Books in 2022

[starfishstar]

Oh, hey, it's almost March 2023... Here's my post about the books I read in 2022. (A post that I mostly wrote at the end of 2022...and then didn't manage to finish until now.)

 

Books in 2022!

How many books read in 2022?

99 books
 

How many fiction and nonfiction?

78 fiction, 21 nonfiction

How many male authors, female authors or books written by both?

63 by women, 31 by men, 1 by a nonbinary author, 4 co-written by multiple authors of different genders

How many books by people of color?

31 books (31%)

Favorite books of 2022?

Ooooh, gosh. I didn't do my long-running quarterly book posts this year, because that's how hard a year this was, so I don't have those to draw as I usually would. I'll name some favorites, but then I'll also list a bunch more good books, since they didn't get their chance to be mentioned in the quarterly posts as usual.

SOME FAVORITES:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells, and various sequels (the Murderbot series) – Delightful series of space adventures narrated by a cranky security bot who just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite TV shows. Highly recommend the audiobooks of these.

Breaking Cat News: Cats Reporting on the News That Matters to Cats by Georgia Dunn, and all the sequels! – SUPER charming series of comics in which the author imagines her cats as reporters, investigating the very important news that matters to cats. What's that noise in the living room? What is the human doing?

He Must Like You by Danielle Younge-Ullman – A thoughtful and nuanced YA take on questions of consent. I thought this was really excellent. 

The Will Darling Adventures (Slippery Creatures and its sequels) by KJ Charles –Very fun (and sexy) romance series; I knew nothing about these books and picked a title by this oft-recommended narrator at random, so I wasn't quite expecting these to be pulp fiction/high action mysteries! But I still enjoyed them greatly. 

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan – A lovely and moving story about gay teenagers now, narrated by a "Greek chorus" of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS.

Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters and Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit – The always marvelous Rebecca Solnit, reflecting on some of the thorniest issues of our time, and how to still have hope.

Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang – A moving set of stories about refugees from all over the world who now live in Minnesota. 

Katie the Catsitter and Katie the Catsitter: Best Friends for Never by Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue – I adore these! They're children's graphic novels about superheroes and cats and also how to be a friend.  

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin – A story that reads very much like a classic fable; it's subtle and understated, and kept growing on me long after I read it. 

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik – I have never fallen in helpless love with Naomi Novik's books the way so many of my friends have (there's something about her characters that just doesn't quite click with me and I suspect it's because she draws so heavily from her years as a Harry/Draco fic writer and all that's entailed in those enemies-to-lovers tropes; it's just so not my thing) but I think she's brilliant and I admire her endlessly. This series especially (The Scholomance) is just so, so, so intricate. How does her brain do it??? This book worked well as a series concluder, too. In each book she expands the scope of the Scholomance world enormously, yet also manages to resolve the series in a way that makes sense. Impressive stuff.

Hamster and Cheese; And Then There Were Gnomes; The Ferret’s a Foot; Fish You Were Here; Raining Cats and Detectives; Going, Going, Dragon! a.k.a the “Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye” series by Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue – Similarly delightful series from the same creators as Katie the Catsitter, about a guinea pig who grumpily becomes a detective and solves pet store mysteries. 

MORE GOOD BOOKS:

In the Serpent’s Wake by Rachel Hartman

Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry
Fighting Words by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn – I feel like I always have to footnote this one with, “Don't worry! The author is Jewish!” Everyone I saw placing a hold on this at the library was Jewish too... Gave me a lot to think about.
Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary
The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian
Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore
Root Magic by Eden Royce
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Breathing Underwater by Sarah Allen
Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri
Life Without Children by Roddy Doyle
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated from Swedish by Thomas Teal
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie
Husband Material by Alexis Hall – No, I didn't love it as much as Boyfriend Material, and I have some critiques. But it was such a delight to be back with these ridiculous characters and I laughed a lot.
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today’s Kitchen by Fania Lewando, translated from Yiddish by Eve Jochnowitz (nonfiction) – Yes, I did in fact read a cookbook cover to cover again... I was so charmed by this insight into the lost world of my people (the Jewish community in/near Vilnius).
Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram
Loveless by Alice Oseman
The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East (1978–1984) by Riad Sattouf, translated from French by Sam Taylor

Oldest book read?

Apparently I didn't really read any old books this year! Looks like the oldest was The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: Garden-Fresh Recipes Rediscovered and Adapted for Today’s Kitchen by Fania Lewando, translated from Yiddish by Eve Jochnowitz – the translation, with some notes and adaptations, was published a few years ago, but the original is from 1938.

Next after that would be Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry (1959).

Longest and shortest book titles?

longest title:
Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper

or if subtitles count as part of title length:
Euphemisms That Get on My You-Know-Whats: And Other Meticulously Assembled Lists of Extremely Valuable Nonsense by Adam Sharp

shortest title:
Fangs by Sarah Andersen


Longest books?

Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore (624 pages), In the Serpent's Wake by Rachel Hartman (512 pages), then various books in the 400s, starting with All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor (496 pages).

Any translated books?

Yes, 10 books! (Doesn't sound like very much, but it's still closer than I've gotten before to the “12 books in translation in 12 months” goal I keep setting and then failing because life gets in the way.) 1 book translated from Yiddish, 3 from Japanese, 2 from Swedish, 1 from Russian, 1 from French, 1 from Dutch, 1 from Norwegian.


Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?

It's a tie! 5 books each from KJ Charles (queer romance), Alexis Hall (queer romance), and Georgia Dunn (the charming “Breaking Cat News” comics). Then 4 books by Martha Wells (the delightful Murderbot series) and 4 by the writer/illustrator pair of Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue. Also 3 by Jason Reynolds, then 2 each by Rebecca Solnit, Lilah Pace, P. Djèlí Clark, and Mohsin Hamid.

Any re-reads?

Hm, hardly at all. For the most part I'm so focused on trying to read new things off my neverending list of recommended books!

There were a few I “reread” by reading them in new formats: Graceling by Kristin Cashore and Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds I tried out in their new graphic novel forms (the former adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds, the latter with art by Danica Novgorodoff). And I finally read His Royal Secret and His Royal Favorite by Lilah Pace – the filed-off-the-serial-numbers version of Anarchy in the UK, a wonderful fic that rachelindeed recommended and I loved.

Other than that...does reading Boyfriend Material for the umpteenth time and also immediately re-listening to the first two Will Darling books while I waited for the third one count?

Which books wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?

Not quite what this question is asking, but so many of the books I read this year are thanks to the wonderful variety of unexpected titles that cross my desk in the course of my work at the library! Books I'd never have heard of otherwise, but they ended up in my hands and were intriguing enough that I had to have a look. And then if they were really, really intriguing enough, I had to check them out and read them. Just a few examples:

Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang

West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary (a memoir of growing up both Afghan and American)

Fangs by Sarah Andersen (a cute love story between a vampire and a werewolf)

Breaking Cat News: Cats Reporting on the News That Matters to Cats by Georgia Dunn (oh my god, so adorable and fun)

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (strangely charming)

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (an intriguing take on a postapcalyptic world from an Anishinaabe author) 

He Must Like You by Danielle Younge-Ullman (a YA novel about consent that packs a punch)

And some books were definitely recommendations in the classic sense, from friends and sometimes colleagues, for example:

the Murderbot series by Martha Wells – it sounded rather grimdark, so I was resisting; it took two recommendations (a friend whose tastes I trust and a colleague whose tastes I trust) for me to finally try it, and now it's one of my favorite discoveries of the year!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin – I've heard Grace Lin extolled so much around these parts (I think especially by grrlpup?) that I knew I had to read her

similarly, all those KJ Charles books were definitely because folks here have talked about her so much (gracerene specifically recommended her to me, I think?)

and The Way Out: A Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven Approach to Healing Chronic Pain by Alan Gordon and Alon Ziv was a rec from a local acquaintance I happened to run into over the summer. I requested my library buy it and I think it has indeed helped me some with my life-long chronic pain. The one in ten million time when some well-meaning person makes a recommendation despite knowing nothing about your chronic illness, and the recommendation actually turns out to be good!

Did you read any books you’ve always been meaning to read?

I Am a Chechen! by German Sadulaev, translated from Russian by Anna Gunin, has been sitting on my shelf ever since I picked it up in a secondhand bookstore in Edinburgh during the year I lived in Scotland. It was, as expected, an intense read, about living through war in Chechnya.

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor – I'd been sitting on this final book of the Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry series for ages, because I love the series so much and didn't want it to end, but unfortunately this was pretty underwhelming as the capstone of such a beloved series.

The All New Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff – I've been meaning to read more of Lakoff's work literally ever since he was referenced so frequently when I studied linguistics as an undergrad (almost 20 years ago!) His stuff about political discourse in the US and how we do (or don't) frame the terms of the debate is still very, very relevant.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan – I read one or two of Levithan's books back in my reading-all-the-YA phase and liked them fine. But then I read his contribution in the short story collection It's a Whole Spiel and thought it was amazing, so I've been meaning to get back to him. This book is very good. And now I'm going to read his new book sharpish.

Comments

[gracerene]

Love the Murderbot books!! And I'm somebody who really adores Novik's books, and I really enjoyed Scholomance as a whole, though I did like each book in the series less than the previous one, which is unusual for me and her works! Also, yay for some KJ Charles! I do find it funny though that the one series of hers I didn't even finish because I wasn't a fan of the characters/concept was the one that made your favorites! I'm definitely in the minority there though!

I can't remember if you've read Becky Chambers' works? If not, highly recommend--they've also all got great narrators. Nghi Vo is another author whose work I've been really enjoying.

[starfishstar]

Ha, well, the Will Darling Adventures are the *only* KJ Charles I've read so far, so that's why it made the favorites list by default! Do you have a recommendation of what I should read next? Currently I have Proper English noted on my list, I think, but my library only has it as ebook not audiobook, so I haven't gotten to it yet.

Becky Chambers is on my list too! Recommended by the same friend who recommended Murderbot, in fact. :-) (And that friend also recommended A Half-Built Garden, which I'm reading now, if that interests you. Kind of solarpunk/hopeful-future-sci-fi with lots of queer female characters.)

And Nghi Vo – I read the The Empress of Salt and Fortune, but I did it as audiobook and that may have been a mistake because I spent most of it confused about what was even happening. I wonder if I should give her another go, but reading instead of listening!

[gracerene]

It seems this friend of yours and I may have similar tastes, and I've been on a sci-fi kick lately, so I'm definitely going to add A Half-Built Garden to my list!

As for KJ Charles, she just came out with a book this week, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen which I read last night and loved! I also really enjoyed the England World series (Proper English is set in that universe), The Lilywhite Boys Series is one of my favs, and I also loved Band Sinister, and The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting for slightly more stand-alone options, though the majority of her books function as stand-alones. It's hard to go wrong with her books, really--some are weaker than others, but the Will Darling series are the only ones I couldn't finish, entirely due to personal preference reasons with the dynamic.

[starfishstar]

Awesome, thank you! I'll look into all the KJ Charles title you mentioned, and pick something to read next. :-)

[jo02.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this; it must have taken you a long time to put together but it makes me very happy because I always love reading your book posts.

[starfishstar]

You're welcome, and thank you! I really, really appreciate hearing that you enjoy these. :D

[rabbitica]

Ooh, I'm taking some recs from this list! Also, I read The Way Out and also found it really interesting, I was wondering if you'd read it. And I actually currently have the Graceling graphic novel checked out and found it thoroughly disappointing. It just made me want to re-read the book (so I did).

[starfishstar]

Nice! I'll be curious to know what you think of any of these. :-)

I don't know if you read The Way Out from the library, but I'm the reason the library has it! (I suggested it for purchase so I could read it, then I recommended it to my therapist and doctors, who probably account for a number of the other people who've checked it from the library out so far... Come to think of it, I wonder if my rec made it to your mom, too.)

[rabbitica]

That's great! I read it through ebooks, which is how I read 99% of the time these days because I can do it while laying with a napping toddler in the dark. I think I got it out from the NYPL. My mom hasn't mentioned it, but maybe she heard about it? I recommended it to my PT!

[starfishstar]

Oh, that's excellent! Thank you for spreading the word. :-)

[nerakrose]

yay Murderbot!! I also loved the Will Darling books. KJC is for me a rainy day author, I love her books but I don't want to read them all right away, must keep some unreads for a rainy day :D

[starfishstar]

Yay Murderbot! I keep seeing those books getting checked in and out at the library where I work, and it makes me happy every time. :-)

Any specific/favorite KJ Charles recs I should look for next?

[nerakrose]

I'm currently reading her new one (secret life of country gentlemen) that came out just two days ago, and I'm really enjoying it!

I'm not sure what to recommend really, because she's very consistent so I feel like I can always be sure that whatever I pick up of hers I'll be in good hands. and from what I can tell she's only improving as a writer with every book she puts out. so maybe just have a look at the summaries and go for what you feel like?

my very favourite one so far is Any Old Diamonds but that's because I like thieves, D/s dynamics and high emotions (shock and betrayal!!). this one for me hits all my sweet spots. second favourite is probably Band Sinister, this one has a secondary romance plot for the sister and the main romance plot has the love interest already in a queer polyamorous relationship, and the book as a whole is very much about monstrosity as a queer safe space (uh, it's not stated that plainly in the book, though) and a space for growth, evolution, all manners of positive things. do you know that quote from black sails?

They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light, their reason, their judgements, because in the darkness there be dragons. But it isn’t true. We can prove that it isn’t true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark when someone has illuminated it.

I think of her books so far that I've been most positively surprised by is the society of gentlemen trilogy, because she basically went "can I write romance novels about tories?" and then smashed it. the first one is very "pretty woman" and very "standard" m/m histrom, a bit like she's setting a trap for you to lure you in, and then the second one (the best one imo) is all 'well what if the tory Home Secretary is having secret D/s sex with a radical printer?' and it's *delicious*. the third book I don't really care for (and it's the only book of hers so far I've not liked much) - it finishes the overarching plot of the trilogy but the main pair in that book is very whatever for me as well it's all about size kink, which I find off-putting, so I don't reread that one. ymmv obviously! but anyway my point is I read the trilogy and was mad that she made me care about rich tory bastards. 😂😂😂

[starfishstar]

Awesome, thank you so much for all of this! Between you and gracerene above (who seem to share some favorites, btw!) I'm going to look into all these titles and pick some to read next.

That's hilarious, that she wrote about something unpleasant so well that she made you like it, which in turn made you mad – I love the way you put that!

Thank you for all the recs. :-)

[nerakrose]

yay! I hope you like them :D

haha yeah, especially because she wrote that trilogy as a challenge to herself (being very anti-tory). a few times while reading I was making distressed noises because I wanted the guys to be OK and get out of the trouble they were in, but they were using corrupt tory tactics to do it so I whined to my friend who'd read the books as well all "I want them to be OK! but NOT LIKE THAT" and she just went "*sobs* I KNOW".