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2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge

The year is over and there were so many books I wanted to read but did not have a chance, too. I won’t lament those great books I didn’t manage to fit into 2022 because I have a whole new year to read now!

It was a difficult year of unforeseen events and challenges: doing a university course while working full-time, an unexpected death in the family, and housing renovations.

I usually set a basic ‘goal’ of reading 100 novels every year. I didn’t feel as much pressure to hit my goal this year. Not having Goodreads is a bit of a burden off my shoulders. I think part of the pressure of Goodreads for me was trying to read more books, and more interesting books than my friends. I was free of these background pressures this year. I still made good progress. I managed to read 89 books.

Books I Read in 2022

Books read in 2022: 89

Pages read in 2022: 25,140

Of all the books I read, there was a great variety in quality; some were mere amusements like a summer action blockbuster movie, others were interesting, and others were so incredible that they still linger in my thoughts. I highlighted my most memorable books I read this year. These are books that rocked my world. I left a brief description of why and linked to my reviews.

  1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

  2. Cold War Correspondent (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11): A Korean War Tale by Nathan Hale

A fascinating graphic novel that paints the broad strokes of the Korean War. This lead me to read the Max Hastings book right after it because I became fascinated with this ‘forgotten war’.

  1. The Korean War (Pan Military Classics) by Max Hastings

  2. Kirinyaga (A Fable of Utopia, #1) by Mike Resnick

  3. Garfield Goes to Waist: His 18th Book by Jim Davis

  4. Power & Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones

An easy to read history about a time-period you think you know about because knights and the plague but actually you probably know very little about. It is broken down into themes that are concise, yet illuminating. Changed my understanding of the time period, and Europe.

  1. [Five Preludes & a Fugue (Yeoyu, #1) by Cheon Heerahn](Five Preludes & A Fuge by Emily Yae Won)

Beautiful story of letters between the daughter of the person who committed suicide and a person who witnessed the suicide. Love the ending on this one!

  1. Old Wrestler (Yeoyu, #2) by Jeon Sungtae

  2. The Flock of Ba-Hui and Other Stories by Oobmab

My introduction to Lovecraftian tales without ever reading Lovecraft. This lead me to read another fascinating book actually by H.P. Lovecraft. I also bought this book from one of my favourite small publishers, Camphor Press.

  1. Garfield World-Wide (Garfield, #15) by Jim Davis

  2. Imperium (Granta Editions) by Ryszard Kapuściński

  3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

  4. Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson

  5. Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton

I have a deep fascination with the Age of Sail and also Arctic/Antarctic exploration. This was such a well researched story about a very harrowing trip. This lead me to read another book about another cursed expedition, The Franklin Expedition.

  1. The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince Beiser

  2. The Promise by Damon Galgut

  3. The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding

  4. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

  5. The Eighth Day of the Week by Marek Hłasko

  6. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie

  7. Putin’s People by Catherine Belton

  8. Snoopy’s Love Book by Charles M. Schulz

  9. Migrante by J.W. Henley

  10. Killing the Second Dog by Marek Hłasko

Another strange book from one of my favourite, but not-very-well-known authors Marek Hlasko. His books stay with me long after I’ve finished them. They are filled with such broken characters. He writes from

  1. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

  2. DK: Money by Joe Cribb

  3. The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris

  4. Europa (Yeoyu, #3) by Han Kang

  5. Garfield Tips the Scales (Garfield, #8) by Jim Davis

  6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

  7. The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

  8. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

Some weird tales here. South Korean authors can be counted to give you a healthy dose of strange, unsettling stoires.

  1. Cannery Row (Cannery Row, #1) by John Steinbeck

  2. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

  3. Deadwood by Pete Dexter

Funny, and realistic story of gun slingers trying to get by in the wild west.

  1. Garfield Out to Lunch (Garfield, #12) by Jim Davis

  2. Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience (Vintage) by Gitta Sereny

  3. Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

  4. The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War by Nicholas Mulder

  5. Tales from the Ant World by Edward O. Wilson

  6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

  7. Ten Myths about Israel by Ilan Pappé

  8. My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

  9. All Backs Were Turned by Marek Hłasko

  10. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

  11. The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution by Nils Melzer

The sad fate of the brave whistleblower who dares challenge US hegemony still continues to this day. A sobering read on how nation states will try to crush you if you leak their dirty laundry.

  1. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

  2. The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness by Shin Kyung-sook

  3. Garfield Says a Mouthful (Garfield, #21) by Jim Davis

  4. Stoner by John Williams

  5. Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture, #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

  6. Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

  7. War and Peas: Funny Comics for Dirty Lovers by Jonathan Kunz

  8. Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern by Jing Tsu

  9. Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt by Richard Gott

  10. SSH Mastery: OpenSSH, PuTTY, Tunnels and Keys by Michael W. Lucas

  11. Demons (Yeoyu, #7) by Kang Hwagil

  12. Savaged by Systemd: an Erotic Unix Encounter by Michael Warren Lucas

  13. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

  14. The Graveyard by Marek Hłasko

  15. The Witch Boy (The Witch Boy, #1) by Molly Knox Ostertag

  16. The Baby-Sitters Club Graphix#03: Mary Anne Saves The Day by Ann M. Martin

  17. Kristy’s Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club, #1) by Raina Telgemeier

  18. The Truth About Stacey by Raina Telgemeier

  19. The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor

  20. A Taipei Mutt by Eric Mader-Lin

  21. Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

Heroic, true story of a couple in Nazi Germany resisting. I devoured the wikipedia page after reading this book.

  1. A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke

  2. The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison

  3. The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis by Amitav Ghosh

  4. Hooky by Míriam Bonastre Tur

  5. Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

  6. Space Boy Volume 1 (Space Boy, #1) by Stephen McCranie

  7. Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder

  8. git commit murder by Michael Warren Lucas

Funny, nerdy murder mystery by an author I follow on the Fediverse. This is a for those that like mystery novels and know what git commit means.

  1. Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and Innovations by Mary Beard

  2. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder

Led to read this book because of the unfolding tragedy happening in Ukraine. Reading this book changed my perspective on World War 2 and makes me wonder why did the Soviet Union escape WW2 as a ‘good guy’ when they were opportunistic and just as blood thirsty as Nazi Germany.

  1. git sync murder by Michael Warren Lucas

  2. Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhii Plokhy

The best read of the year. I was only born in 1983, so I did not know about this history of lies, corruption, and heroism. It’s incredible how close to destruction the whole European continent came due to this man-made disaster. The repercussions of Chernobyl reverberate to this day. I found the incredible HBO mini-series Chernobyl after reading this. Read this and then watch the HBO series.

  1. Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

  2. (I’m not sure what book #82 was.)

  3. Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss

  4. Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

  5. Delusions of the Crowd by William J. Bernstein

  6. Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer

  7. Traffic Power Structure by Planka.nu

  8. In the Beginning…was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson

  9. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre

Why hasn’t this been made into a movie yet? Incredible true story of the most valuable MI6 double agent. His story basically follows all of the Cold War, too. This was a pageturner for me!

NOTE: If you want to read my review for any of the books above, please use the search function of my blog and look for the title or the author. I have all the author names as tags, so that might be the easiest way to find them.

Were there any amazing books I missed? Please message me on the Fediverse at: @elias@go.arkadi.one. I would love to add more books to my towering list of “Books to Read”.

I’d also love to hear what were your most memorable books of the year? why?

Now, it’s time to start my 2023 Reading Challenge. I’ll aim for 100 books again with the knowledge I probably won’t hit that number.

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