Welcome to my post: the last monthly wrap up of 2022 (and the last post of the year)! It seems crazy that its the end of the year already, but it’s also felt like a long time since the start of the year. So much has changed, including my reading habits! One thing I’ve improved on recently is a consistent blog schedule, and this year I wrote a decent amount of posts:
- November wrap up
- Spotify wrapped
- Goodreads choice awards
- Books I want adapted into TV shows
- My Neighbour Totoro London play
- Ranking books set in Winter
- Every 2022 release I read
I’m really happy with the posts I wrote, mostly because a lot of them are quite unique and there are a few posts about things other than books there which I’ve been trying to do. Anyway, let’s move onto the media I consumed this month!
Music
My winter playlist isn’t very big yet but I’ve added it below anyway to show some of the music I’ve been listening to. Little Simz’s album NO THANK YOU came out which I’ve really enjoyed, as well as some new songs from Paramore and PinkPantheress. I need to listen to SZA’s new album SOS fully soon too.
TV/Films
I actually haven’t watched any films this month which is quite surprising, but I’m not a fan of Christmas movies so I’ve mostly been trying to avoid that. I finally finished Breaking Bad this month, which I’d been watching for over a year. The ending did not disappoint, but I think I need to wait a while to start Better Call Saul. I started watching the anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure with my boyfriend during the holidays. I’m a little late, but I also started and finished Wednesday. I’m still not sure how much I liked it, but it was a good enough watch.
Reading Stats
I read 6 books and 2245 pages with an average of 72 pages a day!
♡ my average rating was 3.75
♡ 5 digital books, (3 ARCs), 1 physical book
♡ 3 fantasy, 1 contemporary, 2 mystery
♡ 5 adult, 1 YA
This has been the most surprising reading month for me, because for the last half of the year I’ve been reading 2-3 books a month and not having much enthusiasm. I’ve completely turned it around in the last month despite only starting reading around the 12th December and made myself fall in love with reading all over again! There’s also been a wide range of ratings, and none of them the same rating!
The Books
What a way to end the year! The Empire of Gold is the last book in The Daevabad Trilogy, a series that has raised my heart rate, made me cry and given me hope. The ending was perfect and I’m so sad to leave this world, but I can’t wait to read everything S. A. Chakraborty writes next (including her 2023 release!!).
For my 4 star reads, I read The Raven and the Reindeer for a wintery book to get me in a Christmas spirit. It was a quick and fun adventure with some unexpected sapphic romance which was great. Obviously very different from T. Kingfisher’s horror book that I’ve read (The Hollow Places), but I still enjoyed the writing style. I didn’t know the original story very well before, but from what I do know I think it was a good retelling with enough originality.
I also read The Atlas Six which I’m still deciding on the rating but I think I’ll probably give it 4.5 stars. It was a little slow and hard to get into at first, but I ended up flying through the last half. The plot was mysterious and exciting, the academic discussions were interesting and there was detailed character analysis. I did want a bit more interaction between the group but overall it was really great and I’m desperate for the sequel.
In the 3 star category we have Tread of Angels first, which I rated 3.5. I liked the way the plot unfolded and it was super easy to read, but the ending and the relationships were a little unbelievable just because we didn’t get a lot of time with the characters.
I also read The Cloisters which was my last book of December and this year. I almost DNFed at about 40% because it was so slow. Although I’m glad I stuck with it, nothing happened until halfway through and most of the book was pretty predictable. I did enjoy the atmosphere and intensity of academia and tarot, and the themes of fate and free will.
The last book I have to talk about is Animal Life, which I gave 2.5 stars. It’s a short book but I was just very bored reading and there were a lot of insightful comments but it felt shoe-horned in instead of being part of the story, leaving it a bit disconnected.
That was my December! How was yours?
—ella♥
♦ goodreads ♦
ella isn’t writing 
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