Top 5 books of 2022
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Anonymous
I *loved* MYORAR - what a weird and compelling book. Have you read her others? I don't know why I haven't picked any of them up, I liked that one so much. I found it surprisingly uplifting, which I think means I am an incorrigible optimist. A dark, deressive optimist - c'est me. |
Anonymous
Those aren't books "of 2022." It has a specific meaning. People are recommending books from 20 years ago 
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Anonymous
This is such a DCUM post. Sometimes it takes years, decades even for people to hear about or get the desire to read a book. Last I checked, nobody's writing a "Top 5 books of 1839" even though that's when Oliver Twist was written. I happened to read it (again) this year and found it good this time around. But I guess I have to start a new thread to talk about it. |
Anonymous
So are you going to tell us the best 5 books you read this year or are you just going to be a pedant? |
Anonymous
I can only imagine what a dampening, wet blanket effect you would have at an actual in-person book club. |
Anonymous
OP's very first sentence of the post says: books you read in 2022. Calm down. |
Anonymous
I actually read OP's first post twice to make sure I understood it was "read in 2022" vs "published in 2022." 
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Anonymous
Master of the Senate didn’t give it away? |
Anonymous
Wow….I’d like to pick your brain…how do you make so much time for reading? How long do you read each day? Do you use the library or buy books? I’m mostly just envious of your dedication and commitment. I’d like to step up my reading in 2023. Sorry for going off topic… |
Anonymous
I’ve read 62 books so far this year - I do a lot of audiobook and listen at 1.65 speed. I listen while driving, cooking, folding laundry, before bed, etc. I don’t watch tv. |
Anonymous
Not the PP you were asking, but as someone else who reads several books a week: First and most important, I’m sick in bed a lot. Reading books takes big stretches of time, so don’t beat yourself up too much if your schedule is getting in the way of reading! That’s said, my best tips: I read lots and lots of e-books from the library. When I hear about a book I might like, I add it to an Amazon wishlist. Then, once every few months, I search those titles in the DCPL database and anything they have as an e-book gets added to my wish list in Overdrive. (They also have Libby, an app-based management system, but I prefer the set-up in Overdrive, which is Web-based.) Any popular book has a queue, and you can have up to 15 holds active at a time, so I usually have 10-15 in the queue at any given time. They come up for checkout once or twice a week, so that’s mostly enough to keep me reading, but there are also hundreds of books available for immediate download if I need more. It’s all been life-changing, to have books come and go without ever leaving my house! In terms of time to read, I’ve found that all screens other than my Kindle Paperwhite mess with my sleep, so I try to put everything away an hour before lights-out and use that time to read. I also carry the kindle in my purse, so there are short periods of downtime when I’m in a doctor’s waiting room or early for carpool or whatever. Plus middle-of-the-night insomnia and woke-too-early mornings are reading time because it’s “me time” with no demands and I don’t want to do anything too stimulating out of Hope I’ll be able to get back to sleep. |
Anonymous
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I’m halfhearted about keeping track of books I’ve read and/or dates, but I Storygraph says I had three 5-star books this year:
White Oleander (Janet Fitch) — saw this on a list of people’s favorite books (possibly on DCUM?) and finally got around to reading it; dark subject matter, but both the characters and settings are so richly drawn Ruby (Cynthia Bond) — even darker, but beautiful Black Widow (Leslie Gray Streeter) — memoir of a literal Black widow, nothing particularly wild about the story, but her writer’s voice was so warm and funny and charming My last several 5-star library ratings (I’m an easier grader for library ratings than Storygraph): Part of Your World (Abby Jimenez) — fairly standard romance novel, but sweet and cute Tbe Disappearing Act (Catherine Steadman) — fairly standard mystery/thriller, but entertaining Disappearing Earth (Julia Steadman) — a series of linked short stories set on a remote Russian peninsula; I generally dislike short stories but got sucked in by this one Spook Street (Mick Herron) — the Sloygh House series as a whole is roughly 4-stars for me, but this one stood out as being the most enjoyable Maid (Stephanie Land) — amazing that the author could write about working as a maid and struggling financially as a single mother in a way that keeps you glued to the page, but she pulls it off Future Feeling (Joss Lake) — very love-it-or-hate-it, but I unexpectedly loved it; weird and funny |
Anonymous
We seem to have similar taste! I'd love to hear what else you enjoyed this year. Here are three others I liked a lot (though not as much as Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow - my favorite of the year!): Now is Not the Time to Panic, by Kevin Wilson Candy House, by Jennifer Egan Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson (Too tired right now to write intelligent summaries. Sorry!) |
Anonymous
I think we have similar taste (I call myself lowbrow too, and I’m definitely a Harper), so appreciate the recommendations! The Sentence is the only one I’ve read, and most I’ve never even heard of. By coincidence, I’ve got Sea of Tranquility from the library right now, and I was feeling torn about starting it because I was also bored by Station Eleven (but also loved the show). Fingers crossed that I’ll prefer this one like you did. |
Anonymous
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