The Reading Challenge 2022
Last Christmas my daughter encouraged me to download and start to use the Good Reads app on my phone. In recent years I had started to lose track of the different books that I had read (and what I had not read) so I had been using a wee app to keep a log of things. However, she tried to get me to join her on GoodReads so that I might manage my reading a bit more. I decided to sign up and thought I would try and set myself an ambitious target for my yearly reading challenge of 20 books for the year but quickly found that I was reading through things a lot quicker than I thought I might.
Being challenged to read a set amount is a really good way to encourage reading. The rules of my challenge were that I had to read every page in the book for this to count (I could have easily added in a lot of other books that I have dipped into and out of through the year for research and school). So far, I have completed 35 (now 38!) books which is a fantastic feat and I am hoping to get at least one more book completed before the end of the year. One of the reasons why I wanted to take on this challenge is that I love reading, and love spending time reading but I have felt that over the last few years I have not read as much as I maybe should have. It is far to easy to flick on Netflix rather than pull out a book (or in many cases – pull up the Kindle app).
For many years I have told young pupils that reading is the key to developing your knowledge and getting smarter . . . and it really is! I have a very wide taste in reading – from Geography to History to education to Icelandic noir crime novels to war history and fiction. I like to read different types of books – usually if I have read a novel one week – I like to move to a more fact-based book next. This tends to keep things interesting and my interest up. But, finding the time to read when you have a pretty busy work and family life can be difficult. To help with this, I have found that I read a lot more than usual through the Kindle app on my phone and ipad. This means that the book is always available when I am sitting waiting in the car or find an unexpected couple of minutes sometime that the book is already ready to go! The fact is that I usually much prefer having a physical copy of the book in my hand but sometimes you just need to be able to grab a few moments of reading when you can get them.
Next year I am aiming to increase my target but I am worried that I just won’t have the same amount of time to be able to get through as much as this year . . . . but it is always good to dream . . . and read.
If you have any good recommendations – let me know!
Books completed in 2022
| Exclusion zone by John Nicholl | Island Reich by Jack Grimwood | The Odin Mission by James Holland | Surrender: 40 songs One Story by Bono |
| Outbreak by Frank Gardner | Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action by Oliver Lovell | How to Teach anything by Peter Hollins | Fear no evil by James Patterson |
| Triple Cross by Tom Bradby | The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer | Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters | Deadly Cross by James Patterson |
| Major & Mrs Holt’s Definitive Guide to the DDay Normandy Landing Beaches by Tonie Holt | Lonely Planet Normandy & DDay Beaches Road trips by Lonely Planet | Death in Dalvik by Michael Ridpath | Hidden Belfast by Raymond O’Regan |
| DK Eyewitness The Netherlands | Black Sun by Owen Matthews | Tom Clancy Zero Hour by Don Bentley | Why we sleep by Matthew Walker |
| Silence of the grave by Arnaldu Indridason | Secret Belfast by Lorenzo Bacino | The Listening Party by Tim Burgess | The 6 needs of every child by Amy Elizabeth Olrick |
| Ghost Force by Patrick Robinson | Poweful Teaching by Pooja K Agarwal | The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall | Retrieval Practice: Research & Resources for every classroom by Kate Jones |
| Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli | Conclave by Robert Harris | World War I Battlefields by John Ruler | Shorelines: The Coastal Atlas of Ireland by Robert Devoy |
| Around the World in 80 days by Jules Verne | Space 2069: After Apollo by David Woodhouse | Tom Clancy Chain of Command by Marc Cameron |
My Top 5 books of the year . . . .
5: Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters
4: Silence of the grave by Arnaldu Indridason
3: Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
2: Why we sleep by Matthew Walker
1: Surrender: 40 songs One Story by Bono
Update: 30/12/2022 – 3 more books added to the list over the Christmas break – bringing the end of year total to 38!
- Tom Clancy – Red Winter by Marc Cameron (Great book)
- Ireland’s forgotten past by Turtle Bunbury
- The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford (really enjoyed this – I have a fascination with islands and how people used to live on islands and this book really delved into this)
