2022 reading list

Once again, I return to this blog to share my reads for 2022—all the books I finished last year. Without further ado, the list, roughly in order:

• Senlin Ascends, Josiah Bancroft
• Circe, Madeleine Miller
• Sidewinders, Robert V.S. Redick
• Father of Dragons, L.B. Graham
• Utopia of Usurers, G.K. Chesterton
• All My Holy Mountain, L.B. Graham
• Muse of Nightmares, Laini Taylor
• On the Sharp Edge of North, Walfried Jansen
• Children of Earth and Sky, Guy Gavriel Kay
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor
• Sherwood, Jane Yolen (editor)
• Poetic Diction, Owen Barfield
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
• The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss (reread)
• The Court of the Air, Stephen Hunt
• The Story of Kullervo, J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Verlyn Flieger)
• Hrolf Kraki’s Saga, Poul Anderson
• The Ruling Sea, Robert V.S. Redick
• The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated, John Henry Newman
• The Bone Ships, R.J. Barker
• Bones of Faerie, Janni Lee Simner
• Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire
• The Last Light of the Sun, Guy Gavriel Kay
• The New Jerusalem, G.K. Chesterton
• The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (reread)
• The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss (reread)
• Thoughts, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
• The Kingless Crown, Sarah M. Cradit
• The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn, Tyler Whitesides
• The River of Shadows, Robert V.S. Redick
• The Waste Land and other poems, T.S. Eliot
• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein
• A Short History of England, G.K. Chesterton
• The Club of Queer Trades, G.K. Chesterton (reread)
• All the Seas of the World, Guy Gavriel Kay
• The Napoleon of Notting Hill, G.K. Chesterton (reread)
• The Man Who was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton (reread)
• On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Andrew Peterson (reread)
• The Language of Creation, Mathieu Pageau
• Keys to the Kingdom, Garth Nix (reread)
• Alarms and Discursions, G.K. Chesterton (reread)
• Li Po and Tu Fu, Arthur Cooper (translator)
• Soul of the World, David Mealing
• Tae Te Ching, Lao Tzu, translated by Victor H. Mair
• Meditations, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, translated by J. Boulton and David Widger
• Spiritual Sayings, Kahlil Gibran
• What I Saw in America, G.K. Chesterton
• The Night of the Swarm, Robert V.S. Redick
• All Things Considered, G.K. Chesterton (reread)

As per usual, I append a few observations. Upon review, I noticed that there are quite a few rereads in last year’s list. I feel vaguely disappointed by this; while I feel the force of C.S. Lewis’ comment that no one enjoys a book and only reads it once, nevertheless I am sometimes plagued by the feeling that there are just so many more good reads out there, and that I can’t waste any time on rereading. I suppose a balance is needed, as it is in most things. We shall see what 2023 brings.

I won’t belabour this post with mini-reviews; it’s already late enough. Here, then, is a list of standout reads, for one reason or another:

• I started the year with a bang; the first three books of the year were all new books, and all fantastic.
• Robert V.S. Redick became a staple during 2022; everything I’ve read by him, I recommend. Well written, complex, dramatic high fantasy.
• Likewise, I will always recommend Patrick Rothfuss. Much needed rereads.
• Once again, a lot of G.K. Chesterton. Don’t expect this to change.
• In fact, probably my favourite book of the year was Chesterton’s The Napoleon of Notting Hill. I’d read it before, loved it, and wondered if it would hold up. It did. Wow. Possibly my favourite novel, bar none.
• That seems a crazy thing to say when I read Les Miserables this year. Also a phenomenal read. I understand how it can be called the best novel ever. Just unbelievable, powerful, emotional, dramatic, human, a pleasure to read.
• Poul Anderson’s Hrolf Kraki’s Saga was excellent. This seems to be a thing of Anderson’s—a retelling of a Nordic saga. So, a great starting point—and well executed. The prose fits the subject matter—I often found myself underlining novel words and great turns of phrase.
• Guy Gavriel Kay never disappoints. He is another of the few authors I will read without hesitation or concern for quality.
• Finally, a quick list of other memorable reads (some of whom may eventually show up in reviews on this site): Laini Taylor, R.J. Barker, Tyler Whitesides, Mathieu Pageau, Garth Nix, David Mealing.

Thank you all for reading; here’s to a bookfull 2023!