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Wednesday, December 28, 2022

What I'm Reading: Becky's Best Books That I Read in 2022

For the sixth year now, I am doing my best books that I read during this calendar year in a category list rather than in some kind of ranked order, Why? Because why I loved these particular books matters more to me than the order in which I would place them. How I interacted with them, how they affected me, how they stayed with me is what is important here because that is why they are my personal "Best."

Some of the categories are the same from year to year, others change. This is because the books I read create their own experiences and categories to me personally and I want to capture that experience each year along with the titles. I am not a robot, I am a human reader, even if reading and suggesting titles is my job. In order to remind myself [and all of you] of the joy in what we are paid to do, I am trying to create a year end best list that captures, celebrates, and acknowledges that.

By this time, lots of people have already weighed in with critically acclaimed "best" lists for weeks now, so why do you need more of that from me?  I played my part in that side of the "best" debate with my Best Horror of 2022 list as part of #LibFaves2022. That is a place where my opinion on what is the BEST matters from that expert perch.

This year, I also got to weigh in a few months ago with a more general "Best" list, as a member of the the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction committee. That list of 43 books are all spectacular. I have read all of them and they are among the best books for a general adult audience that came out this year. Click here for all of the books, with the three short list titles at the top-- those short list titles all apart below in my personal best list as well. Also, each title in that list links to the title's Booklist review for more information.

I can honestly say, I greatly enjoyed every single one of the books on the longlist, but you  should know that most of them do NOT appear on my Goodreads. As a member of this committee, I did not want to let anyone else know what we were reading for consideration. By not keeping track of every book I read this year on Goodreads (because there were many titles I read that did NOT make the longlist), I was respecting our committee's diligent and serious process. However, I do have paper notes for all of them and we have a detailed committee spreadsheet. So for my purposes, I have a full record of everything I read in 2022.

I understand how important that Carnegie Medal longlist is to all of you as well. I know because I used it when I worked at the library to make "sure bet" suggestions to patrons. In fact, I wish I could include every single one of the longlist titles on this "Best Books" list because not only did I enjoy each of them, that was my over all BEST reading experience of the year-- being on the committee, meeting with the members monthly to discuss the books, and coming to consensus on the short list and the winners (which you will find out next month) was among my BEST experiences as a librarian EVER. And I am not taking those superlatives lightly.

Fro you this means that you should take both this category based post AND the Carnegie Medal longlist together as my combined Best Books I read in 2022 list.

Speaking of, let's get back to this particular annual list of mine here on the blog. What I bring here on the general blog that is most helpful to all of you out there in the trenches is a list that reflects my best experiences as a reader. This is a list that is personal to me, my tastes, and my weird quirks. You can use it to help other readers, yes, but because it is so specific to me, it is actually better used by you as a conversation starter.

For example, you can ask people "What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?" or "What title was the biggest surprise to you?" Those are questions readers can answer much more quickly and easily than "What was your favorite book?" These are also questions that encourage longer conversations.

The categories I have listed here provide great conversation starters to offer to your patrons. You can even use my answers to keep the conversation going by saying, "I was thinking about this question because Becky said [fill in the title] as her answer."

The point of my "Best" list is to both offer books that I loved this year, while also presenting an example of a regular reader view of a "best" list.

Below you will find my list of the best books I experienced in 2022 [regardless of publication year] in 15 categories created by meIt is an arbitrary amount, but so what? It's my list of what mattered to me the most this year so I get to decide how I present it. Each title links to a longer reviewwhich will explain why it is the "best" book for that category, and will include my "Three Words."

Also the list this year is way more nonfiction heavy because of my reading for the Carnegie Medal longlist.

Finally, After creating the list I also audited it. In the 15 categories there are 21 books [but 22 authors], 11 are by women, 14 are POC, and 4 identify as LGBTQ [that I know of]. This is what happens when you make an effort to diversify your reading by the way, you end up with a diverse lists of best titles. I filled out my categories first and did the audit second. If it had turned out to be too white, cis, and male, I would have owned it publicly as I have before. 

Click each title for reviews and more appeal information

I'll be back on January 9, 2022. Have a safe and happy New Year.

Becky's Best Books I read in 2022

Best Feel Good Read: This is What It Sounds Like: What The Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas [interactive, accessible, conversational tone]

Book That Stayed With Me All Year: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka [heartbreakingly beautiful, thought provoking, immersive]

The Most Fun I Had Reading a Book in 2022: Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin [band of survivors, thought provoking, action packed]

Best Book From 2021 Best Lists That I Read in 2022: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich [darkly humorous, moving, compelling] and The Trees by Percival Everett [uncanny, open ended, thought-provoking] Ed note: If forced to pick a fav book I read this year, The Trees would be it.

Best Surprise: [tie] Fiction-- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan [uncanny, thought provoking, character centered] and The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung [eye opening, personal/researched balance, immersive] Ed note: both are books I only read because of ACM committee.

Best Book By A Big Name Author: The Ghost That Ate Us: The Tragic True Story of the Burger City  Poltergeist by Daniel Kraus [verisimilitude, immersive, escalating dread]

Best Speculative Fiction: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu [gorgeous, emotional, epic in scope] Ed note: I will probably read every book this author ever puts out after this

Best Horror: [tie] The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay [original, immersive, pervasively creepy]  and The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias [lyrical, brutal, strong narrative voice]

Best Graphic Novel: [tie] Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands written and illustrated by Kate Beaton [candid, richly detailed, reflective] and The Third Person written and illustrated by Emma Grove [frank, vulnerable, emotional] Ed note: I fought for these to make the ACM longlist which generally does not include graphic novels, but both of these books are spectacular and tell important stories, true stories which are greatly enhanced by the addition of illustrations. 

Best Audio: The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones [disorienting, character centered, original haunted house trope]

Best Historical Fiction: Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang [richly detailed, compelling, heartbreakingly beautiful]

Best Short Story Collection: Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty [linked stories, strong sense of place, moving]

Best Memoir: [tie] Stay True by Hua Hsu [friendship, reflective, candid]  and Constructing a Nervous System by Margo Jefferson [reflective, engaging, stylistically interesting]

Best Nonfiction: [tie] An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Young [thought-provoking, engaging, joyful] and Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage by Rachel E. Gross [authoritative but colloquial, inclusive, science communication]

Best Debut: Greenland by David Santos Donaldson [character-driven, story within a story, thought-provoking]

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