You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

And while that may be true, let's narrow that down to the best and the worst reads you had this year (2022). What were they? Tell us the top 5 of both.

What should we put to the top of our lists?
What did you read for the team so we don't have to?

*pushes books off her TBR pile in anticipation*

My top five:

Stillhouse Lake
The Burning Swift ( the whole trilogy is a 5 star read)
Daughters of the Dragon
The Heart's Invisible Furies
The Great Witch of Brittany

My least favourites:

Immortal - I don't even remember this book and I didn't rate it.
The Pallbearers Club
The Hiding Place - another book I can't recall.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Palace Job

My top five:

1. The Vanishing Half - should have read it when it was the group read!
2. The Help - another amazing historical fiction
3. Empire of the Vampire - amazing art and story telling
4. Vicious - a modern superhero book with anti hero mcs
5. TJ Powar Has Something to Prove - 100% relatable

Worst reads:

1. Reminders of Him - I was appalled
2. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty - so disappointing
3. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - can understand why this is on the banned books list
4. The Notebook - maybe I am broken because i could not understand what was romantic about this
5. Layla - it was so bad i found it funny lol

My top five

1.The Lost Ticket
2. The Lost Man
3. Starfish
4. Two Nights in Lisbon
5. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

My least favorite

1. The Prisoner
2. The Love Hypothesis
3. Portrait of a Thief
4.The Cartographers
5. This Time Tomorrow

I look forward to this thread every year. It gives me an idea of what to pick up (maybe) and what to avoid.

My Best of 2022: all 5 star ratings

Where the Crawdads Sing I don't know what took me so long to finally get to reading it.
Horse: A Novel I like anything by this author
Take My Hand
Project Hail Mary
The Survivors Another author I enjoy
The River

I know that's 6 but I couldn't think of which one to omit. They were all so good, imo.

My kick-them-to-the-curbs:

The Echo Wife 2 stars
The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare 2 stars
Athena's Child 2 stars
Clean Air 1 star
Haven 1 star I almost didn't finish this one, it was so bad.

Those first 3 were just bad writing and lame plots. The other 2 were a struggle to complete.

The Best 2022 reads:

House Name which is actually the third in the series. I am a fan of the author and her series are often a bit slow to get going, this is an 8 book fantasy series with magic, ancient civilizations, premonitions, and lots of politics.

Trickster Drift is the second book in a trilogy and it was my favourite of the three. The series follows a troubled indigenous youth, there is magic (i.e. the trickster), and a crazy cast of characters. Thought it was great. Though the first book was my least favourite.

Councilor is the second book in a new series by L.E. Modesitt Jr.. It is all politics with a liberal and environmental bent (as per usual for this author). First one was good, second was better. Can't wait for more.

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is an incredibly cool collection of short stories. All a little weird, but all wonderful.

Justine, the whole quartet actually. I really liked how the books changed POV and the story evolved. I listened to them all while out walking, one of my most memorable reads of the year.


The Worst 2022 Reads:

Black Leopard, Red Wolf I would never have chosen to read this on my own as I could tell it was not my kind of story, but it was a book club read, so I am not sure how big an actual disappointment it was. I didn't finish it.

Another book club read that I disliked The Old Drift. Didn't finish it.

While I did finish the next three books, they should have all been much better.

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. He is a great author and I have enjoyed other of his books but this one was boring.

The Jasmine Throne was an interesting concept and a fantasy book that isn't set in some medieval European setting is always a treat, it didn't appeal to me.

The Poppy War, I read the whole trilogy because I wanted to find out what happened but it never lived up to it's promise. I mean a fantasy series based on the Japan/China wars. With elemental magic. Should have been great, instead felt like the characters were uninspired.

And the winners and losers are...

My best of 2022: All 5 star ratings

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

My "Why Did I Bother" reads:

Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict
The Attic on Queen Street by Karen White
An Eye for an Eye by Carol Wyer
Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse
Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe

This is always so hard for me! lol I can't say that these are exactly the best and worst of the year, but...

Five that I loved:
The Four Winds
Mad Honey
The Bodyguard
Dachshund Through the Snow
All the Dangerous Things

Five that I didn't like:
Sundial
After Happily Ever After
The Mermaid's Sister
Rip Van Winkle
The Last of the Spirits

Jayme - I've been wanting to read Our Missing Hearts, Razorblade Tears, and The Diamond Eye. I have them all planned for next year, so I'm glad to see them on your list. :)

Marnie - I also loved The Lost Ticket, The Lost Man, Starfish, and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, so I'm a little concerned that I have both The Prisoner and The Love Hypothesis to read soon and they topped your worst list.

I am a mood reader so it could have been just me…but now I will be extra curious to see what you think.

Marnie wrote: "I am a mood reader so it could have been just me…but now I will be extra curious to see what you think."

Oh, I can understand that. There are times that I look at how I rated something and think that I must have just been in the mood (or not) for that book at that time.

I read many good books this year so it's a bit hard to just pick 5, but here are...

My best reads:
Soon, love the whole series
Dear John, the one causing reading slump
The Bodyguard
The Night Bus Hero
your name.

Unexpectedly, my worst reads are:
The Wind in the Willows
The Song of Achilles
Black Swan, White Raven
Dear Commitee Members
Piranesi

I didn't read as much this year as I normally do.

Favourites from 2022
I had 4 5-star reads. In chronological order:
Malibu Rising
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
The Penguin Lessons
Carrie Soto Is Back

Then there were 16 4-star reads but I really don't know which one of those to add to the top 5. Probably The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music or The House in the Cerulean Sea

Least favourite reads of 2022
The Thursday Murder Club - I abandoned it. Likely a case of not the right book for me at the time.
Queens of the Underworld: A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks - 2 stars. I thought it was a bit boring.

Then I have 7 3-star books but it feels wrong to add any of those to 'least favourite' as I did enjoy all of those, so I'll just leave it at this.

This was hard to do! It was good to go back and see how many great books I read!

Favorites:
1. The Book of Lost Names. It isn’t often a book wrings such emotion from me. Beautiful, but hard story.
2. Once Upon a Wardrobe. I had to buy the hard copy to read over and over.
3. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. Beautiful story, eloquently told.
4. The Last Green Valley. Audible. Based on true story. Such courage through difficult times!
5. Fairy Tale. It had been a long time since I read King. This was quite the adventure and I will listen to it again. Uplifting, unbelievably!

Least Favorites:
1. Body on the Island. In my book journal, I gave it half a point. It was that poor a book for me.
2. Fool's Gold. This was another no go for me. I really didn’t like the characters.
3. River Run. Stilted and boring.
4. Mountain Town Murder. I actually abandoned this one. For me, this was a book used to further promote the author’s political views. Of course that happens, but the sarcasm, lack of toleration of other views and rants were not my thing.
5. Enchanting Murder. Poor writing, uninteresting storyline and muddled characters.

This is always difficult.

Just Some of My Favorites
To Dance with the White Dog (excellent geezer-lit)
Half Share (The entire series so far, my go-to Space Opera task)
One Shark, No Swim (The entire series, Hawaiian faiytale)
Martin Marten (enjoyable duel coming-of-age story)
The Maid (Gotta love the underdog)
My Darkest Prayer (narrator Adam Lazarre-White enhanced this vigilante justice audio)

Least Favorite
Crimes and Covers
The Immortal Circus: Final Act
Loop Group
The Haunted Forest Tour
Murder on Moloka'ii (Surfing Detective Mystery)

I look forward to this thread every year. So fun to see everyone’s best and worst reads - sometimes they end up being the same for a few folks!

Surprisingly, I had only two (new) favorites for 2022:

Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Homa (stellar writing, impactful story, brilliantly crafted about the Kurds’ struggle for justice in Iran) and

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone (wickedly smart fast-paced thriller)

I reread three of my favorite books from previous years:
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Dry by Jane Harper and
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Tops
Euphoria
The Sparrow
After the Party
Utopia Avenue
Confession with Blue Horses

Flops
The Two Mrs. Carlyles
The Maid (sorry Almeta, I just didn't believe her ;-))
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop
Daisy in Chains
Practical Magic

Marnie - I see you have Two Nights in Lisbon on your “Best” too! The Lost Man is on my “Favorites” shelf.

Peggy - I loved The Penguin Lessons!

Lol, Margo - what I said in message 16 - you and Almeta are the first pair - The Maid is on your “Worst” list and on Almeta’s “Best” list! 🤣

Lilisa wrote: "Marnie - I see you have Two Nights in Lisbon on your “Best” too! The Lost Man is on my “Favorites” shelf.

Peggy - I loved The Penguin Lessons!"

So did I, such a wonderful book!

Lilisa wrote: "Lol, Margo - what I said in message 16 - you and Almeta are the first pair - The Maid is on your “Worst” list and on Almeta’s “Best” list! 🤣"

LOL Lilisa, and we posted at exactly the same time! That one as a bit of a marmite book alright.

I didn't get around to reading The Gift of Rain this year - hopefully next ;-)

Top Five for me ~

#1. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
#2. The Diamond Eye
#3. A Snake Falls to Earth
#4. Hour of the Witch
#5. Year of Wonders

and this was HARD because the other 26 books that I gave 5-star-ratings to were every bit as good as these five.

I read some really GREAT books for this challenge this year.

Ohhh, I like the phrase “a bit of a marmite book!” I hope you’ll like GoR when you get to it. I love TTE’s writing. I hear he’s working on his third book…UPDATE - to be published in October 2023!

It is hard for me to do this list this year because I had a massive reading slump that seemed to last forever.

Best of the year:
Misery
The Kingdom
Good Men
The Book of Lamentations
The Last House on Needless Street

Worst of the year:
Ten Women My only 1 star. I finished it because it was for a challenge. It was bad.

I have some 2 stars, but it would be unfair to put them here. I know I would have enjoyed them better in a different moment.
I abandoned an absurd amount of books during the year, but I do not keep track of those. So the worst ones are lost for good. :)

I have finally tidied up the books I read in 2022 so I can let you know my thoughts. I know you were dying in anticipation (lol).

Best:
All the Light We Cannot See
The Collapsing Empire
The Lost Man
Whispers Under Ground
On Chesil Beach

Honorable Mention to - After Australia

Worst:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I think if I had read this 40 years ago then I would have thought differently. But just less than meh now
Cemetery Lake - poor plotting but also failed from me reading an American translation which also cut 30 pages from the book.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers - just did not care. Structure was interesting though.

I didn't see this thread until now. Here is mine

Best 5 that weren't rereads
The Marrow Thieves - wasn't perfect but I enjoyed it a lot still
The Rose Code - Kate Quinn gets better and better
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - currently reading book 2 and it is also very good so far
Cry, the Beloved Country - 2 classics for good reason
Of Mice and Men

My biggest disappointments
A Christmas Carol
Midnight Robber
Orange World and Other Stories

I can't wait to read The Rose Code, Vicki! I preordered it and haven't had a chance to read it yet. Soon I hope. I have also never read Of Mice and Men, but it's on my someday list.

Thought why not share mine here too.

5 best reads last year:
A Touch of Darkness
The Spanish Love Deception
The Hating Game
Anyone
Anywhere

Most disappointing / worst reads:
Book of Night
The Sister-in-Law
The Paper Palace
Alice in Wonderland

I enjoy your list no matter when you make it! I even added a shelf to my books Best/worst of 2023 so I can remember which books to include when the time comes. :)

Kristie wrote: "I can't wait to read The Rose Code, Vicki! I preordered it and haven't had a chance to read it yet. Soon I hope. I have also never read Of Mice and Men, but it's on my someday list."

I hope you love it! I still have The Diamond Eye to read but it made a couple best lists so I'm looking forward to that one

Vicki wrote: "Kristie wrote: "I can't wait to read The Rose Code, Vicki! I preordered it and haven't had a chance to read it yet. Soon I hope. I have also never read Of Mice and Men, but it's on my someday list...."

Oh geez... I was tired when I wrote this! lol I already read The Rose Code. I gave it 5 stars. It's The Diamond Eye that I can't wait to read.

2022 was a wacky ride lol. Didn't read that much for personal reasons. Least favorite was probabky Holes. Wasn't that bad, just not good either. Kinda liked it though. Best book in my oppinion was Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story. As a transgender and gender non confirming person it was very relatable and I also just really like Jacob Tobia, I was excited when I found out they made a booj. .3.

I must recommend Sissy to my daughter. She is trans too 😊