Reading Challenges: What I Still Need to Read in 2022

Today I’m doing a look at my 2022 reading challenges, while there are still about four months in the year, so I can get readers’ suggestions about what books I should read. I try not to put a lot of stress into reading challenges (life is stressful enough) but challenges often push me to read different types of books rather than reaching for the most popular books or whatever comes off my hold list at the library. I’m feeling fine about what I’ve completed so far on my challenges, but suggestions are always welcome!

For the Nonfiction Reading Challenge, hosted by Book’d Out, I’ve read 8 of 12 books.

• Social history: Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo
• Climate/Weather: The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
• Celebrity: The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
• Reference: Laundry Love by Patric Richardson
• Geography: Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish
• Linked to a podcast: Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel
• Wild animals: The Puma Years by Laura Coleman
• Published in 2022: Mala’s Cat by Mala Kacenberg

I still need to read books in these categories: popular science, language, medical memoir, and economics. Any suggestions?

For the TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Roof Beam Reader, I’ve read 9 of 12 books.  Here’s what I’ve read:

• Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
• Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
• 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
• Quiet by Susan Cain (2012)
• The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan
• The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

My remaining books on this list are See What You Made Me Do, The River, The Yield, and The Secret Lives of Color.

For the Gaia Nature Reading Challenge, I’ve read 7 of 10 books, including Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope and Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist. I’m maybe stretching the definition of nature reading in a few of them. I included Laundry Love because there’s a lot in that book about using environmentally friendly detergents and washing your clothes less. I included Island of Sea Women because of the focus on diving, and I included Cannery Row and Haven because the writing in these novels about animals and nature is beautiful. 

Still on my TBR list for this challenge is Will McCallum’s How To Give Up Plastic, which I’m currently reading, and Elizabeth Kolbert’s Under a White Sky.  Any other suggestions for nature/environmental reads? 

For the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, I’ve already read 15 historical novels. This is probably the genre I read most often, so that challenge was easy.

I’m also still looking for new countries to read about for the Reading Around the World Challenge.  This year I’ve added Bolivia, Ecuador, South Korea, and Sweden.  But my reading often takes me back to countries I’ve read about already, like Japan and India and China (which makes sense of course, since they are such large countries).  I’ve also read books this year set in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Ghana, but I already had those countries on my list. 

I’ll post soon with a wrap-up of my 20 Books of Summer Challenge (I should finish at least 15 by September 1).

How are you doing on your reading challenges this year?