2022: The Worst Books I Read — Please Read It To Me

Dec 30

Dec 30 2022: The Worst Books I Read

Reading is a highly personal activity, so I’m sensitive to naming something “worst” or “least favorite” knowing the blood, sweat and tears that goes into publishing a novel, and how hurtful it can be to have something you love maligned by others.

To make this list it means the book didn’t meet expectations either in genre, themes or execution. Art hits people differently depending on what is happening in their lives, and maybe I didn’t find some of these novels at the right time.

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.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa (translated by Louise Heal Kawai)
Dates read: December 27, 2021 – January 1, 2022

Thankfully this didn’t set the tone for how the rest of my reading year was going to pan out. Call it a fable, a fantasy or a fairytale, regardless of the subgenre this novel is rather bizarre. It starts promisingly enough with our main character, teenager Rintaro Natsuki, mourning the loss of his grandfather and guardian, who also owned a small bookshop. One afternoon a talking cat comes to him demanding help in saving books. What follows is a heavy-handed morality tale that has a few interesting points for younger readers, but if you think about the plot too long nothing makes sense. To my dismay, the cat, Tiger, is barely a character. Based on the title and cover, I feel like Natsukawa sold a bag of goods.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Dates read: March 9, 2022 – March 12, 2022

I can see why people enjoy “The Alchemist.” There is conflict and danger and lessons learned. Along with many, many affirming passages about the benefits of risk-taking, having an open mind and allowing yourself to experience love. But I found it to be repetitive, schmaltzy and over-stuffed with ideas and concepts. Even at about 160-pages it felt too long, and Paulo Coelho left a lot of loose ends and questions unanswered.

If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi by Neel Patel
Dates read: May 9, 2022 – May 12, 2022

The 11 stories in this collection primarily explore the themes of meeting family expectations versus exploring your passion and the pros and cons of holding a grudge. Many of them are a slight variation of the others. You can only read about a professionally successful person who is personally unfulfilled, adultery or sibling rivalry so many times before you become bored. Four standout and two are stellar, but even the best in the bunch had their faults.

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Dates read: May 17, 2022 – May 20, 2022

“Afterparties” earns the distinction of being the only attempted novel I didn’t finish this year. I gave it a valiant effort, finishing five out of the nine stories, but only two of them (“The Shop” and “Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts”) showed the full promise of what Anthony Veasna So tried to do here — presenting an unfiltered and complex look at life for Cambodian Americans — but each story was incredibly uneven. This is a heavy book, but I found the tone to be more sophomoric than serious, which made it difficult to connect with characters. Also, rarely does an audiobook ruin a story, but that’s what happened with the narration by Jason Sean. I appreciate that the publishers chose authenticity and cast Cambodian American talent, but it felt like Sean read each story cold. If I were reading “Afterparties” and not listening to it, I probably would’ve gone to the end. While imperfect, So showed a lot of talent, and it is always refreshing to read and learn about underrepresented groups in the media.

The 2000s Made Me Gay by Grace Perry
Dates read: June 13, 2022 – June 16, 2022

My initial reaction to “The 2000s Made Me Gay” was that it wasn’t as funny as the title would suggest. While Grace Perry provides commentary on the benefits and detriments of various pop culture subjects in the context of shaping public perception of LGBTQIA+ people during the aughts, most of the essays felt like a Vulture-esque recap of plots and characters. Each of the essays is too long and could’ve used a strong editor. It was far more autobiographical than I expected it to be, and while that wasn’t a bad thing, it made the collection feel repetitive since she was only covering a 10-year period.

A Man and His Cat Series by Umi Sakurai
Dates read: July 5, 2022 – August 10, 2022

After reading six of the 10 volumes, I don’t need to read more. Honestly, I was ready to give up after Volume 2, but kept reading because my library had the others readily available and each only took about 30-minutes to read. After nearly 1,000-pages read, I can appreciate what Umi Sakurai has done here, but I might be too jaded to accept the story for what it is versus what I want it to be (i.e., a little edgier.) Still, I’m grateful for this introduction to the genre, and I’d be open to additional mangas in the future. I’d rate “A Man and His Cat” as solidly average. Is it terrible? No. Are there elements that are cute? Absolutely. But was it satisfying? Not much.

The People In The Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
Dates read: September 18, 2022 – September 26, 2022

The main character — and basically the only character given any sort of development in this novel — is an egotistical, self-aggrandizing narcissist who also happens to be a child molester. Sounds like a great read, huh? I went into this knowing it is widely maligned by fans (like me) of Yanagihara’s later works, “A Little Life” and “To Paradise,” but I was not expecting to loathe it as much as I did. I would’ve given up on this book about 30 percent of the way in had I not already been a fan of the author. I really cannot recommend anyone read this – even those that are interested in experiencing the full scope of Hanya Yanagihara’s work. She has certainly progressed in her writing, so there’s no need to see where it started.

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
Dates read: September 27, 2022 – September 29, 2022

The novel felt essentially like three different stories mashed together: one, and the best, is a deeply reflective exploration on aging and reassessing your life; the second is a horrendously unentertaining road trip buddy comedy; and the third is a half-baked, but still entertaining, love story. While the last few chapters recapture the magic of the first novel — “Less” — and the beginning of “Less Is Lost,” I was essentially ready for my adventure to be over long before it concluded. In the end it was a mostly entertaining, but entirely inconsequential follow-up.

A Darling Obsession by S.R. Murray
Dates read: October 12, 2022 – October 19, 2022

S. R. Murray had the components of a solid effort, and he did still deliver some intriguing twists, but I felt the strongest part of the story — a supposed 20 year curse that awakens the evil in the residents of Sandy Beach, Florida — was overshadowed by too many characters and plots to track. While he tied it all up in the end, the journey to get there was uneven. I struggled with the lack of character development, reliance on archetypes and some linguistic choices that felt like parody.

Eight Not So Notable Reads

How do you make it on this list but not the least favorites? These books had me interested for a significant portion of time, but ultimately something in the execution was lacking.