Lost in a Good Book

A few days ago as I went to write my book bingo wrap up I realised, despite announcing it to the world in January, I never actually ended up making it. Which is a shame because it is one of my favourite challenges, not only to do but to create. Who knows what happened to distract me. But now we are here, and I made one quickly a few days ago to keep my goals alive.

In an effort not to sway my results I pulled random ones from the past bingos I have made, as well as a few online ones. I picked things I knew I hadn’t selected before and some classics because there’s so much variety in a simple bingo prompt sometimes you always get something delightful.

Then the joy came from going through the 75 or so books I had read this year and seeing if any matched. I rarely keep up with bingo anymore through the year, I make it and see come December if I made a bingo. I like this approach because I do often hit my targets, but occasionally when I pick an out there prompt like poetry or something that isn’t usually in my reading wheelhouse I feel bad and try and get a last minute read it.

Looking back at my reading there are a lot I read back in January or March that feel like a lifetime ago, a good feeling since it felt the year flew by. I read a lot of young adult, and a few picture books, though not as many as usual. I balanced out my foreign reads with local, and attempted to diversify my shelf more in terms of genre, content, and character to mixed appreciation.

I finished series, started new series, and lots of Aussie reads though those #LoveOzYA ones are still hard ones to hit when you don’t have time to read a physical book. I did some power reads in the last few days, still sought out audios instead of the three books that are currently in front of me that are all on average 200 pages (why is that???). Maybe there will be a NYE miracle. The issue is reading takes time, even the shortest audiobook on 1.5x speed takes hours to read, but it won’t stop a mad attempt to finish books to tick off an arbitrary goal I set for myself.

So it’s been a weird bingo this year, technically made and completed in the span of a few days but an honest attempt was done. I am calling this a loose definition of a win. One because yes I did make a lot of full lines, but yes I did make this last minute and I feel making and completing a bingo in a week might not be in the spirit of the challenge. I have never been a fan of using one book for multiple prompts, and I read way more than 25 books a year so I have had choice on my side. Plus with some of my categories being broad or typical reads I am usually in with a good shot of a line or two being completed by years end.

Here’s to 2025 being a better organised bingo year. I may even make one up now while the guilt is still fresh. But for now here is the breakdown of my reading achievements. I will link those with reviews when they go up.

Graphic Novel – The Adventure Zone: The Stolen Century by Clint McElroy

Lesbian MC – The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox

Romance – Love, Just In by Natalie Murray

Chosen for a Cover – Peep! by Meg McLaren

One word title – Mort by Terry Pratchett

Heard about Online – This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Historical – My Lovely Frankie by Judith Clarke

Fairytale Retelling – Other Ever Afters by Melanie Gillman

Under 200 Pages – I’m Stuck by Julia Mills

TV/Movie Adaptation – December Boys by Michael Noonan

Picked up by Chance – Untidy Towns by Kate O’Donnell

Free Choice – Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson

Won an Award – The Pause by John Larkin

#LoveOzYA – It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

Own Voices – What are Your Words by Katherine Locke

Female author – I Don’t by Clementine Ford

Published this Year – My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery

Started but Never Finished – If it Makes You Happy by Claire Kahn

Non Fiction – You Don’t Have to Have a Dream by Tim Minchin

From TBR pile – Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Reread a Series – Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

New Author – Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin