Darth-Heather's 2022 Reads

I expect this year to bring more erratic amounts of reading time, depending on my workload with school courses. Only 3 more years to go!

January Reads:

Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
288 pages
ATW#5

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
422 pages
ATW #9

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
198 pages
Old Friend, Passport 'garden', ATW#2

The Boatman's Wife by Noelle Harrison
294 pages
Passport 'lighthouse', ATW#10

Whispers of Goodbye by Karen White
247 pages
ATW#3

The Spy by Paulo Coelho
194 pages
Canada 'France', ATW#6

The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
288 pages
Passport 'Africa', ATW#4

The Unplowed Sky by Jeanne Williams
321 pages
ATW #7

The Family Spies Trilogy:
The Hills Have Spies by Mercedes Lackey
360 pages
Passport 'Hills', ATW#1
Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey
336 pages
ATW#8

Mass Effect: Ascension by Drew Karpyshyn
354 pages
Passport 'Haven'

Mass Effect: Retribution by Drew Karpyshyn
282 pages

January totals:
12 books
3584 pages

February Reads:
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
608 pages
Old Friend, Canada 'Lake', Passport 'crime', ATW#3

Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian
301 pages
Canada 'Precious Metal', Passport 'Far East', ATW#2

The Black Company: Books of the South by Glen Cook
672 pages
Shadow Games - Passport 'disappears', ATW#9
Dreams of Steel - Canada 'falls', ATW#5
The Silver Spike - Passport 'tavern', ATW#4

February Totals:
5 books
1581 pages

March Reads:
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
506 pages
Old Friend, Passport 'flower', ATW#2

The Pasha of Cuisine by Saygin Ersin
242 pages
Passport 'far east', ATW#5

Dragon Age: The Silent Grove #1 by David Gaider
15 pages
Passport 'murder', ATW#8

Heir To The Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick
413pgs
Canada & Passport 'multilingual', ATW#7

The Moon Spinners by Mary Stewart
404 pages
ATW #3

A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley
508 pages
ATW#1

March totals:
6 books
2088 pages

April reads:
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
427 pages
Canada 'escapes', ATW#10

Rosalia's Bittersweet Pastry Shop by Rosanna Chiofalo
456 pages
Passport 'body conscious', ATW#3

Thieftaker by DB Jackson
288 pages
ATW#6

Shocked by Patricia Volk
304 pages
ATW#5

The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
390 pages
Passport 'music', ATW#1

A Rumored Fortune by Joanna Davidson Politano
402pages
ATW#2

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
352 pages
ATW#4

Billy Bathgate by EL Doctorow
336 pages
ATW#9

The Needle In The Blood by Sarah Bower
566 pages
ATW#8

Necroscope by Brian Lumley
68 pages (comic version)
Old Friend, Passport 'Hungary', ATW#7

April totals:
10 books
3589 pages

May Reads:
Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
321 pages
Old Friend, Canada 'orphan', Passport 'beer', ATW#2

An Old Man's Journey by Gregory Allanther
405 pages
ATW#4

The Serpent's Egg by Caroline Stevermer
268 pages
Canada 'royal', ATW#6

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
448 pages
Passport 'Middle Eastern', ATW#8

Son of a Hoarder by Cheyenne Smidt
308 pages
Passport 'initials', ATW#1

The Inn At Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
324 pages
Canada 'island', ATW#7

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
336 pages
Passport 'language', ATW#9

Blaze by Richard Bachman
302 pages
ATW#10

The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
338 page
ATW#5

11/22/63 by Stephen King
560 pages (to be con't in June)
ATW#3

May totals:
10 books
3610 pages

June Reads:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
560 pages (con't from June)
ATW#1

Nickel Mountain by John Gardner
336 pages
Passport 'mountain', ATW#8

Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
12 pages (DNF)
Canada 'hotel', Passport 'train', ATW#10

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
118 pages
Canada 'french', ATW#7

Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey
366 pages
ATW#9

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen
313 pages
Passport 'red cover', ATW#4

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
512 pages
ATW#5

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
101 pages
ATW#3

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
123 pages
Old Friend, ATW#2

Electric City by Elizabeth Rosner
298 pages
ATW#6

June totals:
10 books
2739 pages

July Reads:
The Mannequin Makers by Craig Cliff
336 pages
July 'tools', ATW#3

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn
368 pages
July 'escape', ATW#10

The Gin and Chowder Club by Nan Rossiter
289 pages
ATW#5

Home To Italy by Peter Pezzelli
290 pages
July 'Italy', ATW#8

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
544 pages
ATW#4

The Mummy by Anne Rice
398 pages
Old Friend, Canada 'sand', ATW #10

Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
308 pages
ATW#2

The Sea King Trilogy by Nancy Springer
Madbond
Mindbond
Godbond
666pages
ATW# 1, 6, 7

July totals
10 books
3199 pages

August reads:
Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler
320 pages
Yukon 'mountains', Passport 'tree', ATW#3

The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
278 pages
Canada 'dog', ATW#7

The Brighter the Light by Mary Ellen Taylor
360 pages
ATW#6

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
299 pages
Canada 'gold', ATW#1

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
506 pages
Passport 'scientific', ATW#2

Orient Express by Graham Greene
190 pages
ATW#10

The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore
336 pages
ATW#4

August totals
7 books
2289 pages

September reads:
The Sunbird by Wilbur Smith
470 pages
Old Friend, Passport 'Africa', ATW#8

Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
388 pages
ATW#3

Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
338 pages
ATW#2

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
313 pages
Game "snake", ATW#7

The Lynne Truss Treasury by Lynne Truss
656 pages
ATW#10

The Duke and the Wallflower by Jessie Clever
270 pages
Passport 'agreement', ATW#6

The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel
315 pages
Game 'coffee shop', ATW# 5

The Poop Diaries by Abby Ross
235 pages
ATW#4

The Hope by Herman Wouk
704 pages
ATW#1

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker
480 pages
ATW#9

Shadeslinger by Kyle Kirrin
646 pages
Passport 'river'

September totals:
11 books
4815 pages

October Reads:
Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
457 pages
Old Friend, Board Game 'married', ATW#8

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
287 pages
ATW#1

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
303 pages
ATW#2

Shadowland by Peter Straub
414 pages
ATW#5, Passport 'alcohol'

Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden
288 pages
ATW#3

River of Souls by Robert McCammon
299 pages
Passport 'boat', Board Game 'black man', ATW#4

Unseen City by Amy SHearn
272 pages
ATW#6, Passport 'street'

The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen
276 pages
Passport 'something old', ATW#7

Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
204 pages
ATW Bonus

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
324 pages
Board Game 'Mario', ATW#10

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
200 pgs
ATW#9

THe Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell
144 pages

A Long Day In Lychford by Paul Cornell
128 pages

The Lights Go Out In Lychford by Paul Cornell
162 pages

Last Stand In Lychford by Paul Cornell
194 pages

The Green Man's Gift bu Juliet McKenna
324 pages

October totals
16 books (thanks to my two-week Covid quarantine...)
4276 pages

November reads:

Sun at Midnight by Rosie Thomas
469 pages
Board Game 'foreign country', Passport 'skates', ATW#7

Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher
308 pages
ATW#3, Adj 'absorbing'

Black Sand Baron by Kyle Kirrin
288 pages
Passport 'car', ATW#4

Gilded Ghost by Kyle Kirrin
326 pages
ATW#10, Adj 'amusing'

Primus: Over The Electric Grapevine by Greg Prato
356 pages
ATW#6

Leaving Cold Sassy by Olive Ann Burns
299 pages
Board Game 'war', ATW#9

Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Merciel
300 pages
Passport 'royal', ATW#8

The Vines of Yarrabee by Dorothy Eden
465 pages
ATW#2

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
400 pages
Passport 'France', ATW#1

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
285 pages
Old Friend, Board Game '1988', ATW#5

November totals:
10 books
3496 pages

December reads:
The Witch's Tree by Elena Collins
366 pages
Board Game 'artist', Passport 'very old', ATW#4, Adj: Believable

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
533 pages
Old Friend, ATW #8, Adj:Brilliant

Freedom of the Mask by Robert McCammon
442 pages
Board Game '6th in series', ATW#9

Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict
292 pages
Passport 'wealthy', ATW#2, Adj: Boring

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
704 pages
ATW#3

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
273 pages
Passport 'initials', ATW#6

Becoming Crone by Lydia Hawke
260 pages
ATW#1

A Gathering of Crones by Lydia Hawke
250 pages
ATW#10

Sensory: Life On The Spectrum by Rebecca Ollerton et al
176 pages
Horizons 'multiple authors', ATW#5

Game of Crones by Lydia Hawke
234 pages
ATW#10

Well Behaved Wives by Amy Sue Nathan
319 pages
ATW#7

December totals:
11 books
3849 pages

2022 Totals:
118 books
39,115 pages

Top 10 Reads of the Year:
1. The Black Company series by Glen Cook was very entertaining. It is a medieval-sword/sorcery type setting, only the main character is a regular dude in the bad guy's army, trying to figure out if he's on the wrong side.

2. The Witches of Lychford series by Paul Cornell was terrific; urban fantasy of the best sort.

3. The Crone Wars series by Lydia Hawke was a delightful surprise. It seemed an overdone premise just with a different type of main character - Claire just turned 60 and discovers that she has magic and has to learn to use it quickly before evil destroys the world... blah blah... seen it before. However, this author has a very engaging writing style and both the settings and the character dialogue were really well done; these books were easy to fall into right off.

4. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. So far I've loved everything of hers that I have read and still continue to thank Carole for recommending this author to me.

5. The Witch's Tree by Elena Collins alternates between two time periods with really interesting and believable characters.

6. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. You know any book by her is going to have some sad bits, but they are outweighed by the delightful parts of this historical fiction work about the young manhood years of Jesus Christ.

7. 11/22/63 by Stephen King is the first of his that I have read in recent years (I gave up on him after Insomnia...) but this one was excellent and reminded me of why he is a top notch writer.

8. Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner was also a nice surprise. It had been at the bottom of my TBR for some time, and it finally fit into one of the monthly challenges; it is sort of a typical guy-accidentally-goes-to-the-land-of-faery story with an interesting ending.

9. The Green Man's Gift by Juliet McKenna is a great new installment in the Green Mans series.

10. The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker is the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni and really wraps up a lot of the loose ends in excellent ways.

I am fortunate to have found time for some good ones this year in spite of a tough school schedule. I have managed to work out my classes in a way that I will be able to graduate next spring, so just over a year left to go!!

>27 Darth-Heather: Great going, Heather. Well Done! 👏👏

>28 Sergeirocks: thanks for your support! It's been a challenging year. I'm into the degree-specific courses of my program, so have been trying to prioritize my course work, but then my supervisor at the lab quit so I got promoted to Director of Operations by default, which added to my work load at my job, so it's a complicated balance.

Fortunately I have a supportive husband who has been trying very hard to do whatever he can to help me hold it all together. i just turned 50 this year and it's certainly bringing some interesting changes!

>27 Darth-Heather: Thomas the Rhymer is one of my favorite takes on this story by one of my favorite authors, and SQUEEE - I didn't know there was a sequel to The Golem and the Jinni! I read that when either Shelfari or Leafmarks was still around, when I worked for a manager who was a third-generation of New Yorker. I remember highly recommending it to her before my assignment at that company ended.

Happy Belated 50th as well! And good luck getting through the school schedule + the work schedule. You got this!

>29 Darth-Heather: May you find calmer seas in 2023, Heather.