Happy New Year! Another year, another slew of books.

Per my yearly tradition, I like to share a recap of all the books I read over the previous year.

In 2022, I read 45 books and as always, I try to span a diversity of authors in background, gender, genre, and identity. I hit a bit less books than the previous year because I read a few mega 600-900+ pagers.

I’ll share my Top 4 Fiction and Top 4 Non-Fiction. Below that, you can see a list of all the books I read each month.

Since I was originally planning to go to Japan in December, I spent the year reading more Japanese authors. Also, I spent more time digging deeper into multiple books from the same author such as Haruki Murakami, Neil Gaiman, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Also also, I read some incredible Latina/Chicana and Indigenous local Denver writers like Kali Fajardo-Anstine and David Heska Wanbli Weiden. I highly suggest their books!

Read on…


TOTAL BOOKS FOR 2022: 45


TOP 4 FICTION:

Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

The Overstory — Richard Powers

The Sandman (Vol. 1-8) – Neil Gaiman

Norwegian Wood — Haruki Murakami

TOP 4 NON-FICTION

The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling — James Hillman

Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Baba Hari Dass

American Veda – Philip Goldberg

Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death in a World That’s Lost its Mind — Jamie Wheal

 

YEARLY BOOK RECAP:

January

The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling — James Hillman

The Monkey Grammarian – Octavio Paz

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Al Ries and Jack Trout

 

February

Peace is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh

Snow Country – Yasunari Kawabata

A Swim in the Point in the Rain — George Saunders

Positioning — Al Ries and Jack Trout

Srimad Bhagavad Gita # 2 (Books 7 – 12) – Baba Hari Dass

 

March

The Sandman (Vol. 1-3) — Neil Gaiman

The Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running — Haruki Murakami

American Veda – Philip Goldberg

Selected Poems – E.E. Cummings

 

April

The Go-Giver — Bob Burg

The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood

Srimad Bhagabad Gita #3 (Books 13-18) – Baba Hari Dass



May

Sailing Alone Around The Room — Billy Collins

Confessions of an Advertising Man — David Ogilvy

Silence Speaks — Baba Hari Dass

 

June

The Sandman (Vol. 3-6) – Neil Gaiman

How To Eat — Thich Nhat Hanh

1Q84 — Haruki Murakami

 

July

Sabrina and Corina – Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Raja Yoga and Other Lectures — Swami Vivekananda

How To Love — Thich Nhat Hanh

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies — Resmaa Menakem

The Housekeeper and the Professor – Yoko Ogawa

 

August

Winter Counts – David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

Hit Refresh – Satya Nadella

 

September

Path Unfolds – Baba Hari Dass

Circe — Madeline Miller

 

October

How To Focus — Thich Nhat Hanh

The Dawn of Everything – David Graeber and David Wengrow

The Tao of Jeet Kun Do — Bruce Lee

The Overstory — Richard Powers

 

November

The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter

The Expectation Effect — David Robson

Norwegian Wood — Haruki Murakami

Recapture the Rapture — Jamie Wheal

 

December

Permission Marketing — Seth Godin

Story Genius – Lisa Cron

The Heart Aroused – Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America – David Whyte

Cleopatra and Frankenstein — Coco Mellors



Now… on to 2023!

Kicking off the year with a book about the history of the Shaolin Monastery, Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys” and “The Life Divine” by Sri Aurobindo. May your new year be full of books.

Brett

Happy New Year! Hello, 2022. Goodbye, 2021.

Per my normal tradition, I like to share a recap of all the books I read over the year. In 2021, I read 52 books and as always, I try to span a diversity of authors in background, gender, genre, and identity.

I’ll share my Top 5 Fiction and Top 5 Non-Fiction (with a bonus Top 3 Poetry collections). Below that, you can see a list of all the books I read each month.

Since I worked heavily on the dialogue in my novel this year, I wanted to re-read a bunch of my favorite Hemingway books and I kicked the year off and ended 2021 with two of my faves…

Top 5 Fiction:

Normal People – Sally Rooney

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy

Agua Viva – Clarice Lispector

Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel

Top 5 Non-Fiction

Arthur Rimbaud: A Biography – Enid Starkie

The Bitcoin Standard – Saifedean Ammous

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative – Thomas King

Bhagavad Gita: Books 1-6 – Baba Hari Dass

The Dream and the Underworld — James Hillman

Poetry Shoutout

Post Colonial Love Poem – Natalie Diaz

To Bless the Space Between Us – John O’ Donohue

Night Sky with Exit Wounds – Ocean Vuong


The 52 Books I Read This Year:


Jan 2021

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Wilding – Isabella Tree

The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett

The ABCs of Socialism – Jacobin

Agua Viva – Clarice Lispector

Feb 2021

The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories – Ernest Hemingway

The Spirit Level – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

March 2021

Mama Day – Gloria Naylor

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – John C. Bogle

The Bitcoin Standard – Saifedean Ammous

April 2021

Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative – Thomas King

May 2021

The (Mis)behavior of Markets – Benoit Mandlebrot

Women Who Run With the Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The Vegetarian – Han Kang

The Obesity Code – Jason Fung

Station Eleven – Emily St John Mandel

June 2021

The Ascent of Money – Niall Ferguson

The Leftovers – Tom Perrota

Arthur Rimbaud: A Biography – Enid Starkie

July 2021

Illuminations – Arthur Rimbaud

The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros

Nighty Sky with Exit Wounds – Ocean Vuong

Sacred Economics – Charles Eisenstein

August 2021

Six Memos for the Next Millennium – Italo Calvino

The Mastery of Love – Don Miguel Ruiz

Queen City – Karl Christian Krumpholz

Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel

Sept 2021

Gold, Fame, Citrus – Claire Vaye Watkins

The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

Who Not How – Dan Sullivan

Srimad Bhagavad Gita: Books 1-6– Baba Hari Dass

All the Birds in the Sky – Charlie Jane Anders

Oct 2021

Normal People – Sally Rooney

The Art of Time in Fiction – Joan Silber

The Dream and the Underworld – James Hillman

The Widower’s Notebook – Jonathon Santlofer

The Art of Subtext in Fiction – Charles Baxter

The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion

Nov 2021

Pan and the Nightmare – James Hillman

Pretty Monsters – Kelly Link

The Ethical Slut – Janet Hardy and Dossie Easton

How To Walk – Thich Nhat Hanh

Algorithms to Live By – Brian Christians and Tom Griffiths

His Life and His Path: Rumi — Osman Behcet

The City We Became – N.K. Jemisin

Dec 2021

Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney

Postcolonial Love Poem – Natalie Diaz

Attached – Amir Levine MD and Rachel SF Heller

Save The Cat – Blake Snyder

To Bless the Space Between Us – John O’ Donohue

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway


Onward to 2022…

Kicking the year off with “The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling” by James Hillman and “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” by George Saunders. See you in a year!