On Good Books

In one of my previous blogs, I talked about my favourite reading tracker app, and a few people suggested that I talk a bit more about my favourite books from 2022. So, here's a list, which I've compiled from my post-reading reviews. These are not necessarily books that were published in 2022 - just ones I read in the last twelve months. 

 

Let me know if you've read any of these, and definitely let me know what you thought about them! 

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BEST POETRY COLLECTION: 

Peach Pig by Cecilia Knapp

I said: "A beautiful collection full of poems that build image upon image to create gloriously wistful emotional landscapes. Some of the poems about grief and loss are particularly devastating. I loved it, but I'd recommend reading it slowly - I read it all on one go and it was quite overwhelming."

MOST BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN: 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

I said: "A beautiful, poetic journey through the American/Vietnamese experience in the early 2000s, and the complicated feelings that surface when navigating family, race and queerness as a young person. Ocean Vuong's prose is just a great as his poetry - and that's really saying something!"

BEST ROMANCE: 

Reputation by Lex Croucher 

I said: "I absolutely loved this. A fantastic mix of teen drama and Regency-era debauchery. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton (the TV series, not the books) or Mean Girls. Not a good fit for folk who like their historical fiction historically accurate, but the author creates a world that feels very real. This was my first audio book - and it worked wonderfully when read aloud!"

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK: 

The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius

I said: "One of the most compelling children's books I've ever read. A mystery adventure, set in early twentieth-century Europe and narrated by Sally Jones, a ship's engineer who is also a gorilla. All the characters are fantastically well-drawn, and the story jumps across continients, from Europe to India and back again. Thoroughly readable, and made me wish I had read it as a child. Right up my street!"

BEST MYSTERY: 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

I said: "A great mystery story with a diverse cast of believeable characters. I read this as an audiobook, and the voice acting was also top-notch. YA Fiction suitable for 14+ but very enjoyable for adults too! Lots of trigger warnings (as you might expect for a murder/thriller) but I found it to be compelling and engaging, and well worth a read."

BEST NON-FICTION:

A Tomb With a View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards by Peter Ross

I said: "A beautifully-written book about the rituals of death, and the celebration of lives past. Incredibly uplifting and a must-read for anyone interested in social history, or graveyards, or the social history of graveyards."

BEST TRANSLATION: 

The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros

I said: "This book, which was translated from Welsh to English by the author, is a post-apocalyptic story about family, hope, and surviving a nuclear holocaust in rural Wales. It's also a book about second chances, and is told from two perspectives, which gives it a real narrative richness. I couldn't put it down, and I've been thinking about it ever since. This story really stays with you."

THE CRINGE AWARD FOR THE LEAST SELF-AWARE PROTAGONIST: 

Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend

I said "Adrian Mole continues to be oblivious to his many, many personal failings, while the people around him endure his self-centred musings. A cringe comedy classic, focusing on a character whose lack of self-awareness is by turns hilarious, poignant, and infuriating. I love the way Sue Townsend writes, and her understanding of character is second to none."

STRANGEST PREMISE: 

And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness 

I said "Patrick Ness is one of my favourite writers, and this short book doesn't disappoint. A strange and absorbing tale, told from the perspective of the whales being hunted in the oceans of the nineteenth-century, and how they exact their bloody revenge on the whalers who wish them harm. Another one that I listened to on audiobook, and again, the voice acting was impecable."

HARDEST READ: 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I said "A compelling story that is almost completely obscured by Hawthorne's thoroughly impenetrable prose. I'm glad I read it - if only for the context it gives to the film Easy A (which is based on/inspired by Hawthorne's novel). That being said, I certainly didn't enjoy the act of reading it."  

MOST DISAPPOINTING BOOK OF THE YEAR: 

The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss 

I said: "If you can get past the unrelenting arrogance of the main character - coupled with his casual racism, sexism, ablism and almost constant fat-shaming - then the plot of this novel is mildly interesting. While I understand that Lucifer Box is meant to be a "magnificent bastard" type character, and a man of the era in which the book is set, the cruel distain the narrator seems to have for everyone else in the story, and his contrasting and unfalteringly high opinion of himself, mean he's really just exhausting. Not my cup of tea."

FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR: 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I said: "This book is everything I love in fiction: a queer love story, a murder mystery, a disection of the personal toll that Hollywood took on its actors in the early part of the twentieth century. Delicious. I devoured this one in two days. By far my favourite book of the year." 

Here's to another year of excellent reading!

Some of my 2022 favourites