TOP TEN LITPICKS of 2022

I cannnnnot wait until the 7th! All of my favorite books of the year in one house! I hope you can stop by to visit me, and if you come at 5:30 you’ll be able to hear Mary & me talk about why we loved the ones we chose. I’ll also have a selection of children’s books if you have any kids on your list.

Here are my November reads – heavy on the rom-com, romancy ones! Not my usual but they’re great slump-breakers. The best of these for sure was the new Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful, which doesn’t come out until March of 2023. Put it on your library lists now because it was really just so good – the story of a man named William who falls in love with Julia during college in the 80s. He is immediately taken in by her family (3 sisters, loving but fraught parents). He’s never seen sisters so close, until something wedges itself between them…Read with tissues. 5 stars

Less & Less is Lost were both so great, I’d have to say that Less was the better of the two and definitely start with that one. Arthur Less is looking for a way to honestly avoid attending his ex-boyfriend’s wedding so he says “yes” to every invitation on his desk instead. He’s off to teach a winter term in Germany, writing reviews in Japan, all around the world. Funny and smart. 5 stars

The Light Pirate comes out in early 2023 as well, it’s getting a lot of early buzz as a comp to Station Eleven. I’m not sure I can get behind that, I thought the first half was so good but then it kind of waned. This is part of the new trend of “climate fiction,” novels tackling climate change and the way it changes the world as we know it. This one is about a young girl who is born on the night tropical storm Wanda destroys her home island off the coast of Florida.

The Midnight Children was an EXCELLENT middle-reader novel about a loner kid named Rav who wakes up one night and sees seven kids sneaking into the abandoned house across the street. I loved every page of this story and couldn’t put it down – so good about finding friends and taking chances and speaking up for yourself. Also about the family you choose. Highly recommend. 5 stars!

Then three romancy reads, all were excellent if you like those sorts of novels!

I hope to see you all on December 7th!

Part 2!

My favorites from this batch are Trespasses by Louise Kennedy and The Reindeer Hunters by Lars Mytting. Trespasses takes place in Northern Ireland during “the troubles” and really was so good. Cushla teaches at a Catholic elementary school during the day and works at her family’s pub in the evenings. Two things happen that really propel the story – she takes a young kid named Davey under her wing (he’s of a “mixed” marriage – protestant & catholic) and she meets Michael, a lawyer representing IRA members. There is one scene in here that was just so perfectly done that will stick in my memory for a long time. This one is smoky bars and Irish brogue and forbidden love. 5 stars.

The Reindeer Hunters is the follow up to The Bell in the Lake from yesterday’s post. It follows two members of the next generation and while I think it might work as a stand-alone, it was really greatly enhanced by knowing everyone’s backstory and some of the old family legends. Way more action in this one as it ends just after WWI, lots of progress and growth in that small town of Butagen. 5 stars.

The new Kevin Wilson, Now is Not the Time to Panic, was a fast and interesting read. I’d put it on the same level as the new Celeste Ng, Our Missing Hearts, in terms of pacing & that suspenseful tension that both authors are so good at. In Now is Not the Time to panic, two awkward teens meet one summer and decide to Make Art together. What they come up with has some unintended consequences! I’ve seen many reviews say not to read the jacket cover/blurb because it gives away too much and that might be good advice. I loved reading it without any idea of where it was going. 4.5 stars. Our Missing Hearts is a slight departure for Ng in that it feels a little futuristic & political. In ways that I very much liked but definitely different from her previous novels. This one takes place in the not-so-distant future where the country is governed by a new set of laws with the purpose of preserving the American Way. We follow Bird on his journey to find out what really happened to his mother, a poet whose work was unintentionally adopted as the voice of the rebels. 4 stars.

Winterland I really enjoyed – her previous work was about the dustbowl (I Will Send Rain) and I enjoyed that one as well. Set in 1973 and the super-high-stress environment of the Soviet era, this fast-paced story about a young girl determined to be a State’s Athlete (a gymnast) really held my interest. I love the cold, cold weather & the even harsher coaches. 4 stars.

The Trees, The House in the Orchard, Open Water. All three of these are about equal for me in terms of enjoyment but very different in terms of content. The Trees is a mystery with sort of a funky twist, House in the Orchard is very much a gothic feeling, slowly unravelling family tale and Open Water is a slim literary novel about a relationship between two students. All of them were 3.5 stars for me.

Jettie and I read Wait Till Helen Comes this month and gosh it was so spooky! I thought it was great. A blended family buys a church in the countryside that’s been converted to a residence. When they move in, they discover a graveyard on the property that the youngest child is convinced is haunted by a young-girl-ghost named Helen. The mystery unfolds from there and it is legit. 5 stars.