31 Dec 2022 //Best Books
I wasn't going to do a best-of list this year. I've been feeling strange about it, been feeling strange about list-culture in general, been wondering what's it all about, Alfie? -- I hate that these lists start popping up earlier and earlier (I saw one before Halloween this year) and also it feels wrong to feel 'obligated' to have a take or a list or whatever. I'm trying to manifest a bit more real-world content as opposed to digital content for myself, next year.
But also, I know that you're here because at some point or another you got interested in my opinion about books, and that's a very nice thing and something I don't take lightly. So, instead of getting real in-my-head about it or too in-the-weeds trying to create it... a simple version of a list, with a few annotations at the end. (Somehow, it still ended up longer than I wanted but what are you gonna do?)
Oh also: all of these lists are randomized, order-wise. And the usual caveats about these lists (re: personal preference and snapshot in time and so on) are hereby in effect as well.
THE LISTS
BEST BOOKS 2022
End of the World House by Adrienne Celt — Russian Doll but in the Louvre and about female friendships, with a terrific near-future slo-mo climate-crisis-acceleration backdrop.
Singer Distance by Ethan Chatangier — you will care about math, you will look up to the skies with wonder, you will feel awe
An Immense World by Ed Yong — literally changed the way I consider the world around me!
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones — a party, an elegy, a beautiful collection by my favorite poet and one that fully delivers on the promise of the title
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott — gave me the feelings I had the first time I read Neil Gaiman, the first time I read The Night Circus
Devil House by John Darnielle — a thrilling high-wire examination of true crime and who owns/tells stories. Stranger than anything he’s done so far, and far more challenging.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel — the only pandemic novel I need, thanks! Her best work so far.
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin — funny, violent, sexy, strange; a ballsy book, in so many ways. I loved every second of it.
Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World by Sasha Fletcher -- love, art, ebullience, ethics, angels, wonder!!
Autoportrait by Jesse Ball -- a revealing and fascinating exercise. Everybody should be required to write one of these at 39.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -- deserves the hype, a glorious and playful novel
Survival of the Richest by Douglas Rushkoff -- a clarion cry from the guy throwing rocks at the Google bus, deeply important to understanding our present chaos.
Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies by John Langan -- a stunning collection by a master of the craft, more personal than any that's come before.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey -- a nasty, sharp little novel of haunted families and haunted houses.
OTHER NOTABLES 2022
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows, A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland, The Unwritten Book by Samantha Hunt, It Rides a Pale Horse by Andy Marino, The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran, Flight by Lynn Steger Strong, How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann, Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Child Zero by Chris Holm, Saturnalia by Stephanie Feldman, The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd, All These Subtle Deceits by C.S. Humble, Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
OTHER NOTABLES NOT FROM 2022
Winter Love by Han Suyin, They by Kay Dick, The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye, The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman, Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, Aspects by John Ford, Grievers by adrienne maree brown, A Country of Ghosts by Margaret Killjoy
2023 PRE-ORDER-WORTHY
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez and translated by Megan McDowell (Feb), I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (Feb), Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (March), White Cat Black Dog by Kelly Link (Mar), Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Apr), The Possibility of Life by Jaime Green (Apr)
GOOD READING MOMENTS
I got into reading romance novels! What one might call 'Fealty & Feelings' especially (see: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and A Taste of Gold and Iron) but also like a gooood witchy sort of thing, like The Ex Hex or Lana Harper's Payback's a Witch.
I released another season of Tor Presents: Voyage into Genre and I had even more fun than in season one. Every book was fantastic, every author was a delight -- but I have to say that my convos w/ Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir are two of the best I've ever, ever had in all my years of interviewing.
Thresholds, which I produce for my friend and eternal co-conspirator Jordan Kisner, hit 100 episodes! We celebrated, and also there's a giveaway!
I gave up on a lot more stuff, not out of a bad feeling but just out of hitting a satisfaction point. It made my reading generally more enjoyable to do this.
Working in a bookstore is fantastic, I talked to so many amazing writers, I launched a reading series, I wrote some stuff, the year was positive in many non-literary ways as well.
Alright let's cut this off before it gets even further out of hand. I nearly deleted everything but my "BEST BOOKS" because it felt like I was being too indecisive by including so much. But I read a lot, what can I say?
Talk to you sometime, maybe even a little more frequently, we'll see. But til whenever it may be, keep it up and I'll see you soon.
xo
D