2022 Audiobook Challenge -- My Wrap-Up Post

 THE 2022 AUDIOBOOK CHALLENGE

WRAP-UP POST

COMPLETED

I blew past my challenge goal of reading 50+ audiobooks this year! I've read 63 books with my ears in 2022 and will probably finish 65 before the the new year. See list below.

CHALLENGE

Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About host a popular audiobook challenge every year, although 2022 was only the second time I participated. I signed up at the Marathoner level to read 50 or more audiobooks in 2022. 

I love reading with my ears! I download audiobooks from the library to my phone using the Libby app and listen all the time. In good weather, I like to walk to work, which gives me a good hour of audiobook reading in a day. I also listed when I drive, cook, fold laundry, and do other chores. In 2021, I read 131 books and 70 of them were audiobooks. 

One thing I started doing in 2022 was to combine my love of audiobooks with my desire to clear book books off my TBR shelves. I went through my TBR list, found which ones were available as audiobooks from the library, and put them on my Libby wishlist. It may seem odd to listen to the audiobook when I have the physical book already, but I have soooooooooo many book books on my shelves that it would take me years to get to all of them. If I can free up shelf space (and brain space) by reading a book with my ears and getting rid of the paper book, I'm happy. 

MY 2022 AUDIOBOOKS

Here is the list of books I read as audiobooks in 2022, in the order I read them. Do you see any of your own favorites here?

• Katherine by Anya Seton (TBR shelf) 

• The Bostonians by Henry James (TBR shelf) 

• A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (TBR shelf) 

• Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw 

• Dangling Man by Saul Bellow (TBR shelf)

• The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz 

• The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty 

• A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris 

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney 

• The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park (Book Club) 

• The Falls by Ian Rankin (TBR shelf) 

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Book Club) 

• Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (TBR shelf, reread) 

• The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz 

• Little Big Man by Larry McMurtry (TBR shelf) 

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (TBR shelf)

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 

• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 

• The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz 

• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (National Book Award)

• Trio by William Boyd

• As Husbands Go by Susan Isaac 

• Lucky by Marissa Stapley (Book Club) 

• The Skull Beneath the Skin by P. D. James (TBR shelf)

• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel (TBR shelf) 

• Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Book Club) 

• Only in Naples by Katherine Wilson 

• A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz 

• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (TBR shelf)

• Holy Orders by Benjamin Black 

• Blue Moon by Lee Child (TBR shelf)

• The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

• Broken Harbor by Tana French (TBR shelf)

• The Counterlife by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

• Mr. Majestyk by Elmore Leonard (TBR shelf)

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Book Club) 

• The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

• Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter

• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (TBR shelf) 

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Book Club)

• Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 

• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (TBR shelf)

• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

• The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro (TBR shelf)

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Victober)

• The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor (TBR shelf)

• The Underdog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz (TBR shelf)

• Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron

• Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry (TBR shelf)

• What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater (TBR shelf)

• Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (TBR shelf)

• Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick (TBR shelf)

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith (TBR shelf)

• One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (TBR shelf)

• The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories by P. D. James (TBR shelf)

• The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier (buddy read)

Monthly Wrap Up -- My November Books

 

MONTHLY WRAP UP

I got so caught up in Christmas prep that I forgot to post my monthly wrap up of the books I read in November. Doesn’t it feel like the last weeks of the year race by?  Between end-of-year work stuff and holiday festivities, I don’t know where my head is half the time.

MY NOVEMBER BOOKS

I read 13 books in November, including four for Nonfiction November. I love these theme reads that seem more popular with the the boom of bookstagram.

In the order I read them, not the order they are in the picture:

The Incredulity of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton. I’m working my way through all the stories. This one isn't in the picture at all because I read it with my ears. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie, the first of three Christie books I read in November just because I was in the mood. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, one from my French Connections list and a fun trip to Paris! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Vol. 71 of Slightly Foxed from Foxed Quarterly, the Autumn 2021 edition. I count it as a “book” so I can keep track of which ones I read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Rizzio, the new historical fiction novella by Denise Mina from Pegasus Books was an excellent way to spend a stormy afternoon. Great read! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹🌹

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday, which won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. I wanted to like it more than I did, but the stream of consciousness, multiple narrators, and multiple narrative voices (including the always confusing second person) made it a difficult book to engage with. 🌹🌹🌹

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Past Tense by Lee Child. I have one more to go before I finish all the Jack Reacher books written by Lee Child (without his brother as co-author). Fine with me. I was an ardent fan, but I’m off them.🌹🌹🌹🌹

Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I finally read this classic about living in the woods and can check it off my list! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The French Chef in America: Julia Child's Second Act by Alex Prud'homme. If you want more of My Life in France, this is the book for you. I loved it.  🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

March Violets by Philip Kerr. This is the first book in his Bernie Gunther series and I’ll definitely stick with it. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Plum Sauce: A P.G. Wodehouse Companion by Richard Usborne is a deep dive into Wodehouse’s 97 books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Also in the picture are the white camellias that bloom in my yard from November through Christmas. 

 

Past Tense by Lee Child -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Does it feel like Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year? Hubby just texted me to say he got a turkey and left it in the fridge to thaw because it is frozen solid and I though, "What the heck? Thanksgiving is weeks away!" Then I remembered it's next week! Yikes!

I love Thanksgiving. There are only four of us this year, not a huge crowd like in years past. But I still love it. We will have way too much food, but that's OK because we all love leftovers. 

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Mine's mashed potatoes, even if that is really boring! And pie, of course! 

For those of you who don't live in the US, I'm sorry you don't celebrate Thanksgiving because it is such a cozy holiday and it is the gateway to Christmas! 

But we still have a week to go, which means we have a week to share opening sentences here on Book Beginnings on Fridays. What are you reading in this week? Pease share the first sentence (or so) with all of us.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I'm reading something fun. I'm reading only entertaining books during the holidays. Nothing serious between now and 2022. 

Jack Reacher caught the last of the summer sun in a small town on the coast of Maine, and then, like the birds in the sky above him, he began his long migration south.

-- Past Tense by Lee Child. Are you a Lee Child fan? A Reacher Creature?

Past Tense is the 23rd novel in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. I read the first book in the series, Killing Floor, back in 2004, when I was prepping for a mystery writers' conference where Child was the keynote speaker. Like many a lawyer, I harbored fantasies about writing mystery novels. My fantasies didn't last longer than that one conference. But Killing Floor blew my socks off. It was excellent. It is still my favorite Reacher book. 

My enthusiasm for the series has waned. The plots have become thin as the violence has increased. It looks like Child has gotten bored with them too. He wrote one more book after Past Tense called Blue Moon and then teamed up with his brother to tag team on two more. But he announced that he is turning over the series to his brother. I'll read Blue Moon and call it good. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Add a link to your Book Beginnings on Fridays post in the Linky box below. If you post on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

Another weekly teaser event is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice where you can find details and add a link to your post. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book you are featuring. You can also find a teaser from 56% of the way through your ebook or audiobook.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Past Tense:

Again Mark went quiet.

“He doesn’t mean it,” Patty said. “He’s upset, is all.”

It might get a bit creepy for my taste, but I'm determined to finish it. I'm reading it with my ears, so if things get too gruesome I'll concentrate on my pretty Thanksgiving dishes!

 

March Wrap Up - My March Books

MONTHLY WRAP UP

MARCH

March was a good reading month for me. I didn't have a clunker in the bunch. I continued to climb Mt. TBR, as seven of the ten books I read had been on my shelf before the year started. Some have been around a long, long time! 

Two of these were books for my TBR 21 in '21 Challenge (Old Filth and The Library Book). The other five TBR books count toward my Mt. TBR Challenge goal of 60 total off my TBR shelves. Otherwise, I made no progress on my 2021 reading challenges.

Here is the list, in the order I read them, not the order in the picture:

The Lighthouse by P. D. James. This is the penultimate book in the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series. This may be my favorite of all mystery series, so I hate to see it end, although I plan to read the last book, The Private Patient, this year. I don't usually keep mystery books after I finish them, but I keep all my P. D. James books because I can see myself rereading all of them one day.  🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Anglophile's Notebook by Sunday Taylor. This was a charming romance with a literary theme and a bit of a mystery. This was one of the three new books I read last month. I got a review copy and my review is on it's way! 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
The Midnight Line by Lee Child. I was a diehard Reacher Creature, and this one was pretty good, but after 22 books, I think I’m fading on the series. I read that Lee Child decided to retire and is turning the series over to his brother, who is also an author. There are two more books after Midnight Line written by Lee Child, then two written by Lee Child and his brother Andrew Child (both pen names, by the way). I plan to read the last two Lee-only book and call it quits. I'll retire along with Lee. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
The Library Book by Susan Orlean, which is a history of the Los Angeles Public Library using the devastating 1986 fire at the central, downtown branch as the organizing feature. This was a fascinating book. It makes me want to read more of Orlean's books, many of which are on my TBR shelves. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations by Charlotte Moss. I loved this gorgeous book, which I read as part of my project to read all my coffee table books. I'm trying to read one a month. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George, book six in her Inspector Linley series, another fave of mine. I read this one with my ears, even though the book book was on my shelves. Focusing my audiobook borrowing on my existing TBR shelf is one of my reading resolutions for 2021. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World by P. J. O’Rourke, which I read to bone up on an Adam Smith study group I’m in this year. 🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
Old Filth by Jane Gardam. I finally read this and loved it! I've already raced through the other two books in the trilogy, which will show up in my April wrap up. What a wonderful story of marriage, friendship, and the legal profession! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
 
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters, book two in her Brother Cadfael series. This was the second new (to me) book I read. It was not on my shelf and I borrowed the audiobook from the library. I’m not sure I will stick with this series. I have so many others I prefer, including her George Felse series. This one just isn't grabbing me as much as it does other people. Am I wrong? 🌹🌹🌹
 
Mystery Man by Colin Bateman. Oh my! I laughed so much when I listened to this!  I looked like a mad woman, walking around my neighborhood park, snorting with laughter. This was a new to me book and author my law partner insisted I read with my ears. She gifted me the audiobook from Audible. Why have I never found his books before? I loved the narrator's Irish accent and now I can't wait to listen to the other three books in this hilarious mystery series. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Lee Child: Favorite Author

Author Lee Child writes the perennially popular Jack Reacher books. His loyal fans -- often known as "Reacher Creatures" -- gobble them up year after year. I've been hooked from the get go and still count Killing Floor as one of the best thrillers ever. If I ever get my act together and make a Top 10 list of favorite thriller books, it would be on it for sure. 

Jack Reacher is the archetype hero. I once saw Lee Child speak at a mystery writers workshop and he said just that -- he wrote Reacher as the hero archetype, like Beowulf or Sir Gawain. He's the outsider who rides into town to save it from the monster. He is big and strong and smart and he drifts around solving unsolvable problems. He can calculate the trajectory of a bullet. He can kill a man with his thumb. He can live on coffee and a catnap. He is cool.

I have read all of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books through Make Me. But I found that one so disturbing that I stopped. The books seemed to me to be getting darker and more violent and that one was pretty awful for me. I have the others on my TBR shelf, but they aren't calling to me. I'll get to them, but not soon. I'm not as enthusiastic as I was about the series.

Are any of you Reacher fans? How do you think the series is holding up? Have you stuck with it from the beginning and will you keep going? Please share these or other thoughts in a comment. If you have Lee Child or Jack Reacher posts, please leave a link in your comment. 

The Lee Child Jack Reacher books in publication order are:

Killing Floor

Die Trying

Tripwire

Running Blind

Echo Burning

Persuader

Without Fail

The Enemy

One Shot

The Hard Way

Bad Luck and Trouble 

Nothing to Lose

Gone Tomorrow

61 Hours

Worth Dying For (my short review here)

The Affair

A Wanted Man

Never Go Back

Personal

Make Me

Night School

The Midnight Line

Past Tense

Blue Moon

Book Beginning: Make Me by Lee Child

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn't easy. It was like trying to wrestle a king-sized mattress off a waterbed.

Make Me by Lee Child. This is the 20th Jack Reacher book.

I'm a big fan and I'm enjoying this one enough. But I'm two-thirds of the way through and I'm still waiting for the plot to gel. And I'm getting a little tired of Reacher books that start with him in a two-track town in the middle of Nebraska. Make Me came out in 2015 and I am only reading it now because, based on the description, I was sure I had read it already.

Review of the Day: Worth Dying For

 

Worth Dying For is Lee Child’s 15th book featuring ex-military cop, Jack Reacher. This one has Reacher fighting the bad guys in Nebraska farm country, 60 miles from the nearest local police.

All Reacher books could have the same review: “A breakneck thriller that will keep you up late turning pages.” These books are all about action, excitement, and plot. Not that the plots are complex, but there is always a lot going on. The central story is always Beowulf fighting Grendel – the big, strong, stranger who sweeps in to protect the townsfolk from a monster.

And it works. Over and over. These books are paperback crack.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this, or any other Lee Child book, listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the 2011 Chunkster Challenge.  Although, I have to say that these 525 or so pages went by a lot faster than most.  500+ pages of the adventures of Jack Reacher aren't like reading The Adventures of Augie March, for example.  No criticism intended for either Child or Bellow.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks go to Avis of She Reads and Reads for hosting Mailbox Monday in October.

Three books came into my house last week:



Mink River by Brian Doyle.  This was a hostess gift from a very thoughtful friend. I am looking froward to it because it is a novel by the author of The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World, which I really liked and reviewed here.



American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen. This is a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book. I've been limiting my ER choices, but this one sounded very interesting to me.



61 Hours by Lee Child.  This one came as a result of the book chain letter I sent out a couple of months ago. I am a big Lee Child fan and have read all his Jack Reacher novels except this, his latest. I'll be turning to it very soon.How fun!

Mailbox Monday

I was out of town for a while and happy to come home to find several books had arrived in my absence. I also picked up a short stack on my travels.

Thanks go to Avis of She Reads and Reads for hosting Mailbox Monday in October.

Here's the list:

Two Gold Coins and a Prayer: The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot and POW by James H. Keeffe III.  My husband is particularly excited about this one because he loves personal accounts of WWII.  He will probably read it before I get to it, although it does look interesting.



Green Oranges on Lion Mountain by Emily Joy.  This is a British doctor's memoir about working for two years in Sierra Leone. It looks very good and I can think of a couple of people who would like to get a copy of this one for Christmas.



Fish with What You Find by Jim Gilsdorf. This is a collection of articles about fly fishing and fly tying. I do neither, but it still appeals to me, maybe because of the adorable illustrations.



Trespass by Rose Tremain. This is a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book.  Apparently I have caught up enough on my list to get more books.



The New Woman by Jon Hassler.  This is my first (and maybe only) book I received as part of a book chain letter I sent out about two months ago.



Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers.  This won the National Book Award. 



Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. This won the Pulitzer Prize.



The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey. I like the whole idea of these Soho Crimes international mysteries. This one is set in England.



Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby.  Because I am on a Hornby kick these days.



61 Hours by Lee Child.  Because I am on a Jack Reacher kick these days.

Favorite Author: Lee Child

Lee Child writes Jack Reacher books. Thankfully for all his loyal fans -- "Reacher Creatures" -- he turns out a new one pretty much every year.

Reacher is the prototypical hero. He is big and strong and smart and he drifts around solving unsolvable problems. He doesn't need anything besides his folding toothbrush and a little folding money. (Confronted with the reality of our post-9/11 world, Reacher started carrying a passport and an ATM card in later books -- a stumbling block for loyal readers.) He can calculate the trajectory of a bullet. He can kill a man with his thumb. He's cool.

I have read all but the last two of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books.

The books in publication order are:

Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
Running Blind
Echo Burning
Persuader
Without Fail
The Enemy
One Shot
The Hard Way
Bad Luck and Trouble
Nothing to Lose
Gone Tomorrow
61 Hours
Worth Dying For (reviewed here)
The Affair
A Wanted Man
Never Go Back
Personal
Make Me
Night School
The Midnight Line

Past Tense

Blue Moon

NOTE
Last updated April 5, 2021.