My 5-star reads of 2022
And some honourable 4-star mentions.
Every year I take part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, and each year I keep setting myself more ridiculous goals that I continue to smash. This year it was 60 books and I’m at 64. That’s not me trying to brag, by the way, even though it probably sounds like it. I love reading. I hoover up words like they might disappear at any moment, and books have been a constant source of comfort, inspiration and joy throughout my life. They can dictate my mood, inspire my dreams and bring me another step closer to understanding myself. I will often choose to spend many moments of my spare time reading.
Now, you’ll probably read this upcoming list and think: wow, that’s a lot of 5-star reads. And you will probably wonder, are all of these books really deserving of five stars? Do I just hand out five stars willy-nilly? And the answer is: maybe - when you love words and stories, it’s quite easy to be entertained by anything that has those two things, even if they’re not wielded brilliantly. However, as a hoover-upper of words, I’ve also learnt what floats my boat. I pretty much never read crime as it just does not interest me, though I’ll make an exception sometimes for some immersive true-crime (see ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ by Michelle McNamara). I don’t read straight-up romance or erotica either, but again I’ll make an exception for an actually laugh-out-loud rom-com. So what I’m saying is: when you know what you like, you generally end up reading a lot of good shit.
Without further ado, I’ll list in order and genre (and link to) all of my 5-star reads and pick out some of my absolute favourites. I’ll also be including a few honourable 4-star reads at the end too.
5-star fiction of 2022
Terciel and Elinor (The Old Kingdom #6) - Garth Nix
Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth (books two and three in The Locked Tomb series) - Tamsyn Muir
In a nutshell: An intelligent science-fantasy about necromancers, grief and love.
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
In a nutshell: An expert blend of historical fiction and literary sci-fi. Fans of ‘Cloud Atlas’ would enjoy this.
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Beasts of a Little Land - Juhea Kim
This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
In a nutshell: Time-and-space-travelling spies on opposing sides slowly fall in love.
The Toll (Arc of the Scythe #3) - Neal Shusterman
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho - Sappho, translated by the amazing Anne Carson
The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel
In a nutshell: There’s a ponzi scheme, a suspicious death and a gripping cast of characters in this delicate literary novel.
The Goblin Emperor and The Witness for the Dead (books one and two in The Goblin Emperor series) - Katherine Addison
In a nutshell: Intricate, addictive and escapist fantasy with a strong heart.
Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel
In a nutshell: Oh look, it’s Mandel back with another banger, this time about time travel.
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead - Emily Austin
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) - Suzanne Collins
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
Devotions - The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
In a nutshell: Mary Oliver has a poem to help you through every emotion and life moment.
Unraveller - Frances Hardinge
In a nutshell: From one of the strongest voices in fantasy, this is a gorgeous fable about anger, forgiveness and our shadow selves.
5-star non-fiction of 2022
Written in Bone: hidden stories in what we leave behind - Sue Black
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: a therapist, her therapist and our lives revealed - Lori Gottlieb
In a nutshell: Essential reading, particularly if you’re a trainee therapist like me!
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night - Julian Sancton
Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape - Cal Flyn
In a nutshell: Look, I’m obsessed with apocalyptic fiction, so a non-fiction book about nature reclaiming man-made spaces was always going to appeal, but this is genuinely a fascinating read.
A Toolkit for Happiness: 53 Ways to Feel Better - Dr Emma Hepburn
In a nutshell: For more on this, see last week’s newsletter:
A Manual for Being Human - Dr Sophie Mort
In a nutshell: Another brilliant ‘self-help’ book full of actually useful information and research about why our brains do what they do (aka try and sabotage us half the time).
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: The Untold Story of a Lost World - Steve Brusatte
Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West - Catherine Belton
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead - Brené Brown
In a nutshell: Brené’s work on vulnerability has been such an eye-opener for me, and I talked about it in my very first Substack post:
Educated - Tara Westover
In a nutshell: A fascinating and beautifully written memoir on family and religious fundamentalism.
The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
In a nutshell: My first introduction to the legendary Joan Didion was this poignant memoir recounting her husband’s sudden death, their daughter’s illness and Didion’s attempt to make sense of it all.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It - Oliver Burkeman
In a nutshell:
I also talked about how this book has impacted me in this Substack post:
In a nutshell: I could use the Lady Gaga GIF again, but essentially this is an empathetic and detailed look at productivity, particularly when it comes to creativity.
Some 4-star mentions
The Mothers - Brit Bennett
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
The Ones We’re Meant to Find - Joan He
In a nutshell: A gripping sci-fi that explores humanity and sisterhood.
Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our World, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures - Merlin Sheldrake
In a nutshell: You will never look at fungi and mushrooms the same way again (in a good way).
How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu
In a nutshell: This hopeful sci-fi weaves together multiple stories and characters following the outbreak of a strange pandemic.
Dreamland - Rosa Rankin-Gee
The Dance Tree - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
📚What were your favourite reads of 2022? Share in the comments!
This is likely my last newsletter of the year - unless the urge to write something suddenly overcomes me. So on that note, thank you for supporting my newsletter since its beginning in August, and have a restful and wonderful festive season, wherever you are. See you in 2023!