Best of 2022 and the Year in Review
It’s once again that time of the year where I look back at the last twelve months and do a round up my favorite reads and goals! 2022 was an interesting year and, in many ways, a difficult one for me. There were some health issues and life changes that took me away from reading and blogging, and for the first time in more than a decade I almost missed my “Read 100 Books a Year” reading challenge and only managed to squeak past the finish line earlier this month. I’ve also been neglecting my quarterly updates for my Audiobook Challenge 2022, so I also plan to do the final wrap-up of it here in this post.
As for the books, I’m going to be listing my best-ofs in each genre category as always, though this year it might be extra random. As I’m sure many readers can relate, it’s hard enough to narrow a whole year’s worth of reading down to a “Top 3”, nor do I like trying to scrape together a list to fill a “Top 10” for each genre. Instead, what I usually do is highlight all the books that 1) were my favorites of the year, 2) I thought were most memorable, or 3) I think should be getting more love and attention. The one thing they have in common is that I loved them all.
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Horror
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Historical Fiction
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
As you can see, my 2022 was a year dominated by great horror and thriller reads, though there were a few gems in fantasy too, with my #1 Book of the Year award going to Justice of Kings by Richard Swan. You may have also noticed my Science Fiction list is rather sparse, which probably has to do with me reading fewer sci-fi books this year despite my best efforts during Sci-Fi November, so I was choosing from a pretty small pool to begin with. Still, I definitely read more science fiction than Young Adult in 2022. I don’t even have a YA category in this year’s wrap up post.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of these books!
Reading Challenges Update
I’ve been terrible with updates for my Audiobook Challenge this year, and looks like my last one was back in the first quarter, ugh! As a reminder, I was trying to complete 50 audiobooks in 2022. Let’s see if I made it…
Argghh, the final tally was 43 which meant I was only 7 short of my goal! This is the first time in many years where I didn’t finish at least 50 audiobooks, but it would make sense since my busy schedule in 2022 also ate into my listening time. Well, I’ll just have to try harder next year!
Overview: Books Read in 2022
And now for my favorite part of end-of-year roundup posts! Charts and infographics!
Goodreads Ratings:
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Best of 2014 and The Year in Review
Best of 2015 and The Year in Review
Best of 2016 and The Year in Review
Best of 2017 and The Year in Review
Best of 2018 and The Year in Review
Best of 2019 and The Year in Review
Best of 2020 and The Year in Review
Best of 2021 and The Year in Review
The BiblioSanctum 
Nettle and Bone and Black Mouth were among my best discoveries of the year, both as stories and as authors new to me. And there are a few titles, among the ones you listed, that I already have my eyes on… But that’s something for next year! 😉
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Indeed, both Kingfisher and Malfi are now my must-read authors!
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Sorry to hear that Life intruded, but as it usually does, there’s not always much warning 😦
Hope the health stuff can be managed if long term or gotten over if short term.
And glad you made it over that 100mark finish line 😀 Good job!
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Oh yeah the health issues got better, that was early on in the year where they switched the pill I was on and it messed with my hormones and gave me anxiety attacks! It took months to get stabilize again, but I’m okay now. At the end of the year it was just work and travel getting in the way.
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I adored The Maid too and I must count to see if I made it with the audiobook challenge!
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I can’t remember if I saw an audio challenge update from you, but I hope you made it!
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Though they didn’t make my year end favorites list, I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost Metal, Black Mouth, and Flight Risk. And speaking of Flight Risk, Grave Reservations DID make my favorites list. 🙂 Regarding audiobooks, this was my year for them. I listened to 51, which amounted to almost 75% of everything I read.
I’m glad to hear you were able to get through as many as you did considering the difficulties that surfaced along the way. Here’s hoping 2023 is a better and more productive year.
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Wow, nice job! And each year, audiobooks are accounting for a greater percentage of my reads!
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I love that your list is horror/thriller heavy. I barely read any fantasy this year so I only had a few favorites. Despite your challenges this year, it’s pretty impressive that you managed to read over 100 books😁
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Haha, that’s funny, I was like you with Sci-fi, didn’t read much of that this year, but I did do slightly better with fantasy. 2022 was a big year for horror though, sounds like for you and me!
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It’s funny how life changes as the years go by, and our blogging sometimes does too. It was a difficult year for me too, in some ways, re: blogging. But I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I like your criteria for how pick your faves- same here. It’s not just my favorites sometimes but books that I also think need a little attention!!
I’m so glad to see Such Sharp Teeth on her- I loved that! The Swell was great too, and stuck with me. Black Tide…
I hardly read any fantasy. And YA has been AWOL too…
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Haha, I just thought this was the best way, considering the number of books I read each year. It’s just easier to go through my goodreads list and put up every book that made me go “ooh, I remember this! Loved it!” 😀
We did have a wonderful Christmas, thank you! And happy new year!
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My sci-fi reading was also down this year! But I’ve got some good looking sci-if on deck next year, so hopefully that changes. Here’s to more awesome books and smoother Life Stuff next year!
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For sure, Rubicon comes to mind immediately 😀
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3 of the fantasy are on my wishlist 😀
Crowbones!
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Woohoo!
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I’m sorry it’s been a trying year for you, and I hope next year will be a better one.
I’m glad for this list, though. Since following your blog, I always look forward to the best of list. Btw, I really hope to get into Justice of Kings and Wolf Den next year, as well as that Camilla Bruce book.
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I’m so glad to hear that! I hope you get to read all those books in 2023, I will be watching for your reviews 😀
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I’m so sorry to hear that this was a difficult year for you. Hope you’re okay now.
I’ve somehow only read one of your top fantasy books – Scorpica – but I adored it. I was kind of surprised by one of the arcs ending as it did but I’m definitely excited to see what book two will reveal.
I haven’t read any from the other categories which is ridiculous. I’m definitely planning to get to Maid & Daisy Darker next year though.
Even if you didn’t hit your target of 50, 43 is still really impressive. Well done.
My favourite books were Juniper & Thorn, The Final Strife & Gilded.
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Yay, Scorpica was sooo good, I just wish it got more attention because it deserves it. I also really wanted to read The Final Strife but there was just too many books and not enough time. Now I really wish I had been able to fit it in!
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Tbh I only heard about it through Samantha Shannon’s Insta stories I think. It definitely deserved a lot more attention, hopefully that will come with the sequel. If you ever do end up reading it I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did.
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I need to make some time for The Justice of Kings. I really wanted to read it this year, and now I’m seeing it on a lot of top fantasy lists. Your audio lists looks fabulous.
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I loved Justice of Kings, it really took me by surprise earlier this year. I hope you’ll get to it in 2023!
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Just wanted to say an end-of-year thank you for your reviews. I frequently make a decision on whether or not to add a book to my TBR based on what you write. You’ve nudged me a bit more into thrillers which are a nice change of pace from SF/fantasy. You’re appreciated and Happy New Year!
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Thank you for your kind words, that makes me so happy to hear! It’s the whole reason I started blogging, to discover new books and to spread my love of good reads 😀 And I definitely made more inroads into mystery and thrillers in recent years, I do find it a great way to mix things up 😀
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I LOVE this wrap-up. What a great 2022 you had reading wise!
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Thank you! It was quite the year, but still great in terms of reading. Happy 2023 🙂
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We have so many of the same books! I had a very slow reading year. Didn’t even made it to 100. Maybe I’ll have more time this year.
Lynn 😀
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Nettle and bone was so amazing- it’s definitely going to be on my favourites for this year. And I really loved daisy darker. That’s so awesome you listened to so many audiobooks.
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