What an astounding year 2022 has been for book lovers like me. Such a flurry of remarkable books, all in one year! One after another, 2022 kept producing such beautiful reads that would undoubtedly stay with me for long. So here I put down a recap of the reading year – including books read until November 15th, 2022.
Let me start with some numbers here. The total titles read this year was 40. The most read genre was Thrillers, closely followed by Literary Fiction. The most read authors were David Baldacci & Taylor Jenkins Reid of whom I read 2 books each. So have been reading all different authors this year! The book that got most views on BookForums was A Tidy Ending (Joanna Cannon) accounting for most hits by far!
Notable Reads, Unexpected Winners: Lest We Forget
The year began for me with a very unique story One Hundred Years Of Lenni And Margot which was endearing & heart wrenching at the same time. This is a sort of book that most often gets overshadowed by more popular & talked about reads, but trust me on this – this book has a lot to give to you. Another such low profile read was Lost Property (Helen Paris) which started off with a lot of promise with a very interesting & unique premise but somewhat lost was towards the later half. Still a book I liked.
Another book that surprised me was Wahala (Nikki May). Dotted with enjoyable characters, a wacky narration & some hilarious sequences, the book sailed to the best reads with Nikki May’s witty & intelligent handling of these characters. A joyful read.
And then came the big one. Dinner With The Schnabels (Toni Jordan) was a book I picked solely for it’s title. There was no hype around it, no one talking about it. I just stumbled upon it and my intution didn’t fail me! This book had me in splits with the amazing wit & humor that Toni Jordan so effortlessly portrays in her writing. A heart warming, humorous book that stands to be one of my favorite reads in times to come.
Almost similar was the case with Joanna Cannon’s A Tidy Ending. An unexpected winner for me. My favorite cover design of the year, and a story that is most original, probably the best writing of the year & a chilling revelation so well guarded till the end. A classic read this one was. And an equally engrossing read was Julie Clark’s The Lies I Tell – a revenge plot that kept you glued.
There were other such reads which may not have quite made it to the top, but I loved reading them nevertheless. Books like The Night Shift, Book Lovers, Flying Solo & We Are The Brennans – all deserve mention & should not be forgotten in all the hoopla.
The Big Names
The first hyped read of the year was Nita Prose’s The Maid which successfully kept it’s promise & is one of the best reads of 2022. Molly The Maid will stay in my memory with her endearing character.
Black Cake (Charmaine Wilkerson), it had a buzz about it. A debut novel which makes for a quality read. There is something about the book that is very likable. Aided by a very unique style of writing, the depth of this book touches you somewhere. Well justifies the expectations that readers had of this book.
Lessons In Chemistry was a much hyped book of 2022 which was expected to do well, and so it did. But honestly, this was sort of book that I wanted to like (and also did to an extent), but it kept pushing me away all the same. It had a wonderful premise, lovely characters, fun filled read. But what I disliked was the author’s visible hatred & dislike towards men. I don’t quite approve of generalising men as a species that is bad, dominating, favored & privileged – even if you are talking of a bygone era.
The year belonged to Taylor Jenkins Reid with her sports sensation Carrie Soto melting your hearts with her ruthless competitiveness, raw talent and unfiltered, badass demeanour. I am in love with Soto, I truly am! And I hope there is a sequel to this all time favorite of mine Carrie Soto Is Back (Taylor Jenkins Reid). This is a classic, no questions asked.
Disappointments
I don’t wish to talk much of the disappointments and let downs. I would thus only name here a few books that didn’t quite match up to my expectations. The Cartographers though I finished, it had many loose ends that left me bewildered. Other than that, I had big expectations of The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham. It had a very slow start. I read about 35% of the book the story never took off, so uncharacteristic of John Grisham! The Match by Harlan Coben was too complicated & perversive to my liking. And lastly, an unpopular opinion albeit, Colleen Hoover’s Reminders Of Him was too depressing & dark for me to finish.
To conclude, 2022 was exceptional reading all the way through. Unique plots, usual suspects, unexpected surprises – a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Books that turned into my all time favorites. Let us hope the same for lots of pleasurable reading ahead.