As we get to the end of the year, it’s time to start sharing some of the favorite stuff we watched, read and listened to in 2022. But let’s face it: I’m not down with the kids. I don’t feel the need to read or watch the latest stuff unless it particularly attracts my interest. So this isn’t the best stuff of 2022 — it’s the best new to me stuff, a very particular list of my own efforts and obsessions.
Let’s start with books.
Looking back at the list of roughly 30 books I’ve read this year, my own sense is that … there’s a lot of white guys in there. I’m not apologizing for any particular reading choice I made, but for my own edification I want to make sure I’m not stuck in a narrow rut. More voices are needed.
That said, here are some of my favorites.
Best pulpy fiction: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
If you enjoyed The Martian, you’ll enjoy this. I did, so I did. It’s another scientifically minded jokey wise-ass protagonist working his way through very urgent scientific problems, only this time instead of saving himself the goal is to save all of humanity — and make contact with an alien species in the process. Pulpy reads should fun and easy to journey with without insulting your intelligence. This fits the bill.
Best classic fiction: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Something I’ve learned again during the pandemic is that many classic novels are classic for a reason: They’re often witty, well-told or beautifully written, which is why people keep returning to them again and again. Too bad their reputations often make them seem like homework! Tolstoy has always seemed forbidding to me — a long Russian novel about doomed love? Scary! But it turned out to be pure pleasure.
Best modern politics book: Why We Did It by Tim Miller
The answer: Because they’re careerist schmucks.
Best international politics book: The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
If, like me, you scrambled in the early spring of 2022 to get a better understanding of why Vladimir Putin was starting a war that threatened to set Europe — and maybe even the world — on fire, Masha Gessen’s personal, angry history of the end of communism, the brief interlude of hope, and the subsuquent rise of a bureaucratic mediocrity to the preening, authoritarian leader of Russia was a really good place to start.
Best memoir: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
Probably just straight-up the most enjoyable reading experience I had this year, a history of one man’s discovery of surfing, how it took him around the world, and how he has aged with a physically demanding sport.
Best memoir, honorable mention: Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr
Oh, right. This is why I love to read: To see a world that’s not my own and have it painted vividly for me. I’ve not gotten to travel as much as I’d like during my life. I’m grateful that a writer with Anthony Doerr’s talents was able to share his experience with me.
Honorable mentions:
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F. Walter
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Remains of Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate Over Race in America by Nicholas Buccola
I’ve set a goal of reading 20 books a year the last two years, and gotten closer to 30 both times. This year, I’m easing back: I want a goal of 12 books — one a month — not so that I can read less, but so that I can read longer books without feeling like I’m falling behind my goal. More Tolstoy this year? Maybe! And Robert Caro too.
What are your reading goals for 2023? What were your favorite books of 2022? Let me know in the comments.