2022 Reading Roundup and Looking Forward, Across 2023

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I did a terrible job at blogging in 2021 and 2022, didn't I? I posted three times in 2021 and not at all in 2022! Those two years were whirlwinds, and not just because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout a large portion of that time span, I was temporary guardian to one of my tutoring students and foster mom to his brother. I won't be going into the details other than to say that I was exceptionally busy and there were some extreme ups and downs.

Both boys have since been reunified with their mom and I'm getting back into the swing of life.

I'm looking forward to finishing some books that I have had in progress for a while and to move on to new (to me) books!

As we cross from 2022 into 2023, I decided to set up a new spread in my reading journal -- I'm working on a video about the process, but for the time being, you'll have to settle for this blog post.

After some decorative stamping, stickering, and gluing down of vintage Richard Scarry bookish illustrations, I wrote out all of the books I had started in 2022 but did not finish -- though I realized I missed a book and wrote it in afterwards. As you can see from this photo, I also color coded the books on the left edge of the pages. The color code prioritizes the books in the order I would like to read them and follows rainbow order with pink substituting for purple (because that's what was in the pencil set I used).

RED -- FIRST PRIORITY:

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• We are Called to be a Movement by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
• The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
• Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
• Fermenting by Asa Simonsson
• Local Dirt by Andrea Bemis
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

ORANGE -- SECOND PRIORITY:

• Conscious Creativity by Philippa Stanton
• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
• The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson

YELLOW -- THIRD PRIORITY:

• Looking at Mindfulness by Christophe Andre
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

GREEN -- FOURTH PRIORITY:

• There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk
• Wild Embers by Nikita Gill

BLUE -- FIFTH PRIORITY:

• An Alter in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
• Hawk of the Mind by Yang Mu
• The Armillary Sphere by Ann Hudson

PINK -- LAST PRIORITY:

• God and Guns in America by Michael W. Austin
• Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The order in which I would like to finish these was a combination of things I need to finish for my tutoring practice, items due back at the library soon, items already returned to the library that I would like to eventually finish, books I'd like to finish but am not feeling a huge pull to do so immediately, and a few other less specific criteria.

And, of course, I already have started a new book for 2023:

• A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe

Of the books on my list which have you read? Which do you want to read? When I finish this list, what should I read next?