My name is Sanne.
Welcome back to my channel.
I think in 2022 I had a medium reading year.
I didn't read as much as I liked.
I didn't read as diversely as I liked.
I also read a few books that felt like they were maybe a little bit too similar to
each other.
And I feel like I have about 20 like,
half read books that I wish I could have finished.
And there's definitely some in there that might have made it to my favourite books of the year.
But,
you know,
we might see those next year.
My goal was to read 75 books and I ended up reading 32.
I usually read between 50 and 60, so 75 is a bit of a stretch goal,
but I think moving out of London at the beginning of the year took up a lot of my time.
I went on a few great trips that I didn't do loads of reading on,
and I had a few bigger video projects that I spent a lot of time on.
I always jokingly say that if I didn't have a YouTube channel where I talk about books.
I'd actually read more books. Anyway.
I read 32 books in total,
which is 9047 pages.
I've never set up a page reading goal.
The Story Graph this year has given you a map of your reading, a mood
map.
It says lighter books push the lineup and darker books.
Pull it down.
Um,
this is my graph,
so it's not looking good for the end of the year.
I don't know if that was just like my Halloween reading.
I don't know if I read a bunch of stuff in the beginning of the year that was considered lighter reading.
I like reading dark stuff.
That's fine by me.
I read 11 books that were part of series,
which is most the Grishaverse and Saga,
my least shelved book,
Only shelved by about 25 users,
and it's a graphic novel called Methods of Dyeing,
which I actually received from a graphic novel publisher that I really like.
I went through their catalogue and have a look,
and I really enjoyed this.
It's it's quite short,
but it's beautifully drawn.
It's like a very colourful murder mystery.
I will probably do another graphic novel wrap up in like a little while.
My highest rated book was Crooked Kingdom,
so it's highest rated by other readers.
Just 4.64.
I wonder if that's more high rated than Six of Crows,
because if you've read Six of Crows and loved it,
that's the only way you'll move on to Crooked Kingdom.
You're already in it.
It's going to be a five star read,
and the longest one was also in Grishaverse.
It was a Rule of Wolves with 592 pages,
which I listened to as an audio book.
I think next year I'm going to aim for 75 again.
I would just like to spend more time reading.
I did do a lot of other kind of crafts and hobbies this year, which was fun.
I've done a lot of like sketching,
painting,
crocheting, that kind of stuff,
so that's that's good.
And I finally caved and got an Ereader.
I bought a Kobo this week.
I listen to a lot of audio books from the library,
but I don't read a lot of ebooks from the library because I don't enjoy reading on my phone that much, I do
occasionally.
Then I end up going on other apps.
I prefer to not buy from Amazon where possible.
So I got a Kobo instead.
I've already hooked up to my library subscription,
so we're good to go.
And because I've read 32 books this year and I usually read around 50 and 60 and pick my
10 favourites.
This time I just kind of let my I wander over the list and kind of just picked out my
favourites without aiming for a specific number
The first two are very predictable.
They fully shaped my reading year.
I read the full Grishaverse series by Leigh Bardugo.
The physical copy that I have to show is Six of Crows,
which is also one of my favorites.
I basically read the Shadow and Bone trilogy.
The Six of Crows duology and the King of Scars duology.
Anyway,
Shadow and Bone is fine,
but the other two duologies are the highlights,
and I think I enjoyed the first in the duologies the most.
So King of Scars and Six of Crows are top of my
list.
I'm not going to go to in depth on these books because I'm planning on making a full
video about my experience reading the series.
What I love the most about this world is that there's a lot of found family.
The magic system isn't too complicated,
especially in Six of Crows that feels very accessible.
I found the books and the world very immersive.
There's like great witty and fun dynamics between the
characters,
great back stories for all of them.
There is a heist,
and the part of the world that they're in is kind of based on Dutch merchant cities.
Feels like a mix of like Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
I'm sure it's based on one in particular.
These characters and their stories were just like a wonderful addition to my reading year.
then, for something entirely different.
This was the last book I read this year.
I think I read the first half in the beginning of the year,
and then I finished off the last book of the year.
It is Nightbitch
by Rachel Yoder.
This cover is phenomenal.
We've got a snarling is a whippet,
in like a beautiful painting.
You've got the bright pink.
It's just everything about it is fantastic.
I would have made a beeline for this in a bookshop if I had already been sent it as a
PR copy.
I mean, when I got the email and I read the summary,
I thought,
Okay,
this could be either quite cliche or very interesting.
The setup is that this is about a mother who was called the mother who has
a toddler,
and she's a stay at home mom.
She feels like she's kind of lost herself.
She used to work in the art world.
Her husband is away a lot,
and she just feels very overwhelmed,
very lost.
And then suddenly she gets this idea that her teeth are getting sharper.
She has,
like a little nub,
On her tailbone,
she's getting hairier,
and she feels like she might be turning into a dog.
From there,
it only gets more out of hand.
It's an exploration of society,
of gender
roles
of motherhood.
In a way,
it feels a little bit like My Year of Rest and Relaxation,
which I also have read this year.
As I was reading it,
I was like,
Oh, I'm not sure where this is going or what it's trying to say.
But then, at the same time,
a book doesn't always have to have,
like,
a final message.
This book is a ride that you go on and it is absolutely
mesmerising.
It is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart.
If this concept sounds interesting to you,
I'd say, definitely check it out.
Then we have Sea of Tranquillity.
But Emily ST John Mandel, I have a very shiny proof copy.
I didn't take on loads of a few copies this year,
but some of the ones that I ended up getting more fantastic,
including this one.
I mean, I knew this was coming out.
I've been very excited about it.
It is by the author of Station Eleven,
which is one of my favourite books.
I love Pandemic reads in case you don't know about that yet,
and this is the only other book I've ever read by this author.
I really wonder what it's like reading this book without having read Station
Eleven. Station 11, Glass Hotel,
which is her book for this and this form
like a triptyque because there is overlap.
There's references,
but you can very much read this without having read the other two.
Emily's way of storytelling is the only way I can describe it is as gentle,
like the writing feels gentle.
There is like a calm and a control and a simplicity like in a good
way about it.
When you read the summary,
you kind of go,
What is this going to be?
Because it's set across different periods of time.
It's set in 1912 in 2020 and then in
2401,
11 of the characters is a famous author who wrote a very
popular book about a pandemic.
She's going on the last book tour on Earth because a pandemic is happening
as she is on this book tour.
There's a young man in the 1900s who goes into a forest and has kind of a
bizarre experience.
There's a lot of different characters.
I don't think it's very hard to follow.
I think it's great for if you haven't read much speculative fiction,
it's just interesting.
It feels very much like the author was like,
Here's something I'd like to share with people. Here's some thoughts.
Here's some experiences,
and in Station Eleven as well,
she very much writes about people in the future will just be people and they will be
living and they will be continuing.
And there's something very calming about that,
obviously very interesting to read during covid.
I kind of wish had come out even earlier,
but I'm guessing.
I mean, most of it was probably written during the pandemic,
and I think this will be a very interesting book to look back on as well,
and I'll definitely reread it.
One of the most beautifully written books I've read this year is Our Wives Under the Sea.
But Julia Armfield, again
this is another review copy that hit. Last year
One of my favourite books was Salt Slow,
also by Julia Armfield.
She's a short story collection.
I have seen Our Wives under the Sea in so many people's favourite books of the year
videos,
so this is no surprise.
It's about a couple where one of them goes on a deep sea exploring mission, she is supposed to come
back in like three weeks,
but then ends up returning six months later and she has changed.
I keep forgetting what they're called, Miri and Leah, and so her wife is trying to
live with her as a partner,
even though she she changed and she's behaving oddly and it feels like you're almost
in a trance and it keeps getting eerier and weirder.
But at the same time,
it's also just kind of trying to get through daily life.
It's mysterious,
it's intriguing and also a little a little gross sometimes.
I feel like I could have been,
maybe,
like 20% shorter.
But some of the most beautiful writing I've read in a long time,
and I will read whatever she decides to write next.
I didn't read the lot of historical fiction this year,
but it was very much a joy to have.
The new book by Lex Croucher to read,
which is Infamous, Lex Croucher
is also a friend of mine.
It's not a sequel to their previous book Reputation,
but it's obviously set in the same Regency era,
and it's got the same like wit,
humour,
great characters,
Infamous focuses is a bit more on,
like fame and meeting your heroes,
and also it's about maybe you're not mad at your best friend because she he wants to get out into
society and get married.
But maybe those practising kissing sessions that you had with them
sometimes are an indication of something more. If you love Romantic
poets,
crumbling Gothic mansions and a bunch of like artists going
on a retreat together then this is the one for you.
Reputation felt very much like a summer book,
and this is a great,
slightly more like rainy autumn read.
I'm very excited that I get to read a lot of these early. Gwen Art Are Not in Love by
Lex is coming out next year,
and I've got an early copy of that to read as well,
so I will be talking about that in the future.
Then we've got all that
I don't have that much to say about,
but I wanted to include it because,
not a tonne of people.
I've talked about it.
It is Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss.
It is a novella.
I thought it was going to be scary,
and it was scary in the kind of 'people can get up to some crazy things'
Scary
rather than 'there are ghosts' scary.
This is about a teenage girl called Sylvia who is going on this excursion camp
with her parents and her father is really interested in the Iron Age,
and they're meeting up with a professor and a bunch of students to live for a while they're in that time period.
A lot of the students aren't even that into it.
Sylvie kind of gets to engage with people her age,
which it seems like she doesn't get to do very often.
It is about abuse.
It is about domestic violence.
But it's a very interesting backdrop and situation to kind of discuss it in,
and there's just something different.
I might read more,
buy this author
but it was kind of the pitch of this that really drew me in.
And then finally there is John Green's The Anthropocene reviewed.
I still adore this cover.
This is a collection of essays on a human centred planet.
It is about so many different things.
Some stories are personal and emotional.
It's got fun facts.
It's got history.
It's got some travel stories.
It's about the human experience.
It made me cry a lot.
I loved listening to the podcast,
so I think the audiobook of this will be phenomenal as well.
I like that in the physical book
it's a little bit easier to like skip through different chapters.
It's hard to describe.
It is fun.
It is beautiful,
it emotional,
And I think this would make for a really good gift for quite a lot of
people.
Those are my favourite books of the year.
Maybe there is something in there for you as well to read this year.
I'm very excited about 2023 as a reading year.
There are lots of new things I want to read and experiment with.
I also really want to focus on some of the genres I love the most.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you soon,
Doei!