I know you've been waiting for it impatiently... 😁 Below are the top ten books I enjoyed this past year, 2022. They are a mix of genres and even a couple of graphic novels. They are listed in no particular order and I've provided my reviews as well. Enjoy.
Top Ten Books Read in 2022
"Over the past 20 years or so, I've enjoyed so many of English author C.S. Forester's works; his Horatio Hornblower series, his works of fiction, like The African Queen, his early mysteries and others, 15+ books. Hunting the Bismarck is a work of non-fiction (in a dramatized fashion) and is a perfect little book.
The title tells all. The Bismarck, a German battleship, the pride of the fleet, leaves harbor and heads for the Atlantic to harass British convoys trying to keep Britain alive during WWII. British spies see it leave, the Admiralty is advised and the British fleet and Air Arm are activated to try and find and track and ultimately destroy the Bismarck.
The story moves between the Captain of the Bismarck and its crew, to the Admiralty as they track the progress of their ships, various crew members of British ships, even news reports from America and other countries. It's all very factual but Forester tweaks the story to make it a dramatic, fast paced, action packed war tale. I knew the basic story but there were little tidbits that I never even realized; the battleship Prince of Wales was so new that it still had civilian labor crews on board trying to correct flaws, the battleship Rodney was on its way to a refit in America under the lend lease program and had 500 injured passengers on board, going to Canada, as well as an American Navy Lt, escorting the ship. You get various actions told from the perspective of the British and then the Germans.
It's a very factual account of a major battle of WWII and such a significant event. Fascinating acts of heroism told in a matter - of - fact manner that draws you in quickly and makes you want to read until the end. Excellent story. (5 stars)"
"The Farthest Shore is the 3rd book in the Earthsea cycle by author Ursula K. Le Guin. This series just keeps getting better and better. I'm glad that Le Guin's voices found more stories in the series.
Ged, aka Sparrowhawk, the Archmage of Earth Sea meets Prince Arren. Arren's father sent Arren to Roke, the wizard's school to let Ged and his other wizards know that somehow magic seems to be disappearing. Wizards are losing their words, their magic. Clouds are arriving. Ged decides to go in search of the source of this. He offers Arren the chance to go with him and Arren accepts. The two head out on Ged's boat on a journey around Earth Sea to find out what is going on. This becomes a treacherous, life threatening adventure that will eventually take them to the land of the dragons and a most dangerous individual, a battle between life and death.
Sounds like a simple story maybe but Le Guin has a way with presenting characters and stories. The feeling of oppression and danger that grows and grows slowly strikes you to the core. Ged and Arren are wonderful characters and the people they meet on the way add to the tension and greatly enhance the story. At times I felt almost bereft during this story, um.... felt emotional very deeply. I've been reading more and more fantasy of late and enjoying so many of the newer authors but when it comes to story telling, there are few that can excel the way that Le Guin can.. maybe Tolkien, C.S. Lewis.... This was an excellent, intelligent, well-written story. Loved it. (5.0 stars)"
"Boy's Life by Robert McCammon ranks up there with books by other authors; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. All great coming of age books that draw you in, tug at your heart, leave you emotionally drained.
This is the story of Cory Mackenson, a young boy growing up in Zephyr, Alabama. It's basically a year in the life, commencing when he and his father (a milk delivery man) see a car drive into Saxon Lake. Jake's dad jumps into the 'bottomless' lake to try and save the driver and discovers that the man is not only dead but handcuffed to the steering wheel and had been beaten up.
This incident with haunt both Cory and his father throughout the book. Cory will try to discover who murdered the man. His father will be haunted by dreams of the man. We follow Cory and his friends, Johnny, Ben, and Davy Ray as they go to school, get involved in boyhood adventures and deal with many traumas.
It's a fascinating, rich, tense, excellent story. McCammon draws you into Cory's life and grabs your heart strings and also keeps it pumping when things get tense. There are normal events that many of us experience growing up but it is also a very gritty story, with violence and ratcheted tension that will strain Cory, his friends and his family. Lovely characters make the story even richer, with my personal favorite being The Lady. There is too much going on to get into any real detail. Just know that you will fall into the life of Cory and be somewhat bereft when the story ends. But still glad that you got to experience it. (5.0 stars)"
"Six of Crows is my first experience with the fantasy of Leigh Bardugo. It is the first book of (2 so far) in the Six of Crows duology and a continuation of the Grishaverse. The Grisha are magical people, accused by many other races of being witches and sorcerers, as I understand it so far.
Six of Crows is a perfect gang story and heist story. It's only weakness is that there is a second book following up on the adventure. But even that does not take away from the excellence of this story.
The story takes place on the merchant island of Kerch. Kaz is hired by one of the merchant society to find a Shu scientist, Bo Yul-Bayur, who has made a chemical drug that enhances the capabilities of Grisha. It also hooks them on the drug and drives them insane. The Merchants want to get the scientist so they can control the drug and stop enemies from using it.
Kaz is a lieutenant of one of the gangs of Kerch and he takes along members of his gang to the Ice prison at Dierholm where Yul-Bayur is being held by the Fierdan, enemies of the Grisha, so they can use the drug to defeat their enemies. The prison is supposed to be impregnable, hence the great heist story. It's a great, fascinating adventure with a great team of crooks; Kaz, the leader, his right hand man (woman) Inej, aka The Wraith, Nina, a Grisha Healer (the various levels of Grisha and their talents are outlined at the beginning of this story), Jesper, a jack of all trades and weapons expert, Matthias, a Fierdan soldier with a relationship (if you can call it that.. a love / hate relationship) who knows the workings of the Ice Prison, and Wylan, the son of the main trader and somewhat of an expert with bombs, a great story and wonderful dialogue.
The story is told from the perspectives of the main characters, jumping from one to the other as we learn about them, their personalities, their past, the connections with each other. There are twists and turns a-plenty as other gangs try to break into the prison and foil Kaz's team. It's a rich world that Bardugo has created, with fascinating peoples and just a wonderfully complex story. I have to say it grabbed me so quickly. The story is dark and gritty, but there is humor at the same time. Everything about it was amazing. I can't say enough positive about it. Ocean's Eleven meets Game of Thrones. I need to explore this world more. (5 stars)"
"To Amanda Gorman -
Me to poetry, often, regularly, er.. generally = incomprehensible. We don't jive. I've been told; it's allegory, simile, description, but, nope, I still don't often get it. I guess my brain doesn't work that way.
But then I read Call Us What We Carry and wow. Light bulb moment. Your poetry works -
Part historical, part future -looking; prose / poetry; despair / inspiration; magical use of words, playing with them like a juggler; use of style & shape to create full pictures.
Some promote hate as the way to run / ruin America, a splitting apart at the seams, an Us vs Them battle; you talk about the desire not for revenge, but for recognition of past events and the trauma caused and the need for all to realize it if America will grow, come together to save America.
The history of racism, its use to split America; the need to recognize it, to identify it if America is to heal; a diary of the pandemic in prose and poetry; your wonderful, awe-inspiring words at Joe Biden's inauguration. So much more.
It's difficult to pick one point, the book as a whole is so great... But here is one (from Fury & Faith)
"Together, we envision a land that is liberated, not lawless.
We create a future that is free, not flawless.
Again & again, over & over.
We will stride up every mountainside,
Magnanimous & modest.
We will be protected & served
By a force that is honored & honest.
This is more than protest.
It's a promise."
Thank you for your artistry (5 stars)"
"What can I say? Well, Wow! and oh yes, Wow! Did I say Wow? Well, Wow!
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab is the first story in her fantasy trilogy, Shades of Magic. What a great story! I enjoyed it so very much.
The setting is London, or rather, a variety of London's, layers of London. There is Grey London, home of wanted criminal Delilah (Lila). Grey London is a non-magical version of London. It is connected by magical doorways to Red London, home of Kell, an Antari (one of two left in the 'world'), who can travel between the various Londons. The other Antari is Holland, who lives in White London, the most magical of the three. London is ruled by the Danes (brother & sister, magical evil twins). The final London has not been seen for many years (centuries?), that is Black London. Black London was sealed off when it's magic became wild and unchecked. It was connected to White London which was left alone to battle the magic of Black London.
Got that? Kell is a traveler. He takes messages between the Londons, from the king of Red London to the other rulers. Kell also likes to take artifacts from one London to another and sells them to interested people. This is an activity that is frowned on. His best friend is the son of the King of Red London, Rhy, a happy - go - lucky, gadabout, but a nice guy all the same.
Kell is given an object to bring from White London to Red London, which turns out to be a piece from Black London. This will cause turmoil in the Londons. It will cause the meeting of Lila and Kell and their adventure through the Londons as they try to save themselves and also bring the piece of evil magic to Black London. It's a rollicking piece of great magical fantasy fun. Kell and especially Delilah who is one of my favorite characters ever. She's spunky, strong, smart, just a great heroine. She is a perfect foil and partner to Kell. The action is high -paced and builds steadily through the story. It's a page turning exciting fantasy story. The ending was completely satisfactory and it left me wanting to read the next one. If you like fantasy, this book will totally satisfy you. (5 stars)"
"I picked up A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, mainly because of the title, the fact that it was relatively small and I really liked the cover. Chambers was a new author for me, but the synopsis sounded interesting. In fact it made me think of City by Clifford Simak; I mean, robots right? While I stood looking at other books, both of the ladies who worked in the store gave me a thumbs up. I was waiting for my wife to finish her shopping so I sat out in the mall and started reading. Well, the rest, as they say, is history. I loved this story.
One of the comments on the cover described it in this way "Reading this book felt like a warm cup of tea made by someone who loves me...." That's a pretty good description.
Sibling Dex, a monk on the planet (or maybe it's a moon) Panga decides they (Dex uses they as their descriptive pronoun. It took me awhile to wrap my head around this but the story flows once I did. My problem, not Dex's) wants to hear crickets. You can't hear them in the City. So they decides to become a tea monk and travel around the planet / moon providing tea to the people living in outlying areas. The planet / moon is made up of one continent, half has been turned over to wilderness. While on their voyage, which takes place over quite a long time, Dex decides they need something else and heads into the wilderness to see the Hermitage, an abandoned monastery. (My terminology might be incorrect, remember Panga isn't Earth... I don't think)
Dex now encounters a robot, Mosscap. In the planets past, robots were used for all construction / industrial activities. At some point, humans recognized them as more than that and offered to let them leave if they wanted or to become citizens. The robots disappeared. This encounter is the first since their departure. Mosscap volunteered to visit humans to see how they had progressed and to see if the robots can help.
This begins a journey with the two, Dex hesitant to remain with the robot and Mosscap persuading them. It's a fascinating story and journey. Chambers draws lovely photos of the planet and creates two fascinating characters, a confused Dex and an outspoken, exuberant robot. The story was so wonderful, caring and just drew you in. I definitely want to visit Panga and I want to meet a tea monk to sell me tea and make me feel comforted and happy. Thank you for such a great story, Becky. What a lovely surprise. (5 stars)"
"I enjoyed the first book in Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy, The Passage, very much. I've had this 2nd book, The Twelve early in 2022 and finally, with some hesitation, started it at the end of July. Now, my hesitation was mainly because it was such a tome, not because I was worried I wouldn't enjoy.) Anyway, it's taken me since July to get through the book, basically half a year, but it was worth it. It didn't take me a long time because I wasn't enjoying it, but more because I usually have 4 or 5 books on the go and it was easy to put one down so I could finish another.
Anyway, enough rambling. let's get to this story. This has been an exciting, rich epic novel, a battle between the remains of mankind against the Twelve and their minions. The Twelve are powerful vampires created in a laboratory from genetic material provided from Zero, the first vampire, discovered in the first novel in South America. (If I remember it all correctly, because so much has happened in the two novels, that I may have forgotten some specifics). The first two novels, in my mind, are like The Stand on steroids.
This second follows many of the characters in the first novel (check out the Dramatis personae at the back to refresh yourself on the characters). The story moves from character to character; the Expeditionary folks from Texas who go out to battle the minions of the Twelve, the baddies in The Homeland, in Iowa, where they hold humans prisoner, feeding off them, building the Dome (why?), etc.
The story will lead to a climactic denouement, a 'final' (probably not because there is still Book 3) battle between insurgents in the Homeland and their allies from Texas vs the acolytes of the Twelve. I know I'm glossing over the whole scope of the novel because so much happens. The characters are fantastic, with their imperfections, the future is described in fantastic rich detail and the events will cause you to go through the gamut of emotions. This story might have taken me a long time to read, but once I settled down to focus on it, I couldn't put it down. I know it's a great story when I fell happiness, sadness, anger, all the emotions. I can't say enough good things about this 2nd story. Loved it and now I have Book 3 on order. (5.0 stars)"
"They Called Us Enemy by George Takei is the story of how 120,000+ Japanese Americans were sent to concentration camps by the US government after the attack on Pearl Harbor in the 'belief' that all Japanese Americans were potential insurrectionists. This happened in Canada as well, where over 20,000 Japanese Canadians were sent to internment camps in the interior of British Columbia. Like their American counterparts, their properties were confiscated, everything they owned....
The story is told from the perspective of the events that happened to Mr. Takei and his family; father Takekuma Norman Takei, mother Fumiko Emily Nakamura, younger brother Henry and sister Nancy. Under Executive order 9066, his family were removed from their home in Los Angeles, taken by train along with so many others to one of 10 internment camps. The Takei's was the furthest east at Camp Rowher, Arkansas. There they spent most of the rest of the war. From young George's perspective, as a young pre-teen boy, it was a huge adventure. For his parents, it was shameful, dispiriting to say the least. They considered themselves loyal American citizens. Mrs. Takei was born in the US, his father born in Japan and emigrated to the US as a child.
The story presents the facts in an honest, dramatic fashion, showing how the events unfolded historically and how it impacted these people. Towards the end of the war when the US needed more soldiers they asked these Japanese Americans if they would be willing to serve in the US army. But before they were permitted to do so they had to sign a document stating they were willing to serve in the Armed Forces on combat duty and also foreswear any and all obedience to the Japanese emperor. George's father, like many others signed no and no. For the first, the US wanted these Japanese Americans to pledge their lives to a country that had placed them and their families behind barbed wire fences and secondly to sign a document that rested on a false premise that they all had a racial allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. So this group were called No-No's. George's family were again resettled to a harsher camp, this time in California.
There is so much in this story that is both fascinating, interesting and terrifying. It's easy to see who even a democracy can descend into a form of totalitarianism when it is threatened and how easy it is to do it again and again. To blame things on perceived outsiders, different looking people and to want to keep them from attaining the same right. Mr. Takei presents his story objectively, factually and personally and his story needs to be read. (5.0 stars)"
"White Bird by R.J. Palacio is a graphic novel telling a story with similarities to The Diary of Anne Frank. Set in France during WWII it tells the story of Sara Blum, a Jewish girl who ultimately spent the war hiding out in a friend's barn, to avoid the Nazis and French sympathizers. In the present, Sara is young Julian's grandmother and she is telling this story to Julian to help him with a school project.
It's not a new story, one that has been told by many people since the war; i.e. The Diary of Anne Frank, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Night by Elie Wiesel, but it's one that needs to be told over and over because as Anne Frank says, 'What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it from happening again.". Or more appropriately maybe, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana.
In many ways it's a simply told story but horrific in its very simplicity. We see how France is split in two, the Nazi - occupied north and the 'Free France' or Vichy France in the south. Sara and her parents live in southern France and feel they are safe there, but Vichy begins to enact Anti-Semitic Statutes on Jews. They continue to live relatively freely but relatives in the North are being rounded up by the Nazis. Sara's father wants to leave France but is talked out of it by her mother. The French collaborators begin round ups in Vichy. Sara's mother is taken, she can't find her father. A French classmate of Sara's, Julian (who is reviled because he struggles with the after effects of polio) saves Sara and takes her to his home, where she spends the war in the family barn.
The rest of the story is Sara's hiding in the barn, protected by Julian and his parents as they try to avoid the Nazis (who now occupy all of France) and the milice (who are Frenchmen who support the Nazis). It's a fascinating tale, with heroics, excellent artwork. A story that has to keep being told, especially when you see what is happening in America, here in Canada and around the world. As Elie Wiesel says, "Never Again", #WeRemember. The war started because Hitler persuaded Germany that the white Aryan race was superior to all other races and needed to cleanse the world of Others. Do you see any similarities today?
Final thought is a quote from the book, "Evil will only be stopped when good people decide to put an end to it" (Vivienne, Julian's mother) OK one last quote used by Elie Wiesel from Leviticus, "Do not stand idly by while your neighbour's blood is shed". Excellent book. Oh, it was banned in Texas because "it's biased and could lead to the skewing of a young child's mind". More reason to read it, then. (5.0 stars)"
There you go. My Top Ten of 2022. I hope you see some that pique your interest.
