Top 20 Books I Read in 2022

[@yvannoss]

Love your videos! Have you read 'Stoner' by John Williams? It was my final read of 2022 and probably my favorite! Cheers to a great new year!

[@ryanmarkel289]

My best friend had me read STONER and I told him it was my new favorite horror novel. That WIFE of his....

[@TK-kf8zc]

Wonderful list. I can't get Our Wives Under the Sea out of my head. De Roberto is new to me, thank you.

[@BigPhilly15]

I was lucky enough in 2022 to finally read Don Quixote, and it was by far the best book I read all year (and ever, in fact).

[@Whatever_Happy_People]

Hullo I'm reading don Quixote now. It's brilliant

[@leonardstepto4527]

My favourite book this year was Creation by Gore Vidal. A brilliant historical fiction book told by a hilarious, greedy, scholarly, adventerous and insightful main character, Cyrus Spitama. Told in the time of Artaxerxes in the persian empire when Herodotus' Histories had come out, and after going to a public reading of it, the aged Cyrus recounts his life story as an ambassador of the persian empire under the reign of Darius to his grand-nephew. The book features amazing historical characters like Socrates(but just as a cameo), Zoroaster, Darius, Xerxes, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and a bunch more. Highly reccomend it to anyone, it's just great.

[@rishwiz9]

Thanks!! Sounds exactly the kind of stuff I love.

[@incandenzabookclub]

Yesss!!! I was waiting for this! :) I'm curious to read your number 2 beign myself of sicilian descent. Also, I can't wait for your review of Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez released this year in english. Thank You for all your reviews and have a great reading year this 2023.

[@TheBookchemist]

I am equal parts curious and terrified to read Our Share of Night - I need to build up my courage ahead of it!

[@melissahouse1296]

The highlight of my annual bt 'bookish round up's'🧐🤩 A few most definitely on my tbr now. Wishing you the *best* 2023! 👍😊

[@TheBookchemist]

You too :D!

[@connorellsworth9879]

Thank you for your list! I'm so excited to get started on some of the books that you mentioned.

[@shellmartel3912]

Very insightful book reviews thanks!

[@anyavanwyk]

I too enjoyed the Goldfinch! Donna Tartt has always expressed her love of Dickens. Didn't certain parts remind you of the 'Old Curiosity Shop' and 'Great Expectations' (particularly in reference to the devotion he has to the young girl)?

[@ianp9086]

I would certainly put How to be Both and Wolf Hall on a list like this. I have a few of the others still to read, including your number 1 - Julia Armfield’s short story collection salt slow was fantastic so I have high hopes for the novel.

[@eliasE989]

Station Eleven and The Candy House were in my top 5. I haven't read China Mieville for a long time but I just picked up Perdido Street Station from a book store and I'm going to start with that giant soon.

[@corycastleman6351]

If you feel like it, comment back here on what you thought. I've been considering reading that too

[@benreadsgood]

Great list! Which parts of The Goldfinch your highs? I really enjoyed the Las Vegas section, but overall the book was a bit hit and miss for me, after having loved The Secret History.

[@TheBookchemist]

The early part in New York (after the initial "twist"), and certainly the Vegas section!

[@ryanmarkel289]

Yes to the comment I just saw. Gore Vidal can be such a crucial thinker/ writer. My 2022 things were wonky but lovely. PETER PAN by J.M. Barrie; ROGUE MALE by Geoffrey Household; ICE TRILOGY by Vladimir Sorokin; THE SHELL SEEKERS by Rosamund Pilcher. Magic in every single one.

[@Fitness4London]

Rogue Male is incredible, and so few people have heard of it. Perfect for anyone who likes short, punchy novels which immerse you in an adventure. The quality of the writing is a real treat.

[@Maria_Efe]

Every one of these books sounds amazing; I haven't read any of them, but a lot were already on my list. My favourite reads of the year were Passing by Nella Larsen, Who Killed my Father by Édouard Louis, Cain by Jose Saramago and Wildcat Under Glass by Alki Zei.

[@gabrielaSH]

Hi, thanks for your reviews! Did you do a Pachinko by min jin lee Review? Would love to see it.

[@crowdofdissidents155]

I am enjoying all of your videos. Thanks

[@sarahpinach5619]

I also read The City and the City as my first China Mieville this year and loved it - though I thought the ending was a bit of a let down. Best classic that I read this year was Graham Greene's The Quiet American. If you're looking for great 2002 releases I'd say The Colony by Audrey Magee (language, colonialism, art, identity, and how they all tie together) and Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scalan (vignettes outlining one woman's life working at the racetrack) were the big standouts for me.

[@subirotamic8557]

Grazie per il suggerimento su I viceré, di cui ricordavo vagamente qualche brano dal liceo. L'ho appena finito. Che grandissimo libro! Ora voglio leggere L'illusione

[@Fitness4London]

Agreed, Wolf Hall is fantastic. I love Hilary Mantel's style. Whenever I visit Hampton Court Palace I think of this novel. Her sequel Bring up the Bodies is great too.

[@thekeywitness]

I read Carter’s novel too and really enjoyed it, want to read more Carter.

[@spicerc1244]

Another great aspect of Miéville's "The City & The City" is in his proving that you can concisely craft an immersive, Borgesian kind of world without burying the reader in a 800- or 900-page tome.

[@TheBookchemist]

I agree!

[@dimitrisbk800]

hey, I've been watching your videos for a while now, you're so likeable and cool and I love your taste, keep doing you

[@nikolettsarosi5355]

Curious if you have ever read ,Stoner' from John Williams, would love to hear your opinion of it. Its a favourite, one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. A 'quiet' masterpiece, it is difficult to describe this book. still a hidden gem that should deserve more attention.

[@tomgou78]

The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamin Labatut The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Paperback) - Muriel Barbery

[@Fitness4London]

The Passenger is on my reading pile, looking forward to it.

[@QZaccardelli]

Excellent!

[@oliverskeoch8782]

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty and In The Distance by Hernan Diaz, probably my top 1 or 2. Station 11 made it into top 5 along with The Crow Road by Iain Banks and The Road by Cormac McCarthy

[@furdiebant]

My favourite novel of the year was Vertigo by Max Sebald

[@nl3064]

*W.G. Sebald?

[@furdiebant]

@@nl3064 yes

[@francescomonno3966]

"Ferrovie del Messico" lo hai letto?

[@codehardr1209]

Good list, but do you have to use an Irish potato as a camera and Belarusian carrot as a microphone? Asking for a friend.

[@nl3064]

My 2022 list: Great: 1. The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard 2. From Hell (Comic) (A. Moore & E. Campbell) 3. Bleeding Edge (T. Pynchon) 4. Empire of the Sun (J.G. Ballard) 5. Sabrina (Comic) (N. Drnaso) 6. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (K. Oe) Good: 7. Survivor (C. Palahniuk) 8. 'Salem's Lot (S. King) (Finally finished it after almost three years) 9. Cinema Speculation (Q. Tarantino) 10. Nine Stories (J.D. Salinger) Mid: 11. Invisible Monsters (C. Palahniuk) 12. Pygmy (C. Palahniuk) 13. The Sittaford Mystery (A. Christie) 14. Chess Story (S. Zweig) Awful: 15. Ficciones (Fictions) (J.L. Borges) (only read a few stories) 16. Demian (H. Hesse) (DNF) Bonus: Top 10 Short Stories: 1. Cannibal (C. Palahniuk) 2. Expedition (C. Palahniuk) 3. An L-Shaped Grave (J. Aiken) 4. Zombies (C. Palahniuk) 5. Liturgy (C. Palahniuk) 6. The Christmas Pageant (D. Tartt) 7. The Black Phone (J. Hill) 8. 2BR02B (K. Vonnegut) 9. A Walk in the Dark (A.C. Clarke) 10. Spinning Gears (R. Akutagawa)

[@shinyenergyball]

Woah! Hey now… Ficciones was awful?! I realize there’s a few duds in there but Garden of Forking Paths may be the greatest short story of all time.

[@nl3064]

@@shinyenergyball as I said, I only read a few, and those were all irredeemably boring (actually, I listened to them, and kept zoning out and could not, no matter how I tried, pay attention). Plenty of times, I've read something boring, but came away satisfied in the end because it felt there was something truly substantial there, but here it felt there was zero point in wasting my time on pretentious hipster-favorite Borges.

[@shinyenergyball]

@@nl3064 I respect that, although I wasn’t aware that Borges was a hipster favorite haha. Not sure what the audio book experience for this is but I will say that I hope you one day go back and read Garden of Forking because it’s a next level story.

[@nl3064]

@@shinyenergyball I literally just did, after seeing your comment. It was...I felt absolutely nothing towards it. Maybe when it was published in the 50's, it was a novel concept, but today, with the idea of multiple timelines being such a generic sci-fi staple, it was a bore.

[@shinyenergyball]

@@nl3064 well that sucks.

[@EveryoneInStore]

this video made me fart

[@5hif7yx86]

This comment made me queef

[@BL-mf3jp]

Donna Fart