My best books of 2022 (and other distinctions)
I read 50 books this year. It would have been even more except I spent my leisure time binge-watching all seven seasons of The Vampire Diaries in the spring/summer (absolutely ZERO regrets; I had the time of my life) and also struggled through the worst reading slump of my life in October and November. It felt horrible to not feel like reading and I kept starting and quitting books - even ones that I had been waiting to come in off the library hold list for months. There was one book I was really looking forward to and then I put it down in anger/disgust/disappointment on page TWO because of a TYPO (curtesy instead of courtesy). I think stress had just scrambled the way my emotions were wired. Anyway, that brings us to my favorite books of 2022, because one of them HAS to be the book that got me out of my reading slump:
Small Game, by Blair Braverman. Braverman is an Iditarod dogsled racer and so the details of this survival-reality-show-turned-actual-survival-situation story feel extremely lived in. It had heart and warmth but was also really shivery and creepy. I think feeling all those feelings unscrambled my emotions for me, which I really appreciate!
Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr. I don’t know, it was weird and quirky and just unnecessarily complex…and I loved it.
The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker. Another completely bizarre book (about a literal genie (jinni) and a woman MADE OF CLAY and brought to life) but it WORKS. It’s the love and care on display in the details/characters/settings of this story that made this one of my favorite books this year - the Syrian desert, bustling Beirut, and the vibrant immigrant communities of 1899 NYC.
The Betrayal of Anne Frank, by Rosemary Sullivan. This is a flawed book (slightly disorganized and contested by historians) but I still think everyone should read it. It gets you thinking about the complexity of war/occupation and the terrible decisions people have to make in awful circumstances.
Most-read book: I read Scorpio Races for the fourth time this year. I also re-read Persuasion and The Diary of a Young Girl.
Best bad book (the guiltiest pleasure): This category might need to be discontinued because I just can’t feel guilt about something that brings me joy! I started reading romance books in 2020 and I feel like society wants me to feel guilty about that because I’m…not…learning? anything? and women are having fulfilling relationships instead of, like, being murdered? idk. (But also the joke is on society because I actually do learn a lot from these books - there are a few authors whose books almost feel like therapy, or at least a mini-class on emotional intellgence and how to be a better communicator. Or there’s none of that but they’re just tons of fun to read and that’s ok, too!)
Worst cover: Literally all the covers were great this year! Good job, everyone.
Best cover: The Golem and the Jinni.
Worst title: I wasn’t terribly fond of Anatomy: A Love Story just because it sounded weird anytime I said it, and I always felt like I had to explain what it was about. But maybe that was the author’s/marketing team’s plan all along!
Best title: Caste: The Origins of our Discontents; I Must Betray You; Paradoxical Glory.
Logorrhea books: This year, I could NOT stop talking about The Betrayal of Anne Frank (including with our bike tour guide in Amsterdam), Corinne, and Small Game.
