My most popular post in 2022, for the second year running, was the supplementary post I wrote on clothing following my review of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Which is strange, because it was very much an incidental almost throwaway post on a subject that had caught my eye rather than something I have any particular interest or expertise in. Other popular posts include the comparison between Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility and my review of H G Wells’ The Invisible Man, the most popular post in 2020. The clothing post is not particularly long, has only a few illustrations, and a handful of comments. So why so popular? My best guess is that entirely by coincidence this is a topic sometimes set for examination or essay questions, and as such it provides a useful if accidental resource for students. If that’s right then you are more than welcome, random stranger.
Given that I went into a serious reading slump at the end of the year, my overall output of nearly 50 novels read isn’t that bad at all considering, especially as one of these was Vikram Seth’s very long (over 1000 pages) A Suitable Boy. My annual Dickens was Great Expectations, which was an important novel to tick off the list, although I am a little daunted at just how far I have to go to finish his novels. I also reviewed Persuasion, the last of Austen’s major novels (I have no plans to read her minor works such as Sanditon, although happy to hear the case for the defence if you think they are worth reading). I also read a few non-fiction works, of which my favourite was probably Michael Slater’s biography of Dickens. Looking at my reading plans for 2022 which I set out in a post at the beginning of the year, I read all but one of the novels on my list. Overall not a bad year’s work – although I am brought back to earth by the realisation that I have only read (and not yet reviewed) one of the Guardian’s best fiction novels of 2022.
In 2023 I have immediate plans to read the wonderful and diverse range of books I received as presents, three of which I have already completed and am working on their reviews. These will keep me busy for some time but later in the year the challenge will be to retain my reading mojo – it is easy once something knocks you out of the pattern of reading to just doom scroll and/or watch box sets rather than using the time wisely. I haven’t chosen this year’s Dickens, but I am tempted by Our Mutual Friend, of which I have only the dimmest recollection from a read more than 40 years ago.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to read more wisely in 2023.
The Reading Bug 