My favourite books of 2022

 

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 together and start fake dating because that will allegedly solve both of their problems.

As for why it made its way onto my top books of the year? It set out what it wanted to do and then proceeded to execute it really well. The fake dating trope isn’t anything new, but I don’t, personally, think every book needs to be the most inventive thing you’ve ever read, concept-wise. I think there’s nothing wrong with taking a concept that already exists, in this case fake dating, and putting in something that you don’t often get to see, in this case (let’s not lie) two women of colour and the expectations around their lives, and then do a really good job.

Second on the list I read back in March. It’s All That’s Left in the World by Erik J Brown. This was the first post apocalypse book I had read in a long time. And I think that might have had something to do with the fact that in The Hunger Games era there was a slew of post apocalypse that just polluted the world. Although, I can’t (and won’t) complain about post apocalyptic books since it was The Hunger Games that got me back into reading. Still, for this book, it gave me very Fallout video game series vibes, something I am a huge fan of. But it was Fallout but explicitly gay, not just with the choice of gay.

I went back to read my post on this book just to find some more specific details about just why I enjoyed it so much. From what I gathered, and from I can remember, it was just how atmospheric this book was. Like, yes there have been other post apocalypse books, but I think this was the one that captured the apocalypse vibe that I’m a fan off. I know that sounds awful out of context, but I mean it in the sense that it managed to perfectly encapsulate the fear and the danger of, again this will sound awful, the kind of post apocalypse vibe I like. The plot of the two protagonists, Andrew and Jamie, making their way down to Florida was also a slay. Very Ethel Cain vinyl core.

Classmates (volumes 1-3) by Asumiko Nakamura is third on the list, and it was actually a manga that I didn’t make a post on. That seems like a rarity for me, because this whole blog was literally something I made as a depository for my thoughts after reading something. Still, this was something that I read in a single afternoon in May. It was pretty simple in concept in terms of the two leads, Hikaru and Rihito, being opposites attract vibes. It was one who was generally loud and one who was quiet. It was more or less just a story of first love in high school, very much things just happen kind of vibes. It really was quite a simple little thing, with most of the conflict stemming from the fact the two of them were in their first relationship being with each other, so they were navigating that, while also navigating high school and plans for afterwards. It was just another one of those that was done really well.

Number four on the list is the second fake dating book on this list. It’s Out of the Blue by Jason June that I just so happened to read in June. What I think I’ve learned about myself in 2022 is that I just love fake dating when it’s done well. Maybe not even just fake dating, but just romance tropes in general. I love most tropes as long as they’re done well.

Still, Out of the Blue is basically fake dating, but one of them is a merperson. A lot of what I’m about to say is going to come from memory, so hopefully it’ll all make sense. But still, Crest, the merperson, comes up on land for this quest all merfolk have to go through to get some kind of power. They go up on land for a month and have to a help a human with something. Sean’s boyfriend breaks up with him, and Crest ends up helping Sean by fake dating him to try and get Sean and his ex back together. But given that it’s fake dating, you know how this trope goes: The two that fake date end up having feelings for each other. But the extra gagaroni and cheese that this book had was obviously with Crest being a merperson, so they have to decide whether they want to stay on land with Sean, or go back to the ocean in the end. I remember absolutely loving this book. I had so much fun with it. And that’s why it made it onto this list.

The final book on this list is one I actually only read back in November. The final spot is taken by The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas. This was straight up another book that I just had fun reading. I think in my original post for the book I think I straight up said I hadn’t had so much fun with a book since Out of the Blue.

But for The Sunbearer Trials, it follows Teo as he gets called to compete in The Sunbearer Trials themselves. A simple way I can describe the trials is imagine The Hunger Games, but instead of a murderous battle royale, it’s just five trials that a bunch of gods go through and the person who gets the top rank becomes the Sunbearer and the person who gets the bottom rank gets ritualistically sacrificed to keep the world safe for the next 10 years. I know that does sound dark but reading just about everything in the book was fun for me. The characters all had strong personalities, I liked Teo, the trials themselves were interesting to read and really, I think I might just be a fan of Aiden Thomas as a writer.

Here's a point, I think that The Sunbearer Trials was the book out these five that had the least romance in it. Like there was definitely the set up for it and potential, but I’m actually glad that it didn’t go through with it. At the end of the day, it didn’t need it. I’ve also come to realise that I am a romance fan, as long as it’s queer. I have no interest in reading heterosexual romance, they’ve had their time.

Anyway, that’s the round up of my top books of 2022. I don’t know whether I could confidently choose one that I could say was my favourite book of the year. I definitely have a top two out of the five, but I don’t even want to share that as I’m happy enough to leave all five of them in a pool together making a soup of them all. They were all iconic to me and I’m so happy that I got the chance to experience them. I’d highly recommend all of them to just about anyone. And as a final and separate point, I’m very excited for the books of 2023 as there are already a few that I’ve got my eyes on.

Okay, bye!