2022

2022 Reading Review

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Happy New Year! 2022 was an eventful reading year for me. I read about 160 books (mostly romance novels) and switched up some things about my reading that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Storygraph (and Goodreads) Stats

This year I started heavily using Storygraph to track my reading. Goodreads automatically records everything I read on my Kindle, which is most of my reading, so it has a pretty good record, too, but I really only use it for giveaways haha. I did win several giveaways last year, which was nice.

Storygraph also now has giveaways and a social aspect, but I just like it for its stats 🙂

I finished off the Demon Slayer series this year and loved it all! I’ve been reading a bit more contemporary romance, and while it’s still not a favorite of mine, I’ve been enjoying Susannah Nix’s current series called King’s Creamery about a large family that owns an ice cream company in Texas.

Of course Paper Girls was the longest book I read, since it was like six graphic novels combined. I loved both it and its Amazon Prime adaptation. I normally don’t include books I read to my kids in my own reading totals, but neither of mine had much interest in Finding My Dance because it was for a slightly older age group. I really enjoyed it though!

From Goodreads (since it has more users), the most popular book I read was Book Lovers, a perfectly nice contemporary romance that I very much enjoyed. Totally understandable why it was so popular. Also understandable was that only 50 people shelved the obscure At the Earl’s Command, because I barely made it into the book before moving it to my DNF shelf.

Wash Day Diaries and Obama: An Intimate Portrait were my highest rated reads (by others) on Goodreads and Storygraph, respectively. I would definitely recommend both!

Storygraph Genre Challenge 2022

To expand my reading horizons, I decided to participate in a reading challenge of 5 fiction/5 nonfiction books with various genre prompts. I managed to finish 8 out of 10! (Ducks might be a bit of a stretch for a “political book,” but it does mention political issues of the oil sands in Canada, specifically as it deals with First Nations lands.) And I enjoyed them all. I had books planned to read for the remaining 2 prompts, but I just didn’t get to them, which is ironic because those are the only 2 books of the set that I actually own. I look forward to reading them next year! Right? RIGHT?

I’ve already joined Storygraph’s 2023 Genre Challenge, and I’m looking forward to another 10 interesting and varied books this year!

Nonfiction Audiobooks

I have tried audiobooks previously, and I just couldn’t enjoy them. However, this year I discovered that I do enjoy listening to nonfiction audiobooks. I think the difference is that with nonfiction, if I zone out and miss a detail, I can pick up the thread of the book more easily than with a novel. Plus, authors often narrate their own nonfiction books, and I enjoy that authenticity. I’ve listened to four books during my commute this year, and I’ve already started another so I’m looking to continue this trend into 2023.

I Joined a Book Club!

One of the librarians at my work started a book club this fall, so once a month over lunch I’ve been meeting with a handful of other people to talk books! This is the first time I’ve ever done an in-person book club, and it’s been a great experience. We’ve been picking the books from a list by ranked choice voting, which has resulted in me reading three books I probably wouldn’t have picked up on my own. Again, great for expanding my reading horizons. While I enjoyed reading all three, I can’t say I liked any of them enough to re-read them in the future or anything. But it was still very satisfying to be able to discuss them with a group!

If you want to check out more of what I was reading this year, here are my 2022 book review posts:

What was your favorite read of 2022? And what are you planning to read in 2023?

5 Favorite K-pop MVs of 2022

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It’s once again time to spread the joy of K-pop to all my readers!  Here are my favorite K-pop music videos from 2022 in no particular order.

Familiar faces and old favorites

1. “Tomboy” by (G)I-dle

This girl group (pronounced “Idle”) had two big hits this year, both written by leader Soyeon, both with very different musical styles.  When I’m not listening to K-pop, my preferred genre is alternative rock, so “Tomboy” in particular really appealed to me.  I love the punk rock feel!  Both “Tomboy” and “Nxde” talk about breaking free from restrictive gender norms, which feels so empowering.  (G)I-dle is such a talented group and I feel like they have a lot to say.  I’ve been a fan of them since their debut and I’m so happy they had such a great year, especially after losing a member to a scandal last year.  I can’t wait to see what they do next.

2. “Waka Boom” by Hyolyn

Hyolyn, former member of SISTAR and one of the best vocals in K-pop, continues to show the younger idols how it’s done with this single for the music competition show Queendom 2.  Hyolyn’s fierce look and dancing combined with the inspiring lyrics make a big impact.  Plus, some rapping by the amazing Lee Young Ji, who is one of my favorite female rappers and just a fabulous person.  Check out her cover of Lizzo’s “Juice!”

3. “Blah Blah Blah” by Itzy

After killing it in Korea, Itzy moved on to Japan this year with two awesome Japanese singles, “Blah Blah Blah” and “Voltage.”  I love the energetic vibe; it really suits them.  Jpop is actually my first love, so I always really appreciate when groups put out great original Japanese songs (as in, not just translations of their Korean hits). I picked this one especially because I love the esthetic of Ryujin in that orange dress!

😍

4. “That That” by PSY

It’s a collab between K-pop royalty!  Suga from BTS joins PSY of “Gangnam Style” fame for this super catchy hit, staging a Wild West showdown. As always, PSY is just so much fun to watch.  Even my kids liked this one!

4th Generation Queens

This year also had an amazing crop of female rookie groups!  I couldn’t pick just one, so here are two videos that really stood out to me.

5.1 “Antifragile” by Le Sserafim 

Despite having a bit of a tough start, what with losing a member to scandal right after their debut, Le Sserafim had an amazing comeback with “Antifragile.”  I particularly loved this performance version, which really showcases their stage presence as well as former ballerina Kazuha’s awesome leg lifting choreo.  Just try to get ANTI TI TI TI FRAGILE FRAGILE out of your head!

😮😲🤯

5.2 “Attention” by NewJeans 

It is so refreshing to see a rookie group that actually looks like contemporary teenagers! NewJeans feels like a breath of fresh air.  No dyed hair or matchy outfits, just friendly interactions and natural athleticism.

Honorable Mentions:

Looking back, and going forward

Mei-Mei4 Comments

Hello all! I’m back from my hiatus to wish you all a Happy New Year! You can check out my retrospectives on books and Kpop MVs from 2021, and now it’s time to talk about blogging.

In 2021, my blog got over 10,000 views from more than 7,500 visitors representing 110 countries around the world. I only posted 43 times, which is the least I’ve every posted on this blog in the course of a year. And that’s okay!

My most-viewed post last year was, as always, There is no hot air balloon in Around the World in Eighty Days, which got a lovely bump in December from the Masterpiece TV adaptation starring David Tennant. Spoiler alert: it has a balloon. There are a lot of changes to the source material, frankly, but having seen the first episode I think it will be an interesting story all the same.

My most popular post I wrote last year was Feeding Reading 2021, because who doesn’t love free books, followed by a bunch of Lens-Artists photography challenge posts.

Someone also found my blog by searching for Phat Gus, so I consider that a win.

Phat Gus is still my spirit animal

With regards to blogging this upcoming year, my only goal is that I would like to do some.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

Here are some things you may see here at Jedi by Knight in 2022:

  • More Fan Art Friday, though probably sporadically, where Kiri and I both color the same picture from the Star Wars coloring book, often with very different results
  • Maybe a few more book reviews; look for a post about recent novellas at some point
  • Maybe some Lens-Artist photo challenges?
  • Wordless Wednesday photo posts
  • Probably lots of random short thoughts

My biggest stumbling block to blogging is not just lack of time, but rather lack of focus because my brain is so tired. Any suggestions from other busy people on how to find focus for writing?

Happy 2022 everybody! We can only go up from here, right? …Right?