Best Book of 2022

Dazrin · 12-08-2022, 03:41 PM

It's time! What were your favorite books of 2022? They can be books you've read or books that were published in 2022. They can even be books you expect to finish this year.

Maybe you're looking to join the StoryGraph MR Reading Challenge or the 2023 Reading Challenge and need ideas. Let's give each other some ideas.

So, it's time to review (and update) your 2022 Challenge List, your GoodReads Year in Books, your StoryGraph library, or any other book diary you keep. Then let us know what books we should add to our 2023 reading plans and decide what threads to lurk on in the Deals forum.

Here are some ideas about what we would like you to share with us:

What were the best books you read this year?

Do you have any favorite books published in 2022?

What books are on your "most anticipated" lists for 2023?

And be sure to mention why you enjoyed each of these books so we can decide if we want to try them next year too.

If you find it hard to remember what books you really enjoyed this year, issybird suggested making a "best of <year>" category at Goodreads (or wherever you track your reading) so you have it for next year.

If you want to see what some of our member's past favorites are, here are some of the old threads:
2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012

If anyone can give me a generic link to a StoryGraph library that would be great. The only URL I have found is specific for each user, not a generic "whoever is logged in right now" link like I have for GR.

Spoiler:

JSWolf · 12-08-2022, 03:43 PM

I'd like to see the recommendations for books published in 2022.

issybird · 12-08-2022, 03:58 PM

Yay! I was waiting on this thread.

issybird · 12-08-2022, 04:12 PM

OK, I’m going to take this in chunks (per my usual). I read three terrific novels published this year:

The Latinist by Mark Prins
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

But I also abandoned four highly-praised novels published this year.

JSWolf · 12-08-2022, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

OK, I’m going to take this in chunks (per my usual). I read three terrific novels published this year:

The Latinist by Mark Prins
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

But I also abandoned four highly-praised novels published this year.

Were any of those three books published in 2022.

issybird · 12-08-2022, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Were any of those three books published in 2022.

“this year” = 2022

Karellen · 12-08-2022, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazrin

They can be books you've read or books that were published in 2022.

My favourite books I have read in 2022 are oldies, but surprised me at how much I enjoyed them. They were all my first read...

The Host - Stepanie Meyer - published May 2008
Ill Wind - Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason - published June 1995
The Pelican Brief - John Grisham - published February 1992

JSWolf · 12-08-2022, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

“this year” = 2022

Sorry, I didn't read the top line.

SteveEisenberg · 12-08-2022, 07:31 PM

Learned the most from, and deserving of crown for best:
James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington

The author says "I cried every single day I wrote this book,” and I believe it:
A. J. Baime, White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret

I hesitate to mention something political, but this guy can write:
Tim Miller, Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell

Better than the subject's novels:
Lucy Worsley, Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman

Most fun:
Richard Osman, The Bullet That Missed

Catlady · 12-08-2022, 10:37 PM

My favorite book of the year was the first one I read this year--Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle, but it was published in 2021. Of the books published in 2022, my favorites, in the order I read them, are

Fiction (all historicals; my go-to suspense authors disappointed me this year):

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird
Little Souls by Sandra Dallas
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan
Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Joan by Katherine J. Chen (included because it inspired me to go on a Joan of Arc binge)

Nonfiction:

The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet
The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman

Uncle Robin · 12-09-2022, 12:54 AM

Favourite books published in 2022
Framed in Fire - Iona Whishaw A great ewxample of a modern murder mystery with meaning.

The Life of Crime - Martin Edwards - the ultimate crime fiction encyclopedia

Best books read in 2022

The link immediately above is to a list of all the books I've tagged as "my top reads of 2022" at the StoryGraph, here are 3 chosen from that list.

The Annotated Persuasion - Jane Austen. The first time I'd read Persuasion, and the annotated version was a great choice. Easily my favourite Austen now, one I'm certain to re-read

The Fair Miss Fortune - D. E. Stevenson - relaxing and fun. Plus a surprise to see an untranslated Urdu/Hindi/Panjabi expression that made me laugh and may have been bowdlerised.

The Lost Book of the Grail - Charles C. Lovett A celebration of books that was unusually inclusive in its definition thereof.

My "Most anticipated of 2023" would be (links to Kobo synopses)

To Track a Traitor - Iona Whishaw. If book 10 in the series is half as good as book 9, it will be a great read.

Sepulchre Street - Martin Edwards. I'm enjoying the Savernake series, I hope its strong form continues.

ZodWallop · 12-09-2022, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Learned the most from, and deserving of crown for best:
James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington

He's cohosting a debate podcast called Not Even Mad with Virginia Heffernan and Mike Pesca. I'd recommend it.

Quote:

I hesitate to mention something political, but this guy can write:
Tim Miller, Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell

I read that one and it made me really angry. Not so much the political stuff, which I expected. But all the political insider stuff. The jaded 'politics is just a lucrative business' attitude from all involved, including the author. I'm sure it is true and has been. I just think I shouldn't have gotten so close to how the sausage gets made

ZodWallop · 12-09-2022, 05:23 PM

I read some pretty good books this year. Probably the book that absorbed me most was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I avoided it for years because I don't care for alternate history. That was a mistake. Great book.

I'd also say The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, though that was a reread, so feels like cheating. If you've not read The Big Sleep, you really should.

Runner up would be The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

Books published in 2022, I read Why We Did It by Tim Miller. It was a good book. But as mentioned, also made me mad.

And The Einsteins of Vista Point by Ben Guterson. A YA book, but I met the author and tried the book. Really enjoyed it.

Luffy · 12-12-2022, 05:48 AM

In 2022, I read twelve 5 starred books, of these 5 were rereads. I'm listing the 7 first time reads:-

the bolded titles are those that have broken into my top 20 books of all time

-Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1), by China Mieville (Fantasy)
-Greenglass House (Greenglass House, #1), by Kate Milford (Middle Grade Fantasy)
-Means of Ascent, by Robet A. Caro (Nonfiction)
-Singing to the Dead, by Caro Ramsay (crime and police procedural)
-Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1), by Donna Leon (police procedural)
-Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole, by Jerri Nielsen (Nonfiction)
-Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1), by Robert Jackson Bennett (Fantasy)

HLS · 12-12-2022, 01:59 PM

The best books read this year:

The Sentence-Louise Erdrich
The Shimmer-Carsten Stroud
Firestarter-Stephen King
Lady in the Lake- Laura Lippman
A Noise Downstairs-Linwood Barclay
The Only Good Indians
Bag of Bones-Stephen King
The It Girl-Ruth Ware
The Hiding Place C.J. Tudor

The worst mainly because they were slow and dull not necessarily horrible, just bored me:

Boys from Biloxi-John Gresham
Sparring Partners-John Grisham
All The Pretty Horses-Cormac McCarthy
Fairytale-Stephen King

12-08-2022, 04:12 PM	#4
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,129 Karma: 234223171 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	OK, I’m going to take this in chunks (per my usual). I read three terrific novels published this year: *The Latinist* by Mark Prins *Siren Queen* by Nghi Vo *The Swimmers* by Julie Otsuka But I also abandoned four highly-praised novels published this year.

12-08-2022, 10:37 PM	#10
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,407 Karma: 52613881 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	My favorite book of the year was the first one I read this year--Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle, but it was published in 2021. Of the books published in 2022, my favorites, in the order I read them, are Fiction (all historicals; my go-to suspense authors disappointed me this year): Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird Little Souls by Sandra Dallas The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan Ashton Hall by Lauren Belfer Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Joan by Katherine J. Chen (included because it inspired me to go on a Joan of Arc binge) Nonfiction: The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman

12-12-2022, 01:59 PM	#15
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,126 Karma: 16342480 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	The best books read this year: The Sentence-Louise Erdrich The Shimmer-Carsten Stroud Firestarter-Stephen King Lady in the Lake- Laura Lippman A Noise Downstairs-Linwood Barclay The Only Good Indians Bag of Bones-Stephen King The It Girl-Ruth Ware The Hiding Place C.J. Tudor The worst mainly because they were slow and dull not necessarily horrible, just bored me: Boys from Biloxi-John Gresham Sparring Partners-John Grisham All The Pretty Horses-Cormac McCarthy Fairytale-Stephen King Last edited by HLS; 12-13-2022 at 11:15 AM.

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12-08-2022, 03:41 PM	#1
Dazrin Wizard Posts: 2,720 Karma: 75825105 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: PDXish Device: Kindle Voyage, various Android devices	Best Book of 2022 It's time! What were your favorite books of 2022? They can be books you've read or books that were published in 2022. They can even be books you expect to finish this year. Maybe you're looking to join the StoryGraph MR Reading Challenge or the 2023 Reading Challenge and need ideas. Let's give each other some ideas. So, it's time to review (and update) your 2022 Challenge List, your GoodReads Year in Books, your StoryGraph library, or any other book diary you keep. Then let us know what books we should add to our 2023 reading plans and decide what threads to lurk on in the Deals forum. Here are some ideas about what we would like you to share with us: What were the best books you read this year? Do you have any favorite books published in 2022? What books are on your "most anticipated" lists for 2023? And be sure to mention why you enjoyed each of these books so we can decide if we want to try them next year too. If you find it hard to remember what books you really enjoyed this year, issybird suggested making a "best of <year>" category at Goodreads (or wherever you track your reading) so you have it for next year. If you want to see what some of our member's past favorites are, here are some of the old threads: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 If anyone can give me a generic link to a StoryGraph library that would be great. The only URL I have found is specific for each user, not a generic "whoever is logged in right now" link like I have for GR. Spoiler: Code: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books-read/<user> And to filter down to 2022 books it looks like they replace "user" with some sort of hash which isn't very useful. Code: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books-read/<hash>?year=2022 Last edited by Dazrin; 12-14-2022 at 05:39 PM.

12-08-2022, 03:43 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,040 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I'd like to see the recommendations for books published in 2022.

12-08-2022, 03:58 PM	#3
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,129 Karma: 234223171 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	Yay! I was waiting on this thread.

12-08-2022, 07:31 PM	#9
SteveEisenberg Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,354 Karma: 42994616 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: near Philadelphia USA Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)	Learned the most from, and deserving of crown for best: James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington The author says "I cried every single day I wrote this book,” and I believe it: A. J. Baime, White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret I hesitate to mention something political, but this guy can write: Tim Miller, Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell Better than the subject's novels: Lucy Worsley, Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman Most fun: Richard Osman, The Bullet That Missed

12-09-2022, 12:54 AM	#11
Uncle Robin Diligent dilettante Posts: 3,626 Karma: 50808776 Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: in my mind Device: Kobo Sage; Kobo Libra Colour	Favourite books published in 2022 Framed in Fire - Iona Whishaw A great ewxample of a modern murder mystery with meaning. The Life of Crime - Martin Edwards - the ultimate crime fiction encyclopedia Best books read in 2022 The link immediately above is to a list of all the books I've tagged as "my top reads of 2022" at the StoryGraph, here are 3 chosen from that list. The Annotated Persuasion - Jane Austen. The first time I'd read Persuasion, and the annotated version was a great choice. Easily my favourite Austen now, one I'm certain to re-read The Fair Miss Fortune - D. E. Stevenson - relaxing and fun. Plus a surprise to see an untranslated Urdu/Hindi/Panjabi expression that made me laugh and may have been bowdlerised. The Lost Book of the Grail - Charles C. Lovett A celebration of books that was unusually inclusive in its definition thereof. My *"Most anticipated of 2023"* would be (links to Kobo synopses) To Track a Traitor - Iona Whishaw. If book 10 in the series is half as good as book 9, it will be a great read. Sepulchre Street - Martin Edwards. I'm enjoying the Savernake series, I hope its strong form continues.

12-09-2022, 05:23 PM	#13
ZodWallop Gentleman and scholar Posts: 11,464 Karma: 111111111 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Space City, Texas Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3	I read some pretty good books this year. Probably the book that absorbed me most was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I avoided it for years because I don't care for alternate history. That was a mistake. Great book. I'd also say The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, though that was a reread, so feels like cheating. If you've not read The Big Sleep, you really should. Runner up would be The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Books published in 2022, I read Why We Did It by Tim Miller. It was a good book. But as mentioned, also made me mad. And The Einsteins of Vista Point by Ben Guterson. A YA book, but I met the author and tried the book. Really enjoyed it.

12-12-2022, 05:48 AM	#14
Luffy Wizard Posts: 4,461 Karma: 429063498 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Mauritius Device: Kindle Paperwhite 4	In 2022, I read twelve 5 starred books, of these 5 were rereads. I'm listing the 7 first time reads:- the bolded titles are those that have broken into my top 20 books of all time -Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1), by China Mieville (Fantasy) -Greenglass House (Greenglass House, #1), by Kate Milford (Middle Grade Fantasy) -Means of Ascent, by Robet A. Caro (Nonfiction) -Singing to the Dead, by Caro Ramsay (crime and police procedural) -Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1), by Donna Leon (police procedural) -Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole, by Jerri Nielsen (Nonfiction) -Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1), by Robert Jackson Bennett (Fantasy)

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