Bookworm 2022
taught, read, re-read and devoured
I wasn’t so good at keeping a tally this year, and I’m certain I’ve left off a few, but here’s a list of the books that I taught, read, re-read and, for the most part, enjoyed in 2022. I read a whole slew of poetry this year as well — and countless New Yorker stories, and if I had to pick the book I enjoyed the most, I guess it’d be Lauren Groff’s Matrix, followed by Alejandro Varela’s The Town of Babylon. I have stacks and stacks of unread tomes piled throughout the house and am making a half-hearted vow (is there such a thing) to not buy any more books! until I’ve finished the ones I’ve already collected. Who am I kidding — I’m a new member of Alexander Chee’s curated books at Boxwalla and have no intention of canceling that subscription. He turned me on to the Varela, and I’m into Brother Alive now. I’ll be reading Bleak House with Annie from Conquer a Classic 2023 and adorable Hunter McClendon at @shelfbyshelf. They inspired me to crack The Count of Monte Cristo this past year, and while it surprised me, I have to admit to doing a good skimming here and there. Next up, it’s The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser and The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lee.
What are you reading, good people? Tell me in the comments!
Bookworm 2022
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Hamlet by Shakespeare
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Real Estate by Deborah Levy
A Shower of Summer Days by May Sarton
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Catherine Wheel by Jean Stafford
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Last Confessions of Sylvia P by Lee Kravetz
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard
The Familia Grande by Camille Kouchner
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl
Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary by Marina Warner
Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici
The Town of Babylon: A Novel by Alejandro Varela
Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph by Lucasta Miller
This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley
Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv
Brother Alive by Zain Khalid
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Today, Tara Westover's 'Educated' holds me in its grip. Last month Janet Frame, one of New Zealand's best from years gone by enthralled me with her 'Owls do Cry' and then there was Donna's Tartt's 'The secret History', as well as several from Murakami, including 'Kafka by the shore' and last on my recent list, George Saunders wonderful 'Lincoln in the Bardo'. So many wonderful books to read. How will we ever get through them all?
I’m currently reading Perma Red. Alice Walker’s Temple of My Familiar and Braiding Sweetgrass were my favorite reads of the year. Had a blast with little known writer CT Rwizi’s Scarlet Odyssey trilogy.