Saturday, January 07, 2023

My Best Reads of 2022

 
I keep track of my Best Reads each year, but it never hurts to do a Show & Tell at the end of the year, does it?
 
The number of my Best Reads is up from 2021 which is a good thing because I was in dire need of distraction for most of the year.
 
I also managed to read more non-fiction, which is something I must make a point of doing from now on; I'd forgotten how much I'd enjoyed it, but two books written by Kate Moore certainly reminded me. 
 
I'm listing my 2022 Best Reads in the order in which I read them, and I've included a link to my review of the book below each cover. Now I'm wondering how many of my favorite books in 2022 were yours, too? 
 
 
The Woman They Could Not Silence. Non-Fiction.

 
Brat Farrar. Golden Age Mystery.


Halsey's Typhoon. Non-Fiction.


Radium Girls. Non-Fiction.


Murder on the Red River. Historical Mystery.


The Woman in the Library. Suspense.


The Self-Made Widow. Amateur Sleuth.


Dead Rich. Thriller.


Remarkably Bright Creatures. Contemporary Fiction. Audiobook.


Back to the Garden. Police Procedural.


The Stolen Hours. Legal Thriller. Audiobook.


Horse. Fiction.


The Enigma Affair. Thriller.


The Dictionary of Lost Words. Historical Fiction.


Bleeding Heart Yard. Police Procedural.


Here's looking ahead to a fantastic New Year filled with wonderful stories to read. I can't wait to start my 2023 Best Reads list!

21 comments:

  1. I liked Brat Farrar too, I think it made my top ten the year I read it. Lots I want to investigate in this post but especially Remarkably Bright Creatures and Halsey's Typhoon.

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    1. Well... I really don't have to tell you my opinion of those two, do I? ;-)

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  2. I read seven of your best reads this year. Four made my best reads list this year. I had ten best reads. They were Remarkably Bright Creatures, The Locked Room, Horse and the Woman in the Library. Two of my 2022 best reads were on your previous best reads years. They were Deadland which was on your 2020 list and The Reading List which was on your 2021. So that leaves 4 more that went on my best of 2022. They were Lessons in Chemistry, Children of the Street, The Corpse Flower and The Maid.

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    1. Every time I turn around, Lessons in Chemistry keeps slapping me in the face. With it on your Best Reads list, I'll start paying lots more attention to it!

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  3. A great list with nice variety! The Woman in the Library was one I enjoyed.

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    1. My lists used to be exclusively crime fiction. I seem to be branching out a bit.

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  4. I'm not surprised at these results, Cathy. As you know, I really like Elly Griffiths. And I know how much you like the Cash Blackbear series; I MUST start reading that. Sulari Gentill writes so well, too! Oh, and Radium Girls is on my wish list; I'm glad for the kick in the pants about that one.

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    1. Yes! You must read Cash Blackbear and Radium Girls!

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  5. Nice list, Cathy! Lots of good ones to think about. The only one I read from your list was THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY and I liked it very much.

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    1. That one seems to be popular here in the comments. :-)

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  6. What great books! I have been meaning to pick up The Radium Girls, thanks for the reminder of it!

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  7. So many of these books are now on my TBR list because of you! :D It's a great favorites list.

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    1. Thanks-- but it's only fair that I add to your list because you've certainly added to mine! :-)

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  8. I"m so glad you chose Murder on the Red River, a tough book to read, and I"m sure Marcie Rendon found it to be a hard book to write,as it goes over mistreatment of forcibly removed Indigenous childreom from their homes and tribes. And I laughed when I saw Remarkably Bright Creatures; I loved Marcelllus, the Pacific octopus. So many good books reviewed at this blog which saves me from experimenting.
    I love those charts, always good to see. Can't wait for this year's batch of new books (1,000s) and the reviews at this fabulous blog.

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    1. Aw, thank you, Kathy. I'd give you a hug if I could.

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    2. Same to you. Your blog is always a bright spot in the day.

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  9. I became aware of Brat Farrar in 1986, when there was a tv adaptation of the book, which ran for 6 episodes. Perhaps there's some way to track down a copy online? Amazon doesn't seem to have one. It might be fun to see it again. I didn't read the book for a number of years afterward.

    I, too, loved The Daughter of Time. Totally straightened out the mess that the Tudors made of Richard III's history, didn't it?

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    1. Pepper, take a look on Youtube for Brat Farrar. I seem to remember watching it there, although the film quality was horrible. I watched it back in the 80s, too. I really liked the actor playing Brat.

      The Daughter of Time is one of my all-time favorites. They're still trying to find out what happened to the Princes in the Tower, but I still side with Josephine Tey.

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  10. I loved reading Denise Mina's Rizzio about the murder of the secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was Italian and the Scottish barons were jealous of his position and influence on her. Denise Mina discussing this book at the PP had me howling with laughter. She said they didn't know how to use gunpowder, and one baron went flying halfway across Edinburgh after lighting it.

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    1. That's one of the books on my Need-to-Read list. I was sitting in the audience the last time she appeared at The Poisoned Pen. She's a hoot.

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