When I started this “book club” with myself in late spring I was hoping to read a book a month. I also hoped to pump out one book review on each book and maybe a video, with the video being more in depth and freeform, while the review was a quick synopsis of my thoughts.
What ended up happening is that I got out 0 reviews and 0 videos at all. I thankfully did read some books but no where near 1 a month. After I basically inhaled Where the Crawdads Sing I struggled to find something captivating to read. It was taking days for me to just pick a book.
Thankfully Summer was around the corner and inspired me to look for something spooky or at least a mystery thriller. that’s how I started my Stephen King bender.
That was until I decided to go on a spooky bender and started reading Stephen King Classics.
Then I went on a Stephen King bender.
When I did that I started reading them almost back to back. My speed was great but still no content.
On top of that I stalled out all together when I hit a book I didn’t like. Totally didn’t see that coming. It was pretty disheartening.
I tried to give the book a try multiple times but couldn’t really get past the beginning. Frustrated with the book I just kind of put reading down all together, so my list is short but here is the breakdown.
2022 Book Club Ratings
- Where the Crawdads Sing 10/10 highly recommended
- The Shining 9/10 kind of boring beginning and set up but when it’s rolling it’s full steam ahead
- Doctor Sleep 9/10 as good as a sequel can get really
- Pet Cemetery 8/10 pretty god but only scary to a crowd that’s scared to loose someone dear, especially parents
- IT by Stephen King 2/10 NOT A FAN, felt it told more than it showed and turned me off, didn’t get far into the book. might give it another chance later
Favorite book of them all?
I actually ended up both buying the Kindle version and the Audio version of this book. I happen to suffer a concussion after I had already started reading it and literally needed to finish the book. The itch to turn the pages and continue the story were so strong I caved and listened to the book even with my concussion and I LOVED EVERY SECOND. Well, not really, the book has a little bit of a slow start and set up, but once things start moving there’s no stopping the clock. Things start to move forward at a quicker and quicker pace until it all doesn’t. I finished this book excited to start Doctor Sleep the sequel and spoiler alert it was also amazing.
2023 Reading Goals
So, it’s honestly a short list but it was a decent one. The year got hectic and I really stopped prioritizing my reading time. Hoping to try again and pick up a different book now in 2023.I felt good when I was reading, like I had a place to go and an adventure to catch. I didn’t feel so trapped in a hellish groundhog day.
I’ve already chosen the next book, ironically I’m opening my heart back up to Stephen King. I coincidentally pre-ordered Fairy Tale. I couldn’t help myself.
Maybe tonight I’ll take a nice bath and start the book up. Hopefully I’ll actually post my reviews this year. I wrote the beginning of Where the Crawdads Sing and never finished it. Might muster up the strength after watching the movie which I’ll be adding to my ever growing movie bucket list.
If you’re interested in my take on Kindle’s check out our post on the Kindle here. I never thought I’d like using a kindle but it turns out it’s more than just a glorified paper weight. I love taking it to read in the bath or at the beach and by the pool ( basically any body of water). I also love how light weight it is and that I can take more than 1 book with me on vacation because the truth is on a camping trip I can easily finish 2-3 short books.
That’s all I have for now, keep your eyes peeled for our 2023 Book Club Post. I’ll start keeping track of this year’s books and my personal ratings for them.
