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Once again I'm setting my reading goal at 52 which of course is one book per week. I don't count short stories, audiobooks or graphic novels in that total.

In the following entries I'm going to share some thoughts on what books I expect to read in various genres this upcoming year so stay tuned! I try to read several books at once (the best cure I have ever found for the dreaded "reading slump"), which usually includes at least one from each of the following categories:
- General Fiction & Classics
- Non-Fiction
- Mystery, Crime, Suspense
- Short Stories
- Horror
- Fantasy
- Science-Fiction
I've also been trying an 8th category which is "Book Club Reads" - let's see if I can keep that going this year.

As always please feel free to comment. Friend requests are always welcome (as long as they are genuine and not someone looking to pimp their latest release).

SCIENCE FICTION IN 2022

Last year's Sci-Fi reading was not very good, continuing a disturbing trend. Am I choosing the wrong books? Is the genre just really this bad? Have I lost interest or (gasp) grown up? Or some combination of the above? I'm not sure what the answer is, but hopefully things pick up this year.

Here are some of the Sci-Fi books I hope to read this year, with of course a focus on continuing or finishing off some of the various series I have started:


The Last Colony by John Scalzi - 3rd in the Old Man's War series. I'm already most of the way through this one and should finish it in early January. Already I like it better than any Sci-Fi I read in 2021 so that's a relief.


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams - every decade or so I feel compelled to revisit the Hitchhikers books to see if they have gotten any funnier than the last time I read them. The answer, unfortunately, is always no.


Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois - yes, Vance and the Dying Earth deserve the honor of this collection, but can someone PLEASE hold Martin down and sit on top of him until he focuses on finishing (ahem) some of his other projects?


The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick - it's been too long without PKD


The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter - the award-winning authorized sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine


Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card - since OSC finally got around to finishing this series, I might as well finish reading it

FANTASY IN 2022

Fantasy reading in 2021 was a little better than Sci-Fi but not much. Will this year be an improvement?

Here is a look at some of the Fantasy books I hope to read in 2022, and - like with the Sci-Fi books - I am focusing on trying to finish or continue some of the series I have already started:


The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft - the third book (out of four) in the Books of Babel series, the finale of which was published recently. One of the more unique fantasy series I have ever read, although sometimes it gets a little slow and indulgent.


Delusion's Master by Tanith Lee - the third and middle book in the impeccably written but often bizarre five-volume Tales of the Flat Earth series


The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin - the third Earthsea book (the conclusion of the original trilogy)


The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis - third in the seven-volume Narnia series


Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey - third (?) in the Dragon Riders of Pern series, although it all depends on which order you're going by...


The Road to Amber by Roger Zelazny - a collection of Amber short stories and other oddities

HORROR IN 2022

My Horror reading has picked up in the last few years, although the line between Horror and Fantasy is not always clear.

The Horror books I hope to read in 2022 include:


Gone South by Robert R. McCammon - I don't love McCammon as much as other readers, but he does tell an entertaining story. I'm about 1/3 through this one and should finish in February.


The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker - I'm fairly excited for this one. Barker fans seem to love it! It was the basis for the Hellraiser movies.
The Tale of the Body Thief

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor - I don't know much about this one, but it has been well reviewed by friends whose opinions I trust, and I found a cheap dead tree copy, so...


The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice - fourth book in Rice's celebrated Vampire series. How much I like this book will have a lot to say about how far I continue with the series.


Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks - like the author's World War Z, this is told in a "oral history" fashion (originally an homage to Studs Terkel's The Good War)


Rage by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman - it's hard to find this story of a school shooting since King has disowned it and it's out of print, but I was lucky enough to come across an older copy of The Bachman Books that contains it

SHORT STORIES IN 2022

I enjoy reading short stories and always try to have a volume or two in my reading stack.

In 2022, the short story collections/anthologies I hope to read include:


The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson - Stevenson's most noted shorter works are all included in this volume, including the title story, The Suicide Club, and The Body Snatcher.


The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories by Arthur Machen - Machen's writing has a surprisingly modern feel to it, and his ideas are creepier than most modern horror fiction. The Great God Pan is considered to be a masterpiece of horror.


Green Tea and Other Weird Stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu - contains the first and foremost lesbian vampire story: "Carmilla"


The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu - modern Sci-Fi stories that don't suck? We'll see... This collection is highly rated on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, but then again that might be a mark against it.


The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe - I might as well finish this one off since I read a good chuck of it last year in the process of reading The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales


The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964 edited by Robert Silverberg - said to contain an excellent selection of classic Sci-Fi stories


The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor - like the Poe volume above, I have read many of these stories already in my reading of A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories and Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories so I might as well finish off the collection

MYSTERY/CRIME/SUSPENSE IN 2022

My favorite genre! Right now I am working my way through about 40-50 series or author's canons so that is the focus of my reading, although I will occasionally use the excuse of a group read to try someone new to me.

The books in this genre I hope to read in the first few months of 2022 include:


The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver


Get Carter by Ted Lewis


Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child


The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald


Reversible Errors by Scott Turow


I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay*


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier*


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins**

* yeah, I know, these two should probably be in the General Fiction category but I put them in this stack so I'd get to them a little faster

** I really don't know how I came to own this, and I wouldn't be surprised if I DNF it

NON-FICTION IN 2022

Although I only read four Non-Fiction books in 2021, they were all pretty good. I might actually read FEWER Non-Fiction books in 2022, because of the size of some of the books I'll be working on.

In 2022 I'm hoping to read these Non-Fiction books:


Asimov's Chronology of the World by Isaac Asimov - a history of the world, starting 15 Billion years ago with the Big Bang, all the way through WWII. It's a massive book that I believe is out of print, but I still have my 33 year old copy and I'm finally getting around to reading it. This should keep me busy through June...


Overboard!: A True Blue-Water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival by Michael J. Tougias


With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge


They Call Me Coach by John Wooden


Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson


Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

GENERAL FICTION/CLASSICS IN 2022

A favorite reading category for me and I have some good ones lined up for the new year:


This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson


The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham


Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr.


Matilda by Roald Dahl*


The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry*


Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho**


On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev


Jazz by Toni Morrison

* I don't read lot of children's books or even YA, but my daughter was purging her bookshelves and I rescued these from the Goodwill box since I hadn't read them.

** yeah, I know, but it's on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, so I figured I better get to it since I'm not getting any younger.

Look at how organized you are! good luck RJ

Blagica wrote: "Look at how organized you are! good luck RJ"

Thank you Blagica!

#1 in 2022:

I finished the third book in the Old Man's War series:


The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series:


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

#2 in 2022:

I finished the basis for the iconic Michael Caine film:


Get Carter by Ted Lewis
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading my first Maugham, a book I have been meaning to read for a long, long time:


The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

#3 in 2022:

I finished the first of the Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs books (much better than the film):


The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the sequel to Relic:


Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

#4 in 2022:

I finished the sequel to Relic:


Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the second Lew Archer book:


The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald

#5 in 2022:

I finished my favorite book of the year so far...


The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Rating: 5 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

#6 in 2022:

I finished reading:


The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

#7 in 2022:

I finished reading the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and found it even less funny than the first one:


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Rating: 2 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading this anthology that is a tribute to Jack Vance and his Tales of the Dying Earth series:


Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

#8 in 2022:

I finished a book I thought was going to be a horror novel only to find out that it was more of a crime novel with mild Southern Gothic elements that seems to have found some influence from Heart of Darkness:


Gone South by Robert R. McCammon
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading a novella that I've had my eye on for a while, one that I'm fairly certain is firmly in the "horror" genre:


The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

#9 in 2022:

I finished


Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading


The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

#10 in 2022

I finished the 2nd book in the Lew Archer series, a must read for detective fiction fans:


The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the classic roman noir:


I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich writing as William Irish

#11 in 2022:

I finished the classic domestic suspense novel


I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich writing as William Irish
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the first Amelia Peabody mystery


Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

#12 in 2022:

I finished the novella that inspired the film Hellraiser


The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading


Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor

#13 in 2022 - 25% of goal reached!

I finished Hemingway's first novel and - as usual - my rating is based on personal enjoyment rather than a measure of literary merit:


The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading Dashiell Hammett's final novel, the basis for a popular film series during the Great Depression:


The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

#14 in 2022:

I finished Dashiell Hammett's final novel:


The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading, for non-Will Smith-related-reasons:


I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

#15 in 2022:

I finished the first Amelia Peabody Victorian-Era Egyptian Archeology mystery:


Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the first Dave Robicheaux novel, starring an alcoholic ex-cop who is obsessed over his dead wife, a character type that I'm not sure has ever been used before...


The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

#16 in 2022:

I finished the non-fiction story of a daring Atlantic sea rescue:


Overboard!: A True Blue-Water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival by Michael J. Tougias
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading a book about the WWII Pacific Theater that was used as the basis for the HBO miniseries "The Pacific"


With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge

#17 in 2022:

I finished the third-part of the four-part steampunk fantasy series The Books of Babel:


The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the third installment in the Tales of the Flat Earth series:


Delusion's Master by Tanith Lee

#18 in 2022:

I finished the (translated from Spanish) ultra-violent


Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the fourth book in the Vampire Chronicles


The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice

#19 in 2022:

I finished the science-fiction classic


I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading my first Tolstoy


The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy

#20 in 2022:

I finished the first book in the Dave Robicheaux series:


The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the sixth installment in the Kindle County series:


Reversible Errors by Scott Turow

#21 in 2022:

I finished Tolstoy's novella which argues for moral purity through abstinence


The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the French psychological thriller, which I understand inspired a movie by some fellow named Hitchcock


Vertigo by Boileau-Narcejac

#22 in 2022:

I finished the basis for Hitchcock's noted film


Vertigo by Boileau-Narcejac
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the Science-Fiction classic


Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown

#23 in 2022:

I finished the excellent "weird" short story collection


The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories by Arthur Machen
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the critically acclaimed science-fiction collection


The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

#24 in 2022:

I finished the pulp-era Science-Fiction tale


Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and in a completely different vein I started reading


A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

#25 in 2022

I finished:


Reversible Errors by Scott Turow
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading two books for various group reads


And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

and


The Snow Was Dirty by Georges Simenon

HALFWAY THROUGH!

#26 in 2022:

I finished the third book in the Tales of the Flat Earth series


Delusion's Master by Tanith Lee
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the third book in what has become one of my all-time favorite Fantasy series


The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

OK, I finished FIVE books since my last post - it's not that I've been reading more, but I just haven't had time to post reviews. So here we go!

#27-31 in 2022:

I finished one of Agatha Christie's most well-known books (I had the odd feeling I had already read this one a long time ago):


And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I also finished an excellent roman dur (noir):


The Snow Was Dirty by Georges Simenon
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I finished a classic Sci-Fi novel from the Pulp Era:


Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

I finished an excellent memoir of WWII in the Pacific:


With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and finally I finished James Joyce's somewhat autobiographical first novel:


A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading these books:


Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver


The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton


They Call Me Coach by John Wooden as told to Jack Tobin

#32-33 in 2022

I finished two more books:


The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...


This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr.

I also started reading a whole bunch of books for various group reads:


City by Clifford D. Simak


Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce


The Collector by John Fowles


Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo

#34-36 in 2022:

I finished three books last week, starting with the third book in one of my favorite fantasy series:


The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I also finished the book that inspired the film classic:


Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
Rating: 2 stars
Review: /review/show...

and the fourth book in the Vampire Chronicles series:


The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the third Narnia book (publication order):


The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

and I also started reading a short story collection by the late great William Gay:


I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay

and I also started reading the latest book by the author of World War Z:


Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

#37-38 in 2022:

I finished two books this week, starting with the Retro-Hugo Award-winning Science-Fiction Classic:


City by Clifford D. Simak
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I also finished the excellent anthology of stories set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth:


Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin and the late Gardner Dozois
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading another Science-Fiction Classic by one of my favorite authors:


The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

#39 in 2022:

I finished the 1972 autobiography of one of the greatest (perhaps THE greatest) college basketball coaches of all time:


They Call Me Coach by John Wooden
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading this massive Pulitzer Prize-winning volume on the Civil War:


Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson

#40 in 2022:

I finished the original novel that inspired one of my all time favorite films:


Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

#41 and 42 in 2022:

I finished two short story collections by the late William Gay:


I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...


Wittgenstein's Lolita and The Iceman by William Gay
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

#43 in 2022:

I finished an influential collection of Gothic horror stories that contains all of the stories from In a Glass Darkly and MORE:


Green Tea and Other Weird Stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading this doorstopper:


The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

#44 in 2022:

I finished this grit-lit punch in the kisser:


Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading this light-hearted crime novel:


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake

#45 and 46 in 2022:

I finished John Fowles's first novel


The Collector by John Fowles
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and a non-fiction book about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks that inspired the book and film JAWS:


Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the Pulitzer-Prize winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

#47 in 2022:

I finished my first by a noted crime author


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

And I started the first in the Rivers of London urban fantasy series


Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

and I also started a noteworthy Australian novel I've wanted to read for a long time


Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

#48 in 2022:

I finished a classic "romantic suspense" novel by the author of Rebecca and The Birds


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

but I admit I'm not completely sure why

#49 and 50 in 2022:

I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel (by my favorite SF author)


The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and the Pulitzer and National Book Award winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the "authorized" sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells


The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

and the first book in the Academy series


The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

also I gave up on the hopelessly inadequate


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

and started reading the third book in the Bosch series


The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

#51 in 2022: one away from my goal! (spoiler alert - I'll hit my goal this weekend)

I finished the third book in A.B. Guthrie's Dick Summers series about the American West:


Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading:


Matilda by Roald Dahl

which is not my usual fare, I know. I don't usually do well with reading children's books as an adult but my daughter cleaned out her shelves recently and I decided to read this one before it is given away.