Tag: books

#TopTenTuesday My Favourite Books of 2022

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Favourite Books of 2022, a topic I both look forward to and dread because it’s always so difficult to choose, especially when you read over 150 books in a year! But, in no particular order, here they are. Links from the titles will take you to my review.

  1. Late City by Robert Olen Butler (No Exit)
  2. Lean on Me by Serge Joncour, trans. by Jane Aitken & Louise Rogers Lalaurie (Gallic Books)
  3. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (published by Vintage on 26th January 2023)
  4. The Woman with the Map by Jan Casey (Head of Zeus/Aria)
  5. The Sunken Road by Ciaran McMenamin (Vintage)
  6. The White Girl by Tony Birch (Harper Collins)
  7. All the Broken Places by John Boyne (Doubleday)
  8. Think of Me by Frances Liardet (4th Estate)
  9. The Night Ship by Jess Kidd (Canongate)
  10. Devils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, trans. by Sam Taylor (Gallic Books)

A big shout out to Vintage and Gallic Books for each having two of their books on my list (three for the latter if you include books on my supplementary list). And to Head of Zeus who have one on my main list but three on my supplementary list. Talking of which, here are those books that so very nearly made the main list:

The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey (Gallic Books)
The Bone Road by N.E. Solomons (Polygon)
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph (Dialogue Books)
Mr Bunting at War by Robert Greenwood (Imperial War Museum)
The Coming Darkness by Greg Mosse (Moonflower Books)
The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy (Tinder Press)
Essex Dogs by Dan Jones (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Katastrophe by Graham Hurley (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Seek the Singing Fish by Roma Wells (époque press)
Resurrection by David Gilman (Head of Zeus/Aries)

 

 

My Five Favourite December 2022 Reads

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My Five Favourite December 2022 Reads

Like many others, I expect, December was a slower than usual reading month for me. I read eight books of which those below were my five favourite. Links from each title will take you to my review. You can find a list of all the books I read in 2022 here.  If we’re not already friends on Goodreads, send me a friend request or follow my reviews.

My thanks to Penguin UK, Gallic Books, HQ, Head of Zeus and Allison & Busby for providing me with review copies, including via NetGalley.

The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen (Penguin) – A powerful, insightful and moving story about family relationships with moments of humour too and an uplifting ending.

Devils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (Gallic Books) – A touching, beautifully told story of endurance, friendship and hope.

The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O’Reilly (HQ) – A dark tale of obsession and the desire for self-expression, rich in atmosphere and with a real Gothic flavour.

Resurrection by David Gilman (Head of Zeus) – An absolutely gripping, action-packed contemporary spy thriller that takes the reader from the unforgiving Sahara desert to the dangerous ‘Shanghai slums’ of Moscow.

The Girl from Simon’s Bay by Barbara Mutch (Allison & Busby) – A moving love story set against the backdrop of war and social upheaval in South Africa.

What were your favourite books last month? Have you read any of my picks?