What have been your standout books of 2022?

[TattiePants]

I have a ridiculously long TBR pile but always on the lookout for new book / author suggestions. I’ve had a pretty good reading year and haven’t had any complete duds. My favourites have been:

Still life - Sarah Winman
The Crow Road - Iain Banks
The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
All the Broken Places - John Boyne
Hungry - Grace Dent
My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout
Clothes, clothes, clothes…. - Viv Albertine

For me (some very late to the party!)
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
Still Life - Sarah Winman
War Doctor - David Nott
Old Baggage - Lissa Evans
A Quartet In Autumn - Barbara Pym

Mine are:

Summer by Ali Smith

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park &

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell.

A poor year for me - I’ve really taken to reading easy stuff and rereading old favourites but I did enjoy

Hungry - Grace Dent
A Terrible Kindness - Jo Browning Wroe.

Place marking - some really great ideas for reading in 2023!

My one I really enjoyed recently was American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

My stand ours this year were:
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
The Huntress - Kate Quinn

Still Life
Lessons in Chemistry
Small.Things Like These
The Mandibles

F

Devotion by Hannah Kent

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Angry Women's Choir by Meg Bignell

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Fifth Season (Broken Earth #1) by N. K. Jemisin

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Small Favors by Erin Craig

Place marking

This year I enjoyed:
Captain Correlli's mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Secret History - Donna Tartt

I've had quite a lot of disappointing reads this year so I'll be looking to this post for inspiration for next year!

@CatSeany Rebecca & The Secret History are in my top 10 all time favourites.

@CoteDivoire i really enjoyed The Alice Network so I’ve added The Huntress to my TBR pile. I started A Gentleman in Moscow a couple of years ago then stopped so must finish this.

@BestIsWest Hungry is so good. I’m a similar age to GD and grew up in a working class northern town so it really resonated with me. I saw on Instagram that her dad has recently died.

@yoshiblue I’ve really enjoyed most of the books on your list so now added War Doctor to my TBR pile. If you haven’t read them already, the other 2 books in the trilogy by Lissa Evans are well worth a read.

The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper
Foster - Claire Keegan
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
Last One at the Party - Bethany Clift
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Delila Harris
The One Hundred Year of Lenni and Margot - Marianne Cronin

Sorry that should have said In Order to Love.

Read 102 this year (so far - still a few days left!)

Favourites included:

Im Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
All Quiet On the Western Front by Remarque
Klara and the Sun by Ishiguro
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Shout out to the three Taylor Jenkins Reid novels I thoroughly enjoyed equally - Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Love that her universe is peppered with the same characters.

Biggest let down of 2022 - The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Was really looking forward to this one and found it a real slog.