It’s time to share with you the books I read in 2022! I read 29 books last year, that’s down a bit from 2021 but, well, who cares? I read books and enjoyed the books I read. So what if I didn’t make my 35 books for the year goal? Well, I suppose I care a little bit but not enough to get all upset about it. I read books!

Memorable moments in reading include:

1. I received a card from the UK from Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre, thanking me for reading her book and sharing my enthusiasm for the book with customers and other booksellers.
2. I met, Ann Hood, the author of Fly Girl (and a whole bunch of other great books including my favorite Kitchen Yarns). Oh, it’s worth mentioning that I met Ann while attending a writing seminar in Ireland AND I got to take a writing class from her!
3. I listened to several books on audio through Libro.fm, a super-cool audio book platform that partners with Indie Bookstores (like Content Bookstore where I work) and has over 215,000 books on audio! Interested in learning more?
   Click on this link: https://libro.fm/?bookstore=contentbookstore
   I’ve put an * next to the titles of the books I read on audio this year.

Here is my complete list of books read in 2022:

Memoir

• Fly Girl by Ann Hood
• I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell

Food Writing

• Taste * by Stanley Tucci

Fiction

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Flying Solo by Linda Holmes
• Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
• Writer’s & Lovers by Lily King
• This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
• The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
• Saturday Night at The Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

Romance

• Under One Roof *by Ali Hazelwood
• The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
• The No-Show by Beth O’Leary
• The Year of Lost and Found (Published in Ireland) by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

Murder & Mayhem

• Run Rose Run * by Dolly Parton and James Patterson

Children’s Midgrade

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year by Nina Hamza
• Journal of a Traveling Girl * by Nadine Neema
• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
• What If A Fish by Anika Fajardo
• War and Millie McGonigle * by Karen Cushman

Young Adult

• Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From * by Jennifer De Leon
• A Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Name

Technology

• Creative Selection * by Ken Kocienda

Which Were My Favorite books of 2022?

My Overall Favorite Book of 2022 (drumroll, please) is The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn. This novel is longer than most that I read (576 pages). I often won’t commit to reading a really long book, but this one hooked me in from the start. To find out more about why I liked The Whalebone Theatre, you can read the review that I posted on my blog earlier this year.

Favorite audio book? It’s easily Taste by Stanley Tucci. I loved hearing Tucci read his memoir about his love for food because, well, I adore Stanley Tucci and found it a wonderful treat to listen to him read it. I will say that I also enjoyed Run, Rose Run co-written Dolly Parton and James Patterson because Dolly read parts of that audio book and I adore Dolly, too.

Other things to note? I read six Children’s Mid-grade novels in 2022 (I think the most I’ve read other years is three). One of my favorites was Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year by Minnesota author, Nina Hamza. I wrote up a review on the book and it was one of my staff picks at Content Bookstore last May for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Another favorite was What If A Fish, from another Minnesota author, Anika Fajardo.

Here’s my Books Read lists from past years:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018

Did you discover a new favorite book in 2022 or read any of the books that I read? I’d love to know!