My Top 10 Favorite Books of 2022!

I accidentally said "5" when I meant "6" for the number 6 spot. It's presented in the correct order.

Other places to find me:
TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

GOODREADS

#booktube

[jamcarnage]

Blood meridian was one of my favourites this year too. McCarthy writes so beautifully about such ugly and grisly; yet regrettably human acts. It also forced me to slow my reading pace down to fully comprehend and appreciate the prose.

[TheNerdyNarrative]

Wizard and Glass is my favorite too!! I have seen you all talk about Janny Wurts so much this year that I wanted to try something by her, so I added the one you mentioned as my starting point. 😊

[PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

What a fantastic year! I smiled when you talked about having to choose between To Ride Hell's Chasm and Curse of the Mistwraith (you'll see why if you watch my "Top Reads" video). I also had to chuckle at your difficulty with the big Hobb decision. Your favorite Dark Tower book is a great choice -- I loved it for the same reasons. Well said about Prince of Nothing! I guess I'll have to read The Warlord Chronicles and Stoner . . . even if the latter might cut a bit close to the bone. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your list, and thank you as well for being part of my 2022 -- more to come in 2023!!!

[hannahblackwellbooks]

I’m such a weirdo, assassins quest was my favorite in the series. But Ship of Magic has been my favorite Hobb so far. I’m looking forward to reading mad ship next month hopefully

[thatsci-firogue]

My Top 10 would be:
*Fantasy*
Changes / Jim Butcher
- I could've put any Dresden Files book from Dead Beat (Book 7) onwards on here but Changes met the hype for me.

Price of Spring / Daniel Abraham
- Seeing the conclusion to everyone's arcs over the course of 4 books spanning 40 years... its amazing.

The Crippled God / Steven Erikson
- I think this might be my favourite ending to a Fantasy series.

The Unholy Consult / R Scott Bakker
- Easily the darkest book I've ever read. It haunts me.

*Historical-Fantasy*
Lions of Al-Rassan / Guy Gavriel Kay
- I enjoyed Tigana but Lions made me a GGK fan.

*Historical-Fiction*
Gates of Fire / Steven Pressfield

The Last Kingdom / Bernard Cornwell
- Uhtred of Bebbenberg, what a character. I appreciate that Cornwell's not afraid to make him very unlikeable at times.

*Sci-Fi*
Book of the New Sun / Gene Wolfe
- Am I technically cheating with this one? Yes. Do I care? No 😆 Some of the best use of an unreliable narrator (for multiple reasons) I've read.

I Am Legend / Richard Matheson
- I read this in one sitting, that's rare for me.

Ogres / Adrian Tchaikovsky
- A dystopia told from the 2nd person.

[onfaerystories]

I love such a diverse list as I also read very widely! 😍👏 I've added Inventions of Losses to my TBR, and now just want to jump right into Enemy of God (I wanted to do it earlier through a physical copy because I was sick of my Kindle, but couldn't put my hand on it just yet 🥴). Quite a few of these are on my TBR because of you: Augustus (that I wanted to read very soon!), Dune and To Ride Hell's Chasm.

I've read 70% of Assassin's Apprentice a few months ago and I personally didn't connect with it, but I'm glad you did. ❤️

[RachaelsReadingNook]

Hello! Coming to you from Brandon at Brandon's Bookshelf's channel 😊I adored "Stoner" and I am always so happy to see people talking about it!

[PaulWeymouth]

I haven't gotten around to reading the Wurts book, yet I got it years ago. Pushing it a little closer to the top of my TBR. I love Hobb! I really need to read the Bakker book too. Thanks Johanna!

[BrandonsBookshelf]

Yes Inventory stayed with me too! Ok officially adding letters to a young poet to my early 2023 reading!

[FITBREAD]

I think you already know my favorite book on your list:) I was glad to see it made the cut

[justjuanreader]

You’ve certainly sold me on the Bernard Cornwell books! Sounds like my cup of tea! Also, I love that you mentioned Wagner.

[JolienReads]

I'm very happy to hear you loved Children of Dune. I have only read Dune at this point and loved it but I do want to continue my journey this year. And ofcourse I NEED to give To Ride Hell's Chasm a try. I have heard nothing but praise so far.

[jeremyfee]

Great video. Your Where's Waldo outfit is amazing! I feel like a lot of your 2022 may end up being my 2023: Janny Wurts, Robin Hobb, more Malazan.

[thedarknessunderneathpodca]

I enjoyed the Dark Tower series up until book 5. Book 4 is the best of them, though I wouldn't personally put any in my top ten of anything. But they were still very good...until 5. From book 5-7 I wanted to chuck them out a window. I preferred It, Salems Lot, Dead Zone, and Pet Symetary among King. Since I didn't like Robert Jordan that much, my tastes are obviously not everybody's. Blood Meridian is among my favorite books ever. When the Judge slaughters the survivors and begins chasing the kid and ex priest in the desert in the end is when the book becomes really exciting.

[BaldBookTuber]

I’m going to really need for you to get to Liveship Traders, my friend. As I continually told Madison (and was correct, ) it will 100% be up your alley. I’m finishing up my third readthrough of it, and absolutely adoring it.

Wizard and Glass is my book of the year - so, so good.

Can’t wait to read through Second Apocalypse in ‘23.

Awesome list!

[LiamsLyceum]

I’ve read very few of the books mentioned here, but it sounds like a great time reading. I need to get to Children of Dune, still.

[dragonrambles]

Hearing your thoughts on Children of Dune has me thinking I should try them. I can't remember why I stopped after Dune, as it was back in the 90s, but I remember I liked it a lot, maybe even loved it. I loved the Farseer's trilogy too - happy to seem them represented, and of course Janny Wurts.
My favourite read of the year was The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. And I just finished If We Were Villains by ML Rio which was also excellent. Both were books I picked up because their cover caught my eye and the blurb sounded interesting - glad that this time judging a book by the cover paid off 😆

[Danny_Matson]

Nice reading year! I also read and enjoyed Farseer this year and Assassin's Apprentice was also my favorite. Looking forward to Liveship! My book of the year goes to The Pillars of the Earth, however. If you haven't read it you should consider it someday Johanna!

[esmayrosalyne]

What a wonderful and diverse list of books, I loved hearing your reasons for picking all of these as your faves! I am so glad you got me to pick up To Ride Hell's Chasm this year, because even though it was a struggle to read for me, I ended up appreciating that challenge and liked being outside of my comfortzone for a bit. Plus, it's such a rich, deep and impactful story!
And you reminded me that I need to get back to Warlord next year!
Thanks for sharing your list! Here's to finding many more favourites in 2023 🥰

[andrewhanson]

Love your list!

You had many favorites of mine. I hope to reread the Dark Tower series later this year because I want to get another read of the series in before the tv show comes out. I've never read Wurts before but hope to get to her by the end of the year as well.

Glad to see a Dune sequel getting some love.

I agree with your picks for Farseer and PoN, those are my favorite books in those series as well.

I read a lot of very good fantasy this year but the only truly great ones for me came from rereads. My top 3 fiction books this year are probably The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Stoner and Blood Meridian. I had read about Stoner from a Gaurdian article years ago but did not read it until you and Jimmy talked so highly about it and I'm glad I did. Technically, I had already read much of Blood Meridian a few years ago, but it was my first McCarthy book and I wasn't expecting his writing style so I ended up setting it aside and never picked it back up, but I tried it again this year after having read other books by McCarthy and loved it this time.

Thanks for sharing you thoughts! I look forward to hearing more of them this coming year.