Reading Recap: 2022 Edition
In the early days of 2022, my younger sister got super pumped about reading more books in the year to follow; she chose 10 books in advance to knock out during the year, and, inspired by her, I decided to do so too. I didn’t quite finish all the original 10 books I chose (spoiler alert), but the habit of choosing 10 books at the beginning of the year helped jumpstart the most productive year in reading I’ve had since I was probably in elementary school.
To help me keep accountable to my newfound reading habits, I’m posting the books I finished in 2022 (and the ones I didn’t quite finish) below. I will also be sharing the books I shelved in 2022 and my book stats for 2022.
Now, without further ado, here are the books I finished in 2022:
BOOKS FINISHED IN 2022
(in chronological order)
*Indicates a book I would recommend to others.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha, Tara Brach
*Wintering: the Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May
*My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki
Subtract: the Untapped Science of Less, Leidy Koltz
The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World, David Eagleman and Anthony Brandt
*The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
How to Be a Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship, Cicero (Translator: Phillip Freeman)
*Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving, Celeste Headlee
11. Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport
12. Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations, Jonny Sun
13. Animal Farm, George Orwell
14. *Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay
15. The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm in a Busy World, Haemin Sunim (translator: Chi-Young Kim)
16. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil DeGrasse Tyson
17. *Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu
18. Othello: The Moor of Venice, William Shakespeare
19. Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (translator: Ginny Tapley Takemori)
20. *Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
21. The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types, Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson
22. Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch
23. I Know How You Feel: The Joy and Heartbreak of Friendship in Women’s Lives, F. Diane Barth
24. Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms, Timothy D. Walker
25. *Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World, Kate Johnson
26. Winter in Sokcho, Elisa Shua Duaspin (translator: Aneesa Abbas Higgins)
27. How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life, Daniele Cybulski
28. *The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix
29. *Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk, Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
30. *The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
31. Zen: The Art of Simple Living, Shunmyo Masuno with Zanna Goldhawk, Harry Goldhawk, Allison Markin Powell
32. The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well, Katie O’Donnell
33. *The Rock Eaters: Stories, Brenda Peynado
34. Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin David Anderson, Sam Stall
35. The Swimmers, Julie Otsuka
36. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo
37. *The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence, The Care Collective
38. *Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer, Rax King
39. Rewilding: Meditations, Practices, and Skills for Awakening in Nature, Micah Mortali
40. Jam, Yahtzee Crenshaw
41. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
STILL READING FROM 2022:
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, John Medina
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, Gholdy Muhummad
The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom, Felicia Rose Chavez
Who wrote this post?
Skylar Alexander is the author of Searching for Petco (Forklift Books, 2022; edited by Matt Hart), a book which the poet Adam Fell called “a mutant blast radius of righteous Midwestern anger and tender observation.” Her writing has appeared in many places, including Cutbank, Smokelong Quarterly, Hobart, and Forklift, Ohio. She studied English and Entrepreneurial Management at the University of Iowa and recently received her Master's in Education from NYU. A book designer and teacher, her home base is just across the Hudson from NYC.
But enough about me. What about you?
How many books did you read in 2022? Is it embarrassingly low or impressively high? Or perhaps impressively low and embarrassingly high? Let me know in the comments below.