2022 Reading in Review

đź—“ February 6, 2023

I didn’t read quite as prolifically in 2022 as I did the year prior, mostly because I doubled the number of children in my household in late 2021 and things got…complicated 🫠. However, the year started with some real bangers! In the Weeds (Tom Vitale), Things I Have Withheld (Kei Miller), and em (Kim Thúy) were all excellent reads. I was most surprised by em, which was haunting and impactful despite its small size.

I added some new authors to my favorites list after reading their work for the first time—Thúy, Colson Whitehead, and Louise Erdrich among them.

My favorite books in 2022 were Things I Have Withheld, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin), and Piranesi (Susanna Clarke). Miller’s work is a must-read, and his book of essays would be an excellent addition to your Black History Month reading list. Piranesi was so good that I was adrift for a while after finishing it, still lost in the melancholic little world that Clarke had built.

My least favorite books were Elektra and A History of Wild Places. I found both to be lacking in effective plot and character development, and the latter book devolved into M. Night Shyamalan-style vibes that had me eye-rolling until the bitter, disappointing end.

The book I’d most like to see turned into a movie or TV show is Razorblade Tears. It’s a heavy-handed revenge story with less self-aware humor than John Wick, but with similar entertainment factor. I found myself constantly trying to cast the main characters as I read along.

All the books I read in 2022: #

If you’d like to see more of what I read, you can follow me on The Storygraph, Goodreads, or Instagram. I’m still searching for the perfect place to socialize about books on the internet.