Books Read (& Listened to) in 2022

Happy New Year!  (Oder im Deutsch: Frohes Neues Jahr!)  

Our Christmas tree brought us abundant joy and light this year. 12/15/2022

Another incredibly enriching year of reading has come to a close for me. I am quite satisfied with my round-up from last year. There are so many wonderful books out there. As my collection of Books-I've-Read grows, so does my To-Read list!  Ha!  I know I'll never be able to get to them all, but oh, it sure is an enjoyable pastime.  My goodness!  Reading is magic!

My Top Ten Reads of 2022 (in no particular order except that History of Montana in 101 Objects was absolutely the coolest book I read last year).  

• History of Montana in 101 Objects: Artifacts & Essays from the Montana State Historical Society edited by Tom Ferris
• The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman et al, especially the volume Worlds' End.
• The Best of Me by David Sedaris
• A People's Future of the United States edited by Victor LaValle & John Joseph Adams
• Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang & Hyewon Yum
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
• When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris
• Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
• Calypso by David Sedaris
• Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris

Screenshot from Goodreads. 1/3/2023

2022 Annual Stats

Number of young adult or children's books: 38
Number of adult books: 44
Number of audiobooks (both adult and YA/children): 30

112 Total Books (nine more than in 2021)

There were nine books that I read more than once--I read the German translation of Green Eggs and Ham three times, say--so it is 102 unique book titles for the year.  

[Fun Fact:  Sam-I-Am becomes Jetzt-Kommt-Jack in the German translation in order to properly rhyme with "Speck" the German word for ham.  There is a read-along available here if you wanna give it a go.  It is really fun.]

There were, regrettably, three one-star books in 2022. That's the most one-star books in a single year since 2017. Two of them were titles I was assigned while volunteering with the High Plains Book Awards.  I wouldn't have chosen them for myself, but duty called.  I wish I could say the same about the third one.  That was an erotic novel by Gloria Vanderbilt...and I don't really have anyone to blame but myself there.  I don't know what brought that on.  Regardless, those three duds are easily overshadowed by the 14 books that garnered my five-star rating over the course of the year.

It seems that next year I should exclude David Sedaris by default from the Top Ten list. Call the list My Top Ten Reads Not Counting David Sedaris' Books Because I Love Him So Much instead. I mean, he got 40% of the top ten list this year...and that was me showing some restraint, really. Of the 14 books that I gave a five-star rating in 2022, David Sedaris wrote five of them.  

Perhaps this Sedaris-centric list warrants a few Honorable Mentions, you know, since he's hogging up my top ten list.  In that case, I'd add:

• The War Prayer by Mark Twain
• Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West by Lisa Hendrickson
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

GoogleSheets helped me make this schnazzy pie graph.  1/3/2023

The goal I set for my 2022 reading was to prioritize books written by folks from historically underrepresented groups. I think I did okay on this charge, but that's pretty subjective. I certainly got distracted by mainstream, traditional voices, too. Highlights from my 2022 diverse-voices challenge include:

• The works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, specifically Half a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Through her storytelling, Adichie highlights the diversity and beauty of her homeland.  She also exposes the preconceived notions and expectations about Nigeria that have been ingrained in American attitudes about Africa and Africans.
• A People's Future of the United States edited by Victor LaValle & John Joseph Adams. This book, more than any other I've read thus far, drove home the centrality of pronouns in our language.  The range of voices in this anthology--and the futures they imagined--were phenomenal.
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Music Is History by Questlove both expanded my musical horizons while simultaneously fostering deep contemplations about race in America-- and how that is recorded in American History. Both of these books have related Spotify playlists that enriched my reading experience, even if the music was not always up my alley.  [What can I say?  I'm not fond of rap music.  As with opera, I can see the technical skill required in this art form...I just don't enjoy how it sounds.]  I read The Hate U Give as part of the Banned Books Club that I started on campus last Fall.  It was packed with topics for discussion.

My reading objective for 2023 will be to complete five Kurt Vonnegut books.  Vonnegut has been atop my Favorite Author Podium for a long, looooooooong time--since my encounter with "Harrison Bergeron," in junior high.  Throughout the 2000s I read Vonnegut with a similar intensity to that which I now indulge on David Sedaris.  I haven't read any Vonnegut since 2021.

Matt mail-ordered some fancy vegan Vermont cheeses for the holidays.  This spread includes smoked gouda and a wine-infused brie with rice and wheat crackers.

Below is the complete list of books I read or listened to during 2022.  An asterisk indicates that it was an audiobook.  They are in reverse chronological reading order.

• The Wake (Neil Gaiman et al)
• The Kindly Ones (Neil Gaiman et al)
• Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 (David Sedaris)*
• Worlds' End (Neil Gaiman et al)
• The Spider Who Saved Christmas (Raymond Arroyo & Randy Gallegos)
• A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings (Charles Dickens)
• The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats)
• The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats)
• Santa Cows (Cooper Edens & Danial Lane)
• Frosty the Snowman (Diane Muldrow)
• Pig the Elf (Aaron Balbey)
• Luli and the Language of Tea (Andrea Wang & Hyewon Yum)
• Zen Keys: A Guide To Zen Practice (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Music Is History (Ahmir Questlove Thompson)*
• Brief Lives (Neil Gaiman et al)
• Naked (David Sedaris)*
• Wool Omnibus (Hugh Howey)
• The Halloween Tree (Ray Bradbury)
• Whoever You Are (Mem Fox & Leslie Staub)
• Calypso (David Sedaris)*
• Fables and Reflections (Neil Gaiman et al)
• The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)
• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (David Sedaris)*
• A Game of You (Neil Gaiman et al)
• Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls (David Sedaris)*
• Grünes Ei mit Speck (Dr. Seuess & Felicitas Hoppe)*
• Season of Mists (Neil Gaiman et al)
• Der Kater mit Hut (Dr. Seuss)
• The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss)
• Dream Country (Neil Gaiman et al)
• The Best of Me (David Sedaris)*
• In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (Alvin Schwartz & Dirk Zimmer)
• My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes (Eve Sutton & Lynley Dodd)
• Where's My Mummy?  (Carolyn Crimi & John Manders)
• Gustavo, the Shy Ghost (Flavia Drago)
• Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear (Ken Kesey & Barry Moser)
• The Crows of Pearblossom (Aldous Huxley & Sophie Blackall) 
• In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (Alvin Schwartz & Dirk Zimmer)
• The Doll's House (Neil Gaiman et al)
• A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (Jill Twiss & E.G. Keller)
• The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas)
• Summer Fires (Giulia Sagramola)
• Preludes and Nocturnes (Neil Gaiman et al)
• The Family Across the Street (Nicole Trope)
• A People's Future of the United States (Victor LaValle & John Joseph Adams, eds)
• Love Letters to the Beatles (Bill Adler)
• The Robber Bride (Margaret Atwood)*
• Grünes Ei mit Speck (Dr. Seuess & Felicitas Hoppe)
• Island of the Sequined Love Nun (Christopher Moore)
• A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality (Molly Muldoon & Will Hernandez)
• Grünes Ei mit Speck (Dr. Seuess & Felicitas Hoppe)*
• Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? (Mark Hyman)
• History of Montana in 101 Objects: Artifacts & Essays from the Montana State Historical Society (Tom Ferris et al)
• Gender Queer (Maia Kobabe)
• Island of the Sequined Love Nun (Christopher Moore)*
• Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (Margaret Atwood)*
• The Hike (Drew Magary)
• Keep the Aspidistra Flying (George Orwell)
• Fracture (Jon Lodge)
• You and Me (Rebecca Kai Dotlich & Susan Reagan) 
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)*
• The War Prayer (Mark Twain)
• Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)*
• The Stone Sister (Caroline Patterson)
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
• Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Americanah (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)*
• Heart of a Dog (Mikhail Bulgakov)
• Citizen: An American Lyric (Claudia Rankine)
• Frog (Mo Yan)*
• White Sails to China (Clyde Robert Bulla & Robert Henneberger)
• The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
• Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
• Burning the Breeze: Three Generations of Women in the American West (Lisa Hendrickson)
• "Smelly" Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly's Nose Saved the New York Subway (Beth Anderson & Jenn Harney)
• The Gardener of Alcatraz: A True Story (Emma Bland Smith & Jenn Ely)
• Forgiving Dad: A Memoir (Ed Saunders)
• Practical Demonkeeping (Christopher Moore)*
• A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020 (David Sedaris)
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Dai Sijie)*
• Not Crazy, Just Human: Moving Through Trauma to Healing (Deri Latimer)
• Helmi's Shadow: A Journey of Survival From Russia to East Asia to the American West (David Horgan)
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Timothy Snyder)
• The Best of Me (David Sedaris)*
• Dance First, Think Later: 618 Rules to Live by (Kathryn Petras & Ross Petras)
• The Big Bath House (Kyo Maclear & Gracey Zhang)
• Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance (Rudd van der Rol)
• It's Kind of a Funny Story (Ned Vizzini)
• Naked (David Sedaris)*
• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (David Sedaris)*
• Who is Florence Price? (Kaufman Music Centre)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)*
• The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
• The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin)*
• Stevie (John Steptoe)
• A Bookshop in Berlin (Françoise Frenkel)
• Obsession: An Erotic Tale (Gloria Vanderbilt)*
• Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls (David Sedaris)*
• When You Are Engulfed In Flames (David Sedaris)*
• Growing Up Amish (Ira Wagler)*
• There Are No Bears in This Bakery (Julia Sarcone-Roach)
• The Girls at 17 Swann Street (Yara Zgheib)
• Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Heather Morris)
• Calypso (David Sedaris)*
• Millions of Cats (Wanda Gág)
• Champion (Marie Lu)*
• Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin (Megan Rosenbloom)
• Prodigy (Marie Lu)*
• The Toll (Neal Shusterman)
• Legend (Marie Lu)*
• Thunderhead (Neal Shusterman)

From our annual Christmas Eve photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree.  Photo credit to my sister-in-law Clare.  12/24/2022

I hope that everyone reading this has a magnificent year of reading, growing, making, doing, and being!