2022 Book Roundup

According to GoodReads, I read nearly 28,000 pages this year. I hate to imagine what that number is if you add in all th essays and short stories I graded.

I’d hoped to read 100 books, but I’m going to fall a bit short. I suppose that could be viewed as a failure, but the truth is I’m not too terribly concerned about–as long as I’m reading, I’m winning.

I took a good number of years off of my voracious book consumption several years back. After graduate school, I read a little, but not like I do now. I carry a book with me most places, I keep several on my bedside table, on my side table near my chair and a half in the living room–purchased this year so I could curl up in with a good book and lose myself for hours on end.

Books are a distraction and a blessing and a reminder that there are millions of other kinds of lives and worlds and people beyond my own little bubble. It’s a way to be part of something so much bigger than myself. When I meet someone who loves book I love, I feel like I’ve found a new friend. And when someone loves a book I think is trash, well, that is also incredibly valuable information.

So, here’s the list of 93 books I’ve read this year. I may hit 94–I’m starting Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger today. I’ve coded the list with the number of stars I gave it in review, and I’ve noted the standouts in parentheses.

Happy reading, friends.

December
The Lost Witch, Paige Crutcher ***
Dickens & Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius, Nick Hornby ****
Musical Tables: Poems, Billy Collins * (one of the worst collections I’ve ever read)
Little Beach Street Bakery, Jenny Colgan ****
The Boy, Tami Hoag ****
The Hurting Kind: Poems, Ada Limon ***
The Keeper of Lost Things, Ruth Hogan ****
Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life, Kim Addonizio ****
The Bookshop on the Shore, Jenny Colgan ***** (darling little booky romance)
The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Fiona Davis **** (mystery, love story, NY public library 🙂
The Christmas Bookshop, Jenny Colgan ***** (a holiday absolute must read)
Mrs. Fletcher, Tom Perrotta ***** (not as good as The Leftovers, but still a fun read)
The Cafe by the Sea, Jenny Colgan *****
Heart of the Sea (3 of the Ardmore Trilogy), Nora Roberts ****
Tears of the Moon (2 of the Ardmore Trilogy), Nora Roberts ****

November
Jewels of the Sun (1 of the Ardmore Trilogy), Nora Roberts ****
The Book of Delights: Essays, Ross Gay ***** (small pieces on the brutal and beautiful)
The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai ***** (an art mystery, a cult, NY and Paris? YES)
Family Tree, Susan Wiggs ***

October
Blood Magick (3 of the Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy), Nora Roberts *****
Shadow Spell (2 of the Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy, Nora Roberts ****
Dark Witch (1 of the Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy), Nora Roberts ***** (spicy Irish witches!)
A Marriage of Opposites, Alice Hoffman ***

September
All This Could Be Yours, Jami Attenberg ***
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler ***
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie **
The Great Man Theory, Teddy Wayne ***
The Two Lives of Sara, Catherine Adel West ***
Other Birds, Sarah Addison Allen ***** (art, birds, recipes, family–all my favorites!!!)
The Lights of Sugarberry Cove, Heather Webber ***

August
Dangerous Beauty, Melissa Koslin **
Moonlight & the Pearler’s Daughter, Lizzie Cook **
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna ****
The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd ****
Arcadia, Lauren Groff ***** (brilliant–read it in a day; hippie commune magic)
South of the Buttonwood Tree, Heather Webber ***** (magical realism sweetness)
Oleander City, Matt Bondurant ****
Mankiller Poems, Wilma Mankiller ****
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders, Kathryn Miles ***

July
January Fifteenth, Rachel Swirsky **** (Universal Basic Income dystopia)
The Burning Season, Alison Wisdom *** (We Can Only Save Ourselves is MUCH better)
Silver Sparrow, Tayari Jones ****
South of Broad, Pat Conroy **** (southern family drama brilliance)

June
One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty *****
The Past is Never, Tiffany Quay Tyson ***
The Sparrow Sisters, Ellen Herrick ***** (great for fans of Practical Magic)
Tracy Flick Can’t Win, Tom Perrotta **** (sequel to Election)
Election, Tom Perrotta **** (re-read to prep for the sequel)
The Hour of the Witch, Chris Bohjalian ***
The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker ***
Ferris Beach, Jill McCorkle **** (coming of age in Carolina–gorgeous)
The 9th Girl, Tami Hoag ***
Summer by the Sea, Susan Wiggs **** (includes Italian recipes!)
The Fifth Petal, Brunonia Barry ****
The Testament, John Grisham **
Going to Ground: Simple Life on a Georgia Pond, Amy Blackmarr ****

May
Razzmatazz, Christopher Moore ***
Miss Me When I’m Gone, Philip Stephens ****
A Good Killing, Allison Leotta
Unbound, Tarana Burke ***** (the birth of the Me Too movement–a must read)
Run You Down, Julia Dahl ***
The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins **
“Between Angels: Poems, Stephen Dunn ***

April
Sugar & Salt, Susan Wiggs **
Good Enough: 40ish Devotions for a Life of Imperfection, Kate Bowler *****
I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home, Jami Attenberg ****
Real Easy, Marie Rutkoski ***
The Tradition: Poems, Jericho Brown ***
The White Album: Essays, Joan Didion **** (Genius observations on American culture)
In Mad Love & War: Poems, Joy Harjo ***

March
All Day is a Long Time, David Sanchez ***
Return to Willow Lake, Susan Wiggs ** (way too much cancer content)
A Different Distance: Renga (Poems), Marilyn Hacker & Karthika Nair ***
No Place Like Home Anothology: Poems, Everyman’s Library Series *****
The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman ****
The Family, Naomi Krupitsky **** (imagine The Godfather told by wives & daughters)

February
12 Bytes: How We Got Here, Where We Might Go Next–on AI, Jeanette Winterson ***
Magdalene: Poems, Marie Howe ***
The Best American Food Writing 2021, ed. Gabrielle Hamilton ***
The Garden of Promises & Lies (Bk. 3 in the Found Things Series), Paula Brackston ****
The Great Witch of Brittany, Louisa Morgan **** (reading as a superpower + witches!)
Oh William!, Elizabeth Strout *** (sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton)
My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout **** (mother/daughter drama abounds)

January
The Boat of Quiet Hours: Poems, Jane Kenyon **** (every poem is stunning)
No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear), Kate Bowler ***** (brilliant)
Sister Stardust, Jane Green ***
Goldenrod: Poems, Maggie Smith ***** (humor, heart, heartbreak, humility–A+++)
The Bookstore, Deborah Meyler ** (dumbass protagonist ruins this almost decent book)
The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr **** (I’ll return to this often for advice and inspiration)
Revelator, Daryl Gregory **** (creepier than what I normally read; couldn’t put it down)
Woman on Fire, Lisa Barr **** (a journalist, an art mystery, fashion, & forbidden love)
The After Party, A.C. Arthur ***
Then She Was Gone, Lisa Jewell ***