars: 32
• 3.5 stars: 21
• 4 stars: 97
• 4.5 stars: 43
• 5 stars: 101

Page Breakdown:

• Less than 100 pages: 10
• 101-200 pages: 15
• 200-300 pages: 28
• 300-400 pages: 76
• 400-500 pages: 43
• 500-600 pages: 12
• 600-700 pages: 2
• More than 700 pages: 8

My favorite books of the month were The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman and Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González.

Here’s what I read in December:

• We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
• The Lost Dreams by Cait Marie (The Nihryst #3.5)
• Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel 
• The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
• Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González (ALC)
• The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (All Souls Trilogy #3)
• Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang 
• The God of Lost Words by A.J. Hackwith (Hell’s Library #3)
• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
• The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider (Emry Merlin #1)

• I Kissed a Girl by Jennet Alexander
• You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman
• The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
• Jerusalem Beach by Iddo Gefen
• Pint of No Return by Dana Mentink (Shake Shop Mystery #1)
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm #1)

• The Bloom Girls by Amy Pine
• Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (ALC)
• True Crime Story by Joseph Knox (ALC)
• Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #9)
• Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins (ARC)
• Up To No Gouda by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #1) (ARC)
• Moon of Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice 
• The Push by Ashley Audrain 
• The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins 
• Mind Like a Diamond by Amanda Pavlov (ARC)
• Too Good to be True by Carola Lovering
• A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

• Lore by Alexandra Bracken

• Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (Simonverse #3)
• Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #2)

• Vulpini by Meg Pelliccio (Remnants of the Old Gods #1)

• The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith (Hell’s Library #1)
• The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith (Hell’s Library #2)
• Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)
• Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha (Mercenary Librarians #1)
• The Reader by Traci Chee (A Sea of Ink and Gold #1)

How was your reading in 2021? What are your goals for 2022?