Happy New Year! Welcome to the first post of 2023! 2022 was an amazing year on a personal and blog level and I am very excited for what 2023 has in store for us! It is just me today and I will share the usual things that are part of my update: books I read in December, noteworthy changes to my TBR, and some random non-bookish findings. I also want to talk about writing and blogging which are hobbies fueled by my reading.
December Book Selection
December is busy with its usual holiday bustle but I am so happy to say that I found lots of time to fall back into my old reading habits.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize obsession
I mentioned in the Nov wrap up about my fascination with the five finalists of the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2022. I read one book from the finalists in December: If an Egyptian cannot speak English by Noor Naga and it was amazing. The storytelling, plot and characters were so well done and I was blown away by part 3 of the book. Check out the book on Goodreads.
Two out of five have been such thoughtful reads. I have The Sleeping Car Porter and We Measure the Earth with our Body… January is looking to be a good month already!
Non-Fiction
- I first came across Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky when I was looking for work-life balance books. I was pleasantly surprised and very happy that Make Time had strategies that could be applied outside work, hence solidifying its position as a work-life balance book. The tactics in this book relate to life as a whole and you bet I have tried a bunch. Keep an eye out for the review. Meantime, check out the book on Goodreads.
- My first book by Brene Brown, I turned to The Gifts of Imperfection when I was dealing with my perfection issues one day. Similar to Soundtracks by Jon Acuff, this book is a life-changer for me. I love Brene’s ideas and have borrowed a lot of her into my life. I am excited to reflect more on this one. Meantime, find the book on Goodreads. The audiobook, read by the author, was very immersive to listen to.
- An introduction to spiritually, The Soul’s Human Experience explored many concepts like the soul and destiny. It had some points that I agreed with. Unfortunately, I did not find the writing to be engaging and that had a huge impact on what I could take away from this book. Read my review on Goodreads.
- When I first saw Couples That Work: How To Thrive in Love and at Work, I loved the idea of this book. I was excited to read it and as soon as Clinton started his new job, I took the opportunity to learn about dual career couples! Jennifer Petriglieri goes into details about the three main transition points in a couple’s life, offering stories, situations and possible next-steps. It’s the first book I have read which gives an idea of what life looks like as we get old in a married setting. Definitely check this one on Goodreads and Audible.
- The Last Lecture is a famous book and when I was looking for a short read one day, I borrowed this one from the library. Full of life stories and anecdotes, it was a good read. Find it on Goodreads.
Fiction
- As part of the Indie Ink Awards 2022, I read two of the four assigned books: The Case Files of Sheridan Bell: The Vanishing Beast was like Sherlock Holmes with some fantasy (IndieStoryGeek) and The Garden of the Golden Children which was a (challenging for me) YA fantasy novel. Read my review on Goodreads.
- Ariel had raved about Bad Cree to me so I decided to spend some time in the horror genre. It was made even better by being able to discuss it with Ariel! Find the book on Goodreads. Our discussion post is now available.
- A series Ariel has recommended to me is The Murderbot Diaries. I listened to the first two books: All Systems Red and Artificial Condition and I am hooked. Book 3 is waiting for me to press play.
- Picture in the Sand is out tomorrow and it is one that Stephen King raved about. I gave it a shot and learned a lot from it. Review coming next week. If you love movies, family drama and historical fiction set in Egypt, check this one out on Goodreads.
Total TBR: 294 (December 1) -> 301 (January 1)
Jan 1, 2022 had been 205 books. I added a hundred books to my pile. I love that! Here are two from big publishers that are coming out soon:
Non-fiction: Feeling Seen: Reconnecting in a Disconnected World by Jody Carrington. I am currently reading this book and it is so good. It introduced me to Brene Brown and opened up a whole world of emotions for me.
Fiction: My aunt recently passed away and I take it as a sign from her that In the Belly of the Congo landed in my inbox. This is the story of a niece on a quest for her aunt. I love the concept and look forward to reading it.
The Noteworthy: A random collection of findings
- Check out my post on the amazing Etsy stores I worked with in 2022..
- I have discovered lots of resources out there for journaling about grief. I am currently working through a grief worksheet by Ineffable Living. This website has tons of mental health related journaling prompts.
- Every year, Clinton and I watch an ‘old’ movie around New year’s. Criteria: he loved the movie and I haven’t seen it. Last year it was The Count of Monte Cristo (2004). This year, we watched The Incredible Hunk (2008). I enjoyed this version of Hulk way more than the one Marvel has been portraying. This one is more human and serious.
Do you have a new year tradition? I would love to hear about it in the comments or shoot me an email at kriti.khare@gmail.com.
Writing
For many years, I have written about books close to when I wanted to post about them but with a growing TBR and other life priorities, it was becoming a huge task to compose and schedule a review for the blog. In 2022, I decided to try and get ahead of reviewing. Your Writing Matters by Keiko O’Leary helped me identify how much I enjoy writing and that reviews are indeed separate from posting them to the blog.
I am learning to enjoy coming back to a book, no matter how long it has been, looking through my notes and diving into the story again. Ever since I got back from India, I have spent lots of time catching up on writing about the books I have read, old or recent. Separating the writing from the scheduling has been liberating and at the same time, writing about books that I can post to the blog whenever I want has been a handy collection to have by my side.
I used to worry about how to keep the blog alive. It is common knowledge that being active, creating new content is vital and I struggled with this idea because while being active is very important when the blog is a source of income, applying that to a hobby is quite constraining and often demotivating. I had to discover for myself what works for me personally. I have come a long way from taking the Internet’s view seriously.
Armed with A Book is a passion I pursue purely for myself. It is just the medium to share about stories and people and the great work they are doing. For my reflections, it is not the writing itself and I am happy to have figured out that the blog is where I share my writing, not where I write.
I read much faster than I write and every month, as I work on incorporating writing and reflecting on books into my daily practice, I want to note the number of reviews I have completed but not posted – TBP – as well as those that I have yet to write – TBW. I am loving taking inspiration from reading and its TBR. Like the TBR, these are also bottomless piles. As long as I am reading and wanting to write, there will be another book to write about.
So for the first time:
Total TBP: 9 (January 1)
Total TBW: 8 (January 1)
How do you keep practicing your hobbies?
Blogging
In case you missed it, December had reviews for two indigenous books: Bad Cree (a Kriti & Ariel buddy read) and The Theory of Crows. I finally got around to gushing about Lessons in Chemistry (winner of Goodreads Debut Novel 2022, I read it back in April – one of my catch up after wedding books) and shared about a dark fairy tale fantasy, Into the Underwood: Maiden (it was fun to chat with Julia about this one!). I connected with my fellow book blogger, Stephen, about reading and blogging. Lastly, Ariel and I shared our thoughts on the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2022.
In looking through my 2022 journals, I have found how much I adore these wrap ups and how they are also an opportunity to talk about blogging. Maybe I already did a bit but I want to be more intentional in what I am posting and putting on the schedule. Armed with A Book has a presence in my life very similar to my books. I am always thinking of new ideas to write about, topics I want to explore here, people I want to interview, collections of books I have read and want to discuss holistically… Every book I read has potential for my blog.
- I read non-fiction regularly and in the last few months, it has become the dominant genre in my currently-reading pile. My free mornings include some time for reading these books and I can’t believe how much an extra hour during the week can do! Non-fiction puts a lot of ideas in my head and many I can try out immediately. In the first (and maybe third) week of the month, I will be reviewing a non-fiction book so keep an eye out on those posts if you love the genre as much as I do.
- I plan to post 1-2 reviews a week, including the contributions from Ariel.
- As a reader, connecting with the author of a book I adored brings so much thrill and joy to my life. For impactful books, I am actively reaching out to authors and publicists for an interview. I am not always successful but I will continue to try. 🙂 One of my favorite ‘yes’ was Mansi Choksi, author of The Newlyweds and the upcoming Peter Blauner, author of Picture in the Sand.
- Book excerpts from indie books and interviews with authors, cover reveals, indie recommendations and Creator’s Roulette will continue.
Thanks for being a reader of my blog. It is wonderful to say Happy New Year to you. My wishes for you are to have a year of growth and love. Cheers to another year of reading and writing!
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