2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

Use this topic to talk about books generally. What have you been reading outside of the challenge? What do you recommend? Need any recs? Seen any articles or lists online about books that you want to share?

So, everyone, what would you say your favourite reads of 2018 were overall?

Mine, in no particular order:

- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (fantasy)
- This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay (memoir)
- Bath Tangle and Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer (historical romance)
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (fiction)
- The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature by Viv Groskop (non-fiction)
- Blackout / All Clear by Connie Willis (historical fiction / sci-fi)

I'm excited to see The Anna Karenina Fix on here because I just got it from the library.

My favorite reads this year were:
-My Family and Other Animals
-How to Remove a Brain
-Worn in New York
-Killers of the Flower Moon
-My Best Friend's Exorcism

Least favorites were My Year of Rest and Relaxation and The Immortalists

These are my faves that I read for the reading challenges:

Animal Farm by George Orwell (November)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (August)
The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Strutskie (May)

Other faves:
Passing Strange by Ellen Klages (f/f, magical realism)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and its sequel A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (cozy sci-fi)
FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven (horror)
Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (f/f, historical fiction)

Wow, this is great, MJ! Thanks!

And this reminds me, Juliana started a romance reading challenge, if anyone is up for it: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
It's going to be fun!

Thanks to this, I realized I read Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents this year; for some reason I was convinced it was 2017! I also really liked All Systems Red and, outside of the reading challenge, The Expanse series and Post Captain.

I also did a lot of rereading (Courtney Milan and Megan Whelan Turner especially), and I just finished the first Inspector Gamache book, Still Life. While it's not the greatest book I've read this year and I guessed the murderer before the murder, a Quebec murder mystery suited my mood perfectly and I'll definitely make my way through the rest of the series.

I finished up the spreadsheet I mentioned for tracking reading on ONTD. I've triple checked everything but there's still a chance there might be a mistake on there, so let me know if you see anything or if you have any questions on how to use it! The notes page should explain most of it.

Here it is!

Katie! This is amazing. I can't wait to start using it.

Thanks so much for making this!

Mjspice wrote: "Katie wrote: "I finished up the spreadsheet I mentioned for tracking reading on ONTD. I've triple checked everything but there's still a chance there might be a mistake on there, so let me know if ..."

lanie wrote: "Katie! This is amazing. I can't wait to start using it.

Thanks so much for making this!"

Thanks for checking it out! I hope it helps you if you choose to use it!!

Katie wrote: "I finished up the spreadsheet I mentioned for tracking reading on ONTD. I've triple checked everything but there's still a chance there might be a mistake on there, so let me know if you see anythi..."

i love you for this! i'm definitely going to use it.

Mjspice wrote: "Found this Masterlist of 2019 challenges. Thought I'd share:

http://www.girlxoxo.com/the-master-li..."

thank you MJ!!!

oh man it's so hard to pick my favorites from this year. i looked through my list and i had a lot of 5 star reads. i kinda picked these 10 randomly.

I finished this a couple of days ago, and man, I have a burning need to rec it to everyone and their aunt!

How would you survive the apocalypse?

Defying Doomsday is an anthology of apocalypse fiction featuring disabled and chronically ill protagonists, proving it’s not always the “fittest” who survive – it’s the most tenacious, stubborn, enduring and innovative characters who have the best chance of adapting when everything is lost.

In stories of fear, hope and survival, this anthology gives new perspectives on the end of the world, from authors Corinne Duyvis, Janet Edwards, Seanan McGuire, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Stephanie Gunn, Elinor Caiman Sands, Rivqa Rafael, Bogi Takács, John Chu, Maree Kimberley, Octavia Cade, Lauren E Mitchell, Thoraiya Dyer, Samantha Rich, and K L Evangelista.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism--From al Qa'ida to ISIS

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Is Libby really that great? Overdrive keeps telling me to try it, but the fact that I couldn't import my wishlist made hesitant. But maybe you can do that now, I haven't checked in a while.

Sasha wrote: "Is Libby really that great? Overdrive keeps telling me to try it, but the fact that I couldn't import my wishlist made hesitant. But maybe you can do that now, I haven't checked in a while."

I used to have Libby but I never got around to borrowing a book through it before it randomly stopped working on my phone. I have Overdrive now and it works fine.

Tejal wrote: "Sasha wrote: "Is Libby really that great? Overdrive keeps telling me to try it, but the fact that I couldn't import my wishlist made hesitant. But maybe you can do that now, I haven't checked in a ..."

Yea, I just use Overdrive, but it keeps annoying me with constantly suggesting Libby.

I've been on a Miss Marple kick recently. I can't remember what post it was but someone suggested A Cast of Killers so I'm reading that atm. I'm not that big into old Hollywood, but I do enjoy reading the books about the scandals. I've read Hollywood Babylon.

I want to get better at writing reviews for books. Do you write reviews for books you read? How do you all do it? Do you have your own metric or is it just free flowing?

Sasha, I don't worry too much about the reviews I write on Goodreads. Just give my impressions. Often I have much more to write about when it's a book I've disliked. Of course, if I was writing reviews for a blog or something slightly more professional, I'd have to come up with a template or something.

I'm curious because I think I'd like to try doing something like NetGalley, but I feel like I'd have to write better reviews than I'm currently writing, lol.

Katie wrote: "I finished up the spreadsheet I mentioned for tracking reading on ONTD. I've triple checked everything but there's still a chance there might be a mistake on there, so let me know if you see anythi..."

Hey everyone! I haven't been active since I became full time at work BUT I'm working on my reading tracker spreadsheet for 2020 and wanted to know if anyone used the one I shared here this year? If you did, was wondering if you had any thoughts on how it could work better for you next year. For example, I didn't include audio book length because I don't listen to them, but if you do is that something you track? I'll try to ask in the next ONTD book post I catch as well.

I see a few people posting ideas for next years books - is there a place where i can read what the tasks are, besides the names (like Surprised Pikachu face)

Hi Alyssa! There was a post on ONTD: https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com...

And here's the masterpost here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I didn’t know of a spreadsheet, but I catalog / document all kinds of things so I might use it. What was it for (can you point me to a thread where it’s discussed)?

Aesha wrote: "I didn’t know of a spreadsheet, but I catalog / document all kinds of things so I might use it. What was it for (can you point me to a thread where it’s discussed)?"

The one here from Katie's earlier comment