Category: Lists

A Literary Escape

2023 Reading and Bookish Goals

Published on by Celeste17 Comments

Hello, 2023! This will be the second full year that I’ve had this little space in which to ramble about books. So that means it’s time to make some 2023 reading goals! Many of them will be similar to last year. Regardless, I think it’s nice to make goals because they serve as an end point for reflection once the year ends. I spent a lot of reading time in 2022 devoted to ARCs. And while I obviously love reading upcoming books, I also want to focus on my own backlog. So, overall, I plan to keep a lot of my goals attainable so that I can make time for the books I already own.

I also thought about perhaps making some blog content-related goals. But I didn’t want to box myself into a self-made obligation. Especially because blogging already takes so much time and I didn’t want to make it any more difficult for myself! So most of the goals below pertain specifically to reading rather than blogging.

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A Literary Escape

2022 Top 10 Favorite Books

Published on by Celeste14 Comments

It’s that time of year in the book blogging world where many of us list our favorite books from the whole year. This is my second round up of this kind and it always serves as a nice way to look back at what I read. This year I read over 60 books, so I have a lot more from which to choose some favorites. I can’t rank them since I loved them each for different reasons. (Don’t make me, it’s too hard to choose!) So here’s a list of my top 10 favorite books of 2022 in no particular order. Actually, I lied. I listed them in ascending reading order (January to December).

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A Literary Escape

Books I DNF in 2022

Published on by Celeste5 Comments

I first wrote about books I DNF last year, given that my blog has only been around through one year’s end. To reiterate what I said then, I usually DNF (do/did not finish) a book because I couldn’t get into it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I felt it was badly written. For the most part, I seemed to pick well for myself, which is not a surprise because I know me. As a result, I didn’t DNF a lot of books this year. Note that everyone’s reading preferences are subjective. So, what didn’t work for me might totally work for you.

As an aside, I noticed that people compiled lists of the “worst” books they read this year. Personally, I don’t feel the need to do this because I think my “negative” reviews speak for themselves. However, I have nothing against these types of lists as long as their compilation is tactful. (And for goodness sake, don’t tag the author!) Why? Because I believe reviews and opinions are mainly for fellow readers, not for authors. Once a book hits the market, it’s out of the author’s hands and people have the right to their opinions. If someone truly wants to read a book, they will. A “negative” review or list won’t stop them. And, frankly, let’s be realistic. Life has positives and negatives and I think to just ignore that some people feel “negatively” about a book is toxic positivity. There, I said it.

Anyway, thoughts and feelings aside, here is a list of books I DNF in 2022. It’s a short list, so you can hold your breath. The book cover images link to their official synopses.

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A Literary Escape

Top Five Powerful Books I Read in 2022

Published on by Celeste7 Comments

In a slightly different approach to a yearly reading list recap, I thought I’d mention my top five powerful books I read in 2022. I first saw this on Stephen’s blog at Stephen Writes and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Basically this is a short list of books that left a strong impact on me, whether emotionally or educationally. As Stephen so eloquently puts it, the writing style also had an impact on how well I connected to a book. I think it’s fair to say that these books would also be included in a “favorite books of 2022” list.

Though December isn’t quite over, at this point in time I don’t really have any reading plans that might potentially upend this list. I have one last BBNYA book to finish, but I can’t talk about it, so naturally I wouldn’t be able to include it here anyway. And my only other plan is to finish the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman.

With that said, here are my top five powerful books I read in 2022, in no particular order.

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A Literary Escape

November 2022 Hopefuls

Published on by Celeste15 Comments

Well, folks, it’s November. Yes, November. No, it’s not time for Mariah Carey Christmas songs. I said what I said. Not until after Thanksgiving, and even then I don’t want to hear it more than once per day. Though, if I’m being honest, even that’s too often.

Moving on! I read 3 out of the 5 books on my October TBR, which is great considering I traveled for 2 weeks out of the month. For November my TBR list is more like a list of “November Hopefuls.” I’m using this month to try to read all three of my BBNYA final round assignments. Anything else I’m able to finish will be a bonus.

There are quite a few November challenges going on: NetGalley November; SciFi Month, organized by Lisa at Dear Geek Place and Imyril at There’s Always Room For One More; and Norsevember (though, I’m not sure if this one is officially on this year?). Since I can’t share what my three BBNYA books are, here’s a list of my hopefuls that I picked to fall within these challenges. Though most of the books listed below fall under NetGalley November, I’m going to try to lowkey join SciFi Month since I had so much fun during its sister event, Wyrd and Wonder.

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