Wow, I can’t believe it is 2022 already! Last year was another wild year for us! Kevin and I ended up on an unintentional blogging/reading hiatus from September to December. While I was able to sneak in my reading goals right at the end of the year, I wasn’t able to reach some of my other goals. Let’s take a closer look at how the year went for me with a 2021 blog recap and 2022 goals!
2021 Recap
As I mentioned in my 2020 Blog Recap, my reading habits changed drastically because of the pandemic. They still aren’t back to normal. My commute wasn’t back to pre-pandemic driving times, which was great! But that’s where I did most of my listening. So I only listened to 8 audiobooks in 2021 compared to 15 in 2020.
Also, in August, Kevin got a new job in another state! So we did a lot of traveling back and forth for a while and stayed in a hotel for over a month while trying to find a new place. With all the stress of wrapping up our old jobs, packing, and trying to buy a house, that didn’t give us much time to read and blog towards the end of the year.
Now for some highlights from 2021. I will start with my least favorite book and work my way to my favorite along with some statistics.
Least Favorite Book
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King was my least favorite audiobook this year. I downloaded it from audible in October because I wanted a horror for Halloween. Well, it was 22 hours and 47 minutes long and took me 3 months to finish it because it was so boring! It reminded me of IT by Stephen King except I didn’t find it scary. Read my review of IT.
I gave it 2 stars and honestly, it probably should be 1.5 because I changed the narration speed from the normal speed setting of 1.0 to 1.5. I don’t like to speed books up because I think they sound weird but this narrator talked so slow and I don’t know if I could have finished it otherwise. Don’t get me wrong Jeffrey DeMunn nailed his character but I just find the North Eastern/New England accent annoying after awhile. The movie, Dreamcatcher, isn’t that great either so I would just stay away from this one altogether.
Favorite reread
I only reread one book this year and that was Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I first read it in high school and I enjoyed it then. Last year, I bought the Hannibal Lecter Series and read Red Dragon which was also pretty good. Hopefully, I will finish the next two books in the series this year. Clarice Starling is one of my favorite characters and I really liked season 1 of Clarice. Definitely check it out if you want even more character development for her.
Favorite Audiobook
This is a tough one because I always get wrapped up in audiobooks and I had several this year that were top-notch. But I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle Macnamara slightly edges out the rest. Michelle Macnamara dies unexpectedly before publishing her book, but they did a great job piecing it together for her and finishing it. It was really interesting learning about her life and what got her into serial killers. Also, learning more about The Golden State Killer was bone-chilling. He committed some really horrendous crimes. It’s fascinating how many people get wrapped up in unsolved mysteries and how easily things turn to conspiracy theories.
→ Caution: Spoiler Alert (click to expand spoiler) ↓
I like to believe that Michelle’s research and book being published helped catch the Golden State Killer (the name she coined for him) since it was soon after her book was released that he was caught. It’s so sad that she wasn’t able to see her book finished and see Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Favorite Quote
Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all of human kind sinned against me?
– Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Even though I didn’t read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in 2021, I finally got around to posting the review. I really liked Frankenstein. I like trying to decide who the real monster of the story is. Is it Frankenstein’s monster, Dr. Frankenstien himself, or humanity as a whole? I feel my quote summarizes that pretty well. The whole book was a pleasant surprise for me.
Favorite Blog Post
Besides book club discussions, I didn’t post many articles last year. But my favorite blog post was Top 10 Quotes from a Storm of Swords. I liked it because it was different and I had never written an article like that before. I will try to do more like this, especially for books that are harder to write regular reviews for like A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin.
Favorite Part About Blogging in 2021
As always my favorite part about blogging is interacting with everyone. I love inspiring others to read and I love to be inspired by others to read and write more. Overall, getting to be creative with article ideas and images is my favorite part.
Favorite Story
Finally, last but definitely not least, my favorite story was Recursion by Blake Crouch. I listened to the audiobook and it was amazing! There were two narrators, Jon Lindstrom and Abby Craden, and they were phenomenal. Recursion is a great science fiction thriller. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It’s hard to describe without getting into details and giving anything away! It’s suspenseful and will keep you guessing!
2021 Goals and Statistics
Now my favorite part, looking back at my 2021 goals and statistics to wrap up the year. I used Kal’s spreadsheet from Reader Vorarious again to make the awesome charts below. Here’s the 2022 edition if you are interested.
My Goodreads goal was to read 25 books in 2021. I managed to complete my goal with only a few days to spare! Sometimes 25 doesn’t seem like a lot, especially when others are reading 100s, but then I remember what the year was like and that several of these books were over 1000 pages and I listened to fewer audiobooks this year. I am happy with how the year turned out.
Let’s take a look at my reading stats!
2022 Goals
My reading goal for 2022 is to complete 26 books. Again, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and take the fun away from it. One of my goals last year was to read more books we already own and I did a decent job of that so I think I will stick with that one again. I’ll even take it up a notch by saying I want to read more kindle books that we already own. Since I can’t physically see them sitting on the shelf, it’s really easy to forget they even exist. I also want to go back and update more articles this year. Then as always, I want to continue to work on my Spanish.
Final Thoughts for My 2021 Blog Recap and 2022 Goals
I have learned now that things can change very quickly and I hope 2022 is a successful year for Kevin and me. Goals are great but priorities can quickly change and that’s just life. I am already back into a reading groove and hope I can get back into a blogging one as well. Have a happy and safe new year!
Thanks for reading my 2021 Blog Recap and 2022 Goals! I would love to hear your feedback to help grow the blog even more. What’s your favorite article or type of post?
What was your favorite read this year? Comment Below!
My favorite this year was Billy Summers by Stephen King. Your dad and I listened to it on vacation while we were driving. We haven’t listened to books while driving since your were a kid and we listened to Harry Potter. I also really liked The Instifute by Stephen King. I remember trying to read Dreamcatcher a long time ago and I dont think I ever finished the book, not one of my favorite Stephen King books.
Both of those are on my list!