The Best Books I Read This Year | 2022

[@SherdsTube]

Very pleased to see that 'The City', the first book I mention here, will be coming out in a physical edition some time in 2023: books.huri.harvard.edu/books/the-city

[@maddssmithy]

You are a breath of fresh air on Booktube. Really love how different your videos are and your book choices.

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks so much for saying so - I always hope to offer something a little different. :)

[@kieran_forster_artist]

I have to agree…something new….in the direction of finding focus vs wide views…

[@kieran_forster_artist]

It’s like a course in comparative literature without the pretensions of some college professors.

[@Arsenal.N.I7242]

Every book bar Suttree on your list is now on my tbr for the next year. They all seem interesting and well worth the time and effort. The amount of effort you put in your videos is top class. Great images,clips and background music really help with the mood and the thoughts your trying to get across to the viewer. It is a real treat when you upload one. 👍🏻 Great video and great recommendations.

[@SherdsTube]

I hope you dig some of them when you get round to reading them. Thanks so much for the kind words - I really appreciate it!

[@chrisgomes5048]

You remind that I need to read more Brendan Connell. For the past few years I've completed the Goodreads Reading Challenge (i.e. in January you pledge to read a specific number of books) and it has almost ruined me - I became a "competitive reader" who only reads so that he may claim victory over sloth and generate data for Amazon/Goodreads. This year I found your chanel (through the Thomas Ligotti website) and woke up and realized what I'd been doing. This coming year I'm only committing to Jason Harrigan's Umberto Eco challenge (read all of his fiction within the year). Thank you for your videos. They make me want to break out of my comfort zone. Best wishes for happyholidays and a happy New Year.

[@SherdsTube]

Yes, I've been doing that, too, actually. Even though I tried not to worry too much about meeting those goals, I probably won't be setting any numbered challenge for myself next year. I'm not it has a very positive influence on my reading - perhaps it only encourages breadth over depth. I'll probably just keep a notebook instead - that'll be much nicer. Merry Xmas to you, too!

[@semiote]

@@SherdsTube Are you open to sharing your Goodreads profile?

[@SherdsTube]

Sure - I don't do reviews or anything there, though: www.goodreads.com/user/show/8329372-sam

[@maddssmithy]

Another fantastic video. Got so excited when your video popped up in my feed. Is that icon a painting of a saint on your bookshelf? The one with the red background? May I ask of who? Thanks.

[@SherdsTube]

Hi Madison, thanks so much for your kind words! Actually, I wasn't sure - which is why I didn't reply immediately. Some consultation with more knowledgeable friends leads me to believe that it is Saint Peter. :)

[@sputniki5477]

The Murderess - Alexandros Papadiamantis The Necrophiliac - Gabrielle Wittkop The Erasers - Alain Robbe-Grillet The Tartar Steppe - Dino Buzzati Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathanael West The Twilight World - Werner Herzog

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks! Nice to see some old friends here, and new things to discover, too!

[@emiliotarsa6582]

First off, greetings from another Warsaw--in this case, the city in Indiana. Second, as has been expressed by other commenters, it's great to encounter a Booktube channel that approaches literature compellingly. (Here, I'll just say that the majority of Booktubers approach literature as pure fanatics: they discuss the extent to which they relate to a character; how progressive relational dynamics are; how agentic protagonists are, and so on. It's as if the value of literary texts rests on how much they cater to their personal values and how much they mirror their lives or wish-fulfillment desires. Nary a mention is made of form, prose, or aesthetics.) But to be honest, in terms of your videos, the montages; the narration; quotes; the focus on a single image...Initially, I thought, "What in the pastiche is all this?" But it all works, it really does. And I now realize that quotes are crucial in terms of gaining a preliminary appreciation of a text you are discussing. So, I appreciate you taking the time to craft videos with such depth. Also, and I mean this as a compliment, your narration reminds me of narration in BBC-produced archaeology or nature shows but with the style of a dark literary critic imagined by Bergman (and who possesses the encyclopedic precision of Borges). Third, I am a World Lit Professor, which means that I am familiar with several canons from around the world. Yet I am constantly surprised by the texts you discuss, many of which I've never heard of. That's...a little disquieting (in a good way, I suppose). On the strength of your video on Ligotti, I bought Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe. I'm on the third story and can safely say that Ligotti is indeed an American master (and I don't really read much American Lit, though in the last couple years I've become interested in the PoMo Maximalist novel; lots of Americans writing in this modality). I even set aside Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob for Ligotti. And Teatro Grottesco is on its way. Well, keep up the good work. As you can see, your videos are much appreciated by literature fans from around the world. Saludos.

[@SherdsTube]

Wow, it's nice to hear from a fellow Varsovian from the other side of the world. :) Thanks ever so much for this extraordinarily kind comment. I'm very pleased that you found the channel - I'm lucky to have such appreciative viewers. Haha! "the style of a dark literary critic imagined by Bergman" - that's another one to add to my blurb, just below "disquieting ASMR". Thrilled to have introduced you to Ligotti. I hope you have a fruitful experience reading him. Thanks once again for the kind words.

[@conniekampas7074]

Terrific books and I love your voice. So soothing. I could listen to you all day and night😊

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks so much!

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

Great video. I like how you take a (list sort of video, usually practical and just straight up informative) and make it expressive, personal and playful. Very intriguing.

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm really pleased you liked it. I was unsure about doing a list like this, but I'm glad I did in the end.

[@tompeaks2]

Thank you as always!

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@TheSalMaris]

Thank you for this. It informs me as to what I may choose to read next--or at least line my far from barren walls. Suttree has been on my list to read for quite a while. I think you may have pushed me into actually getting to it. All the best in this and every other new year.

[@SherdsTube]

I hope you dig Suttree as much as I did! All the best to you, too! Have a good Xmas.

[@Echoesoflostlibraries]

Very exciting list, I have a couple of new names to explore in 2023.. I love Suttree as well, I read it for the first time last year and it was in my top reads of that year.. I read BM this year and I do think that some of the peaks of just quietly beautiful descriptions of the night sky and the like are tremendous, but for me Suttree is a much better book. Anyway, thanks for the video and I look forwards to seeing your content in 2023!

[@SherdsTube]

It's hard to imagine any names being new to you haha! I think I prefer the unrelenting horror of BM, personally, but Suttree is definitely up there. My pleasure - looking forward to seeing yours, too.

[@brianjanson3498]

Interesting list. Your video made my day. Thank you.

[@SherdsTube]

My pleasure!

[@Hiphopopotamus123]

Really great and refreshing recommendations. Currently reading Suttree and it is truly an incredible read. Definitely going to check out some of the books mentioned!

[@SherdsTube]

Thank you. I hope you enjoy some of them. Looking back at the list after I'd compiled it, I realised it's all pretty grotesque and grim, isn't it? Something's wrong with me I suppose ;)

[@ForrestAguirre]

Fantastic, as always. I really enjoyed Brendan's Hequet this past year, along with Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze's The Beauty of the Death Cap and Avalon Brantley's The House of Silence. If you haven't read Brantley's absolutely lush prose and clever turns of phrase, I'd recommend it wholeheartedly. Sadly, she died at a young age, so her bibliography is far too short.

[@SherdsTube]

I've had The Beauty of the Death Cap since it was published, but still haven't read it yet. I'll make it a priority, since you recommend it. I haven't come across Avalon Brantley, but I'll certainly look her up. Thanks so much, Forrest!

[@james2529]

I've read so much great stuff this year, far more mainstream than you though. In no particular order: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Sandman books 1-4 by Neil Gaiman Bring up the bodies by Hilary Mantel Butcher's Crossing by John Williams The Information by Martin Amis Hunger by Knut Hamsun House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera The Peregrine by JA Baker

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks for sharing your list! Great to see some Dambudzo Marechera on there! :)

[@iiling7]

Thoroughly enjoyed the content of this video and the recommendations which I am convinced of, save Suttree which is also a personal favourite. Your videos are always a lovely treat on my end. Looking forward to content on older literature this year, and Clarice Lispector if you have another go at her. Am also wondering whose works you have enjoyed reading from the 19th century literature scene? Favourite reads last year was Pablo Neruda, Jack London, Fernando Pessoa, John Williams, Tolstoy, Cormac McCarthy and Clarice Lispector. Thanks again for a brilliant video!

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks for saying such nice things. Really glad you enjoyed it. Nice list of favourites, too. Pessoa is definitely on my list. As for some of my favourite 19th-century authors, there are so many! Georg Büchner probably stands at the top of the list. I adore some of the big American writers - Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Poe. I'm also currently two thirds of the way through George Eliot's 'Middlemarch', which I find spectacular, and I really admired 'Adam Bede', too. Thomas Hardy has a special place in my heart. I also love Mary Shelley and E. T. A. Hoffmann. I could go on, but those are some particular favourites.

[@iiling7]

Thank you for sharing links to Valerian Pidmohylny's work - City. Currently reading it and enjoying it, I have an unexplainable tendency to gravitate towards literature from that part of the world somehow. Looking forward to checking out Brendon Connell, from what little you have mentioned in your video, it tugs at me. It is challenging, where I am to get books that are not in the mainstream and have resolved to read the classics. Adore Thomas Hardy and have plans to start Middlemarch this year.

[@semiote]

Thanks for another great video! I was very happy to hear you give Dark Spring an honorable mention, though I would have loved to hear you talk about it in more detail. Have you read The Trumpets of Jericho by Zürn? That was the first thing I read by her, and what led me to read Dark Spring and other of her books. It's a fantastic hallucinatory work, especially poignant for an American like me (though I live abroad) since it deals with the horrors of unwanted pregnancy. On a related note, have you read Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann? I didn't connect with it as much as with Zürn's work, but it could definitely be read alongside Dark Spring. Most of all, I can't remember if I asked you this in YT comments before, but have you read Clarice Lispector? I read her entire body of work this past year, and shes now one of my favorite writers of all time. Books like The Hour of the Star, and A Breath of Life, and Near to the Wild Heart belong alongside Dark Spring and Malina in my imagination - dark, unorthodox feminine voices plumbing the depths of consciousness, revealing insights about the place of women in the social world.

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks for another kind and insightful comment! I think I actually wanted to pick up 'The Trumpets of Jericho', but 'Dark Spring' was much easier to get hold of. I will certainly be reading more of her work, so I'm still excited to try it. I'm familiar with some of Ingeborg Bachmann's poetry - I have that nice bilingual edition of her collected poems that came out a while ago. I still haven't read any of her prose, though. I can certainly see what you mean about a kind of kinship between the two writers, though. I've only dipped into Clarice Lispector - I've read about 50 pages of 'Near to the Wild Heart', but for some reason it didn't quite work for me at the time. So many people whose taste I really trust have recommended her, though, so I'm certain to go back and investigate her work with the attention it clearly deserves. Margarita Karapanou, whom I spoke about in my Greek video, might also sit well in that company, too.

[@pdmuhich]

It's personally been a tough year for reading much; the only books I read that adhere to your dual criteria are, perhaps unsurprisingly, _The Passenger_ and _Stella Maris._

[@SherdsTube]

I know how that goes, believe me. And I will try to read both the new McCarthy books next year.

[@kursverzeichnis1297]

Emma - Jane Austen Serotonin - Michel Houellebecq Herr der Hörner - Mathias Politicky Hamlet - Shakespeare Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre - Goethe I Wonder What Human Flesh Tastes Like - Justin Isis (thanks to you) Der Zauberberg - Thomas Mann That last one was the literary relevation of the year for me. I haven't been so enthused by a book since I read The Brothers Karamazov some two years ago. I have been reading books by Mann for some years, without thinking him to be all that great. I liked his writing style and the names of his characters, and a friend of mine whose taste I trust likes him, so I kept reading him while considering him merely good, while hoping to discover something more in one of his books. Der Zauberberg was that book, which elevated Mann to be one of my favourite authors.

[@SherdsTube]

Wow, a great list - thanks for sharing. Fantastic to see Justin Isis on there, and I'm intrigued by Matthais Politycki - I hadn't heard of him before, but he sounds worth investigating. Yes, The Magic Mountain is such a special book - I've now read it twice. I think, perhaps, it has one of my favourite endings of anything I've read. I can't think of another that feels so powerful and earned. It has been a long time, but I loved Doctor Faustus, too. I'm hoping one day to read Joseph and His Brothers - it's quite an undertaking, but I've heard that it really repays the effort.

[@DuaneJasper]

Fiction, in no particular order: Pavane The Satyricon Call it Sleep Riddley Walker Hamlet's Father (short) Prometheus Illbound (short) The Good Earth Brideshead Revisited Hell Hound/Baxter The Magus I'd like to have listed some less well known titles, but these I think were the genuine top ten

[@SherdsTube]

Quite a few I'd like to read here. Good to see Riddley Walker in there!

[@feanor7080]

You explore literary landscapes that I previously would dare not enter, but I've presently ordered most of the books listed here thanks to your very persuasive articulation: My top reads of the year would be; The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy Little, Big - John Crowley Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury Titus Groan (Gormenghast book 1) - Mervyn Peak Sword and Citadel - Gene Wolfe Laurus - Eugene Vodolazkin Madhouse at the End of the World - Julian Sancton Call Me a Cab - Donald E. Westlake

[@SherdsTube]

I hope you enjoy your sojourn in at least some of those landscapes! Thanks for sharing your list. So pleased to see Gene Wolfe in there - he's a real favourite of mine. :)

[@semiote]

@@SherdsTube I didn't know you are a Wolfe fan! I read The Book of the New Sun in 2021, and a few more shorter things of his here and there. I'd like to read the rest of the Sun Cycle soon.

[@SherdsTube]

It took me a whlie - I recall encountering 'The Shadow of the Torturer' as a teenager and recognising that I was in much deeper waters than those I'd been accustomed to. I read the first two parts quite a few times, but it was only a few years ago that I finally finished 'The Book of the New Sun' in its entirety. It turned out to be one of the most intense reading experiences of my life. I know I'll go back to it often. Very keen to try the rest of the cycle at some point, too.

[@Focaminante]

thank you for this list. these are the 8 best books i read this year: autobiography of red - anne carson mis dos mundos - sergio chejfec the manifold destiny of eddie vegas - rick harsch hospital británico - héctor viel temperley zama - antonio di benedetto las ciudades invisibles - italo calvino la máquina de pensar en gladys - mario levrero los ojos del basilisco - germán espinosa ice - anna kavan

[@SherdsTube]

Thanks for sharing. :)

[@rubeng9092]

Suttree is great. You must - absolutely must - read the Crossing. It's my favorite book of all of McCarthy. It's a hammerblow and a sweet sunrise.

[@SherdsTube]

That's actually next on the McCarthy list for me. I really didn't dig All the Pretty Horses (apart from a few scenes) - do you think I could still enjoy The Crossing?

[@adampearson1541]

@@SherdsTube The Crossing is much more dense and philosophical than All The Pretty Horses. Also far more moving, especially part 1.

[@rubeng9092]

@@SherdsTube I havent read All the pretty horses yet. Only the Crossing, Blood Meridian and Suttree

[@ryanbartlett672]

Thanks. Your channel is special amongst the booktube channels. I am very interested. If you and I were close friends, I would suggest less of the dark and depressing; and you would make the half promise to alternate light and dark works. :-)

[@user-nestor_k]

Я надзвичайно вдячний Вам за те, що згадали Валер'яна Підмогильного в цьому списку. Обожнюю Ваш канал, Ви - справжня перлина Ютубу. Щасти Вам😊

[@SherdsTube]

It was a pleasure to discover him. Thanks for saying so. All the best!

[@leosharman8630]

Remember that one time when hundreds of Polish people were massacred by Ukrainian Banderits? And by trickery at that!