Tag: favorites

Books 2022

My reading goal for 2022 was 34 books and I made it! Below are 35 books; my Goodreads also has a CEU book I read for my license renewal in October, but it was not a fun book to read so I didn’t include it here.

We read 8 books for book club and I picked some great summer reads for summer. I loved The Lincoln Highway and think it’s my favorite of the year, but the books by Emily Henry were really pleasantly surprising and right up there – fun with substance! And the Lager Queen of Minnesota was also a really great read.

So enjoy my brief summaries of the books I read in 2022! What is your favorite book for the year?

The year started out strong with this book. I really enjoyed reading about Will Smith and went down several Will Smith rabbit holes, watching certain episodes of the Fresh Prince (which I never really watched the first time it ran) and watching many movies he starred in. “Ali,” iRobot,” “Independence Day,” and eventually “King Richard,” which he won an Oscar for. But uff, that Oscar ceremony slap. How disappointing…
Our first book club book for 2022! And what an interesting book it was! I haven’t read a lot about leprosy or prohibition before and this was really an engaging book.
Another winner by Lian Dolan. I was able to read an advanced copy right after we returned from France and then we read this for book club this year. It wasn’t a favorite of the group but I enjoyed it.
I found this at B&N – a signed copy! It was a good book and it was fun to go down a Sutton Foster rabbit hole on her Instagram, looking for her craft projects! And then to see her on Broadway in February of this year! Good stuff.
I listened to this one, because… Matthew McConaughey. Alright, alright, alright! Greenlight! It would be fun to read with my eyes, because he made a lot of bullet points, but it was very fun to have him in my ears!
Another book club pick for 2022! The personal librarian for JP Morgan prompted a visit to the Morgan Library in NYC when I visited there in February – right before book club! It was fun to see the collections and visit the places we read about, and then share what I saw through photos.
I really liked this book! Probably one of my favorites of 2022!
And then this one – not memorable!
The next book club pick for 2022 – and truly the favorite of 2022 for me. I was feeling so much angst for the characters – angry on their behalf. Just so good.
And a cookbook. Did I read it really? but it’s on my list, so…
One that I had on my Kindle for a while… Just meh.
Another signed copy in my possession! Adriana’s books don’t disappoint. Very character driven. Love it.
Because I’ve enjoyed Amor Towles books, I had to check this one off my list. I listened to it on audio. Fascinating time period, the 20s in NYC and beyond.
Another unmemorable book, unfortunately. On my Kindle.
I really liked this book, which was about a time period that again I don’t know much about – the great Depression, the Dust Bowl…
Another reliable Weiner book! Fun to read. Not my favorite but not bad!
A cute fun summer read.
This was a little traumatic… About COVID and isolation and the early days and ICU psychosis… uff.
What a fun fun fun read.
Ah, dogs. They get into our hearts, don’t they? A nice tribute to a good dog.
And another great book! Fun and not too fluffy!
For book club – the silly Shopaholic!
My goal in 2022 was to read a Louise Penny book so I started at the beginning! What a pleasurable world she seems to have created…
And then a surreal world. It was a fascinating read and not too horrific, but just horrific enough.
And by the same author – another easy to read, surreal world.
Book in a bag for book club! A good story about a plane crash. Very tragic, but not too traumatic.
We had a road trip in October to Kentucky, so we chose a book set in that state. We weren’t in the Appalachians but it was fascinating to read about the difference books make, the blue people, and rural rural rural America.
Another book club book – and a good one! Smart women, sexism, and love.
A quick read, but not a light subject.
For book club – a favorite read year after year!
I wanted this to be better, but it wasn’t bad at all. I just thought the opportunity to go back in time and talk to your parents with your adult mind was fascinating, but it took me forever to read…
A Christmas book with characters I didn’t know… I should look for the first book in the series. But it was good.
Started this in book form and finished on audio. She fascinates, Emily Nagoski. The stress cycle, her way of teaching…
I listened to this one on recommendation from a blog, but it was booooring. I did finish it. I don’t know who this person is.
I powered through this at the end of the year, too. I think I started it in January 2022 but finished on 12/31/22. Good food for thought for the end of the year…

Movie blurbs from 2018

I like to chronicle the movies I’ve seen and the books I’ve read in a year. Books have their own page on the blog (see menu above) so here is my list of movies and small screen viewing from 2018! It kind of makes me look like I watch a lot of TV – something to reflect upon for 2019…

How about you… what movies have stayed with you from 2018?

Movies I saw in the theatre:

  • The Shape of Water – interesting and beautiful movie, but sometimes I covered my eyes!
  • Game Night – soooooooooo funny! Great adult comedy!
  • Ready Player One – I read the book and thought the movie was good fun!
  • Faces / Places – foreign film festival movie about a French mural artist and an uncommon friendship (documentary)
  • Deadpool 2 – I closed my eyes through this movie… really not my jam
  • Book Club – very fun! saw with my book club!
  • Oceans 8 – a fun heist movie filled with women!
  • Bandstand: The Musical – SOOOOOOO good. Highly recommend!
  • Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – also so good… very poignant and touching and heartbreaking that we are still struggling with the same things he was trying to teach us 50 years ago…
  • Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again – what fun!
  • The Incredibles 2 – good fun to revisit this super family
  • Christopher Robin – I love Pooh and Christopher Robin, so this was nostalgic but who was it made for?
  • Crazy Rich Asians – very fun! What a beautifully shot movie!
  • Farmer of the Year – widowed MN farmer road-trip movie – not very uplifting
  • A Star is Born – my birthday bash ended with this movie – and with all the tears! oh my… very good!
  • Bohemian Rhapsody – fun! I love Queen but know very little about them!
  • Second Act – I wanted this to be better… it was just ok.
  • Mary Poppins Returns – good fun and nostalgia!

Favorites: Game Night, Book Club, Bandstand: The Musical, Crazy Rich Asians, A Star is Born

Netflix movies – new to me and re-watches:

  • Expedition Happiness
  • Sleeping with Other People
  • The Endless Summer
  • Kodachrome
  • History of the Eagles (documentary)
  • Ibiza: Love Drunk
  • Coco
  • Like Father
  • To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
  • Set it Up
  • Wild Oats
  • The Princess Switch
  • The Christmas Chronicles
  • Love, Actually
  • The Holiday Calendar
  • Christmas Wedding Planner
  • Angela’s Christmas
  • A Christmas Prince
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas
  • Dumplin’
  • Meet the Parents
  • Meet the Fockers
  • A Merry Friggin’ Christmas (Amazon)

Netflix Series / Amazon series and Comedy specials:

  • The Crown
  • The Great British Baking Show
  • Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
  • My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
  • Grace and Frankie
  • Queer Eye
  • Steve Martin & Martin Short
  • Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
  • GLOW
  • Demetri Martin: Overthinker
  • The Good Cop
  • Making a Murderer 2
  • Salt Fat Acid Heat
  • Patriot Act with Hasan Minaj
  • John Mulaney – New In Town
  • Shameless
  • The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
  • Mozart in the Jungle

40 Things (7)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Image via Wikipedia

Following along with Boof’s 40 Day Challenge leading up to her 40th birthday, her next question is:

7) A favourite YA book

I had to go to goodreads to find a list of “best YA books” to see if I had read any – and of course I have read quite a few!  The Harry Potter series would rank up there as favorites, but also “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and Louise Rennison’s books about Georgia (“Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging” et al).  When I was a YA, I read and re-read “A Wrinkle in Time” and as a grown adult with a YA of my own, I tried to read it and found it slightly disturbing.  So interesting how your brain changes…

#7 on my list of things to do before 40 was to “experiment with recipes.”  Wow.  How vague is that?  Since my daughter went to college in ’06 and the flood of ’07, I have cooked less and less.  When I do I like to try something new.  I set it as a goal in 2011 to cook weekly and have mostly failed at that as well.

What I am learning from reviewing my list of 40 things is that I need to be better at setting measurable and specific goals!  Although, it still was fun to create a list of the way I wanted things to be.

Off to read!