Best of 2022

Already time for the yearly roundup of some of my best reads this year. I always wait until the very last possible moment to post my list; you never know what you'll come across around Christmas! I like to give every book I've read this year a chance to appear on my favourites list, no matter if I read it in the first week of January or the last few days of December. 

I also create a statistical summary each year, mostly for my own geekish pleasure. As I've said before, I don't think of reading as a competition -- I keep track of numbers and various stats for my own interest, not to prove anything or compare myself to anyone. 

Here are my reading stats for 2022:

Total Reading: 132

Authors

Female: 114
Male: 11
Both/Neither: 7

Genre 

Fiction: 87

Non Fiction: 42

Poetry: 3

In Translation: 44

Ukrainian - 20

Russian (Ukrainians writing in) - 4

Italian - 5

Japanese - 4

French - 2

Quebec French - 1

Spanish - 1

Korean - 1

Hebrew - 1

Greek - 1

Danish - 1

Czech - 1

Farsi - 1

Finnish -1

My Own Books: 23
Library Books: 106

Review Copies: 3

Rereads: 4
E-reads: 33

Author who I read the most from: 

Elizabeth von Arnim with 4

2022's Weird Random Stat: 

Books with place names in their titles: 9

I seem to have picked up my reading slightly over last year, which admittedly was a very strange year! The number of audiobooks I read this year dropped quite a lot but I'm still using them more than I did in the past. 

Like always, I read a big majority of women authors, and quite a few more library books than my own this year. Must get to my own shelves again soon. But I am happy with all the great books I found through the library!

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And now for the Best of 2022!

These are titles that were memorable, unusual, or caught me with their great storytelling or rich characters. Just books that hit the right note with me when I picked them up! I read a lot of good books this year, but it was hard to pick out the great ones. 

Starting with some great Ukrainian reading:

1. Daughter / Tamara Duda - my top read of the year. Hard hitting and sometimes tough to read, this was difficult at times but so compelling

2. Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex / Oksana Zabuzhko - a classic of Ukrainian literature, I found it very engaging, and relished her writing style

3. Dog Park / Sofi Oksanen - this Finnish/Estonian writer told a fascinating story, and captures contemporary life in Ukraine and Europe

4. From Heart to Heart / Lesia Ukrainia & Hrytsko Hryhorenko - my favourite volume so far in the Language Lanterns series of collected writings of Ukrainian women from the turn of the last century. So good. 

And then some lighter reading for enjoyment:

5. Killers of a Certain Age / Deanna Raybourn - a delightful read featuring four aging assassins who use the invisibility of older women to their advantage

6. Hester / Laurie Lico Albanese - a deeply woven historical novel featuring a seamstress/embroiderer who leaves Scotland to go to New England at the time of Nathaniel Hawthorne and unwittingly becomes his inspiration for "The Scarlet Letter" (all fictional of course)

7. Clothes-Pegs / Susan Scarlett - a frothy romance from the 30s, enjoyable for its setting in a fashion house and all the fabulous family interactions. The romance is passable.

8. Aggie Morton & the Seaside Corpse / Marthe Jocelyn - the final volume in one of my favourite middle grade series which manages to tie up the series in a touching but not maudlin way. 

And finishing off with two wonderful non-fiction reads: 

9. The Ukrainian Night / Marci Shore - a history of the 2014 Euromaidan revolution through interviews with Ukrainians who were part of it. Shore has a non-intrusive authorial voice, and this story gives a lot of background for those new to Ukrainian history

10. Summer Kitchens / Olia Hercules - this cookbook is more than just recipes (although those are wonderful). It's also full of photos and stories about Ukrainian traditions all across the country. Simply beautiful. I didn't review this one, but I highly recommend it!

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And there it is, my yearly roundup. I didn't read quite as much in numbers this year, but found that the books I was reading took more concentration and focus. Many were by new-to-me writers. I did find some excellent reads, and many of the books not on this final list were very good books that just didn't quite make it to the top ten. I'm hoping for a good reading year ahead and more new discoveries.