The end of the year is upon us and you know what that means – End of the Year Bookish Traditions! Be it talking about the favorite books of the year, or least favorites, or DNFs, the end of year content is always fun to read and watch. One such tradition is the End of the Year book tag, which I’ve tried to do every year I’ve been active over at BookTube. I think I brought it here in 2020 and did it last year as well, so guess who is keeping up that tradition? Me, me, me!
The End of the Year Book Tag has 6 questions, all pretty simple ones, that ask you about what your reading progress is towards the end of the year, as simple as that. So without wasting any more time, let’s dive right in and get on with this tag!
I’ve also made a video for this tag on my channel which went up today. Here’s where you can watch it: The End of the Year Book Tag 2022 on YouTube.
1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
Manto’s 25 Short Stories in Hindi… I had half a mind to DNF it, because I’m already learning a new language and this one has too many Urdu words. I want to find out what they are but my fish memory won’t allow my concentration to be split into two different languages and this conflict is sort of splitting my brain anyway. 😂
But then again, I’m unable to DNF the book, especially because it’s Manto. I asked on Instagram if I should DNF it and come back to it when I’m in the right space of mind or if I should just ignore the big words and focus on the context, and people advised me to do the latter. After all this time, I’m now leaning towards the latter, too, but I don’t know what I’m going to do. Wow, I didn’t intend for that to come out in such a hopeless, grim, somber fashion. 😂
2. Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
Nope. I don’t do that, because there’s no autumn in India. Moreover, I don’t do the transition thing, except maybe try very hard NOT to be in the middle of a book at the end of a month. But I fail spectacularly most times, although this is one month I’ve succeeded. I’ve had to employ all my strength to hold myself back but yay!
(I have this exact same answer every year. :P)
3. Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?
These Are the Words by Nikita Gill.
Honest to God, I’m so pissed about this. It released in August in India and here, it’s now releasing in mid-December. They said November 24, then it went to November 29, and now, it shows December 13. Any other author, I would have patiently waited, but it’s Nikita Gill, FFS! I NEED THE BOOK! 😦
4. What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
Listen… This is a HUGE question because the list of books I want to read is long. It’s in times like these that I wish I could just inhale books and remember them till the end of time, but that’s not possible. So I’m going to choose three books like the question asked me to in the first place.
- Babel by RF Kuang: RF Kuang’s 2022 release is one of the few books I’ve bought here in Australia and I cannot wait to get started on it. I mean, I don’t know if I will be able to finish it because it’s rather academic-sounding. But let’s see. It’s RF Kuang!
- These Are the Words by Nikita Gill: I don’t have to tell you why this book is on this list. But then again, the release date for this book keeps getting postponed, so I’ll probably not know if I will end up reading it this year or not until I have it in my hands.
- The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri: Lahiri crept onto my favorites list quietly but impactfully and she’s here to stay. So when I was deciding which books I wanted to bring to Australia with me, two of her books stared back at me. One was Translating Myself and Others – a 2022 favorite. And the second was this, The Lowland – a book I’ve predicted will be a 5-star read for me. Fingers crossed that that happens in 2022 itself!
5. Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?
Of course! It’s another RF Kuang, but this time, it is The Burning God, the last in the Poppy War trilogy. I feel that if RF Kuang managed to stun me the way she did in The Poppy War, this is going to be way more intense than ever. And if you know me, you’ll know that I’m a sucker for such stories. I love a book that will give me a good punch to the gut and that will make me shed tears. It’s a thing, really.
But as my memory sputters, I remember now that The Poppy War trilogy was my answer last year too. Hehehehehe.
6. Have you already started making reading plans for 2022?
My only reading plan for 2023 is to take it easy and read whatever I want to read at whatever point in time. I’ll be mood reading, basically. Of course, review copies are not included in this because they have deadlines and all that jazz. But I’m going to try and enjoy my reading without panicking about the fact that I have 10,000 books on my TBR. It’s FIIIINE.
But I’m going to be VERY careful stepping into 2023 because I don’t want it to do to me what 2022 did. I don’t want to go on that path again.
So that was my ‘The End of the Year’ Book Tag. What are your answers to these questions? What are your end of the year plans? How is your reading coming along? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you! 😊
If you’d like this post in video format instead, here’s a video I made for on my channel which went up today: The End of the Year Book Tag 2022 on YouTube.
I’ll see you in the next blog post.
Until next time, keep reading and add melodrama to your life! 😊
The Melodramatic Bookworm 