Back in January 2021, I posted a list of 24 books that I planned to read. I had scaled down this reading goals list thinking that it was attainanble. Nope. I have to give credit to the title “The Books That Got Away” to my online reading friend, Jen, as I completely swiped it from her Instagram post.
I get so distracted by new shiny books it is a tad ridiculous. Add in a trigger happy finger when selecting ARCs to read and review and I wind up completely derailed. I did do somewhat ok as I did get to 15 of them, but I really thought this was doable. I suppose for 2022 my goal list should be 12 instead of 24.
I even was bold enough to add a second list of 24 books I had hoped to read also – although I did get to some (a surprising 10!) mostly that was a lost cause. When I glance at both lists, there certainly are titles there that I still really want to read, so you will see some of these on the 2022 list.
It does make me happy that of the 25 books I did finish from both of these lists combined, several were some of my favorite titles of the year. I do think overall making a list like this that was pretty paired down helped me have one of my best reading years ever. My #1 read of the year, This Tender Land, is here as well as several others in my Top Twenty. There were a few duds though that were not a good fit for me and I do wish I had found a way to escape those.
Here are the books I had planned to read in 2021 that I did not get my hot little hands on. You will see some or most of these on my 2022 lists.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
The Henna Artist – Alka Joshi
The Girl With the Louding Voice – Abi Dare – Small chance I could finish this in these last days of the year, we shall see!
When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
All This I Will Give To You – Dolores Redondo
This Is Not How it Ends – Rochelle B. Weinstein
The Year of Yes – Shonda Rhimes
Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keefe
And here are the selections from my second list, The Hopefuls, that I did not get to. Again, I am sure I will have some of these on the 2022 list. It is a bit surprising to me that there were 10 titles from this list that I did actually finish. While some of those wound up being book club monthly selections, I suppose I need to stick to The Goals list before I get distracted by The Hopefuls.
A Tree Grow’s In Brooklyn – Betty Smith
A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James
Blacktop Wasteland – S. A. Crosby
The Glass Hotel – Emily St. John Mandel
The Girl With A Clock For a Heart – Peter Swanson
Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell
The Comeback – Ella Berman
All the Beautiful Lies – Peter Swanson
Don’t Look For Me – Wendy Walker
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V. E. Schwab
The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
The Other Einstein – Marie Benedict
The Two Lila Bennetts – Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
