Reading in 2022: Were we right?

In January of 2022, I made a set of predictions and goals.

This New Year, like most years, I see everyone setting new goals and looking back on their favorites of the year.

So, was I right? And in what ways were my assumptions wrong?

Book meets Phone: Trends for 2022

• rediscover recent classics: half-right

I listed classics like The Color Purple and The Book Thief. Instead, the BookTok and bookstagram communities I interact with went even farther back, getting into W. Somerset Maughn, Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, and the Bronte sisters. I wonder if it’s an eras thing: we’ve been into mid-ninteenth and mid-twentieth century authors. Seems a bit early in the twenty-first century for that, but hey, I’ve always been a Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Emerson and Whitman fan, so maybe we’ll get into the twenties next.

• Madeline Miller obsession & greek retellings: half-right

Right subject, wrong author! While I loved Galatea, Miller’s righteous short story that I read to catch up to my Goodreads goal, there are some other superstars in this space. Natalie Haynes is on an absolute tear with novels like A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind and Jennifer Saint has been delivering with great retellings like Elektra (and the upcoming Atalanta…)

• Jane Austenmania again: not really

Not so much, but maybe it’s just been too long since the last season of Bridgeton. I just took a picture in Barnes & Noble of a book called The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry and I got my cousins the popular The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, so I wasn’t entirely off base. Still, this is probably more of a perennial favorite than a trend.

• Book boyfriend obsession and Sarah J. Mass resurgence: yes!

House of Sky and Breath made this prediction pretty on the nose, plus a lot of people around me were reading Throne of Glass and Kingdom of the Wicked for the first time. Everyone was obsessed with the Maas-iverse this year, and I have the controversial opinion that the book boyfriend in Kingdom of the Wicked is my favorite. Including Rhysand and Casteel.

• New fantasy voices: not really

Instead, we got so many sequels! It’s hard for me to keep up – I still need to read the rest of the Gideon the Ninth Series and we have new Samantha Shannon coming out. New sequels to be aware of include the sequel to Kingdom of Battle and Blood, the last installation of Kingdom of the Wicked, new Katee Robert, the sequel to Legendborn, It Starts With Us, and don’t forget The Atlas Paradox, just to name a few!

• This How You Lose the Time War: nope

Shucks. Guess it’s destined to be a cult classic.

2023 Predictions

• Dark Academia hits its peak. My perennial complaint that there aren’t enough dark academia books out there is not as true as it once was. Babel’s ginormous success makes me think this trend isn’t long for the publishing world, though I’m sure it will overstay its welcome, which I won’t be complaining about.
• High fantasy gets a bump. New Samantha Shannon. I’m finally seeing a lot of Shadow of the Gods chatter. I personally plan to read this cool new novel called The Art of Prophecy by Wesely Chu. Might also do a re-read of the Name of the Wind series or The Poppy War series.
• A prediction about my own reading, or maybe more of a wish: I want to read more histories/biographies. Some of my favorite books of all time fall into this genre but I just don’t read it much.

2023 Wrap-Up

In December I read NINE books. Yes, I was behind on my reading goal, which was 60. This year I’m lowering it to 52 so that I can read even more intentionally without worrying about volume, because that’s just so stupid. Here are some of my favorites from the month:

Bloodmarked by Tracey Deonn

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Red Notice by Bill Browder

What trends do you expect to see in 2022?