book list // 2022

BOOK LIST // 2022

total / 77

audio / 42

hardcopy / 35

Favourites // Fiction:

The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom / 5 stars (historical fiction)

I may have cried in this one... gripping & pretty gut-wrenching.

Memory Wall, Anthony Doerr / 5 stars (short stories)

I found all these stories to be captivatingly beautiful. 

the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini / 5 stars 

Definitely a latecomer to this one, but absorbing from the first page. Also gut-wrenching.

This Time Tomorrow, Emma Straub / 4 stars 

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected & really liked the narrator, Marin Ireland. I enjoyed more of an insider's view of New York City & found myself relating to the main character.

The Book of Form & Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki / 4 stars

This book covered a lot of ground. Some gritty realism mixed with otherworldly imagery. I really enjoyed this author.

Favourites // Non-Fiction:

Dusk, Night, Dawn, Anne Lamott / 5 stars (spiritual/memoir)

My first Lamott book & found it really engaging & disarming. Loved her audio, too.

Between Two Kingdoms, Suleika Jaouad / 4.5 stars (memoir)

A striking memoir. She has much to share of her journey through life & cancer. She does a lovely job of the audio.

Everything Sad is Untrue, Daniel Nayeri / 4.5 (memoir)

Another really good memoir. This one is surprising, ranging from gut-wrenching to hilarious. Told from his 12 year old(?) perspective as an Iranian refugee. Great audio by the author.

Blood, Bones & Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton / 4.5 (food memoir)

This was a re-read & I really enjoyed her story of becoming a chef. Narrated by the author. Not sure if it should be in the top ten, but sure.

Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner / 4 stars (food memoir)

I like food memoirs. This was an interesting one also about her relationship with her mother, as well as some insight into her Korean culture & heritage. Narrated by the author.

Also really enjoyed...

Woman in the Polar Night (lovely memoir of a woman's year long experience in the arctic).

The End of Your Life Book Club (memoir of a son's book club with his mother while facing cancer)

A Thousand Splendid Suns (read for the first time)

Book Lovers (surprised how much I enjoyed this one - a fun read. Thought Julia Whelan did a really good job here narrating)

the Wisdom Pyramid (of the nonfiction books I read, this one stands out)

the Dog Stars (different genre for me, a little more gritty, thought it was well done & enjoyed the narrator)

Remarkably Bright Creatures (a lighter mystery featuring an octopus as a narrating character. Audio by Marin Ireland - yay)

Complete Reading List:

(starred the ones I enjoyed more)

Nonfiction:

I'd Rather be Reading

Walking on Water

*God of All Things

the God of the Garden

Leap Over a Wall

*the Wisdom Pyramid

Liturgy of the Ordinary

Joyful

Memoir:

*Woman in the Polar Night

Long River of Song

A Ghost in the Throat

*Dusk Night Dawn

Almost Everything

*Blood, Bones & Butter

*Crying in H Mart

I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet

Taste

*the End of Your Life Book Club

*Between Two Kingdoms

Mastering the Art of French Eating

*Everything Sad is Untrue

Eat a Peach

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Night

Fiction:

Room

Hannah Coulture

*Daisy Jones & the Six

Lovely War

Fight Night

Crossing to Safety

*Goldfinch

*Cloud Cuckoo Land

Little Fires Everywhere

a Complicated Kindness

Our Souls at Night

a Tree Grows in Brooklyn

We are all Completely Beside Ourselves

Hamnet

*the Poisonwood Bible

Oh, William

the Swimmers

This Tender Land

*A Thousand Splendid Suns

*Book Lovers

*Colourless Tsukuru & His Years of Pilgrimage

the River

the Storied Life of AJ Fikry

*the Dog Stars

*the Kite Runner

*This Time Tomorrow

My Name is Asher Lev

The Strange Library

*Remarkably Bright Creatures

Never Let Me Go

*the Book of Form & Emptiness

Historical Fiction:

*the Kitchen House

*Homegoing

Kids/YA Lit:

Inside Out & Back Again

Where the Red Fern Grows

Bridge to Terabithia

*the Beatryce Prophecy

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone

Flora & Ulysses

the Ickabog

Classics:

Pride & Prejudice

a Little Princess

Short Story:

*Memory Wall

Graphic Novel:

This One Summer

the Best We Could Do

Poetry:

*Keep Moving

Goldenrod

Disappoints / Not For Me:

the Shell Collector (weird/dark vibe)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (content/didn't like the style of writing)

the Midnight Library (found the storyline a little tiring & predictable, tho Carey Mulligan is a nice narrator)

the Last Thing He Told Me (found this one very anti-climactic)

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow (made it 3/4 of the way when it expired on me & I didn't feel compelled to finish. Patly the writing style, partly the content)

Ending Notes...

I didn't have a goal in mind in so far as numbers, but am impressed I read as much as I did! I had fun keeping a book journal this year & tracking my reads - I found it insightful & helpful to look back on. Excited to start a new list. I enjoyed a lot of memoirs & love when the author narrates their own work. I felt great about completing my first Jane Austen novel, Pride & Prejudice, & even enjoyed it more than I expected. Also delved into Haruki Marukami, an author I'd like to explore more this year. 

Lastly, a nod to the actor Jemaine Clements who showed up in my mind to play a character not once, but three times ~ as the lead in Daisy Jones, Mr Darcy in P&P, & showed up again as Stepan in Anna Karenina ~ which I have found both fitting & amusing.

Cheers to a new reading year!

( & tackling Anna Karenina)