I wanted a central place to reflect upon my 2022 reading habits. Therefore, I’ve constructed this page to include the reading challenges that I’m using to guide my reading this year as well as a tool to hold me accountable in my efforts to diversify my bookshelf.
❌ Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
<strong>The Book Darlings Book Club</strong> ✅
✔️ Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ✅
✔️ Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ✅
✔️ City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
✔️ Winter by Melissa Meyer
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Oldest on Up Next Shelf ✅
✔️ The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> Witches or Magic ✅
✔️ Mating Monsters M. Sinclair
<strong>Prompt 3:</strong> 800+ page book ✅
✔️ Winter by Melissa Meyer
February
<strong>Buzzword:</strong> Pronoun ✅
✔️ For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ✅
✔️ Silencing the Past by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ✅
✔️ Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
✔️ Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Object in the Title ✅
✔️ My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> Graphic Novel ✅
✔️ Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
<strong>Prompt 3:</strong> Queer Re-telling ✅
✔️ Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
March
Title
✔️ Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ❌
N/A
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ✅
✔️ Assembly by Erica Woods
✔️ Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Based on a true story ✅
✔️ She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> ebook
✔️ Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
April
<strong>Buzzword:</strong> Big/Little in Title ✅
✔️ Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ❌
N/A
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ✅
✔️ Wildflower by Willow Hadley
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Afrofuturism ✅
✔️ Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> Lit fic Backlist ✅
✔️ Writers & Lovers by Lily King
<strong>Prompt 3:</strong> Sci-Fi ✅
✔️ The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
May
<strong>Buzzword:</strong> Direction ✅
✔️ Operation: Wife Her Up by Chloe Maine
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ✅
✔️ I’m Still Here by Channing Austin Brown
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ❌
N/A
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Parallel Worlds ✅
✔️ A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> Non-human MC ✅
✔️ Feather by Olivia Wildenstein
<strong>Prompt 3:</strong> Complete a series ✅
✔️ Prophecy Fulfilled by Tamar Sloan
June
<strong>Buzzword:</strong> Location ✅
✔️ All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Nonfiction ❌
N/A
<strong>Monthly Goal:</strong> Two 500+ page books ✅
✔️ Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie
✔️ Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by isthisselfcare (fanfic)
<strong>Prompt 1:</strong> Sapphic witches ✅
✔️ The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska
<strong>Prompt 2:</strong> Mythology ✅
✔️ Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian
<strong>Prompt 3:</strong> Trans MC ✅
✔️ Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Up Next Shelf Progress
My Up Next Shelf is the shelf I’ve created that holds all the books I’ve purchased that I’ve yet to read. Most books have been sitting on this shelf for years, so my priority in 2022 is to #BeatTheBacklist.
You can keep updated on my progress in 2022 through my Blog page that is dedicated to tracking all the books I’ve read from my Up Next Shelf (and all the books still on the list).
I’ve adapted this reading challenge from the Book Girls’ Guide. While the sections are the same, I’m not dividing them into specific months. Also, I want to make an effort to read books where the author is also from that continent. Bonus if the novel is also set there.
Key: 📜 from my Up Next Shelf | 💖 from Want to Read
<strong>Multiple Continents</strong>
Options:
• Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu 📜
<strong>North America</strong>
Options:
• This Is My America by Kim Johnson 💖
<strong>South America</strong>
Options:
• Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden) 💖
<strong>Arctic & Antarctic</strong>
Options:
• Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq 📜
<strong>Africa</strong>
Options:
• The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi 📜
<strong>Island</strong>
Options:
• Sweethand by N.G. Peltier 💖
<strong>Europe – West</strong>
Options:
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman 📜
<strong>Europe – East</strong>
Options:
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) 💖
<strong>Middle East</strong>
Options:
• Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa 💖
<strong>Asia – North</strong>
Options:
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 📜
<strong>Asia – South</strong>
Options:
• The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi 📜
<strong>Australia & New Zealand</strong>
Options:
• The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts 💖
Diversify
2021 emphasized the lack of novels written by Black, Indigenous or authors of colours. However, the worse statistic was how many books had no representation (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, people with disabilities, and more) whatsoever (including side characters). In 2022 I want to be mindful of the books I read, broadening the representation in books and how representation and diversity are framed.
I’m using the Reading Women Challenge as a blueprint that I might tweak as the year progresses. I’m using their 2021 challenge as they haven’t created one for 2022.
Key: 📜 from my Up Next Shelf | 💖 from Want to Read
<strong>Long-listed for the JCB Prize (celebrates Indian writing)</strong>
Options:
• Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup 📜
<strong>By a Neurodivergent Author</strong>
Options:
• The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
• Kindred by Octavia Butler 📜
<strong>About a Woman in Politics</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Author from Eastern Europe</strong>
Options:
• Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (Translated by Jennifer Croft)
<strong>Crime Novel or Thriller in Translation</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Rural Setting</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>About Incarceration</strong>
Options:
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander 📜
<strong>About the Natural World</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Cover Designed by a Woman</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Cookbook by a Woman of Colour</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Young Adult Novel by a Latinx Author</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Arab Author in Translation</strong>
Options:
• The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq by Dunya Mikhail (Translated by Max Weiss)
<strong>Protagonist Older than 50</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Poetry Collection by a Black Woman</strong>
Options:
• Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman
<strong>By a Trans Author</strong>
Options:
• Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein 📜
<strong>South American Author in Translation</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Biracial Protagonist</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Fantasy Novel by an Asian Author </strong>
• TBD
<strong>Re-read a Favourite</strong> ✅
✔️ Save Me by Ashley N. Rostek
<strong>Muslim Middle Grade Novel</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Nonfiction Focused on Social Justice</strong>
Options:
• Black Resistance/White Law by Mary Frances Berry 📜
<strong>Memoir by an Indigenous Woman</strong>
Options:
• Halfbreed by Maria Campbell 📜
<strong>A Queer Love Story</strong>
Options:
• You Should See Me in A Crown by Leah Johnson 📜
<strong>Short Story Collection by a Caribbean Author</strong>
I’m taking part in the Diversify Yo’ Bookshelf challenge again in 2022. I’ve listed each of the sections below, including the corresponding books I’ve read so far.
Key: 📜 from my Up Next Shelf | 💖 from Want to Read
CompletionAlmost there
<strong>Mental Health in SFF</strong> ✅
✔️ Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian 📜
<strong>Trans Black MC</strong>
Options:
• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender 📜
<strong>Queer Dark Academia</strong>
Options:
• The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake 📜
<strong>d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing MC</strong> ✅
✔️ When She’s Lonely by Ruby Dixon (Own-Voice)
<strong>Asian Novel in Translation</strong>
Options:
• Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata 📜
<strong>Queer Space Opera</strong>
Options:
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 📜
<strong>MC with Chronic Illness</strong>
Options:
• Always Only You by Chloe Liese 💖
<strong>Queer Re-telling</strong> ✅
✔️ Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron 📜
<strong>Bisexual BIPOC MC</strong> ✅
✔️ The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 📜
<strong>Feautres Cultural Food</strong>
Options:
• Arsenic and Adobe Mia P. Manansala 💖
• Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson 💖
<strong>Sapphic Nonbinary MC</strong> ✅
✔️ She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan 📜
<strong>Anthology by BIPOC Authors</strong>
Options:
• Four Hundred Souls by Ibram X. Kendi et al.
<strong>Indigenous MC</strong> ✅
Options:
✔️ Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley 📜
<strong>Sapphic Witch(es)</strong> ✅
✔️ Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska
<strong>Pacific Islander MC</strong>
Options:
• Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn 💖
<strong>Queer Muslim MC</strong>
Options:
• The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar 💖
<strong>Set in Africa</strong> ✅
✔️ My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan 📜Braithwaite
<strong>Aro MC</strong>
Options:
• The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl 💖
<strong>Queer Jewish MC</strong> ✅
✔️ Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
<strong>Hijabi MC in SFF</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Afro-Latinx MC</strong>
Options:
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 💖
<strong>by an #ActuallyAutistic Author</strong>
Options:
• With You Forever by Chloe Liese 💖
<strong>Fat MC</strong>
Options:
• If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy 💖
<strong>Refugee MC</strong>
Options:
• Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai 📜
<strong>by BIPOC Indie Author</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>Ace MC</strong>
Options:
• Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel 📜
<strong>Non-fiction about activism</strong>
Options:
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 📜
<strong>Polyamorous MC ✅ </strong>
✔️ Save Me by Ashley N. Rostek
<strong>Inspired by East Asian Folklore / Mythology / Fairy Tale ✅ </strong>
✔️ Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
<strong>Features HIV/AIDS</strong>
Options:
• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne 💖
• Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett 💖
<strong>Two Spirited MC</strong>
Options:
• TBD
<strong>My Fave Trope + BIPOC MC</strong>
Options:
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 💖
<strong>Middle East Inspired Fantasy</strong>
Options:
• Mirage by Somaiya Daud 💖
<strong>MC with Anxiety</strong>
Options:
• Untouchable by Talia Hibbert 💖
<strong>Biracial MC</strong> ✅
✔️ The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau
<strong>Queer Latinx MC</strong> ✅
✔️ Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas 📜
#NonfictionNovember
I want to read more nonfiction books than last year and really use #NonfictionNovember to get through the last of the nonfiction books on my Up Next Shelf before 2022. I’m hoping to read at minimum 22 nonfiction books in 2022.
Diversity and Identity Representation Stats
I’ve decided to streamline my diversity and identity representation statistics to make them more understandable. I’ve also included a section that challenges the beauty expectation of thinness by listing a “fat” representation category. I use the word fat instead of ‘bigger’ and ‘not thin’ because I want to engage with discourse on why thin as a descriptor is not taken as a negative (unless in certain contexts) but fat, no matter the context, is always interpretative as offensive. Reading There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon has made me much more aware of the inherent fatphobia in our society.
