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Original poster

Best book you read in 2022

112 replies

Anonymouseposter · 16/01/2023 14:14

What was the best book you read last year? I’m looking for ideas for what to read next. My favourite was American Dirt, I learned a lot and found it very gripping.

OP posts:
JoonT · 16/01/2023 21:29

Do you mean a book published in 2022? I hardly ever read stuff that has recently been published (though I do want to read Otherlands, and also the trippy Merlin Sheldrake book about mushrooms).

I read quite a few classics last year – books I've had on my 'to-read' list for decades. Woolf's Orlando was the one I enjoyed most. I also loved Boswell's Life of Johnson and M.R. James' ghost stories (I'd recommend Mark Gatiss' brilliant documentary on M.R. James). Oh, and I read Wilde's De Profundis, which kind of disappointed me.

The only book published last year which I actually have on my shelves is Harold Bloom's Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles. I'm reading it now and loving it.

Blackcountryexile · 16/01/2023 21:22

A Terrible Kindness Jo Browning Wroe. Written with great sensitivity and compassion.
I also read Shuggie Bain. I agree it is a brilliant book but it is so bleak,.

Chrissmasjammies · 16/01/2023 21:13

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and Shuggie Bain…lighter subject matter for 2023 needed

365names · 16/01/2023 21:12

The history of poisons - bloody amazing

purpledalmation · 16/01/2023 21:10

walnutmarzipan · 16/01/2023 14:48

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

I read that. Really good.

motleymop · 16/01/2023 21:09

This thread is going to cost me a fair bit of wonga

Preggopounds · 16/01/2023 21:07

The secret life of Addie La Rue

Half a Yellow Sun

PatChaunceysFruitCake · 16/01/2023 21:01

The Ink Black Heart. Possibly biased because I read it on a sun lounger on holiday.

theveg · 16/01/2023 20:55

Great circle
The whalebone theatre
The marriage portrait
Love marriage
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The Ink black heart

Anthillmobontherun · 16/01/2023 20:50

Cloud Cuckoo Land was brilliant

Youkilledmyfatherpreparetodie · 16/01/2023 20:44

ludge · 16/01/2023 14:54

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker was definitely my best read of 2022

I love this book so much. I still think about the characters.

Youkilledmyfatherpreparetodie · 16/01/2023 20:43

The Ink Black Heart, Piranesi, Still Life, A Little Life and Again Rachel were my 5 star 2022 reads.

Rascalsandradishes · 16/01/2023 20:35

Lessons in chemistry was amazing

hanahsaunt · 16/01/2023 20:34

ludge · 16/01/2023 14:54

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker was definitely my best read of 2022

This was absolutely outstanding!

PritiPatelsMaker · 16/01/2023 20:29

Oh thanks for that Lament. I will definitely look out for her next book. It's been a year since I read In Order to Live and I still think about her.

Lamentations · 16/01/2023 20:29

Mine was Woman of the Inner Sea by Thomas Keneally. It had been unread on my bookshelf for literally years and then I couldn't put it down.

Lamentations · 16/01/2023 20:26

PritiPatelsMaker · 16/01/2023 20:21

It's hard to choose between Love Marriage by Monica Ali, Summer by Ali Smith and In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.

I love Yeonmi Park. She has a new book out soon I think.

PritiPatelsMaker · 16/01/2023 20:21

It's hard to choose between Love Marriage by Monica Ali, Summer by Ali Smith and In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.

Bs0u416d · 16/01/2023 19:47

Salt Path, The. Wild Silence and Land Lines, all by Raynor Winn.

BigMadAdrian · 16/01/2023 19:44

Fiction - The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

Non-fiction - The Roaring Girls by Holly Kyte

Divebar2021 · 16/01/2023 16:13

yep Shuggie Bain not your typical beach read is it? But it was so brilliantly written I kept wanting to applaud the author for a wonderful turn of phrase or description. I’m also staying away from A Little Life for similar reason. I don’t know why so much good literary fiction is so miserable.

boobalie · 16/01/2023 16:04

Anonymouseposter · 16/01/2023 15:46

Snuggie Bain was very bleak. I chose it for holiday reading. Sitting in the sun transported to a council estate in the back of beyond in Scotland. It did make an impact.

I read A Little Life while lying on a beach in Italy 😂 It made me really miserable.

I think we're choosing the wrong kind of holiday books.

massistar · 16/01/2023 16:04

Still Life by Sarah Winman for me. Loved every word of it.

TheLastDreamOfTheOak · 16/01/2023 16:01

Lessons in Chemistry

Lovetotravel123 · 16/01/2023 16:00

Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain