What I Read in 2022

2022 was the ninth(!) year that I’ve kept track of my book consumption. I’m still trying to get better at capturing even just some brief thoughts/impressions about what I read (especially the fiction, which sometimes fades from memory almost as fast as I can read it). I still read most of my nonfiction on my Kindle (or on the kindle app on my phone) because of the very handy highlight feature. A fraction of those highlights typically then find their way into my digital brain archive and some eventually become posts on this very site.

Prior years here: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.

1. Atomic Habits (I’ve gone through this best-selling-in-whole-world book as a centering routine for the New Year a few times now)
2. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (some decent lines/ideas, my favorites are in this post)
3. Appleseed by Matt Bell (environmental speculative fiction, a sprawling epic with well-crafted prose; Mr. Bell very nicely rejected a short story I wrote for his literary journal back in 2010)
4. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Ocean’s Eleven meets epic fantasy; these books are awesome, and one of the unusual parts of these stories is that while this world has magic, the main characters are just blokes equally out of their element in dealing with it).
5. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards #2)
6. Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards #3)
7. The Poppy War by RF Kuang (way younger than me so we didn’t overlap, but Kuang apparently went to my high school)
8. Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson (Stephenson, who first coined the term metaverse, writes super engaging sprawing near future speculative fiction. This is climate-related and just great)
9. The Fifth Season (Broken Earth Trilogy #1) by NK Jemisin (2016 Hugo Award winner, gosh this is so good. May also be the only book where a partial second-person perspective totally works)
10. Pangea Online: Death and Axes by SL Rowland
11. Pangea Online: Magic and Mayhem by SL Rowland
12. Pangea Online: Vials and Tribulations by SL Rowland
13. Girl Logic by Iliza Shlesinger (my wife bought this but Iliza is probably now the most famous person I sorta knew growing up. She was a few years ahead of me in high school and probably even briefly knew my name at the time).
14. Forward Collection edited by Blake Crouch
15. The Obelisk Gate (Broken Earth Trilogy #2) by NK Jemisin
16. The Stone Sky (Broken Earth Trilogy #3) by NK Jemisin (Again, very original. Not always the most fun read but a great story and incredible world-building).
17. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (the title story is the mind-bender that gave rise to the movie Arrival)
18. Exhalation by Ted Chiang (the newer collection of this award-winning writer of speculative short fiction, also unusually thoughtful)
19. The Dragon Republic (Poppy War Trilogy #2) by RF Kuang
20. Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
21. Just Keep Buying by Nick Maggiuli (data-driven personal finance, some takeaways here)
22. The Burning God (Poppy War Trilogy #3) by RF Kuang
23. Lock In by John Scalzi (a master of the short, snappy, snarky, sci-fi thriller)
24. Head On by John Scalzi (a sequel, but both are totally stand-alone)
25. He Who Fights with Monsters by Travis Deverell (yes, it’s silly LitRPG, but the protagonist this time is Australian.)
26. He Who Fights with Monsters 2 by Travis Deverell
27. He Who Fights with Monsters 3 by Travis Deverell
28. He Who Fights with Monsters 4 by Travis Deverell
29. He Who Fights with Monsters 5 by Travis Deverell
30. He Who Fights with Monsters 6 by Travis Deverell
31. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (light, funny, enjoyable; though not as funny as Red Shirts)
32. Wabi Sabi by Beth Kempton
33. Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho (I really liked The Alchemist. This was a bland platitude companion, 100% not worth it).
34. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
35. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
36. The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
37. Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension #1) by Andrew Rowe (Meh. Magic system and plot, not so bad. Characters and writing, pretty painful even for YA.)
38. On the Shoulders of Titans (Arcane Ascension #2) by Andrew Rowe
39. The Torch that Ignites the Stars (Arcane Ascension #3) by Andrew Rowe
40. Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk (Writing advice from the author of Fight Club among others; this was really good writing about writing).
41. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (two of fantasy’s greats, working together in a way distinct from either alone)
42. Jade City (Green Bone Saga #1) by Fonda Lee (Winner of the World Fantasy Award. The world-building is a bit a slow burn but this series ended up being exceptionally good.)
43. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman (Refreshing “time management” that reads like happy nihilism)
44. The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life by Boyd Varty (briefly quoted here)
45. Jade War (Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee
46. Pacchi Festival (Bushido Online #4) by Nikita Thorn
47. The Order by Jeremy Robinson (I didn’t get how Robinson was trying to pull together all of his stand-alone novels into a giant universe with a whole bunch of crossovers at first, but it’s working surprisingly well).
48. Reckoning (The Beginning After the End #9) by TurtleMe
49. Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte (nothing convinced me to change my current workflow)
50. Jade Legacy (Green Bone Saga #3) by Fonda Lee
51. He Who Fights with Monsters 7 by Travis Deverell
52. Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke
53. Babel by RF Kuang (This was a singular book, nothing else quite like it)
54. Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight novella)
55. The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi (I can see how the author who wrote this amusing book would go on to write the excellent Interdependency Trilogy)
56. Unsouled by Will Wight (Cradle #1) (More progression fantasy)
57. Soulsmith by Will Wight (Cradle #2)
58. Blackflame by Will Wight (Cradle #3)
59. Skysworn by Will Wight (Cradle #4)
60. Ghostwater by Will Wight (Cradle #5)
61. Underlord by Will Wight (Cradle #6)
62. Uncrowned by Will Wight (Cradle #7)
63. Wintersteel by Will Wight (Cradle #8)
64. Bloodline by Will Wight (Cradle #9)
65. Reaper by Will Wight (Cradle #10)
66. Dreadgod by Will Wight (Cradle #11)
67. Gilded Ghost (Ripple System #3) by Kyle Kirrin
68. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
69. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
70. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
71. Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (Arabian Nights-esque fantasy. I’ve been meaning to read my copy of this ever since I published one of Ahmed’s stories in Nanoism, which was subsequently a finalist for the annual Best Small Fictions Anthology.
72. Gallant by VE Schwab (Schwab is a great and very-bestselling writer. This ghost story reminds me a bit more of Neil Gaiman’s work.)
73. The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1) by Brent Weeks (at first I wasn’t sold on the magic system/world-building but I was wrong. This series is great).
74. The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) by Brent Weeks
75. The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks
76. The Blood Mirror (Lightbringer #4) by Brent Weeks
77. The Burning White (Lightbringer #5) by Brent Weeks (a rare satisfying series conclusion!)
78. Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein (some of these classic sci-fi books really haven’t aged well)
79. Methuselah’s Children by Robert Heinlein
80. He Who Fights with Monsters 8 by Travis Deverell
81. The Lost Metal (Mistborn era two, #4, the conclusion) by Brandon Sanderson (Honestly fell kinda flat? The whole second arc just isn’t as good as the first, and I’ll admit I find the overall Cosmere integration slow burn to be mostly frustrating at this point)
82. Noise by Daniel Kahneman (I’ll be quoting this book in more posts, but here’s a taste)
83. Khaos by Jeremy Robinson (the penultimate volume in the Infinite timeline)

My son is getting older, so in addition to me reading to him, he also now reads a ton to himself, and sometimes I read a book or two in the series he’s currently enjoying or to introduce him to a new one:

1. The rest of this Pokémon box set
2. No One Returns from the Enchanted Forest by Robin Robinson
3. Caveboy Dave by Aaron Reynolds and Phil McAndrew
4. Sunken Tower by Tait Howard
5. Some of the Wings of Fire graphic novel renditions by Tui T. Sutherland (talking dragons!)
6. Boulder Brothers Mo and Jo by Sarah Lynn
7. Cat Kid Comic Club Perspectives by Dav Pilkey
8. Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian (Lightfall #1) by Tim Probert (such a beautiful art style; this was great)
9. Lightfall: Shadow of the Bird (Lightfall #2) by Tim Probert
10. Portions of the Minecraft Woodsword Chronicles by Nick Eliopulos
11. Star Knights by Kay Davault (also a really cute standalone graphic novel)
12. All five of the 5 Worlds graphic novels by Mark Siegel (which were awesome, he loved these)
13. The first two books in the classic Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis, which I kept in great condition from childhood for just this purpose!
14. Several entries in the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi, which he thought were super epic. Fantastic art.