My Top Ten Books of 2022 -- BOOK LIST

 

MY TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2022

I don’t usually choose my Top 10 reads of the year. That feels like asking me to chose my favorite cat. Or favorite grandchild. (Well, actually, I could do that. But don’t tell anyone!)

But I thought I'd try something new this year and give a go at making a list of my ten favorite books of the past year. I did not have all ten handy, having read a few with my ears and loaned a couple out. So instead, here you have a picture of my newly tidied up reading corner, now that I put away the Christmas decorations.

Here’s the list of my favorite ten books I read in 2022, in the order I read them. I don't think I could put them in order of preference -- that would be asking too much! See any of your own favorites here?

• Katherine by Anya Seton, a classic of historical fiction. It was the first (full) book I read in 2022 and it stuck with me. 

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, which I gave a couple people for gifts because I loved it so much. It is a charming novel about grown up siblings dealing with the fallout of the ne'er-do-well brother blowing their inheritance. 

• The Word is Murder, the first in Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne Investigates series. I quickly gobbled up the other two and have the new, fourth book on hold at the library. 

• Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci, which I listened to twice because he reads the audiobook himself and it is fantastic.

• The Counterlife by Philip Roth was very clever and made me think.

• Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler was a reread for me but so good it sparked a Chandler binge.

• The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger was a surprise I found hidden on my TBR shelf, a gift from a bookstagram buddy.

• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater was my first Slater book and now I’m hooked!

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith was excellent, simply excellent. I can't believe it took me so long to get to this clever, intricately-plotted story. 

• Call it Sleep by Henry Roth is a forgotten classic I put off reading because I thought it would be boring. On the contrary! It is so, so good and will become a book I proselytize for.

The complete list of the 111 books I read in 2022 is here. You can find links to the my annual book lists under the tab at the top of the page called Reading by Year. 

What were your favorite books of 2022?