The Almost Best Books of 2022

Let's wrap up my best and worst books of 2022 by taking a look at my honorable mentions--the books that were in the mix for my favorite reads of the year but ultimately got edged out. Expand for more information. 👇

Further Viewing 🎥

Titles Mentioned 📚
Holding, Graham Norton
Kiss Her Once For Me, Alison Cochrun
Infinite Country, Patricia Engel
Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin
Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead
Stories From the Tenants Downstairs, Sidik Fofana
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty
Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro (translated by Frances Riddle)
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley
Winter Love, Han Suyin
Agatha of Little Neon, Claire Luchette
Didn't Nobody Give a Sh*t What Happened to Carlotta, James Hannaham

My husband made a cookbook! Check it out here:

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[inkfeats]

The Last Unicorn is such a beautiful story. I really enjoyed it as well 😊

[mradcaqbdb]

I preordered the new story collection from Patricia Engel on audiobook from your hint. Thank you! I had no idea she had something new coming out. I adored her Infinite Country.

So many on here I wanted to get to when you reviewed them last year but didn’t manage to squeeze them in: The Last Unicorn, Winter Love, Kiss Her Once for Me, Stories From the Tenants Downstairs, Carlotta.

Elena Knows and Nightcrawling were in my top 6 last year, so I definitely agree.

I’ve loved all of Graham Norton’s books, including the novella called The Swimmer that came out last year. I’ve got a physical copy of Graham Norton’s new book, Forever Home, which I started in late December, but put aside for something else. I was loving it, but I also really missed hearing Graham read it. His Irish accent is divine and he’s a very talented narrator. But the audiobook doesn’t come out over here until May at the earliest, so I’m torn. Wait for the audio or dive back into the physical copy. I think it will be the latter.

[bretthomas]

Saw a video from a few years back about the weirdest or most surreal books you've read, and I loved it. Laughed when you talked about VALIS. Incidentally had an unread copy of Galapagos by Vonnegut next to me when you mentioned it alongside Breakfast of Champions. Going to pick up Infinite Country and Nightcrawling from the library on Monday. Great channel!!!! Thank you!!!

[ameliabarlowbooks]

Elena Knows is top of my list to pick up this year. I had the opportunity to grab a copy when I was book shopping in Edinburgh back in November, but I put it back down and I've been kicking myself ever since!

[bookishbedlam]

I really appreciated Nightcrawlers. I'm glad I read it. I rank it among the best of 2022 but I'm sure it's a favorite. I loved the way she drew out the characters. I also appreciated how the physical violence was underplayed but the emotional violence was visceral. I was often uncomfortable, and I found that to be a good thing. Everyone should read this book at least once.
As always, thank you for sharing.

[bookofdust]

The last book I read in 2022 was Elena Knows and it was stunning, it hovered close to the top ten, but I will say it didn’t quite end the way I expected. I finally got access to Little Neon, which I look forward to getting to this year.

[readandre-read]

I read Agatha last week; what a great suggestion. Stories From the Tenants Downstairs and Great Circle were also in my runners up list for similar reasons.

[KurtAnderson]

Keep spreading w love for Agatha! I love that little book

[jacquelinemcmenamin]

I finished my first 5 star book of 2023 yesterday
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
RTE has filmed an adaptation of Holding. I haven’t seen it yet but hear it’s good.
I started The Rabbit Hutch on Scribd. The platform had issues with the audio and I had to give up. It was playing two chapters at once.
I loved Great Circle. It was my best book of 2021. I still think about it.

[bobbykeniston]

A couple of these have gone on my list, so thanks!
I was a big fan of "The Rabbit Hutch", and it's interesting you should mention the audiobook. I didn't listen to the audiobook, but in an interview I watched with Tess Gunty, she mentions how she was given input into hiring the voice performers for the book, and that they had hired this woman that she wanted for the job, and she was really excited to have this actress do the book... but then the voice performer got Covid. They needed to record it, and she was out because of the illness, so they asked Tess Gunty to do it herself, and, with the timetable, she kind of had to jump in and do it. I thought that was an interesting story.
My big question is how they would do Todd's chapter in the audio, since it is all illustrations.... (I wondered something similarly when I read "A Visit from the Goon Squad" with the chapter that is a power point slideshow).

[KierTheScrivener]

Love these books, reminding me of a lot of these I wanted to check out.

[CestKevvie]

I really need to read Elena Knows. Carlotta too!