My Reading Challenge for 2022

 This is further to my personal challenges for 2022 and more detailed, I guess. I need somewhere to keep my list too so here we are.

I'm aiming for 12 books this year, but I'm not 100% sure what yet. Book club is still in existence, but at a stalemate right now. I may have bitten off more than I could chew with creating a reading challenge and having set reads each month. 

I have the same goal with reading this year. My books will be a combination of pure enjoyment, personal growth, and therapy. I cleaned out my shelves last year and donated 134 books. In conjunction with my reading challenge I will be making sure I don't add books to my shelves unless I have read and enjoyed, or will read within the next two months. If I don't thoroughly enjoy the book, or love it, I will be donating it.

There's definitely no need for me to collect books anymore! 

Here's my reading list for 2022

• The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl (so excited to read this one)
• Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley (this is a maybe as it's the first space opera I'm attempting to read in years)

Stay tuned for more updates 💗

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

 

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. 

Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. 

But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Just My Thoughts

Normal People by Sally Rooney

 Trigger Warning Note: Before I comment on this novel I want to make others aware of a possible trigger. I realised it was a trigger for me as lately I've been responding to triggers with overwhelming sadness. Halfway through the book there was an interaction between the main characters which made me want to cry. This, for me, is a large trigger response and I realised there were a few triggers earlier on. I read a sentence which made me question whether one of the characters was abused as a child and I want readers to be aware if you are also an adult survivor of child abuse. It's not a detailed account and the triggers earlier on in the story are more subtle, but they are still there.

At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.

A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.

Just My Thoughts

Dune by Frank Herbert

 

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream. 

Just My Thoughts

I began reading Dune, by Frank Herbert, in paperback and by page twenty five realised I should switch to the audiobook. Why? I wanted to finish it before my book club, but I also felt it would be easier listening rather than reading. 

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson

If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of responsibility in an effort to compensate for your parent’s behaviour. These wounds can be healed, and you can move forward in your life.

In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect, and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents’ emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you’ll learn how to create positive, new relationships so you can build a better life.

Just my thoughts

My Reading Challenge for 2021

I'm giving myself a reading challenge this year! I used to be very big into them, as well as reading, but have set the bar low this year. I want to make it a joy to read rather than add pressure and overwhelm myself with stress. I'm giving myself permission to alter the goal and forgiveness if I don't finish it. This is something I have learnt during trauma therapy and having PTSD. It's great to set goals, or a challenge for instance, but not to the point of becoming obsessed and being overwhelmed. With my OCD I also get very preoccupied with lists and numbers so this works as a two-fold.... three-fold... maybe more folds... challenge for myself. I'll post about challenges next week. Challenges are important in combating things like OCD and repetitive behaviours.

My goal is to read a combination of pure entertainment books and books for personal growth and therapy. When it comes down to it all books will be read not out of obligation, but because I want to read them.

Challenge Totals: 22
Pure Entertainment: 11
Growth and Therapy: 11

So far I have some planned reading, but I'm keeping the planned numbers low. It helps I'm also creating a book club as motivation, inspiration, and socialisation!