So many books: 2022 reading goals

So many books, so little time. — Frank Zappa (attrib.)

Categories

As this is principally a book review blog most of the posts will be about … books. There are individual pages about longstanding interests of mine, Arthuriana (archaeology, history, mythology, popular culture, folklore) and its associated topic the Grail, but my tastes are generally rather catholic.

So you’ll find an awful lot of fantasy titles reviewed here, a few by favourite authors E Nesbit and her successors Joan Aiken and Diana Wynne Jones. Much of fantasy shades into magic realism and SF or speculative fiction and so these are categories that are explored too. More highbrow literature is not neglected either, whether classic or modern, but fiction comes in all shapes and sizes so adventure stories rub shoulders with ghost tales, thrillers, crime fiction, historical romance and the occasional graphic novel.

Non fiction makes an appearance, from popular science to pseudohistory, from reference to biography, and from art to travel. I try to ring the changes, so if your interest isn’t immediately piqued have patience, something intriguing should come along soon. Feel free to start a conversation or discussion about any post — I aim to respond to each and every one so you won’t be wasting your time commenting into the ether! The only constraint, as Zappa is reported to have frankly and wisely remarked, is time.

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Reading goals in 2022

1. Goodreads Reading Challenge

I’ve subscribed again to the Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year, pledging to read at least 60 (sixty) books in 2022. This will be regardless of whether they are first-time reads, rereads, library books or whatever. I don’t anticipate any difficulties with this total: follow my progress here.

And that’s it. I’ve decided that this year I shall read for pleasure. If I join in any reading event — I prefer to call them prompts — it will probably be last-minute and on a whim!  

https://www.rosecityreader.com/2020/12/the-2021-european-reading-challenge-is.html

So here are some prompts I shall be considering. In 2021 I joined in the European Reading Challenge and got through the following countries in translations:

• A Austria: Stefan Zweig
• B Belgium: George’s Simenon
• D Germany: Friedrich Schiller
• E Spain: Álvaro Cunqueiro Mora
• F France: Marie de France
• I Italy: Italo Calvino and others
• IRL Ireland: Roddy Doyle
• PL Poland: Ryszard Kapuściński
• S Sweden: Astrid Lindgren
• GB-CYM Wales: Angharad Price

In 2022 I may even attain an ideal twelve European countries, starting with Nordic countries like Iceland and Norway. I hope to include Wales, Ireland and Italy — prompts run by bloggers I follow — but will try to explore countries I’ve yet to visit, both in Europe and the rest of the world.

Edward Ardizzone illustration for The Little Bookroom (1955)