December, 2022
December 7th, 2022, 8:04 p.m. - "The most important thing is finding someone you wish to play with"
50. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin)
Up next: Sign Here (Claudia Lux)
December 14th, 2022, 8:07 p.m. - Definitely the weirdest thing I read all year
51. Sign Here (Claudia Lux)
Up next: People Person (Candice Carty-Williams)
December 22nd, 2022, 6:21 p.m. - Shut up, Lizzie
52. People Person (Candice Carty-Williams)
Up next: Killers of a Certain Age (Deanna Raybourn)
December 27th, 2022, 5:57 p.m. - A squad of Sphinxes
53. Killers of a Certain Age (Deanna Raybourn)
Up next: The Family Game (Catherine Steadman)
December 31st, 2022, 2:46 p.m. - Another year, another Annual Year-End Book Round-Up (#16!)
I slacked a little on reading this year, but it might be because I got even more liberal than usual about ditching books I wasn't fully into. No regrets.
1. The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, Zoraida Córdova
The best: The Appeal, The Paradox Hotel, Portrait of a Thief, Killers of a Certain Age
Should've skipped: Devil House, Happy-Go-Lucky, The Nineties
The most memorable/impactful: How High We Go in the Dark, Run Towards the Danger, Our Missing Hearts
Favorite characters: January Cole (The Paradox Hotel), Jazz Benavides (The Kill Club), Catfish Bible (Girl, Forgotten)
Least favorite characters: Ruby Reyes (Things We Do in the Dark), Dov Mizrah (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow), Lizzie Pennington (People Person)
Book that most lived up to its hype: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Book that least lived up to its hype: Sea of Tranquility
Book I was looking forward to that didn't disappoint: Blood Sugar
Book I was looking forward to that did disappoint: Happy-Go-Lucky
Books I'm most looking forward to in 2023: Quietly Hostile (Samantha Irby), The Eden Test (Adam Sternbergh), The Twyford Code (Janice Hallett), Hell Bent (Leigh Bardugo), Don't Fear the Reaper (Stephen Graham Jones)
Memorable quotes: "[I am] leaving the decadent comfort of thirty and reluctantly knocking on the grizzled front door of forty." (Hell of a Book)
"He is a bullet that has entered the town and not yet left an exit wound." (Where the Truth Lies)
"When you're rich, you can control everything. Except the richer." (Good Rich People)
"There's a time and a place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn't it." (Things We Do in the Dark)
"The day Libby Rhodes met Nicolás Ferrer de Varona was incidentally also the day she discovered that 'incensed,' a word she had previously had no use for, was now the only conceivable way to describe the sensation of being near him." (The Atlas Six)
"[S]he knew she'd succeeded the first time she kissed him, slipping something in the latch of his thoughts so she'd always be invited in." (The Atlas Six)
"It is a testament to my unparalleled self-control that I nodded politely at this, rather than telling him to sew himself into a burlap sack so I could throw him into the ocean." (Magic for Liars)
"Twilight releases its grasp on the town, letting night draw a blanket of darkness." (Hide)
"Maybe, she thinks, this is simply what living is: an infinite list of transgressions that did not weigh against the joys but that simply overlaid them, the two lists mingling and merging, all the small moments that made up the mosaic of a person, a relationship, a life." (Our Missing Hearts)
I liked this a lot, and it definitely deserves the praise and hype it's gotten, but Amazon called it the best book of the year, and I just can't get behind that.
This felt like Lux crammed two books together, and they didn't quite fit. Or maybe I'm disappointed because I was expecting something else.
I really liked the first half of this, once I realized that it wasn't what I was expecting, but the second half just...kept...dragging...on. And they just move on from the first half like nothing happened! Why???
A last-minute addition to my list of favorites from this year! This was really fun, and a good balance of action, suspense, and slower moments, which never felt too slow. I would happily read a series with these characters.
2. Girl, 11, Amy Suiter Clarke
3. Hell of a Book, Jason Mott
4. Where the Truth Lies, Anna Bailey
5. The Flight Attendant, Chris Bohjalian
6. Somebody's Daughter, Ashley C. Ford
7. Reckless Girls, Rachel Hawkins
8. The Accomplice, Lisa Lutz
9. The Appeal, Janice Hallett
10. Devil House, John Darnielle
11. How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu
12. The Maid, Nita Prose
13. The Collective, Alison Gaylin
14. Like a Sister, Kellye Garrett
15. Never Saw Me Coming, Vera Kurian
16. The Paradox Hotel, Rob Hart
17. Survive the Night, Riley Sager
18. Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu
19. Well, This Is Exhausting, Sophia Benoit
20. The Kill Club, Wendy Heard
21. The Disappearing Act, Catherine Steadman
22. Good Rich People, Eliza Jane Brazier
23. Blood Sugar, Sascha Rothchild
24. I'll Be You, Janelle Brown
25. The Change, Kirsten Miller
26. Run Towards the Danger, Sarah Polley
27. Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris
28. Hairpin Bridge, Taylor Adams
29. Anthem, Noah Hawley
30. The House Across the Lake, Riley Sager
31. The Lies I Tell, Julie Clark
32. A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham
33. Portrait of a Thief, Grace D. Li
34. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
35. The Last to Vanish, Megan Miranda
36. Things We Do in the Dark, Jennifer Hillier
37. The Atlas Six, Olivie Blake
38. Girl, Forgotten, Karin Slaughter
39. The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman
40. We Could Be Heroes, Mike Chen
41. How to Be Eaten, Maria Adelmann
42. The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton
43. All Good People Here, Ashley Flowers
44. Stay Awake, Megan Goldin
45. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix
46. Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey
47. Hidden Pictures, Jason Rekulak
48. Hide, Kiersten White
49. Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng
50. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
51. Sign Here, Claudia Lux
52. People Person, Candice Carty-Williams
53. Killers of a Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn