Crunching the Numbers for 2022

 

READING STATS

TOTAL BOOKS: 33 (Goal was 40)
Total pages: 10,918
Total Re-reads: 1

Authors
Men: 5
Women: 26

For:
ARCS for Review: 3
Supporting Utah Authors: 5
Book Club: 11

From:
Library: 8
On my Kindle: 7
Bought/Owned: 16
Borrowed: 0
Audio: 0

Genres:
YA: 11
Adult: 18
Middle Grade: 4


From the YA Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: 5
SF/Fantasy: 5

Dystopian: 1

Historical Fiction: 0

Graphic Novel: 0

  

From the MG Category:
Fantasy: 1

Contemporary: 1

Historical Fiction: 2

From the Adult Category:
Historical Fiction: 0
Fantasy: 0

Romance: 8

Literary Fiction: 7
Non Fiction: 3


Star Ratings:
5 stars: 4
4 stars: 21
3 stars: 7
2 stars: 1
1 star: 0

Observations: 

* I don't know why I can never make my goal. So frustrating. I'm putting it back up to 50 this coming year because I HAVE to read more!

* I find pretty much nothing interesting about these numbers, lol! So blah and normal!

* I really hope  next year's reading is more... noteworthy. You know?

KDRAMA STATS

Total Kdramas consumed: 16

5 hearts: 6
4 hearts: 7
3 hearts: 3

I posted my favorites yesterday. Check it out!

YOUTUBE STATS

Total Videos Uploaded on The Kpop Konverters: 1,225 (up from 1,137 last year)
Total Uploaded in 2022: 115 (up from 88)
4.2 million views: 1 
Over 100,000 views:  21 (down from 23 and I have no idea how that happens!)
50,000 to 100,000 views: 26 (up from 21 last year)


Subscribers at year end: 37,902 (up from 35,037 last year) 
View count at year end: 16,383,384 (up from 15, 245, 831 last year)

Observations:

* I'll be doing much less on this channel this coming year. At least that's the plan. Maybe one or two videos a month. I'm tired of the the discouragement of no views. But still want the fun of making them, so we'll find a balance. Maybe.

Total Videos Uploaded on Suey's Book Banter from October 3, 2022 to now: 44 (18 Shorts)

Total Views: 30,899

Total Subscribers: 578

Total Watchtime: 2.6 K

Observations:

* It will be fun to compare these stats at the end of 2023 and here's hoping I see some growth!

* I will be concentrating my YouTubing efforts on this channel this year. 

* I am surprised it's done as well as it has these first few months, though it has come to a grinding halt. Here's hoping that changes soon!

Top Ten Kdramas from 2022

 

I didn't watch near as many dramas this past year as I usually do. And I fell into a pretty huge slump toward the end of the year, but still I watched some really awesome ones this year and so my stats and my favorites list!

Total dramas watched in 2022:  16

Aired in 2022: 13
Aired previous to 2022: 3

Five hearts: 6
Four hearts: 7
Three hearts: 3

My Favorites (linked to my review with blurbs from that review)

Let Me Be Your Knight

I love it. Very heartfelt and sweet. And such great music. I've been in a bit of a drama slump since finishing this one. I just kinda want to start all over and watch it again...

Semantic Error

And they nailed it. Such great acting, great connection, great chemistry. And what do you know, I'm not the only who thought that. This drama has become a huge hit and everyone who is familiar with the genre is saying it's one of the best ones they've ever watched. I also enjoyed it because it wasn't preachy and "in your face" about things, if you know what I mean. It was just a love story. I don't know how else to explain it. But yeah. It wasn't trying to convince me of anything except the connection between these two characters. 

All of Us Are Dead

I just... wow. I loved so much about it. It was gripping and "page turning" and despite that first hesitation with that first episode, I was hooked so fast and very invested.

Business Proposal

Oh my goodness I loved it so much! This drama took every beloved trope and played them up perfectly! And the characters were all so FREAKING endearing, and the story just so simple and fluffy. It was literally the perfect kdrama! 

Young Actor's Retreat

So, obviously this is technically not a drama. It's a very fun variety show that stars drama actors. I started watching not really knowing what it was all about, but dang.. this has been one of the most fun things I've watched all year! My face seriously got sore for laughing so much!

From a Distance Spring is Green

 I loved this one because of the heart it has. SO MUCH HEART! And dang but Park Jihoon totally blew it away with his acting. So bright and happy to a totally tortured soul.

Snowdrop

It's very intense, very violent and very tragic. And also, very good. Amazing acting, storytelling, music, characters. All of it. 

Tomorrow

Anyway, that's all to say this drama is fantastic, but highly emotional. So watch at your own risk and when you are in the mood for much crying. But also a lot of wonderful emotions. So very cathartic all around!

Sh**ting Stars

This is another one of those dramas that I at first dismissed just from the title and that it sounded silly. But of course, we all know, that is not usually how it really is! What a cute fun romcom this one is! 

The Sound of Magic

Some people I know were bothered by the singing (which I find funny because pretty sure everyone knew it's a musical going in) but I thought it was great fun and everyone was really awesome. There's really not a ton of songs either. And of course Ji Changwook is FANTASTIC as he is in everything he does. So so good!

Kdrama Review: From a Distance Spring is Green

 Drama: From a Distance Spring is Green

Genre: melodrama

Starring: Park Jihoon, Kang Minah, Bae Inhyuk

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

I ended up in a pretty bad drama slump a few months ago and finally got hooked on this one to pull me out. Even though this is not a very happy drama in the end!

This is about our college dude. On the outside he looks happy and fluffy and beautiful and perfect and rich. On the inside he is hurting in the worst way because of the neglect he faces from his so called family. So he suffers a lot from putting on that front for people, and then dealing with things alone. 

Then he and our girl get together. She is sweet and nice and perfect for him. And she starts to crack the wall he's put up.

He also decides he needs to be friends with this guy who is the complete opposite of him... sour, sad and grouchy... all the time. And totally struggling financial. He looks at our bright "happy" dude and thinks he has NOTHING to deal with. 

And when they let each other into their lives, they both find out that there are so many issues people are dealing with that they never let on about. It's eye opening for both of them, and their friendship ends up being so beautiful and tear inducing!

I loved this one because of the heart it has. SO MUCH HEART! And dang but Park Jihoon totally blew it away with his acting. So bright and happy to a totally tortured soul. Crazy good stuff. I hear he's now in other one that I need to watch. Hopefully it won't take me forever to get to it!

 Here's a little trailer:

And the main song:

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books of the Year

 

It's time reveal my top ten favorite books of 2022 according to the Top Ten Tuesday prompt! Be sure to check out everyone's posts at this link!

I didn't have very many books the BLEW me away this past year. Hopefully that will change this upcoming year. I have no idea what I'm looking for, but we'll see if I find it!

But here's the list of what I did love from this past year with links to my review and thoughts:

The Storied Life of A.J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Will by Will Smith

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

Hopefully I can get around to some of your posts and see what I need to catch up on! Looking forward to a great reading year in 2023!

The Sunday Post: Happy New Year!

 

 

 The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

I can NOT believe these last crazy few weeks are over! Wow, but that has been a ride!

Listening:

The two songs that have made a huge buzz in the kpop world this month, and thus ones that I am loving, are these two. One is actually Chinese though! What do you think of them? They are both quite intense and hard hitting with very unique styles. 

Watching: I'm finishing up a drama called Love in Contract. Didn't quite make it for the end of the year, but I'll still count it toward my year end list. And I started rewatching an older drama called Love in the Moonlight (or Moonlight Drawn by Clouds) with my daughter. That's been fun so far! I haven't started a new English language show... but maybe I'll watch that documentary everyone's been talking about.  Harry and Meghan? Yes?

This is not Harry and Meghan...

Reading: I managed to finish a couple of books during the holiday reading frenzy, but still didn't make my goal. I'll do another post about all that, but anyway. Here's to next year when I bump up my reading in a huge way. BE PEPARED! Anyway, I am extremely behind in reviews on here. I think I'll do a do a catch up mini review thing. 

Writing: I really hope to figure out how to add this to my daily routine.

Blogging: I also really hope to do better at keeping up with this in 2023. I just find everything I do here must be so boring. What do you all want to see???

YouTubing: 

Over on the Booktube channel I did a post listing all my top ten books from each year over the past 20 years! If that sounds like something you'd find interesting, be sure to check it out!

On the Kpop channel I've been doing year end lists of one thing or another. I still need to do my over all favorite songs of the year, but here's my favorite songs from the dramas from this past year:

Health Watch: At the time I last did a Sunday Post,  I was still in the throes of covid. But I have survived that and managed to stay well during all the rest of December. Let's hope that continues! I think I will (once all the treats are gone of course!) start another low carb type diet soon. So depressing. And let's go on getting a workout routine going again! WE CAN DO THIS!

Misc:

* Christmas was fun and we did all the normal family things. Today has been a relax and recoup day, as will tomorrow, and then we'll get back to regular life. Here's hoping that goes well!

What the entrance way looks like at a big family gathering!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection

Oh my word I don't know what day it is during these holidays! I meant to participate in this prompt, but now I'm a day late. Whatever!!! AHH! (Here's the link to yesterday's responses!)

I didn't think I'd be getting many new books for Christmas, but combining mine and my daughter's gifts, we got a pretty good stack in the end!

What do you think? Which one should I read first???

TOO LATE! I already read the Kasie West one... Places We've Never Been! AH, I love her stories so much!

Now I need to go check out everyone else's posts to see what's on your stack! 

(I did a video about this stack if you want to "watch" me share them... lol!) 

The Sunday Post: Happy Christmastime!

 

 The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Oh my word I am so behind with blogging posts! And now Sunday is almost over, but here I am writing a quick little post! AHH! Life is so crazy.

Listening:

Breaking out the the huge Christmas playlist that includes all my favorite things. My favorite (roughly speaking) is this one from last year by Stray Kids. It's so funny and so great and just try not to sing and dance along!

Watching: We have joined the rest of the world in watching Wednesday on Netflix. It's very fun, isn't it? I think it's funny that it came out at Christmastime instead of Halloween. Whatever! But yeah. We have one more episode and then... what will we watch next???

Looking forward to the season finale of Amazing Race this week. Rooting for two different teams so I have no idea who I'll be cheering for in those final moments!

Reading: Ah I'm so behind on writing up reviews! I've finished a couple more books. Since the last Sunday post I did, I finished Not Going There, The Fox Inheritance and Atomic Habits. I have "one minute reviews" posted on the booktube channel if interested!

Writing: Zero writing as been done. Ugh.

Blogging: Zero blogging has been done. Dang.

YouTubing: Lots of Youtubing has been done though!

Over on the Booktube channel  there's much happening, but one video you may be interested in is when I compare my reading to what Rory read in The Gilmore Girls. Dang that girl read some crazy stuff!

On the Kpop channel I just finished editing this fast-paced intense thing that shows off some cool images and moment from MVs this past year. You should totally watch and make me happy!

Health Watch: Well, my husband got covid for Thanksgiving, so we cancelled all our plans. Then a few days later, sure enough, I got it too, so we cancelled all our plans the week after Thansgiving too. That means we missed our outing to see Moulin Rouge at the theater... and kpop movie that I was so excited to support. Sigh. Whatever. Anyway, that was our first bout of covid, so we finally got that over with. My husband has felt pretty crappy, but I only had couple of days were I needed ibuprofen, and have since been fine. Really hoping I can go back to work tomorrow but I haven't tested yet today to see what the verdict is. We have gone through about 12 tests just this past week between the three of us. My daughter didn't get it this time, probably because she had her turn in July and didn't feel the need to join us this time. LOL! 

Misc:

* We finally got our tree up today. So now it truly feels like Christmas around here. I have no idea how I'm going to get all the gift buying done though. 

Here's hoping life can resume this week and we get through all the events planned for this month!