The New Year’s Resolutions Reading Challenge 2022

Hi everyone!

It’s time for another Book Tag! I love doing these posts, mostly because it’s a great excuse for me to go on and on about more books and force all you lovely people to read about it. And this tag is no exception.

(I am kidding of course, thank you for reading my ridiculous ramblings!) 

I was tagged by the wonderful @thecorneroflaura for the New Year’s Resolutions Reading Challenge for 2022. You can check out the original post here. These prompts are based on some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions and honestly seemed like such a great way to start the New Year off on the right foot and get some reading done… and actually follow through with some my resolutions for a change. This was a really fun tag and I want to send a big thank you to @thecorneroflaura for bringing me into it.

Let’s get started!

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Rules

• Link back to the original creator (The Corner of Laura) and link back to this page (otherwise, the original creator won’t get a notification).
• Thank whoever tagged you and link back to their post.
• Tag 5 or more other people.
• Read books that fit the description. There are some recommendations in the original post to help you pick but you can read anything that fits the brief.
• The deadline for the challenge is six weeks after you were originally tagged (which, statistically, is the point when 80% of people give up their New Year’s Resolutions) e.g. if you were tagged on January 1st, the deadline is 12th February.
• Post a wrap-up when you’re done to show how you got on.

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Exercise More: Read a book longer than 500 page

Let’s start this tag off on a high note, specifically the shriek of utter glee I emitted as I read this book. If you want a full summary of just how in love I am with The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies, you can check out my full review on the blog tour here, but to put it simply (and to avoid turning this book tag into another fangirl letter to the author) this book was absolutely phenomenal and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

Not only did it start my year in the best possible way, but it also counted towards this category in the tag. Those 500+ pages absolutely flew by, and I cannot recommend this book enough. Seriously, go read it!

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Learn a New Skill: Read a book from a genre you never usually read

Just like my real-life resolutions, my book resolutions are not off to a great start. I didn’t manage to complete this one unfortunately, but my attempt to find a book to fit this category did have a positive outcome: rekindling my love of history. I used to be a huge history nerd (I even went to school for it) and I still am to some degree, and this was a great opportunity to get back into it.

I’ll be starting with a book called, Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory, which talks about the displacement of Greek and Macedonian children around the time of the Cold War. It’s a rarely talked about event in history that still affects people today, and it’s something I want to learn more about. I’m sure it won’t be a happy book, but I’m excited to get started none the less.

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Save Money: Read a second-hand book

Still not doing super well with my resolutions: I didn’t manage to read a book for this category either. Yes, I know, shame on me. I did manage to do part of this challenge at least, and bought a copy of The Wolf by Leo Carew from my local thrift store (following the current guidelines for shopping, of course) and I’m happy to get my hands on it.

This is a relatively older book (typical for me) but I heard good things about it and I’m super excited to get into it. I wish I could have managed to read it for this challenge, but at least I have a new, thrifted book to add to my hoard. And a new place to get tons of amazing books that isn’t Amazon.

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Reduce Stress: Read a happy book

This was an easy pick for me, since whenever I’m feeling low, Sarah’s Scribbles has been there to be both hilarious and shockingly relatable. I bought her newest book as a present for myself and I’m so glad I did. All her comic are wonderful and honestly make me feel a little less alone in my weirdness sometimes. If you haven’t heard of this comic series before, I promise it’s worth crawling out from under that rock you’ve been under to check it out.

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Travel More: Read a book set in a foreign country

Since my first love will always be fantasy novels, I was tempted to be the worst and say that everything I read is technically set in a foreign country. But since I am not a monster, I decided to give an actual answer instead. I wasn’t able to complete this resolution either (and I’m appropriately ashamed at my lack of progress in this tag) but I did get my hands on a book that qualifies and that’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess. I got my gorgeous copy just a few days ago and I honestly can’t wait to get started. This has been on my TBR since last year and I intend to actually read this one for 2022. I swear!

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Spend More Time with Family and Friends: Read something recommended by family or friends

This one was recommended during the Twelve Recommendations Challenge I did on Twitter and I am so happy I chose this one to start the year with. I did a review of this last week and, to summarize, it was just adorable in pretty much every sense of the word. I do recommend it, and I thank the Reading Challenge and this tag for getting me to read it!

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Stop Procrastinating: Read a book that been on your TBR for over a year

This might be a tiny bit of cheating since I had technically already read the first Monstress back in 2020. But seeing it recommended on the original post, and writing about it in my previous book tag, reminded me just how much I enjoyed it. It’s beautifully illustrated, the story is dark and intense, and I was very into the steampunk type setting.

So, armed with an Indigo Christmas Gift card I bought the next book in the series. And then I ended up buying the next three books immediately after. This series is incredible and I’m so mad at myself for forgetting about it until now! Thank you New Years Resolutions for giving me the kick in the pants I clearly needed!

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Focus on Self-Care: Read a book focusing on mental health

Obviously there are loads of self-help books on the subject, and as someone with a mental illness, it always makes me happy when I see this kind of subject talked about and discussed more openly. The thing that surprised me was the amount of fiction books that have been written on the subject. Mental health is hard to depict with any degree of accuracy in books or movies, and the times I have seen it happen, it’s usually not… great.

But Turtles All the Way Down surprised me with a really thoughtful portrayal, and I think that was really helped by the fact that the author himself has this same mental illness as his protagonist. Usually, I try to lose myself in fantasy to forget my worries, but this was a different experience than I’d thought it would be, and in a good way.

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Screw Resolutions, I Quit: Re-read an old favourite

Onto a happier topic, I returned to an old favourite and I’m so happy I did it. Uprooted was one of the first books I reviewed on this little blog, and it holds a special place in my dragon hoard. If you haven’t checked this out yet, I really recommend it. It has all the atmosphere of a fairy tale, and a fantastic plot that will keep you… rooted… in place.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

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I Tag:

1. Kat @ The Lily Cafe
2. Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads
3. Kate @ Blogging with Dragons
4. Em @ The Geeky Jock
5. J @ Midnight Book Blog
And anyone else who wants a good reading challenge for 2022. I hope you all enjoy it!

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Thanks for reading everyone! I hope your 2022 is off to a wonderful start.