Door No. 2
"The life you have led does not need to be the only life you have." -Anna Quindlen

Life Well Lived

My 2022 Booklist

I love to read. It has been something I have enjoyed for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid my mom would often be reading to us from some book series each night before bed. The Little House on the Prairie series stands out in my memory.

Last year around the holidays my father in law asked me how many books I’d read that year. I guessed maybe 15 or so but I really didn’t feel like I had any idea, and that inspired me to keep a better record. So this year I kept track. In 2022 I finished 65 books totaling 20,405 pages. I am certain that keeping track made me read more than I otherwise would have. It became a sort of personal competition. Throughout my life, my habit of reading has come and gone in seasons and the past year was definitely a reading season for me. I read in the evenings after Kate goes to bed, on weekend mornings while she plays in the living room, and in the car as we travel. My local library has served me very well, as have the frequent used book sales that occur at the church that houses Kate’s daycare.

Among the titles this year there was a pretty even mix of fiction and non-fiction, and themes in both categories covered a diverse range of perspectives, voices and life experiences. I was asked recently what my favorite genre is and the truth is I don’t really have one. My favorite books to read are the ones that engage my thinking or make me feel things. That can come in all kinds of categories. All of the books on the following lists were worth finishing, otherwise I simply would not have finished them. That being said, I have highlighted my particular favorites.

Favorite Fiction

  • A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (part of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series)

  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

  • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

  • The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

  • Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Favorite Nonfiction

  • Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

  • Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

  • To Have and To Hold by Molly Millwood

  • Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

  • See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur

  • The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

  • There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk

  • The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker

  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

These books are favorites for a variety of reasons. Some taught me something I did not know and others confirmed things I had already suspected. Some put my own experiences into words and made me feel seen; others exposed me to experiences of others that are very different from my own and that are important for me to understand. Some gave me hope for humanity, and others called me to action. Some made me feel the breadth and depth of human emotion and experience, and others simply whisked me away to a world that made me want to stay immersed in the story. If you take only two recommendations from this list (one fiction, one non), make it Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley and See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur.

Other Fiction

  • A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

  • The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron

  • Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

  • People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

  • A Well Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler

  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

  • The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

  • A League of Extraordinary Women series by Evie Dunmore

  • Remembrance by Rita Woods

  • Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

  • The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

  • Looker by Laura Sims

  • Girls with Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman

  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

  • High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson

  • The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

  • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

  • 365 Days to Alaska by Cathy Carr

  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

  • The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

  • The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

  • Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Other NonFiction

  • Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau

  • Stringing Rosaries by Denise K. Lajimodiere

  • Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

  • On Doing Nothing by Roman Muradov

  • You Never Forget Your First: Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe

  • The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

  • This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan

  • The Address Book: What street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask

  • To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins

  • No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

  • Go Back to Where You Came From by Wajahat Ali

  • Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

  • Women and Power by Mary Beard

  • Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmieri

  • Unmentionable by Therese Oneill

  • You Are Not Special by David McCullough Jr.

  • The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

  • Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown

  • Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year by Anne Lamott

  • Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult TImes by Katherine May

  • Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl

  • World’s Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian

  • Last Call by Elon Green

I’m already looking forward to what I will read in 2023, and I wish I had started keeping track sooner!

A version of my dream home library

Nicole TombersComment