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Post by lillielangtry on Dec 27, 2022 12:22:49 GMT -5
Hi all,
With just a few days to go this year I thought it was time to make the annual reading round-up thread. So come in if you want to let us know what your best (or worst?!) books of 2022 were, and if you track your reading, hit us with some stats!
I read 80ish books this year - I may sneak in another one or two before New Year. About 3/4 of them were by women and 1/4 were in translation. I added another 20 countries to my reading around the world challenge and in general I read some pretty good books. I am feeling pretty pleased with my reading year.
The books that have really stuck with me this year (not including rereads) were in no particular order: Elizabeth Gaskell - Cranford - such a charming little classic that I listened to on audiobook Emily St. John Mandell - Station Eleven - post-apocalyptic wonderfulness Abdulrazak Gurnah - Afterlives - I just really enjoy his quiet, profound style My Pen is the Wing of Bird by various Afghan authors - a hard but important collection Balli Kaur Jaswal - Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows - definitely the lightest book on this list, but I think about it a lot; the story, set in the Sikh community of London, is both fun and serious Kapka Kassabova - To the Lake - the only non-fiction on this shortlist, really interesting about the region around Lake Ohrid
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Post by Liiisa on Dec 27, 2022 15:43:14 GMT -5
Yay!
I just finished book #70 (and am about to finish #71), which I was surprised by since I started the year with a big fat nonfiction book; at the time I didn't think I'd reach 50. 32 of them were by women, which is nice considering that I didn't go out of my way to equalize it. Some things I read were amazing but had something about them that caused me not to put stars by them (e.g., "The Books of Jacob," which was a masterwork but just too long for my attention span).
Here are the ones I put stars by: Fiction Tom McCarthy, The Making of Incarnation Hervé Le Tellier, The Anomaly Claire North, Notes from the Burning Age Ned Beauman, Venomous Lumpsucker Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway Elif Batuman, The Idiot Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea Kevin Wilson, Now is Not the Time to Panic Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms
Nonfiction David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything Rebecca Solnit, Orwell's Roses Hugh Raffles, The Book of Unconformities: Speculations on Lost Time
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Dec 27, 2022 20:22:50 GMT -5
I’m up to 80 read. Will come back later with favourites.
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Post by kneazle on Dec 28, 2022 2:20:11 GMT -5
I'm not a particularly fast reader.
My goal was 30 and I'm currently on 29.
My top reads of the year were: The seven husband's of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid - a 50s movie star in her her old age agrees to give an up and coming journalist an indepth interview about her life, loves and career. It's not exactly as simple a story as it seems.
Lessons in chemistry - Bonnie Garmus. Set in the 60s a scientist who just wants to work as a scientist without dealing with traditional expectations. She ends up hosting a cooking show where she treats cooking like chemistry and women like people with a brain.
A thousand splendid suns - Khaled housanni a bit late to the party on this. Given it's set in Afghanistan during the taliban and through the US invasion the ending probably hits differently now than when it was written.
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Post by Phar Lap on Dec 28, 2022 3:17:14 GMT -5
I really really really need to get my eyes checked, I’m sure I need new glasses.
I read the subject line as Best bonks of 2022.
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Post by lillielangtry on Dec 28, 2022 3:55:22 GMT -5
You're such an eclectic reader, Liiisa! And that was a lot of books to get through with things like The Books of Jacob included (I know, quality over quantity, of course!)
Kneazle, I have The Seven Husbands... on my shelf, so hopefully I'll enjoy it too.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Dec 28, 2022 4:39:08 GMT -5
Only 13 of my 80 books were written by men. Those I rated 5 stars on Goodreads: This Much is True, Miriam Margolyes; And Now for Something Completely Different, Jodie Taylor; The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman; The Mapping of Love and Death and A Dangerous Place, Jacqueline Winspear; The Elusive Mrs Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman; Mullumbimby, Melissa Lukashenko; Phosphorescence, Julia Baird; The Boy from the Mish, Gary Lonesborough.
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Post by tucano on Dec 28, 2022 5:46:03 GMT -5
Kneazle, that's still a lot more than me. I am not a prolific book reader, but did ask for a number of books for Christmas so will get to those in January when I'm job hunting!
I did enjoy The Man Who Died Twice and got the sequel for Christmas. Look forward to reading that.
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Post by Queen on Dec 28, 2022 10:13:29 GMT -5
I really really really need to get my eyes checked, I’m sure I need new glasses. I read the subject line as Best bonks of 2022. Whole other thread
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Post by Queen on Dec 28, 2022 10:20:59 GMT -5
This year was a low reading year for me for reasons... I'll get to thirty which is about half my usual read.
There were quite a few re-reads
of the thirty 5 were by men 5 were non fiction (this is lower than usual) 7 started out in other languages and a further 3 were non-anglo culture stuff 0 were by LGBTQI authors (as far as I know)
So next year I want to be back to my usual reading rate, and up the diversity again.
Best reads Non Fiction = Invisible Women
Fiction Stone Blind The Marriage Portrait Before the coffee gets cold
Next best Klara and the Sun The Daughter of Dr Moreau
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Post by kneazle on Dec 28, 2022 14:31:35 GMT -5
I read 2 non fiction (about standard for me) 10 by men, 19 by women 1 originally written in another language 6 by people of colour 1 by a local writer (need to improve this) And 1 LGBQ+ author plus my current read
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Dec 28, 2022 17:08:47 GMT -5
6 1/2 of mine were non-fiction (one was a fictionalised version of historical figures, hence the half) At least 2 authors were LGBTQI, and this was relevant to the subject. 12 1/2 were Australian authors, of whom 2 were First Nations people writing about First Nations issues. The half is Miriam Margolyes, who has dual citizenship. I might need to look for more non-Anglo authors!
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Dec 29, 2022 21:01:02 GMT -5
Reading a few books at the moment so may make it to 82 official books by year's end. I say official because I tend not to record the insomniac kindle reads, as they are trashy cozy mysteries etc.
I didn't read a single non-fiction book last year. (I did read a lot of long form articles, just no books). I always say I will up non-fiction reads and never do it. This year I didn't bother saying it at all.
17 books were by Australian authors, but not all those books had an Australian setting
65 books were by women.
I didn't read any books in translation, but there were books from non-Anglo authors.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Dec 30, 2022 20:48:55 GMT -5
More categories:
Books written by ex LP mods - 1. (A History of Dreams - Jane Rawson)
Books I handed over to my Mum - 9 The Guncle - Steven Rowley Looking for Jane - Heather Marshall A Spoonful of Murder - J M Hall The Angry Women's Choir - Meg Bignell The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle - Mait Cain Call of the Penguins - Hazel Prior The Library of Lost and Found - Phaedra Patrick The Beautiful Words - Vanessa McCausland The Garden of Hopes and Dreams - Barbara Hannah
That has some crossover with favourite books, or books that stayed in my mind for various reasons
Looking for Jane - Heather Marshall The Guncle - Steven Rowley A Psalm for the Wild Built - Becky Chambers Gods of Jade and Shadows - Silvia Morena-Garcia (and that started a binge on her books. Also loved Velvet was the Night and Signal to Noise) Clarke - Holly Throsby
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Post by kneazle on Dec 30, 2022 23:29:55 GMT -5
I made it to 30. I remembered a light fluffy book I could read in a day
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Post by scrubb on Jan 1, 2023 16:46:58 GMT -5
Thought I might finish my current book last night/last year, but didn't, so my total was 110 books, 9 of which were re-reads.
Only 17 non-fiction. I think that's my fewest ever - must make more of an effort!
In terms of diversity - Looks like 11 in translation: Norwegian, Polish, Turkish (2), Italian, Portugese, German, Swedish (2, or possibly 3), French, and Japanese Other books were written in English by authors originally from (or grew up in): China, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan. Books from English speaking countries of: US, England, Scotland, Ireland, India, Australia, and Canada 60 by women, 50 by men 2 were by queer authors about queer characters, one of which was excellent and one of which was crappy.
Best of the year - fiction. It turns out I really liked a lot of books this year. Trying to refine it to the very top ones: The Hired Man, by Amanatta Forna Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk Dina's Book, by Herbjorg Wassmo Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell (I also read a non-fiction by her this year which I also loved, but decided to only include her once and I liked the fiction better than the non fiction) Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke Boy Swallows Universe, by Trent Dalton Washington Square, by Henry James
Favourites - non fiction Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollen The Feather Thief, by Kirk W. Johnson
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Post by scrubb on Jan 14, 2023 20:45:24 GMT -5
I should add that "You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War" by Elizabeth Becker was also excellent.
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