Sunday, 1 January 2023

Bibliography, 2022

Within touching distance of my target of ten books a month, I finished on 118, with three in progress. Next year, next year... 

Curiously, it was exactly 50% fiction, though with non-fiction more weighted to cultural than historical reading, with a lot of memoir this year. BOTMs were almost the same, with five non-fiction (all from the first five months of the year) and seven fiction (from the remainder of the year). This did not in any way reflect the actual reading volumes.

The fiction is straightforward this year. I read Old Filth on Anna's recommendation and I am so glad I did. The sequels are nowhere near as good, but this is an exceptional, and exceptionally precisely written, book. It deserves to be much more well known than it is. 

Usually, non-fiction is harder to call, and there are several non-fiction works that deserve talking about, including ones that weren't books of the month. However, they are all easily overtopped by The Power Broker. It's reputation preceeds it, and it can't really be better known amongst its target audience, but the consensus is correct. 

Jan: P. Short, Mitterand: a study in ambiguity (2013)
Feb: F. Dunlop, Sharks fin soup and sichuan pepper (2009)
Mar: B. Lenon, Much promise: successful schools in England (2017)
Apr: R. Caro, The power broker (1974)
May: S. Ritchie, Science Fictions: the epidemic of fraud, bias, negligence and hype (2020)
Jun: J. Lahiri, The namesake (2003)
Jul: C. Isherwood, A single man (1964)
Aug: J. Gardam, Old Filth (2004)
Sep: D. Simmons, Hyperion (1989)
Oct: M. Renault, Fire from Heaven (1969)
Nov: K. Miller, Augustown (2016)
Dec: C. Brenchley, Dust up at the crater school (2021)

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