My Top 5 Books of 2022
I find a great deal of satisfaction in keeping track of the books I’ve read and when. Not only for sharing recommendations with others, but also to record progress and achievements. I didn’t reach my book count in 2022 - which was to read 50 books - but I came close. And despite falling short of my goal, I’m happy with many of the titles I tackled and the tidbits I recorded along the way. I don’t dogear my pages, though each book I own is heavy with sticky notes. I mark favorite quotes, character descriptions, character arcs, and unexpected moments. I also keep a book journal to document the titles I have read. For the titles I have not, I keep those in a google doc. I’ve been teased by friends and told platforms like Goodreads makes this easier, however, I am stubborn and continue to do it my way. Maybe I’ll shift over eventually, but maybe not (hehe).
Anyway, this being said, I have been going through my 2022 reads and marked my top five to share with you today. I always find recommendations to be the best way to get out of a reading slump or just to see what other people find important or touching. So, if you need a little inspiration or are just curious, here is the list. Their numerical order doesn’t reflect a hierarchy or ranking system, I enjoyed each of these titles for different reasons.
1. Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Vuong has an undeniable gift for language - he finds such unexpected and beautiful pairings. This collection of poems is another intimate and gut-wrenching exploration of themes such as grief, family, and war. I am not generally a huge poetry reader, but after reading On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong has my undivided attention, and I’ll read whatever he releases. If you need a book that you’ll be reflecting on months after you’ve read it, this is the one.
“the wish returns to his head where it’s truer for never being touched by language.” pg. 72
“Enough. Time is a mother. Lest we forget, a morgue is also a community center.” pg. 49
2. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Not a challenging read, but a wonderful one regardless. Meet Valancy, a strong female protagonist that decides life is too short to spend it pleasing those that don’t deserve it. Her journey begins with a fatal diagnosis and the burning need to be free of her condesending family. She has always searched for her “blue castle,” a daydream or happy place. Her chance to find it takes her on all sorts of self-discovering adventures.
After reading this book, ask your friends and family what their “blue castle” is. The answers may surprise and please you - I was certainly glad to have asked my friends too. Knowing what someone else’s happy place looks like is a great way to get to know them.
“Isn’t it better to have your heart broken than to have it wither up?” pg. 227
3. Fossil Men by Kermit Pattison
I’ve recently had the opportunity to work with a paleoanthropologist and it has piqued my interest in the subject. I wanted to educate myself on the topic and this hunt lead me to Pattison’s book. This was his project for around a decade - ten years of research, drafting, interviews, etc. The amount of work put into this…I cannot imagine. But the end result is a concise, clear, and entertaining recollection of the bone rushes in Ethiopia. It was a hectic frenzy amongst scientists in the late 1900s and it has massively impacted what we know today.
The focus is on the discovery of Ardi (shortened from its classification, Ardipithecus ramidus), however, Pattison outlines the events leading up to this monumental find as well as what followed.
“paleoanthropology is the aggregation of broken remains to compose a mosaic of the past.” pg. 107
4. Kirekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (audio version)
There is a reason this book has won so many awards. It is this suspenseful, heartbreaking, breathtaking, and uplifting sense of urgency that leaves you enraptured until the end. We follow Daunis Fontaine’s perspective, a young Indigenous woman trying to navigate grief and her own sense of belonging. She has been thrown into a series of chaotic and traumatizing events. Events that she is trying to confront and conquer as life continues to become increasingly complicated and soon, more than just her life is put on the line.
There is a lot of difficult content to read (read about it online for a full trigger warning list), but this book is so powerful and worth every moment sat with heartache.
“Wisdom is not bestowed. In its raw state, it is the heartbreak of knowing things you wish you didn’t.”
5. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
This is probably one of the best (and weirdest) books I’ve ever read. The protagonist, Lillian, is asked to care for an old friend’s stepchildren. But rather than regular tantrums, these kids spontaneously combust when agitated. Because of this, they are feared and often neglected, isolating them from daily life even further. Lillian finds herself oddly enamored with these children as she too has often felt like an outcast.
This book is so wholesome and hilariously odd. Give it a go if you need something light and quirky!
“These kids were like aliens, like they’d been given a really incomplete book about humans and were trying to remember every detail.” pg. 142
The turn of a new year means setting new reading goals. By the end of 2023, I’m hoping to have read 75 books - this will include audio. Feel free to reach out anytime and inquire about what I’m reading! Share your own literary journeys too, if you’d like.