Expectation: A modern take on the world’s oldest profession.
Reality: Depressing and somber, the story went places I didn’t expect, but outside of the main character, I didn’t care much for what was happening.
Heavy: An American Memoir – Kiese Laymon
These raw and unfiltered memories from Kiese Laymon’s early life in Jackson, Mississippi - roughly pre-teen to mid-20s - left me uncomfortable, frustrated and sad. It’s no wonder this biography is titled “Heavy,” because there is so much weight - metaphorically and physically - that the author has had to carry throughout this life.
Letters to My White Male Friends – Dax-Devlon Ross
Told in three parts — harm, heal and act — Ross uses personal experiences paired with historical context to explain how and why racial progress stalls, and why white men have such a difficult time accepting the fact we have privileges the Black community doesn’t.
Two Boys Kissing – David Levithan
Expectation: A heartwarming coming of age story about overcoming adversity and supporting one another.
Reality: Darker and more poignant than expected, but a tad uneven and overstuffed even for its slim length. However, when the story soars, it’s transformative.
The Complete Maus – Art Spiegelman
You can disagree or dislike decisions Spiegelman made, but you cannot deny that this is a powerful series that needs - no, it demands - to be read, taught and discussed.
Evvie Drake Starts Over – Linda Holmes
Expectation: An inter-generational friendship between two unlikely people.
Reality: Age-appropriate romance versus friendship. The whole thing was predictable, but the darker edges made it feel unique. As someone who doesn’t usually read this genre, I liked it more than expected.
The Sentence – Louise Erdrich
Expectation: An engrossing retrospective of the not-too-distant past with an Indigenous perspective.
Reality: Meandering plots, ancillary characters and terrible narration by the author all overshadowed the strongest parts of the story.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe
While he gave it his best effort, “Say Nothing” came up short for me – and that’s more on me than it is on Keefe. He did the work, distilling thousands of interviews, analyzing watershed events and piecing together elements of an intricate puzzle while battling cagey subjects and still fresh wounds on both sides.
Most of my tepidness towards the novel is because I thought it was focused solely on “The Disappeared,” the 18 individuals abducted by loyalists and republicans during the Northern Ireland conflict.
The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying – Nina Riggs
It goes without saying this is a heavy read, and I wasn’t in the right head space for it. You can’t give a book like this a negative review, because it’s going to hit you differently depending on where you are in life and what you’re dealing with.
2022: My Year In Reading - The Stats
My 2022 reading goal was to have 45 percent of books read be written by authors not like me, defined by being a white, cis-gendered male who identifies as gay. Factoring in all diversity markers (and multiple books by the same authors), 53% of books read qualified under the “not like me” umbrella.
2022: The Worst Books I Read
Ultimately, for the amount of books I read in 2022, there were only a few that I actively disliked. While there were many that felt incredibly average, I was able to find redeeming qualities in most reads - even the 22 titles reflected here that account for the lower 20 percent of my total reading.
2022: The Best Books I Read
I read a lot of great books this year, so I forced myself to narrow down the list to 10 favorites and 10 honorable mentions. These two lists comprise less than 20 percent of my overall reads, so they really were the cream of the crop.
2022: The Best and Worst Audiobook Narrations I Heard
After listening to more than 70 audiobooks in 2022, I can definitively state these are the 10 best and seven worst audiobook narrations I heard.
2022: My Year In Books
This year, I attempted more than 100 books - 102 to be exact - and only abandoned one read (although I should’ve given up on several others). Explore all the books I read in 2022.
“The Glass Menagerie” and the Other Classics I Read This Year
My scope of what is deemed a “classic” has shifted over the years, and it has made diving into the back catalog of literature a lot more fun. Today, I view a classic as any novel published three decades ago that has developed a legacy. The classics I read this year - about 10 percent of my total reading - spanned the genres of science fiction, young adult and literary fiction by some authors well-known and lesser so.
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
Expectation: An epic journey through the horrors of Appalachia.
Reality: Funny, poignant and utterly engrossing, it’s a blockbuster book that delivers - even if the last third feels a tad trite.
The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach
Expectation: A “sports bro” book full of men suppressing emotions.
Reality: A contender for the modern “Great American Novel,” I was surprised by the depth of character development and the queer subplot.
The People in the Trees – Hanya Yanagihara
Expectation: A rough around the edges but captivating debut by Hanya Yanagihara.
Reality: Bloated and centered on a main character with zero redeeming qualities, this was a chore to complete.
Replay – Ken Grimwood
Expectation: An exploration of second chances and following your passion.
Reality: A completely underrated, highly influential novel that introduces a wealth of ideas about regret and happiness.
A Man and His Cat, Volumes One - Six – Umi Sakurai
As a whole, I found the series sweet but slight. At times it was repetitive and boring – especially when the human characters were the focus instead of the cats – but Sakurai completely nails the understated joy and endorphin boost of sharing your life with a quirky cat.