 I thought for sure this would be in your top 10. Whatever it is that everyone else is wanting, that is not what I am wanting. I guess I didn't read my very much good books. Makes you happy to be alive. Many tissues were used. Best books of 2022. It was pretty tough to do this. As I said here, I am not confident in this list, which isn't to say that I don't love the books that are on this list. I do. But I read 210 books. It's just, yeah, I don't know. A lot of them were re-readings, which was tough because I was like, I couldn't pick any of them. So out of the 210 I actually didn't have the money to choose from. Anyway, all that to say. The tippy top of my list, like the top four, the top four on this list, like 100%, that's the slots they go in, that's how I feel about them. They are great. And then those other six I very, very much like, and I think they belong in my top 10. But if you comment below and you're like, I thought for sure this would be in your top 10. There's a very good chance I'll be like, dang it, you're right. That should have been my top 10. All that to say. Here's 10 books that I very, very much like and love, arguably. So yeah, let's do it. I have ranked them. But again, I already expressed how uncertain I am about what is on this list at all. So take the rankings with an equal amount of salt. So 10th on my list is The Binding by Bridget Collins. This is a book that I didn't really think I would put on my best of the year. I only gave it four stars. Here's another reason why I feel weird about this list, because I'm fairly certain I've given books five stars this year that are not on this list. And there are two books on this list that I gave four stars to. So whatever. None of this means anything anyway. But yeah, The Binding, I really did like it. When I, in my wrap up when I talked about it, I was like, I gave this either four or five stars. If I didn't give it five, I definitely considered giving it five. And it has really stuck with me. When I looked at the list of books that I read this year, I was like, the binding. Yeah, the binding. And there's other books that I've given five stars to that I forgot I read. So I think that deserves points. I don't know if that makes sense. So The Binding, which I talked about at length in the wrap up, I basically did a mini review in the wrap up in the month in which I read The Binding, I had heard quite lukewarm things about it when it came out, which is why like I got it when it came out because this cover is stunning. It generally looked like something that would appeal to me. But then it got such a lukewarm reception that I kind of put off reading it. That's a shame because I really, really, really loved it. And I guess I get why it got such a lukewarm reception if it's not what people were wanting. It is what I'm wanting. A lot of popular books out there I hate. So whatever it is that everyone else is wanting, that is not what I am wanting. Like a lot of, this isn't actually historical fiction, but it feels like historical fiction. It is fantasy. It just takes place in a world that feels very much like historical England. And it is very low magic. So again, it feels like historical. We have been seeing a lot of historical fiction recently that has magic in it. But again, this is not that. There is, this is not historical fiction. And it has a mystery component to it. It certainly has a queer romance component. But a lot of other books that have these elements to them are campier and lighter and goofier and dumber and feel less authentically historical. So even though this isn't actually historical fiction, and so it doesn't need to have any kind of authenticity of any kind because it's a fantasy. It takes place in whatever era the author says it does. An era of a world that doesn't exist. The fact that this feels more authentically like historical fiction than then purportedly historical fiction. The romance aspect to it I think is done very well. It is quite tragic in tone. The book is not light. It's not campy. It's not like jokes and silliness, which is what I like that how serious and melancholic this book is. But if that's not what you're wanting, if you don't want something slow and contemplative where the mystery isn't a page turning mystery, it's not about like, ooh, who did it? Ooh, what's the answer to the big twist mystery? Like, it's not like that. The mystery is incidental to what's going on. It's about what this mystery is doing to the characters, not about like, ooh, what's the mystery? It is a serious book and it is, like I said, quite melancholic. And I think that's why it stays with me. That had been lighter and sillier, it probably would have been more popular and I would have hated it. So I recommend it, but again, if everything that I'm describing sounds terrible to you then obviously don't read it. Next is another book that I actually gave four and not five stars to. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know, man. This is a book that I read for my dark academia vlog project and that is Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pestle. And again, this is kind of like with the binding where I'm like, I gave other books higher readings, but I forgot to read them. This one, like, I really like it and it really stayed with me. And when I looked at my list of special topics, and I even like when I read this, I went out and got another, I had the paperback of it for that vlog project. I went and got the hardcover for the US that matches the paperback exactly. It's just hardcover. And then this very hard to find UK hardcover of it. I really love this book. I really do. And it's one of those like, I talk, I usually say this about the wolf, but how it feels like it was written just for me. This may not appeal to everyone, but it's like written with me in mind. And that's kind of how I feel about Special Topics in Calamity Physics, not as like extremely as I do about the wolf, but the type of stuff that the character is referencing her sense of humor, the way the story unfolds, I just find it extremely witty and clever. And it just is like, it's my vibe. I feel sometimes like the author is like too clever by half and knows it Alan would call it smug. And it's like bursting with nonstop references. But it's like, it's a sense of humor that is my sense of humor. And it is references that I 99% of the time I get those references. So it's just like, yeah, it just hits for me. And I could see why people would be annoyed by it or not enjoy it. I really, really liked it. It very much works for me. And it's very much my kind of thing. So I do recommend it. Next up is a book that my patrons chose for me to read and vlog for them. So thank you to my patrons, although I would have read this at some point, probably, if not for that. That is Hyperion by Dan Simmons. And I was very impressed with this. I did give this five stars. From here on out, they are five star books. Yeah, I was a little nervous going into this, but I did a really, really enjoying it, being very impressed with it. The way that the story is, I had heard that it was like Kent Burry Tales in space. And I was like, okay, I could see myself being very annoyed and feel like it's like drunk on its own pretension. But I did not feel that way at all. I felt like it is deservedly lauded. And it is quite clever and inventive. And one of the things that impressed me the most about it, I mean, the sci-fi aspect of it and the inventiveness of all of that certainly is impressive. But what impressed me is the varieties of writing style on display, because each of these stories within the story are being told by a different perspective, told by a different person. And the way they feel like distinctly different voices telling the story, distinctly different styles of storytelling, the way that it really feels like five different people is that's truly impressive to me. Because to be able to come up with a bunch of stuff in your world and a bunch of science stuff and mysteries and cool plots and stuff, like not to say that that's easy, but like that's what authors are supposed to do. But for an author to like come up with so many different voices to write in different ways like that, I think that is truly impressive. That's probably why I like Hyperion a lot better than Fall of Hyperion, although there's there are other reasons why I didn't love Fall of Hyperion. I did very much like it. And I plan to continue reading the cantos. But yeah, that's what's most blew me away and that's what got it a spot on my top 10. So just the writing craft at that is like, wow. And then I did find it quite an enjoyable and engrossing reading experience much more than again than I expected. So yeah, I definitely really, really like this. My service of book that it only made my honorable mentions mid-year. And it turns out I guess I didn't read my very much good books, very much good books. I'm talking about prose. I guess I didn't read that many great, that many good books this year, or at least in the second half of the year, when the book that was in my honorable mentions half of the year makes it to the top 10. But it's also partly the how like it stuck with me thing, where I'm like, well, I've read other books since then. But like, this is the one that when I think of my look back on the year and what were the highlights of the year, I think of this. So it belongs on the list, I think that is carry on my remoral book that like, I just I binge the entire trilogy. I have a video up for the series, like a series review, should you read it type of thing. And yeah, like I had been wanting to read it for some time. I generally thought I'd probably like it decently well. I was like, holding off because I insisted that on reading fan girl before reading carry on, and everyone's like, you don't have to, but like, I have to. So I read fan girl and liked it a lot more than I thought I would actually give fan girl five stars. So that should be on this list instead of the binding and special topics. After I read fan girl, I read carry on and then binge the entire trilogy. And it's just like, one of the highlights of my year, I got a bunch of my patrons to also binge the trilogy and they all loved it as well. All the ones that read it anyway. This is just just so much joy. I don't really, I talk about this, especially like what I talk about books with Bethany because she reads happy books, romance books, etc. And I don't. I mainly read like, sad, dark, contemplative, grim, dark, violent things. That's my happy place. But carry on. This is joy. This is light fluff. This is like that bubbly fizz that other people are reading and loving. And I don't, I mean, I DNF'd house in the really Cerulean Sea. I read legends and lattes, is this what it's called this year? I was forced to read it. Did not like it. I'm not a happy books person. But I loved carry on and this whole trilogy. I just ate it up the humor. Oh, it's just absolutely my taste of humor. The way that it pokes fun at Harry Potter, but kind of lovingly, it's not like, like ripping it to shreds. It's not like a viscerating it. But it is like, if for anyone that's read Harry Potter, you're kind of like in on the joke. It's just so charming. I love it. I love it to bits. So definitely carry on. Next up I have my very first T. King Fisher book that I've ever read and that I read this year, What Moves the Dead. I did not know was a retelling of the Fall of House of Usher when I picked it up. I just put it on my October TBR because it looked, I'd been wanting to read King Fisher and this cover very much spoke to me and it looked kind of creepy and interesting. It's a stunning little book, beautiful end papers and a beautiful naked cover. And I was like, you're hoping I like it. And this was like the only book I read in October that actually kind of like creeped me out. And I think it's a fantastic retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher. Because so many books, so many retellings fail at being either a good story or a good retelling or both. And this is a good story and a good retelling. And it showed me that like, no, it's not that I'm desensitized and don't find anything creepy anymore. It's that I guess I wasn't reading very good books because all those other books, I was like, I think I'm supposed to be scared right now, but I feel nothing. This book, I was like, ooh, like it's a very short little book, but I felt chilled and engrossed and invested and it was so well done. So atmospheric, so clever, so chilling, so like off-putting. Definitely made me want to read a ton more King Fisher. So very, very impressed with this. Next up is a book that I read for my very first vlog project of the year, which was Books That Inspired Music. And that is East of Eden by John Steinbeck, which inspired the song Tim Shull by Mumford & Sons. I've loved this so much. I actually read two Steinbeck books for that project and I liked both a lot. But East of Eden, I didn't want it to end. I was so invested, so engrossed and so utterly blown away by this book. It's absolutely, it's just a gorgeous book. It's a family story that spans a couple generations and it's just, I mean, it's hard to explain because it's not like it's one of those like, it has this like great mystery to it. It's not like it has this amazing hook to it. It's, it's, and it's a long book. Like you look at this, you know, it's like a family saga that is like massive. Like honestly, it doesn't look like the kind of book that I'd really want to pick up that much. And I wouldn't have not for that vlog project. Like I owned it already because I generally wanted to read it. One of those like, I want to have read a type of books. I knew for a long time that it inspired Tim Shull, which is why it was on my radar at all. And I just, I can see why Marcus Mumford was so affected by it that he would want to write a song inspired by it. And about like the, the, I mean, I was already, it would be hard to miss Tim Shull when you read it even if you weren't looking out for, but because of the song that I was looking out for it. Just like the characters in this book and the, the portrait of humanity in it, the emotions of it that are quite everyday kind of feelings. This isn't, you know, like kings and wizards and like big things. These are very mundane things. But the way that it just captures humanity in this way that is like both beautiful and ugly, both heartfelt and heartbreaking. And the discussion of Tim Shull, even though I believe all of, basically all of the discussion of Tim Shull is kind of for not, because I believe it's to do with a mistranslation, but that's kind of irrelevant because like the discussion that is being had about the significance of Tim Shull is an interesting discussion regardless of whether that actually is a mistranslation or not. I think it's a stunning book and I get why it's such a classic and I'm so glad I read it. Next up is another book that I will talk about quite similarly because it's the way that it makes you happy to be alive. And that is The View from the Cheapsies by Neil Gaiman. I picked this up because I was going to see Neil Gaiman speak again for the second time in my life. This was one of the only books of Gaiman's that I had not read before. And I was like, well, I'm about to see Gaiman. Let's read a Gaiman. Let's read a Gaiman. We haven't read it before. And I hadn't read it because while I fully expected to enjoy it, it selected nonfiction. So it's like a collection of like essays and speeches and forwards and it's just like a collective, a collection of writings of Neil Gaiman's, largely where he talks about other authors, other books, about reading in general, about the significance of writing, about libraries, about things like that. And this book, I just, I felt like I was like grinning and crying the entire time that I read it because the way Neil Gaiman talks about everything, it makes you immediately obsessed with it. Every author that he talks about you now want to read when he talks about the importance of libraries, you're like wanting to like go to war for libraries when he talks about writing when he talks about just anything, really, when he talks about the significance of speculative fiction, about how, you know, about children needing to read and needing to explore stories and just everything that he talks about, you're just, I mean, Neil Gaiman is one of, is my favorite author for a reason. And the way that he just, in his fiction, he captures a lot of what's true about humanity. But here this is nonfiction and so when he's just kind of talking about, like he talks about his own writing a bit like it's a joke, but he talks about writing itself writing in general as the most important thing in the world and really champions it in a way that is like humbling and also empowering at the same time. So if you just need like a pick me up for your, for life, I recommend the view from the cheat sheets. Next up is a book that I'm so relieved that I loved and that is Jade City of I fondly. Now I have not read Jade Legacy. I did read Jade War and it's not that I hated Jade War. That's not why it's not on this list. But I do think between the two of them, Jade City and Jade War, I do like Jade City just a little bit better. But it's not like Jade City was so great and then like Jade War is such a let down. Not at all. I loved Jade War. It was amazing. But Jade City, like if I have to choose it's Jade City. And also because Jade City like there's this like this unquantifiable Genesequa of like I could not put this down. Well I found Jade War extremely engrossing and incredible. I really did. I love Jade War. But Jade City, I literally could not put it down. I was not going to stop. I could not sleep. I had to read this book. And that wasn't quite true with Jade War. Although I very, very much loved Jade War. But this I could not put it down. And you know, that that deserves points. So Jade City, I get why it's not for everyone. Even though like it certainly seems like everyone in their mother loves it. But like I know Bethany doesn't like it that much because she doesn't like gangster stories. And even though this isn't technically a gangster story, as Kyle from Read by Kyle will tell you, it's basically a gangster story. And I like gangster stories. So like this is kind of like everything that I would want out of a book. And this feels like reading Piki, like it's like Piki blinders in magical-ish modern-ish Asia-ish. Yeah, the character work, the plot, the world building, it's all just done so so well. The only thing about it that is not like completely knocked my socks off is the prose. But the prose is fine. It's not like bad prose. It's not something I'm forgiving it for. It's just that like, you know, when you read King Killer Chronicle, you're like, the prose, my God. So it's like, no, it's very like serviceable straightforward prose. It's it's not like poetical and gorgeous. It's not like I want every line tattooed on my body. But it's like very, very good prose. Absolutely. Nothing, no problems with it. It used non-plussed correctly, which is apparently a high bar. Yeah, I love this to bits. And yeah, I was extremely obsessed with it when I finished it. And I still lowkey am. And I really want to read Jade Legacy, but also it'll be over when I finish Jade Legacy. So, you know, no rush. The second best book that I read this year, this was the top of my list mid year. This was the best book that I had read at the midpoint of the year. It was number one. So it got bumped off the number one spot, but it is still number two. And that is Paper Manetry by Ken Liu, which was forced on me from multiple directions. It was a patron pink that I had to vlog for them. And also Hilary from Book Born chose it when we TBR swapped. So the world, the universe wanted me desperately to read Paper Manetry. And I'm so glad that that was the case, because I generally had heard of it and generally was interested in it, but I was in no rush to pick it up. It's really, really good. Here, kind of similarly to Hyperion, I was impressed with just the sheer variety on offer from Ken Liu, the variety in terms of type of story and types of storytelling, where the, it doesn't feel like different people necessarily telling the story, but like very different types of authorial voice, different types of narrative from like zippy, quippy and modern, to like archaic and folkloric, to expansive and technical. There's just like a lot of variety again. And it's a very harrowing read. I read this all in one day, which I do not recommend. An emotional roller coaster. I was wrecked. An individual story will wreck you. And I was reading them all back to back. And I was many tissues were used. But yeah, this book is just so impressive. It's such an incredible sampling of what Ken Liu is capable of. But yeah, I don't recommend reading it. Casually, I don't recommend reading it. If you're like just wanting a happy quick read, like it's harrowing, it's dark, it's thought provoking, it's contemplative. It's complex, but it's such a good read. So impressive. And that leads me to my number one favorite book that I read in 2022. And that is The Cuckoo by Leo Carril. I love this book so much. I was in such a slump after finishing it. I, nothing else could measure up after finishing it. I was like, you're just, you're not the cook. Whatever book I'm picking up, you're not the cook. This is the end of the Northern Sky trilogy, end of the Under the Northern Sky trilogy. And boy, did it stick the landing. I, as you should know by now, am obsessed with the wolf as well. And I'm also obsessed with the spider. I've read the wolf seven times, the spider only twice. I guess the pressure was on to stick the landing on like a series that I love so much. I didn't really have doubts. The only thing that gave me any pause was when I saw how long it is because this is the longest book in the trilogy. And it's almost double the length of the wolf. And I know that in having read a lot of series, like towards the end of a series, they'll get longer and wordier and it'll kind of get away from the editors a bit and Yachter will want to like expand on everything they haven't had time to yet and get long-winded in their wrap up of stuff. So I was a little concerned when I saw how long it was that it would be that they would drag a little bit or something and it didn't. Oh my god, this book is so tight. There's so much crammed into this book. He did, when I interviewed him, he did say that he had originally envisioned the series for Under the North and Sky to be longer and to span more years. So it does, it's a little bit, it doesn't feel rushed, but it does feel a bit like some things that he kind of generally thought he might explore over several books are all in this book. And when I'm like by the end of the cuckoo, when I'm thinking back to the beginning of the cuckoo and what was going on in the story, I'm like, oh my god, that was in the same book. That all happened in this same book. So yeah, it's definitely like the length, like it is long, but I would not say it drags at all. It's such a page turner. There's so much happening, so much crammed into this book that it justifies its length in my opinion. It's an ending that it's probably polarizing or will be polarizing. I love it. It is not, I didn't really have any particular expectation for where the series would go, but I would say that I was not expecting this than I was surprised by it. Not that it's like not earned. It is earned, especially like looking back now. I'm like, okay, yeah, I see that the groundwork for this was laid, but I didn't see it coming. Anyway, um, yeah, number one book of the year, no question. Sorry, every other book. The cuckoo is just chef's kiss. Love it to pieces. What a way to end a trilogy. This cements the Under the Northern Sky series as one of my all time favorite series of all time ever will read the wolf like seven more times and also the spider and the cuckoo and I just ever would just read these books, okay? And if you hate them, don't tell me. So those are my top 10 books of 2022. Let me know in the comments down below if you've read these books, if you've not read these books, if you plan to read these books, if you will never ever read these books. Would everyone let me know? I post videos on Saturdays, other random times probably Saturdays, so like and subscribe to my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you. Bye.