2022 Reads

Wasn't I just listing the books I read in 2021 a few weeks ago?  How can it possibly be time for another end of year book list already? Time may be a social construct but it has politely informed me that indeed another year is coming to a close in 24 hours time.  And, so, I give you - my annual book list.  

About 90% of my reads were by female authors this last year; not something I chose to do intentionally but clearly I found myself drawn to women writers even more than usual.  27 books in total this year, which I feel pretty okay about given that I had a lot of false starts with a lot of books this year.  I read some good ones and I read some duds; though I will proudly admit that 2022 was probably my strongest year yet in regards to giving up on a book that just wasn't doing it for me. (Spoiler alert - there are a lot of crappy books out there.). I don't know why it's so hard for me to quit a book I am not enjoying but I'm getting better at it.  Life is too short for lousy reads.  But, oh for those rare gems that aren't bad or even just "meh". I'm here for the beautiful, brilliant, clutch to your chest you don't want it to ever end book.  I hope I find more of those in 2023, the duds can stay behind in 2022.

Books I read in 2022:

1. The Guest List - Lucy Foley

2. Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

3. Cannery Row - John Steinbeck

4. Matrix - Lauren Groff

5. Greenwich Park - Katherine Faulkner

6. I Came All This Way to Meet You - Jami Attenberg

7. Five Tuesdays in Winter - Lily King

8. Vanderbilt: The Rise & Fall of an American Dynasty - Anderson Cooper

9. Between Two Kingdoms - Suleika Jaouad

10.   Oh William! - Elizabeth Strout

11.   My Salinger Year - Joanna Rakoff

12.   This Time Tomorrow - Emma Straub

13.   Severance - Ling Ma

14.   Mercy Street - Jennifer Haigh

15.   Joan Is Okay - Weike Wang

16.   I’ll Show Myself Out - Jessi Klein

17.   Summer Sisters - Judy Blume

18.   A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson

19.   The Latecomer - Jean Hanff Korelitz

20.   Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

21.   When Women Were Birds - Terry Tempest Williams

22.   Blood Sugar - Sascha Rothchild

23.   Still Life - Rebecca Pacheco

24.   Our Souls At Night - Kent Haruf

25.   Lucy By The Sea - Elizabeth Strout

26.   The Measure - Nikki Erlick

   27. The Education of Will: A Mutual Memoir of a Woman and her Dog - Patricia B. McConnell

Despite trying to be better about giving up on books I wasn't enjoying I still plowed through too many that I wished I'd skipped.  Namely, Matrix (I was so bored) Summer Sisters (which I read in one day back in 2001 so decided to pick it up again on a summer weekend while headed to Martha's Vineyard. Ooof it is so bad.  And yet I couldn't put it down?) Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow wins my raspberry award though.  I know it was on just about every "best of" list out there but I really did not like it and was so glad when I finally finished the damn thing. 0 stars, would not recommend. 

On a happier note, Severance blew my mind - particularly as it was written pre-pandemic and I enjoyed Joan Is Okay for similar reasons, though they are two very different books.  Kate Atkinson's book Life After Life was a favorite of mine many years ago and this summer I finally got around to her "sequel" A God in Ruins  - though both books stand just fine on their own - and was not disappointed.  If anything, now I want to reread Life After Life. 

I could read Lily King and Elizabeth Strout's (Maine writers represent!) grocery lists and be happy; their books won my heart this year.  I adored Jami Attenberg's book, I Came All This Way to Meet You too and would be more than proud if I were ever able to write something that seamless and honest and real.  

Here's to the good and bad and wonderful and terrible reads to come in 2023. Tell me your favorites; inspire my never ending to-read list!

*Also to the three people that actually read this, I know the formatting is funky but I'm too tired to try and fix it.  2022-when shit just gets real.*