Mid-Year Catch-Up: January to June 2022

Well well well… hello there, friends, family and random internet strangers! Another update? So soon? Well shut my mouth and call me cornbread (or Norman, as my old college gang used to say… don’t ask.)

Now that my 2021 final update has been posted (have I mentioned that I’m a world champion level procrastinator?), I can get around to catching everyone up on the beginning of 2022. If you’re just here for the challenge roundup, click here. Otherwise, let’s do a bit of a monthly catchup, with random nonsense and links and photos and whatnot. Buckle in, this is gonna be a long one.

January started with the funeral of a friend who died from COVID, and unsurprisingly, a booster vaccine because I had a lot of travel planned and a deep desire to avoid the plague. I finally bought myself a new desktop computer, which I was going to need for a project in the spring, and had to set it up on my dining room table since my spare room wasn’t ready for office use yet. I was watching How I Met Your Father on Hulu (not as good as How I Met Your Mother, but near the end it started to show some promise, so I’ll check out season 2). Favorite music of the month was a throwback – The Call’s 1987 album Into the Woods. And I completed 4 books – Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson (for #4), King of Scars and Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo (for #15 and #16), and Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny (for #2).

February was a bit of a blur – work, church, and kitten chaos as she learned to find her way onto every high place in the house. I got a haircut (much needed), and did a girls’ night out with some friends and former neighbors – socializing does happen now and then, no matter how much of an introvert I am. I watched Encanto for the first time and cried like 5 times – what a movie. Aside from the Encanto soundtrack, my favorite music of the month was from Scary Pockets, a funk cover band – their collaboration with Ben Barnes was pretty great. I also finished 5 books – Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (for #6), Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey (for #8), Raven Cursed and Death’s Rival by Faith Hunter (for #27 and #49), and Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny (for #17).

March was packed with activities – first up, for Phoenix First Fridays I spent some time wandering the Phoenix Art Museum with a good friend… then I spent a weekend teaching myself Audacity and Cyberlink Power Director in order to record and make a lyric video for a Wheel of Time parody song I wrote for the WoT Idol contest (spoilers for books 6-10 if you care about such things). My entry was knocked out in the first round of judging, but I got a lot of lovely feedback and had so much fun with it that I immediately started compiling ideas for the 2023 contest. I spent another weekend up north visiting my bestie and her kiddos, during which we attended a local community theater production of Mamma Mia! Aside from that, I was watching season 6 of Outlander, listening to the Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack, and reading. I completed 5 books in the month of March – The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson (for #1), These Tangled Vines by Julianne Maclean (for #5), I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (for #20), The Martian by Andy Weir (for #10), and The Circle by Dave Eggers (for #42).

April was even more of a whirlwind, heavily featuring my annual trip to Atlanta for JordanCon 2022 (during which I performed my parody song live for karaoke, which was a blast). For television, I was watching Moon Knight on Disney Plus, and binge watching Bones on Hulu. For music, aside from thoroughly enjoying the Wheel of Time parodies from this year’s contest, my sister-in-law introduced me to Music Travel Love. And I completed 5 books during April – The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice (for #35), Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (for #39), Turtles All The Way Down by John Green (for #13), City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (for #22), and A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney (for #54).

May involved more travel – another CluedUpp Geogames event with my best friend up north (a CSI theme, which prompted the crime scene photo below), and a week with my mom in Southern Illinois during which I helped her reorganize her closet and spent the rest of the week with my lower back out of whack. I watched two treasure hunt themed movies – Uncharted and The Lost City. And I completed 3 books – The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter (for #30), If You Tell by Gregg Olsen (for #50), and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (for #46).

June started during my Southern Illinois trip, and then I came back to normal life, intense heat, and work. ChaosKitten (who is nearly a year old now) continued to find new ways to cause chaos. And I managed to pay off my mortgage, just over 5 years early. That’s a great feeling. I finished my binge watch of Bones – all 12 seasons. And I completed 4 books – The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (for #46), A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova (for #53), and Blood Trade and Black Arts by Faith Hunter (for #7 and #28).

So that has been my 2022 so far – I’d like to promise more regular updates in the future, but truly, we all know better, don’t we? I do expect to have another post later this month, if for no other reason than that I’m visiting Linzthebookworm for our respective birthdays (one day apart) and we were planning a collaboration while I’m in town.

How has your year been so far? Have you read any of these books? Or do you have any recommendations I should check out?

Talk to me, I love comments!

The Linzthebookworm/Logophile 2022 Reading Challenge

Level 1: Book of the Month Club [8/12 complete]
1. Read a book that cost less than $5 – The Paid Bridesmaid – Sariah Wilson
2. Read a book that is under 350 pages – Sign of the Unicorn – Roger Zelazny
3. Read a book that was recommended to you
4. Read a newly published book (within the past year) – Cytonic – Brandon Sanderson
5. Read a book that has a type of plant or flower in the title – These Tangled Vines – Julianne Maclean
6. Read a book because of the cover – Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi
7. Read a book about a mythical creature – Blood Trade – Faith Hunter
8. Read a book that takes place in the future – Leviathan Falls – James S.A. Corey
9. Read a book by an author that’s new to you
10. Read a book from NPR’s top 50 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the past decade – The Martian – Andy Weir
11. A book by an author whose first or last name has 5 letters
12. Free Space – Pick any book!

Level 2: Casual Reader Club [6/12 complete]
13. Read a book published 5 years ago – Turtles All the Way Down – John Green
14. Read a Speculative Fiction
15. Read the first book in a duology – King of Scars – Leigh Bardugo
16. Read the second book in a duology – Rule of Wolves – Leigh Bardugo
17. A book that was published when you were 5 years old – The Hand of Oberon – Roger Zelazny
18. Read a book by an author named Alex, Alexander, Alexandra (or variant)
19. Read a book about Zombies
20. Read a book with a black cover – I’ve Got Your Number – Sophie Kinsella
21. Read a book from AbeBooks.com’s list of 100 (fiction) books to read in a lifetime
22. Read a book with the word City in the title – City of Girls – Elizabeth Gilbert
23. Read a book about a musician (non-fiction or fiction)
24. Free Space – Pick any book!

Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club [5/12 complete]
25. A book with a title that has 5 letters
26. Read a book published by Macmillan (or subsidiary)
27. Read a book with a title that doesn’t start with an article (A, An, The) – Raven Cursed – Faith Hunter
28. Read a book you recently acquired – Black Arts – Faith Hunter
29. Read a book that’s been on your TBR for over a year
30. Read a Revenge Story – The Rage of Dragons – Evan Winter
31. Read a book by Philippa Gregory
32. Read a book that takes place on an island
33. Read a book that does not have a person (or people) on the cover – Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
34. A book that you intended to read on last year’s challenge
35. Read a Psychological Thriller – The Shadow Box – Luanne Rice
36. Free Space – Pick any book!

Level 4: Speed Reader Club [3/12 complete]
37. Read a book over 500 pages
38. Read a book that starts with the letter Z (or has Z in the title) – Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating – Christina Lauren
39. Read a book that takes place around your favorite holiday
40. A book with 5 objects on the cover
41. Read a book with the word Wisdom in the title
42. Read a Dystopian Fiction – The Circle – Dave Eggers
43. Read a book by an author with the same name as one of your parents (Biological, Step, Adopted)
44. Read a book that a movie/show you’ve watched is based on but have yet to read (example: Watched The Hobbit, but never read the Hobbit)
45. Read a book about a Saint (non-Fiction or Fiction)
46. Read any book from the Men’s Health most popular book list – The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
47. Read a book published in a year that was important to you
48. Free Space – Pick any book!

Level 5: Overachiever Club [4/12 complete]
49. Read the 5th book in a series or an author’s 5th novel – Death’s Rival – Faith Hunter
50. Read a True Crime book – If You Tell – Gregg Olsen
51. Read a book by Georges Simenon (or one of his Pen Names)
52. A book with the number 5 in the title
53. Read a book that takes place in Russia – A Train to Moscow – Elena Gorokhova
54. Read a book by an author using initials as part of their name – A Dream So Dark – L.L. McKinney
55. Read a book that has a title in the form of a question
56. Read a banned book from this banned book list
57. A book with at least 5 prominent characters
58. Read a book that Linz read previously (see book review archive here)
59. Read a book that Tress read previously (see reading category archive here)
60. Free Space – Pick any book!