For my own record-keeping as much as anything else, I present: books I read in 2022!
As I mention every year about this time, well okay at exactly this time, I keep a giant master spreadsheet, but I don’t tally anything up until New Year’s Day, when I come here to post about it.
In 2022, I only read 98 books: 70 for work, and 28 for not-work (including a couple of beta reads for friends).
For comparison, the last few years’ numbers are: 2021, 141 total (82 for work), 2020: 86 total (61 for work); 2019: 112 total (86 for work); 2018: 148 total (84 for work); 2017: 115 total (92 for work); 2016: 107 total (80 for work); and 2015: 63 total (38 for work).
My work reading dropped off a bit from the previous year. That was by design: I’ve been trying to work less constantly, and explore this whole concept of “days off” (we’ll work on “weekends” in the future, haha), and also we took several actual vacations. I’d have thought my leisure reading would have increased as a result, though that’s not what happened. Largely, I think that was because a lot of my leisure reading was HUGE GIANT BOOKS (helloooo The Expanse entire series). Also I got caught up on my New Yorkers!
I used to only list the “not-work” books in these blog posts, because I didn’t want to give away any clients’ secrets, but now I’ll just elide the ones that haven’t been published or announced yet. Also, I won’t tell you which reads were work versus not-work, just in case.
So here’s everything I read last year!
- Joe Abercrombie, The Great Change (and Other Lies)
- Michael McDowell, Cold Moon Over Babylon
- Lois McMaster Bujold, The Assassins of Thasalon
- Jo Walton, The Philosopher Kings
- Julie McGalliard, Hunting After Ghosts
- Katherine Addison, The Angel of the Crows
- Shannon Mayer, Midlife Witch Hunter
- Jo Walton, Necessity
- Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
- Michael Shea, The Mines of Behemoth
- James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes
- Denise Grover Swank, Blind Bake
- Robin Hobb, Mad Ship
- James S. A. Corey, Caliban’s War
- Scott Nicolay, And at My Back I Always Hear
- Joe Hill, Late Returns
- John Langan, Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
- Ava Miles, Through Crimson Irish Light
- Kathia, Written in the Sky So Blue
- James S. A. Corey, Abbadon’s Gate
- Robin Hobb, Ship of Destiny
- Peter Straub, Shadowland
- Lawrence Block (ed.), Playing Games
- Clive Barker, Jump Tribe
- Joe R. Lansdale, The Events Concerning
- John Langan, Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters
- James S. A. Corey, Cibola Burn
- Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor
- Mira Grant, Unbreakable
- Shannon Mayer, Realm of Demons
- James S. A. Corey, Nemesis Games
- Jim Butcher, The Law
- Lois McMaster Bujold, Knot of Shadows
- Catherynne M. Valente, The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume 1
- J. N. Baker, Hellfire and Halos: Ruination
- Graham Masterson, The Hell Candidate
- Jeff VanderMeer, Bliss
- Mira Grant, Apocalypse Scenarios: These Are the Ways the World Ends
- James Peet, Openings
- Indra Das, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar
- Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Club Dumas
- John Crowley, Great Work of Time
- James S. A. Corey, Babylon’s Ashes
- Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock
- Kathia, All In
- Emily Kimelman, Undefeated
- Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Genevieve Mckay, Odd One Out
- James S. A. Corey, Persepolis Rising
- Arkady Martine, Rose/House
- John Scalzi, The Dispatcher: Travel by Bullet
- James Tiptree Jr., The Voice that Murmurs in the Night
- Carlos Ruiz Zafron, The City of Mist
- Kage Baker, Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales
- Gene Wolfe, The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories
- Marissa Doyle, The Forgery Furore
- Marissa Doyle, The Vanishing Volume
- Scott Colby, Vengeance Squad
- Marissa Doyle, Lyrics and Larceny
- Ava Miles, After Indigo Irish Nights
- Michael Swanwick, The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume 2
- Fonda Lee, Jade Shards
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- James S. A. Corey, Tiamat’s Wrath
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- Orrin Grey, How to See Ghosts (and Other Figments)
- Nicole Cushing, Mothwoman
- S. L. Edwards, In the Devil’s Cradle
- Robert Stallman, The Orphan
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- Neal Stephenson, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
- Marissa Doyle, The Cursed Canvases
- Marissa Doyle, Turmoil on the Thames
- Marissa Doyle, An Event at Epsom
- Marissa Doyle, The Missing Missives
- Cat Rambo, You Sexy Thing
- Denise Grover Swank, Bake Off
- Frank Herbert, Dune
- James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Falls
- Tom Reamy, Under the Hollywood Sign
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- Stephen King, The Green Mile
- Ava Miles, Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight
- Louise Penny, Still Life
- J. N. Baker, Hellfire and Halos: Retaliation
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- C. J. Tudor, A Sliver of Darkness
- TC Boyle, Budding Prospects
- Elizabeth Menozzi, Heir of Gods
- K. J. Parker, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
- Emily Kimelman, Relentless
- [Secret Client, Secret Book]
- [Secret Friend, Secret Manuscript]
- Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth
What is your favorite genre? Which book was your favorite? What genre are most of these?
I read mostly fantasy, science fiction, and horror–and that’s what most of these are, along with some romance and some suspense. It’s hard to say which book was my favorite! I remember the more recent ones better than the earlier ones, but I have to say, the one I just finished–Gideon the Ninth–was INCREDIBLE. I just adored it, and need to get the sequel right away. Earlier books this year that I really loved were the Expanse series (the books by James S. A. Corey); in fact, half of those were rereads, because I wanted to read the whole series in a great big gulp once the final book came out. (It’s also a very excellent television show, BTW.) I love everything by Bujold. The Marissa Doyle books were a delight. You can never go wrong with a Denise Grover Swank book. Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors. Honestly, there were so many good books! I can’t pick a favorite. 🙂