Saturday, December 31, 2022

2022: The Year in Books

This year I broke my yearly reading review into two posts: you can see the first half of the year here.

One big change I've made in the past 6 months is that I no longer rate every book with stars. I started to fixate on the rating as I read, and for many books I was having extended internal debates over the rating. So I decided to remove that unnecessary stress from my life, and to just make note of my absolute favorites. Here's what I read during the second half of the year (for a total of 95 books for  2022!)

Favorite Fiction

  • The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
    • Super cozy story that spanned generations
  • Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
    • Memorable characters and a reminder to do what makes you happy
  • The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
    • Gorgeous writing and pacing, historical fiction about a lesser-known but fascinating person
  • The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman
    • Hilarious mystery and characters that are starting to feel like old friends
  • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
    • Engaging story in a setting that's not often written about
  • Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
    • Amazing construction, beautiful writing by a new to me but soon to be favorite author

Favorite Nonfiction

  • In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
    • Heartbreaking but moving memoir of losing a loved one
  • The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman
    • Creative illustrations and glimpse into the mind of the artist
  • I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood by Jessi Klein
    • Funny vignettes of a middle-aged mom that I could totally relate to
  • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
    • Great reporting on the impact of technology on our ability to focus
  • Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris (audio)
    • David Sedaris never fails to be hilarious and irreverent
  • I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
    • Shocking memoir of a child actor

Other Fiction Read

  • Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
  • The Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton (audio)
  • Nightblind by Ragnar Jonasson
  • The Maid by Nita Prose
  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (audio)
  • Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
  • Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (audio)
  • The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk
  • The Bat by Jo Nesbo
  • Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (audio)
  • Matilda by Roald Dahl
  • A Career in Books by Kate Gavino (graphic novel)
  • The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell (audio)
  • Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  • The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
  • Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
  • Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan (audio)
  • The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
  • Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner
  • We Spread by Ian Reid
  • The One by John Marrs
  • The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser

Other Nonfiction Read

  • Diary of a Tokyo Teen by Christine Mari Inzer (graphic novel)
  • To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins (audio)
  • Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
  • Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton (audio)
  • Painting Happiness: Creativity with Watercolors by Terry Runyan
  • Menopause: A Comic Treatment by M.K. Czerwiec (graphic novel)
  • Good Talk by Mira Jacob (graphic novel)
  • Anya's Ghost by Vera Brogsol (graphic novel)
  • Heating and Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
  • How to Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz
  • The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (audio)
  • When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (graphic novel)
  • All of This by Rebecca Woolf (audio)
  • The American Dream? by Shing Yin Khor (graphic novel)
  • Passport by Sophia Glock (graphic novel)
  • Everything, Beautiful by Ella Frances Sanders
  • Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung (graphic novel)
  • Book Love by Debbie Tung (graphic novel)
  • Keep it Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life by Twyla Tharp
  • Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings by Chrysta Bilton
  • Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle (graphic novel)
I'm pretty happy with how this last year of reading went. I didn't finish books I wasn't into, and I decreased my habit of picking up random books from the New shelf at the library, and then reading them without knowing anything about them, leading to disappointment. Now I read almost entirely on recommendation, or authors I have read before. 

I didn't set out to read a certain number of books, but I still ended up reading only 6 less than last year (101) when I really worked toward my 100 goals. That being said, I'm a little burnt out! In the past few days I've slowed way down on reading novels, and have picked up some art/design and gardening books to browse through. I also dipped into my huge stack of magazines that have been piling up for months now. 

I have grand plans for reading in 2023, which I will share soon. I've never made a list of specific books to read before; I'm having fun putting one together and dreaming, but like a lot of things, we'll see if actually happens!

15 comments:

  1. This is such a great list! And I love that you did away with a rating system if it was causing you angst. Your point about not picking up random books off the library shelf made me pause -- I do that A LOT, and I think those books tend to be the ones I DNF the most frequently. It's so hard to ignore all those beautiful shiny titles though!

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    1. I was particularly susceptible since my daughter had piano next to the library, and I spent an hour alone in there every week!!

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  2. Oooh I have Happy Go Lucky on my shelf - I got it for Christmas! A few of those books are on my TBR shelf, and a few I am going to add. I love love LOVED Heating and Cooling. I wish I could write like that!
    I know what you mean about being tempted by the New shelf at the library. I have SO many on my "for later" list and yet I sometimes cannot resist browsing the New.

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    1. Heating and Cooling was so unique, especially the one-line memoirs that made me laugh so hard. You'll love Happy Go Lucky, it's classic Sedaris!

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  3. Happy New Year Sarah. I hope you enjoy the books you read this year. I am gently dipping my toes back into reading. I haven't really read for a while. Hoping 2023 I can get back to a good book myself x

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    1. Happy New Year to you too! I hope you can find the perfect book to awaken your reading self!

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  4. Wow that his a lot of books read. My total, if I knew what it was, would be far less. I love that you read graphic novels, I have just discovered the world of the graphic novel for my dyslexic daughter, she loves them. I am always on the look out for recommendations as I know little about this genre of books. If you have any you can recommend I would love to know about them.

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    1. There are so many good ones! How old is your daughter - and are there any specific genres that she likes?

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  5. Happy New Year! That is A LOT of books. I'm so impressed and I think I should adopt your approach of only star rating books I really, really like (or maybe also ones I really, really dislike)? I have such a hard time with star ratings, especially without 1/2 stars. I swear one of my goals in life is to live long enough to see Goodreads add in 1/2 stars. To me there is a HUGE difference between 3 stars and 3.5 stars. Or 3.5 stars and 4 stars etc.

    I have Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher on my bedside table and after that am interested in reading The Shell Seekers!!!

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    1. Half stars would be amazing, so much of my internal dialogue is like "well this is good, but it's not 4 stars, but it's not really 3 stars either", and then I would just waffle back and forth driving myself nuts. I've started Winter Solstice and it's not capturing me like The Shell Seekers did, but it still has a very calm vibe.

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  6. You had an amazing reading year! I stopped rating books too. Like you, I was thinking too much about it while reading.

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    1. Thanks! I am feeling like I won't be able to keep this reading pace for too much longer though!

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  7. Claire Fuller is the best! I've read everything by her. Great list you have-I will be adding some of yours to this year's list. Happy New Year!

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    1. I got the recommendation from you, thank you so much! I can tell she's going to be a new favorite and I can't wait to read more by her.

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  8. Great job. Reading was definitely not my top priority last year, but I am also reading a series (of big books), so it's been slow going. I have now book list to show for 2022.

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