Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
I thought this topic would be an easy one, but it turned out to be a little tricky! I found many wonderful books last year, but my list of all-time favourites continues to shift over time.
Feel free to read my full reviews if you wish, but I also condensed my favorite thing about each book into one sentence each in this post (mostly). That, too, was much harder than it seemed at first.
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (My Review)
What I Loved About It: The spooky setting was fabulous.
My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood (My Review)
What I Loved About It: The main character was delightfully hard to figure out. Was she a good guy or a bad guy? How about her mother? I’m still not entirely sure!
Voices in the Wind by Joshua Scribner (My Review)
What I Loved About It: Tornadoes frighten me, but this tale made me see them in an entirely new light.
The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood (My Review)
What I Loved About It: The main character was blissfully unaware of his deepest character flaws, and that made his adventure much more dangerous than it should have been.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (My Review)
What I Loved About It: The peacefulness and low stakes of the main character’s mission made this a comfort read for me.
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (My Review)
What I Loved About It: I loved catching up with the characters I met in A Psalm for the Wild-Built again.
Samantha, 25, on October 31 by Adam Bertocci (My Review)
What I Loved About It: The protagonist had a crappy retail job and yearned for more which made her feel much more real to me than someone who has it all figured out in life.
Vespasian Moon’s Fabulous Autumn Carnival by Berthold Gambrel (My Review)
What I Loved About It: At least half of the characters felt untrustworthy at any given moment, but all of them seemed like super interesting folks to hang out with.
The Story of Sigurd the Dragonslayer by Liam G Martin (My Review)
What I Loved About It: It’s always cool to reimagine origin stories for famous characters.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (My Review)
What I Loved About It: Wholesome horror is hard to find, but this book flirted with that idea in some delightful ways.
May 2023 be a fantastic reading year for all of us.
I’ve seen many raves for Becky Chambers. Looks like you had some great reads in 2022.
She writes such great stories! And for sure. 🙂
I enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild-Built a lot.
That’s awesome. I hope we get a film from it someday.
Becky Chambers is on my list. Happy New Year, and happy reading!
My Top Ten
I hope you love her stuff! It’s so good. Happy New Year!
I have to read Becky Chambers this year. I just have to …
Happy New Year Lydia!
Happy New Year Mareli! I hope you enjoy Chambers work. It’s amazing.
These look so interesting and I’m glad you loved them! Hope your 2023 is full of new favorites!
Thank you very much!
Great list, Lydia. I definitely agree that condensing the list of favourites down was pretty hard! I really enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild-Built too and agree with your one-sentence review. I can’t wait to meet these characters again in the sequel. I hope you have a great 2023!
Thank you, Dini. Happy New Year to you as well.
Nettle and bone sounds good
It was excellent!
My Evil Mother sounds like a super interesting book, will look that up. And Nettle & Bone was one of my 2022 favorites as well!
I hope you like it! Yeah, Nettle & Bone was awesome.
I read The Handmaid’s Tale many moons ago, but never picked up any other of Atwood’s books. I love short stories, I’ll have to check out My Evil Stepmother.
May you enjoy it! She’s written so much great stuff.
I loved Psalm for the Wild Built and Nettle & Bone. I hadn’t heard of the books by Katherine Arden and Margaret Atwood, but since I love those authors I’ll look them up. Happy new year!
Enjoy! Happy New Year to you as well.
I really must get round to reading the Becky Chambers Monk and Robot novellas, I have loved her other books so far.
They are so good. Hope you like them.
I’m really hoping to get to those Becky Chambers books this year. Great list!
My fingers are crossed for you!
And thanks. 🙂
Becky Chambers is popular today! I’m glad you enjoyed their book and the rest of these.
Yes, she sure is. And thanks. 🙂
If you haven’t had a chance to check out Legends and Lattes (Travis Baldree), it was one of my favorites in 2022 and I think you’d really enjoy it.
Thank you for the recommendation!
I’m on a long library waitlist for it and hope to read it sometime soon. It sounds so good.
Becky Chambers books just don’t quite connect with me the way they do for other readers. I am kind of disappointed because everyone else loves them
It sucks when that happens! I have a few authors like that who I can’t get into but plenty of other people adore.
I hope you find many books that are perfect for your tastes this year. 🙂
Dead Voices is on my January TBR and Prayer for the Crown Shy made my top 10 as well! That series of books truly feels like a warm hug to me!
Yay! I hope you love them.
I see two Becky Chambers books on your list. She sure is a good writer and her new series is very inventive.
My 2022 Favorites
She’s a great storyteller for sure.
I haven’t read any of these, but I’m glad you enjoyed so many books in 2022! I hope you enjoy just as many in 2023.
Thank you very much!
A few of these are on my TBR. I’m really looking forward to reading them! I’m so glad you enjoyed these as much as you did. 😀
Thank you. I hope you love them, too!
I’m so curious about a lot of books on this list, but I love how Nettle and Bone is almost a genre of its own, kind of like a cozy horror, if that makes sense?
Yes, absolutely! I hope it gets made into a film someday.
Ooh! I don’t know how I haven’t yet come across My Evil Mother. It sounds so interesting, and I generally tend to like most Atwood books. Another one I am adding to my TBR.
May you enjoy it.
I’ve only read one Becky Chambers book but I’ve been wanting to read more by her as her books are so well loved. Hope you’ll have a great 2023!
Thank you. I hope you love the rest of her work whenever you may read it.
“Wholesome horror” is a great description for Nettle and Bone! I am NOT a horror person at all, but for me the book falls more on the dark fantasy side of things.
Thank you. Yeah, dark fantasy is another excellent descriptor for it.
Top ten reading lists are my fav season of the year! You’ve had a fabulous 2022 Lydia! Cheers to the new reading year! 🥂
Thank you, Carol! Happy New Year!
I’m intrigued by Voices in the Wind. I’ve never experienced a tornado (though they have come very close to where I live), but even when there is a chance of them in the forecast I get nervous. I think it’s even a phobia. (I don’t like thunderstorms in general.) I read your review. I’ll have to think about whether or not this one is for me. 🙂
I don’t blame you for that one bit! Tornadoes are pretty scary. Good luck with your decision.
I love how you added a short line to say what you loved about each book! Terrific list!
Thank you, Wendy!
I haven’t read any from your list but I definitely have to try Becky Chambers
May you enjoy her work! 🙂
I have got to read something by Becky Chambers. This is the second list I have read with her books on it.
I have a hard time with coming up with a list of favorite books of the year, too, and have not done one for years, but I enjoyed it this year. It was fun to look back.
TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery
She’s such a good storyteller! I hope you like her work.
I’m glad you took a look back at what you loved this year.
I’m glad you had a successful reading year. Now onward into 2023’s books, right?
Thank you, and absolutely!
Wow! I haven’t read any of these! So…..I think I found some new authors! Thank you Lydia!📚💜
That’s awesome. You’re welcome!
Intriguing list! I’ve not read any of these, but I’ve heard of a few, and you made them all sound quite interesting.
Thank you. What a nice compliment. 🙂
Sorry you struggled with this one a bit. I probably need to narrow down what books are favorites as opposed to really good ones since I had 56 marked favorites this year. But, sometimes the connection with the story does cause it to be a favorite!
Thank you! Wow, you had a lot of favourite books this year.
I haven’t read My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood, but I was intrigued by your comment on it. Atwood seems to dabble in ambiguity a lot; I’m thinking especially of Alias Grace. I like your approach of including a one-sentence review of why you liked the book
Yes, she sure does. I can think of several parallels between Alias Grace and My Evil Mother now that you mention it.
Thank you for your kind words.
Some of these sound really interesting. I’ll have to check them out. Have a great week.
Thank you! You, too.
Eleanor and I just finished Small Spaces, we are so psyched to get going on Dead Voices next.
Awesome!
Im excited to read Nettle & Bone soon, I read The Raven and the Reindeer and love ver writing style
I hope you love it. 🙂
Lovely list! I really enjoyed Becky Chambers’ series too.
Thank you. Yeah, she’s great. 🙂
I really need to read Arden’s books – my coworkers rave about them.
May you enjoy them!
One sentence review excerpts — what a great hook! I’m glad you took the time because now these all seem great, and I’ve been clicking on all the titles to read more. Definitely going to have to check out the Samantha story.
Aww, thanks. I hope you like the Samantha story.
I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these, but some of them sound interesting even just in one sentence! All the best with reading in 2023!
Thank you very much! You, too.
I sure have seen the Wild Built a lot in the last couple months – wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something? 🙂 Hope 2023 brings you lots of good reading.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
I hope you like it if you read it! May 2023 be a good reading year for you as well.
I’ve only read one Margaret Atwood book, I must read more of her work.
She’s written so many memorable stories. Enjoy!
Happy new year! I hope Becky Chambers will have an announcement soon about more books, I love having one of hers to look forward to.
Fingers crossed. Happy New Year to you as well.
I’ve not read any of these, but glad to see you enjoyed them!
Thank you. 🙂
Yes! Condensing a review down to a sentence would be so hard! 🙂
It’s a challenge for sure.
A good looking list.
Have a great week!
Thank you. You, too!
Arden’s books sound so creepy-fun! I really need to check them out already. Glad you enjoyed all these.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thank you! Happy TTT to you as well.
Monk & Robot, yay! I think Dead Voices was my favorite of the Small Spaces series. The setting was just perfect for it.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2023/01/03/top-ten-tuesday-favorite-books-of-2022/
Yes, so true there!
I don’t think I’ve read anything by these authors but of course Margaret Atwood’s books always make a splash on social media. 🙂 Glad you found some favorites of the year and hope you enjoy a great 2023. Thanks for visiting my website this week! Appreciate this.
You’re welcome!
I’d really like to read Nettle & Bone at some point. I read What Moves the Dead last year, my first by T. Kingfisher, and really enjoyed it.
I hope you like it. It’s such a creative take on the typical fairy tale.
I haven’t read What Moves the Dead yet, but glad to hear you liked it.
I love this list! I don’t think I’d heard of My Evil Mother, although I am very familiar with Margaret Atwood. That’s definitely a book I want to check out, especially since you liked it so much. I’ve seen Nettle & Bone on other lists and am definitely curious about that one. I would like to read more by Becky Chambers and both books on your list sound like ones I would enjoy. Thank you for sharing! Have a Happy New Year!
You’re welcome. I hope you love all of those books. They were excellent.
Happy New Year to you as well.
Another post with Becky Chambers! I really need to read A Psalm for the Wild Robot, almost everyone has it on their best of 2022 lists. I am so reluctant to keep reading into Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces Quartet – I thought the first book was fabulous and the second book (Dead Voices) was solid, but everyone I know who has finished the series says they just get worse and worse.
The Monk and Robot series is excellent so far!
I sadly must concur with what you’ve heard about the later books in the Dead Voices quartet. It was fun to see how it ended, but the quality deteriorated at the end quite a bit.
Love this. I haven’t read of heard about any of these authors. I hope this reading year will be just as great for you.
Thank you. I hope 2023 is a wonderful reading year for you as well!
I know the feeling of choosing only a select few books as favorites (How am I supposed to choose favorites among 76 books I read last year?!) the ones you chose sound really interesting!
Exactly!
Thank you for your kind words.
I really want to try a T. Kingfisher book and Nettle & Bone sounds very intriguing!
I’m not that familiar with the rest of her catalogue, but Nettle & Bone was a wonderful introduction to her work for me.
I enjoy Becky Chambers’ books but actually still need to read the ones on your list so I’m glad to see them here. I’ve seen so many great reviews for Nettle & Bone too.
I hope you like them! Nettle & Bone would make a great film, I think.
I’ve been seeing Becky Chambers a lot! Maybe I need to check her out. Congrats on a great reading year, and happy reading in 2023!
Yeah, she’s been popping up everywhere. I hope you enjoy her stuff. And happy reading to you as well.
I loved Nettle & Bone too! It was my first T. Kingfisher book, but it won’t be my last.
Yay! I hope we get a film about it someday.
What a great list! You’ve just reminded me that I need to catch up on the Small Spaces series! I also need to read Nettle & Bone! I absolutely love T. Kingfisher’s work. Hope you read lots of good books in 2023!
Thanks, Sammie.
I think you’d like Nettle & Bone a lot.
This sounds like a thrilling lineup! I’m glad you enjoyed them, and loved seeing your reasons for each book.