Matthew reads, I guess...

  I’m not talking about one specific book today. No, today is the day I talk about my favourite books of 2022. This is just going to be a list of five books, or series of books (which might be a hint at something on the list), that were my favourite of the year. This list isn’t ranked or anything, it’s purely in the order that I read them throughout the year. I figure doing it this way means I don’t have to come up with a ranking and that it could just be “These are the books I loved this year” and nothing more. The first book that makes an appearance was something I read all the way back in January, and that is Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar. As the name suggests, it’s a fake dating trope. And the super shortened down synopsis is that Hani and Ishu start fake dating, each for a specific reason: Hani because her friends don’t believe her when she comes out as bisexual, and Ishu because she wants to be head girl and needs to be popular. The two then come ...

  Today I’m talking about Timberdark by Darren Charlton. I’ll be 100% honest, I didn’t even know this book existed until I saw it in a bookstore. Like I was with a friend, we both went in, and they pointed out that it was the sequel, or a continuation of, Wranglestone . And again, I had no idea this book was even being written. It remained completely off my radar, and I likely wouldn’t have even picked it up had my friend not told me what it was. The weird thing is that I liked Wranglestone , it’s still on my bookshelf, but it was kind of like after I read it, everything went crickets. Still, the post-apocalyptic blurb says that with the tide turned against the dead, Peter and the remaining community on Wranglestone prepare to leave for town, where the comforts of the world before away them. Could this be the home that finally brings both safety and unity for all? Cooper isn’t so sure. He harbours feelings from that terrible night on the lake and worse, a secret codename, Timberd...

  Today I’m talking about Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park. It would be nice if I had a cute way of how I found out about this book, but it was literally just one of those books that popped up in a recommended section. It’s nothing special, but hey, here we are. The blurb says that Love in the Big City is an energetic, joyful, and moving novel that depicts both the glittering night time world of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning after. Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they suppress their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and freezer-chilled Marlboro Reds. I’ll be 100% honest, that tells me literally nothing about this book. Like, I didn’t know what any of the conflict or stakes could have been, but it’s gay, and I’m always down to read something gay, especially something ...