Top Reads of 2022
It was a strange year for reading. While COVID continued to hover, with lockdowns and isolation out the window, those long days inside were gone, and a hectic pace of business ensued — meaning less reading!!! Add to this a job in crypto at the start of the year, then a change of jobs at the end of the year — it all added up to less time with a book in my hand.
Another funny observation was that there weren’t that many WOW books to get into. This is purely anecdotal — but seems a few of us usually engrossed readers were finding it hard this year to pick up constant good reads. Was this a post COVID distraction or something else?
In the end I clocked up a respectable 69 reads (my 11 year old son would appreciate the humour there) — and a record 6 DNFs. Bad books or just bad headspace?
As always, I’ve completed a spreadsheet of everything read with various data points — you can see 2022’s full list here (plus my growing back catalogue of lists and reviews.
As always — I like to do a data-driven approach to my reading; so first the stats:
2022 was once again a very diverse year: For those that know my reading, my personal goal is to read from as many countries as possible defined by place of birth of author). Happily I was able to cover 25 countries (up from 17 in 2021) — though the USA (as usual) continues to dominate with over 30% of books from North America.
Our trip to Colombia inspired ‘Like this Afternoon Forever’ — which I was told by locals was their nation’s coming of age version of ‘On the Road’, Kenya got a look in with the fantastic (4 stars) ‘The Dragonfly Sea’; there was a first for Oman with the celebrated ‘Celestial Bodies’ (more of a 3 stars for me) and a rare South African novel with one of the more readable Booker nominations ‘The Promise’ (4 stars).
The Women Had It (again!): with nearly 2 out of 3 reads from a female. Unlike last year I had no gender fluid or diverse authors, which would have been different if Akwaeke Emezi’s new release ‘You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty’ had come in from the library earlier. You’ll also see that 8/10 of my top reads this year were also from women. Perhaps I need to start reading from more non-women next year!?
24,759 pages read; that’s an average of 80 pages a day — and approx 358 per book — which is higher than 2021 and suggests that 2022 was a year of the longer novel. The shortest was the beautiful ‘Small things Like These’ by Claire Keegan (128pp) — which gave me a new appreciation for the novella. Once again Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling’s alter detective ego) helped lift the average with his / her 1,462 page thriller ‘The Ink Black Heart’ -the sixth in the Cormoran Strike series. As usual, a stomping holiday read — but the kindle version is recommended.
New releases FTW: With the publishing industry playing catch up from last year, there were plenty of good new reads out. 36% of the books read this year were published in 2022 and another 29% from last year.
Oldest was the Russian 1925 classic 1966 book ‘Heart of a Dog’ (very odd, but fable like and at 129 pages, worth diving in), while next oldest was the 1995's ‘Whit’ — my first Iain Banks and a worthwhile read.
DNF: As for the duds…. These included Marlon James’s ‘Moon Witch, Spider King’ the second in his African Fantasy series. While the first ‘Black Leopard Red Wolf’ was enthralling, this one was confusing and just got plain silly. At 900+ pages, Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘The Books of Jacob’ was always a risk, and while I didn’t hate what I was reading… I just didn’t have the stamina. I know many had this on their Best Of Lists… (unless they were just trying to impress).
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Below are what I have claimed as my Top 10 Reads for the Year — and a little review for each. They won’t be books that appeal to all — so make sure you check out a few other reviews to see if this is the right book for you. Listed in alphabetical order, by title.
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‘The Broken Shore’ by Peter Temple (M, Australia. Pub 2008 // 343pp)
I’ve got some very well curated street libraries in my area, which means reading some classics. I remember reading Temple’s ‘Bad Debts’ and loving that, so not sure why it took a second hand copy to get me back into the dark, murder mystery ‘whodunnit’ style of Temple, set once more against the backdrop of the rough Aussie landscape.
‘Cantoras’ by Carolina de Robertis (F, Uruguay Pub 2019 // 311pp)
This book took my breath away with it’s beauty, love, tenderness and grit. Opening up under the 1970s dictatorship of Uruguay, it is a novel of 5 ‘cantora’ women. Women who love each other, and men and other women, and how this unfolds over the next 30 years. Captured my head and heart throughout.
‘The Good Wife of Bath’ by Karen Brooks (F, Australia. Pub 2022 // 514pp)
Just loved this — especially with the (mostly) true references to Canterbury Tales. The story of the Wife of Bath, through tragedy, fortune and love. The perfect reads when you’ve read all of Maggie O’Farrell’s books!
‘Haven’ by Emma Donoghue (F, Ireland. Pub 2022 / 272pp)
Not one I’d recommend flippantly…. Even for fans of her equally claustrophobic novels like ‘Room’ and ‘The Wonder’. This one was definitely a creeper; two monks and their ‘leader’, sometime around the 7th century — set out on a voyage determined by God to a desolate island. Harsh and grim — I couldn’t put it down.
‘The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois’ by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (F, USA Pub 2021 // 794pp)
I have to admit I was a little daunted at plunging into this nearly 800 page tome… but this book just kept giving, and giving. I’m not skilled enough to give it the review it deserved, but it’s a rich family story, a history of slavery, of Black America, of family and of a fascinating protagonist Ailey.
‘People of the Book’ by Geraldine Brooks (F, Australia, Pub 2008, 385pp)
As keen as I was to read her 2022 release ‘Horse’, I thought I better get some back catalogue reading in. This didn’t disappoint… the history of a 500+ year old Jewish haggedeh (prayer book), and the mystery behind it. Now looking forward to getting into some more from this Australian author.
‘Project Hail Mary’ by Andy Weir (M, UK. Pub 2021 // 482pp)
This was my first read for 2021, and was an instant Top Read. Sci-Fi with warmth, humour and a lot of maths! Our hero wakes up in space, and must work out what has happened so that he can save earth and all mankind! Just got better the longer I read it. Doesn’t matter if you’re not a sci fi fan, pick this one up. It was probably my most recommended book of the year — and with a very high success rate!
‘The Raptures’ by Jan Carson (F, Northern Ireland. Pub 2022 // 336pp)
What a weird and wonderful, strange book — both tragic and comedic. It starts with a young girl — all her friends start dying. It’s a mystery, it’s some sci fi with ghosts. It’s great.
‘Violeta’ by Isabel Allende (F, Peru. Pub 2022 // 317pp)
Reading this reminded my why Allende is one of my favourite authors. Here we have one hundred years of a woman’s life — bookended between the Spanish Flu and Coronavirus against her familiar backdrop of a Latin American dictatorship. Exquisite writing and storytelling.
‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell (F, UK. Pub 2022 / 352pp)
I do believe that Ms O’Farrell has won the title of best historical fiction — who didn’t love the heartbreak of ‘Hamnet’. This story was a little less obvious at first, but once it grabs you — you are captured and enthralled. Set in the 1500s, and a young girl is wedded off — and we are slowly drawn into what is apparently going to be her ultimate end.
