My 2022 in Books

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Oh hi

Ok. I’m aware the last post I did was a WHOLE YEAR AGO and exactly the same as this one. I’ve been quite busy. I’m trying not to give myself absolute, unrealistic goals for this new year, but I’m really hoping I can spend some more time working on pieces and ideas that I can share on here - so do keep your eyes peeled. The academic side of things is, thankfully, over now - I just have a lot of editing, sharing and composing to do now!

After realising during 2020 that I had been neglecting reading, I have somehow managed to keep my habit going for another year. This year, I have almost certainly read more books than I’ve ever read in the same time-frame before - it’s been such a great way to switch off from my work and study this year. However, I have also been realising that as a composer I am unavoidably influenced by pretty much everything I’m exposed to in my life, especially artistic things (including books, visual art etc, not just music). More on this, I’m sure, later this year - but the point is that as I have read through 55(!) books this year, I have allowed the tones, colours, characters, rhythms of the text to percolate and sometimes re-emerge as musical notes (with some certainly still to do so). So everything’s connected.

As I read a lot more books this year, I’m not going to do a whole ‘section’ per book, just a few sentences to give you a rough idea. Here, I’ve listed the books in roughly the order I read them throughout the year. I’m also now very on it with updating to Goodreads and The Storygraph - more in-depth reviews of every book I’ve read this year are on there, and I will continue to do this next year for anyone who wants to see my initial impressions and creepily watch my reading progress in real-time. If that’s your thing. (Goodreads HERE, Storygraph - search for Benjaminj1996).

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

Frankly the best book I could have started the year on. It’s short, but perfect. Lots of mystery and intrigue which draws on a vast array of source material, which eventually pays off with fantastic emotional impact. I really can’t say too much about it, and please go into this blind, it’s all the better for it! Highly reccomended.

4:50 From Paddington - Agatha Christie

Continuing my Christie mission (I read 9 of hers this year), this is a great setup with some great characters. It does, eventually, settle back to ‘stately home with motives involving wills’, but still enjoyable.

Parsnips, Buttered - Joe LYcett

Love Joe Lycett, and this book actually manages to be genuinely funny and make some great points. Includes some of his classic stunts and some new stuff (of course, he’s had a very busy year in 2022 so there’s plenty that’s not in here…)

Abaddon’s Gate - James S. A. Corey

This is the third book in the ‘Expanse’ saga, which continues to have a fantastically realised world and work on its characters exceptionally well (much better than most sci-fi). The first two were much better, and this felt long and confusing in places (I had to remember the logistics of how a space-ship was laid out to enjoy the climax, and it was too much). Still good though.

The Transgender Issue - Shon Faye

Everyone should read this. The book is at time complex, but deeply and effectively educates, informs, and outlines what it’s like to be a trans person in the UK, and why it’s important to accept trans people with open arms, and for those who don’t know enough, with an open mind. I learned a lot through reading this and its arguments are so important. Highly recommended - and give yourself time to digest what you’re reading as you go.

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie

A classic for a reason (no, I haven’t seen the new Kenneth Branagh film, and don’t really want to). A great murder mystery in a memorable setting. Lots of characters, very fun.

Swimming in the Dark - Tomasz Jedrowski

Outstanding. Made me want to read more queer books. Darkly tragic but the authentic portrayal of queerness not just in terms of relationships but experience in general life was done beautifully. Fantastically realised (educational for me) setting too. Highly recommended.

The Stone Sky - N. K. Jemisin

The best possible conclusion to the best trilogy I have ever read. So busy though - lots going on. Really fantastic, original ideas. Incredible diversity among characters, genius plot, a resolution that perfectly works logistically and emotionally. I can’t praise this enough. The whole ‘Broken Earth’ trilogy is very, very highly recommended.

A Room With a View - E. M. Forster

Great characters, great setting, fairly obvious plot. Sort of fun, sort of a bit slow in places. Some interesting undertones and writing make it well worth a read though.

A Murder is Announced - Agatha Christie

This one actually fooled me and, again, the idea is original. A particularly memorable murder mystery for me, even though I read it quite a while ago!

Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism - Amelia Horgan

Everything in here was an argument I wholeheartedly agree with, but none of it was communicated well at all. Sometimes there was assumed prior knowledge, other times even the most obvious things were spelled out painfully. Only helpful ideas offered to those employed (not self-employed), and even then they are wildly unrealistic and can only be actioned from a position of privilege. Could have been great. Very much wasn’t.

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

Beautifully written and thought provoking. The ending seems to belong in a totally different field of logic altogether which was a bit jarring, but I do wonder if that might have been the entire point. Explores some interesting themes, some great slow reveals, some baffling moments. If anything, perhaps too much ambiguity, but still very good.

A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson

Fantastic. Beautifully written, reads as a simple style but the prose is clever beneath a seamless exterior. Lawson also mixes together three very different perspectives with ease and interest. Some dark themes covered, but still somehow quite a comforting read. Highly recommended.

Mother’s Boy - Patrick Gale

A brilliantly accomplished example of a fictionalised autobiography. Each window into the protagonist’s (real-life poet Charles Causley) life was wholly absorbing. Gale gives depth to both Charles and his mother equally. Everything ‘literary’ in his writing is hidden so that it feels like you’re really there with the characters, which I think shows incredible skill.

Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie

Another good one, if a little dry. It involved Poirot solving a mystery from a number of years in the past, which is interesting - but there’s a lot of going over the same ground. The David Suchet TV adaptation, however, is a masterpiece - and the central plot and resolution is characteristically great nonetheless.

Straight Jacket - Matthew Todd

Very conflicted. All it manages to do is successfully outline why queer people (particularly, and unfortunately almost exclusively gay men) end up feeling depressed, facing addiction etc. Important to understand, but not particularly wide-ranging, and seems to only really focus on the author’s own experiences even then, despite claiming to be a kind of self-help book. There’s not much ‘help’ either - just some phone numbers at the end and about one personal recommendation. As time has gone on, I’ve liked the idea of this book less. I think it’s dangerous to try and offer general advice to a group of damaged people based almost entirely on personal experience (even when others are consulted, it’s because they have a similar background to the author).

Kafka on the Shore - Huraki Murakami

Brilliantly strange and magical, with open-ended plot developments that are genuinely thought provoking and deep. Women are written horribly though. Which is a shame, because the novel is incredibly deep, rich in metaphor and symbolism, and very almost a work of genius.

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

A work of genius if ever there was one. Very long, and slow to start, it’s worth it in the end. There’s literally a book within a book within a book in this, and by the end the writing has explored politics, history, feminism, sci-fi, mystery, aging, childhood. Basically everything. Highly recommended if you have the patience for 650 pages of slow-burn.

Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel

A brilliantly clever ‘lockdown’ book and exactly the sort of thing I love - multiple storylines from different times coalescing (like in Cloud Atlas, which Mandel cites as an influence). Mandel is so great at being economical with words but still packing them full of story and meaning. If anything, some of the novel is a bit too brief here, but hugely enjoyable and unique.

Endless Night - Agatha Christie

This standalone Christie novel is a real highlight of her work. It’s so unclear at the start as to what you’re meant to be paying attention to and does take a huge amount of time to properly get going, but the twist in the end is so good, so dark, and so unexpected that it’s totally worth it.

Human Kind - Rutger Bregman

This made a lot of the same points as some of the less successful non-fiction books above, but actually very well, and covered a lot more ground. It’s essentially an all-encompassing look at how humanity is kind by default. It successfully debunks opposing theories (i.e. the ‘Lord of the Flies’ idea that we would just fall into chaos if left to our own devices) and the political and economic repercussions. This is a book that might actually restore your faith in humanity! Highly recommended.

Heartstopper Volumes 1-4 - Alice Oseman

Well worth the hype. At worst these graphic novels are an adorably drawn love story, but they’re so much more than that. The queer representation, especially for young people, is so important, and the way that the later volumes deal sensitively but directly with mental health is incredibly well done. For all ages, highly recommended.

Nick and Charlie - Alice Oseman

I preferred these characters in the Heartstopper graphic novels above, but this is still good. They’re a little older here and this is more of a novella with illustrations. There’s a nice message here too in the end - but it doesn’t quite match up to seeing the illustrations for me.

Verity - Colleen Hoover

A very tense, fast read with a surprising amount going on beneath the surface. I’ve not read anything else by Hoover but I gather this kind of thriller isn’t usually her genre - yet it’s pulled off excellently. The twist, while very clever, isn’t entirely convincing. But it’s good fun.

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Very well and beautifully written with incredible emotional impetus. I’m not keen on some of the decisions made about how to portray certain characters as it just felt a bit awkward and pointless at times (you’ll see what I mean if you read it, perhaps). The plot was very slow and not actually that engaging at times, but the quality of the writing sort of made up for it. So I’d say I had a middling experience with this high-quality book overall.

This One Sky Day - Leone Ross

Exceptionally unique and very memorable, yet very strange. I’ve seen people not liking this, and I can see why it might not be some people’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. It’s more of a tapestry showing various magical (sort of magical-realism, really) goings on in a fictional place, so the plot is non-linear and some of the events are just downright odd, but every element of the novel acts as a sort of mini-fable, with lots of very powerful symbolism. It took a bit of getting into, but I had fun and pause for thought in equal measure with this - which I think is a good sign!

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle

Actually a lot more fun than I expected (and far less boring than some of the film/TV adaptations, I have to say). It was surprisingly accessibly written and filled with lots of lush description and, at times, humour too. The central mystery isn’t exactly genius, but I don’t think the story is about that so much as creating a sense of atmosphere and foreboding, which is does very well.

The Insider’s Guide to Inside No. 9 - Mark Salisbury

Very niche, but it’s a behind the scenes guide to BBC2’s ‘Inside No. 9’ anthology series of dark comedy/horror plays by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. The show itself is exceptional and this book is does a really good, fun behind the scenes job at offering new info for fans.

The Promise - Damon Galgut

This is a bit heavy but very good - it’s somehow written as though Galgut is directing a movie, with a perspective that keeps shifting (but done seamlessly). It’s well-written and very engrossing, and has some great points to make. It felt perhaps a little dull to begin with but I was fully on board by the end, and it’s one of those books where I can almost tangibly return to the specific feel of it in my memory.

Earthlings - Sayaka Murata

Aagh! That was disturbing. It starts out almost like a YA or even children’s book but ends up very much… not. It definitely has a point to make, and definitely makes it. And not very subtly. I wonder if perhaps some of the translation meant that the layers weren’t there when I was reading it, but it was at times quite jarringly simplistic, which then lead to a bit of tonal whiplash later on. Also, a lot of the characters don’t have much depth at all, and are unrealistic caricatures at best. A very interesting idea, though.

Death in the Clouds - Agatha Christie

Fairly good - but a bit disappointing that there’s only really a tiny bit of ‘in the clouds’ about the book before it becomes usual fare. Also fairly guessable. Good enough though.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

I really didn’t like this. I can see that Vuong is a good poet but this didn’t translate well into a novel for me. The language did verge on pretentiousness despite my best efforts to find the beauty in it. I felt there could have been so much more depth mined from the interesting subject matter, yet the writer’s concern was always on surface-level ‘writerly’ sentences. So for me, this was a big nope.

This Book is Gay - Juno Dawson

A fantastic educational resource for queer young people - there should be more things like this. I found it perhaps a bit too jokey at times and think perhaps young people deserve some information a bit more directly, but everything it had to say was important and I can imagine it being so liberating and useful to a younger me, and therefore to lots of young people today.

Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

I enjoyed this almost as much as ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ which really is saying something. I read it during the enormous heatwave in July, which somehow seemed to add to the experience. What could have been a surface-level subject matter and format was written so well that all of the characters became really complex and engaging. I loved the subject matter too which I think helped. Every character is fantastically fleshed out, and the intrigue of it being presented as interviews, often with conflicting viewpoints on the same event, made it really fascinating and addictive. Highly recommended!

The Book of Form And Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

I’m not sure I can accurately describe how great this was. It took me ages to read, and the further along I got the more I loved it. And actually, the further on from reading it I have been the fonder I remember it too. It’s hard to sum up the plot but essentially it follows a boy going through a tough time and learning about himself with the help of a book. It goes to some really dark places but its message is so lovely and heart-warming at the centre of things. I absolutely loved this, and it’s a real contender for my favourite book this year. Again, highly recommended!

At Bertram’s Hotel - Agatha Christie

Definitely not my fave. Good atmosphere, but lacking in mystery until near the end and a bit muddled until then. Some nice ideas in there at times, but really not worth it to be honest. No wonder the TV adaptation that I watched afterwards almost entirely changed the story!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

It took me a very very long time to read this because I was reading it in conjunction with lots of other things. I have since learned to just dive in and read straight through, because once I did that I really enjoyed it. There are definitely slower sections, and I seemed to struggle understanding some of the context in which certain things take place (as well as my usual struggle with remembering who’s who when everyone has similar/the same names), but the overall wit and characterisation, combining cutting satire with a genuinely engaging plot is definitely a winner.

The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro

Boo! This could have been so good, but it was basically just boring. And I spent most of my holiday reading it and not enjoying it. Boo. There were some good ideas at the centre but Ishiguro’s commitment to writing in an appropriate style here meant that none of the good stuff really ever materialised. It was just a sequence of very drawn-out boring events. It’s a real shame, too, because the final ‘reveal’ (in his classic slowly realised way) makes a really good idea for a story, as does the fantasy setting. But not like this. Please, not like this. :( I think this has to be my biggest disappointment of the year.

Crow Lake - Mary Lawson

Another great, quietly beautiful book. Lawson is great at mixing together various perspectives. Slightly annoying that the narrator keeps saying ‘but that was nothing compared to what happened next…’ as I feel that this is a bit of a cheat to get the reader to keep going, and it wasn’t really necessary here. Again though, I really liked that a seemingly simple story which explores devastation on a small, family scale was written with such subtle warmth and cleverness.

Loveless - Alice Oseman

Such a great book, as it ties together an exploration of asexuality (something which I have literally never read about before) and general queer identity with themes of leaving home for university and generally finding yourself. It’s especially good because in exploring asexuality it draws on lots of literary influences and sort of subverts them while remaining unpretentious and accessible to a YA audience. Indeed, I learned a lot about what it means to have a queer identity through this book on the whole. It’s all very well done. Highly recommended.

Utopia for Realists - Rutger Bregman

Not quite as good as ‘Human Kind’ but still very effective at dismantling the views we hold as a society about what we should be achieving. It asks all sorts of useful questions such as ‘why are we operating as if GDP, something invented to increase productivity during the war, is still the endpoint, and not happiness or wellbeing?’. It goes further than that too, and is a really useful book for anyone to read. I didn’t like how this one dispelled opposing theories though, it was a bit ungenerous. I got the impression Bregman was frequently saying ‘you think this? you’re an idiot then’, an impression I did not get from ‘Human Kind’.

Peril at End House - Agatha Christie

A particularly clever one with the solution being quite unique as far as my experience goes. Really enjoyable too, however there was some very unfortunate antisemitism at times, as well as the chapter titles in the contents page giving a huge unnecessary clue to the solution, which kind of spoiled things.

No One Is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood

Very much a book of two halves, which is a shame because the themes of both could have been worked together a little better. It’s a short book about dealing with what social media does to your brain, as well as a family trauma. There’s some good things in there, but why are the two halves so separate? And why is it all so unpleasant? Some clever language, lots of substance, very very very bitty. This sometimes works in its favour and sometimes doesn’t. A discombobulating read.

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

A huge, sprawling, epic book about a pilot with a mission, and also the woman who is going to play her in a film adaptation of her diary. Every single character is very well fleshed out, sometimes surprisingly so, and everything is in a great amount of detail. The themes this book covers are too great to mention here but this is such an engrossing, well written and very memorable book. I especially loved the many different circular aspects there end up being in the narrative as it explores how we perceive truth via the past and ourselves. Highly recommended.

Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale

Another one of those books that’s incredibly dark beneath a simple surface. Gale is a master at disappearing as a writer and letting characters and events speak for themselves. The narrative style leaps about in time, which often works very well and only occasionally left me feeling like I was missing some bits of information I’d have liked, but overall this is a great book.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven - Juno Dawson

Subtlety is not something this book embraces much. And to be honest, it’s all the better for it as it has some very important points to make. I don’t want to spoil it by mentioning anything else, but the idea is very original and necessary. Sometimes very camp and fun, sometimes very serious, this book occasionally feels quite surface level, not bothering with metaphor when it can just directly talk about what it wants to talk about. Might not be for everyone but I did have lots of fun with this. And a BRUTAL ending…

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Perfection. So well written, so much so that I could almost hear music in the way the text was put together (and has since inspired me to start writing a piece based on this book) but the prose never felt pretentious. This re-telling of the story of Achilles from the perspective of his soulmate Patroclus expertly blends themes of growing up, queer love, war, magic, coming out, revenge, approval, self-fulfilling prophecy and loads more. I almost wish I could keep reading it again for the first time. Highly recommended.

First Person Singular - Haruki Murakami

As with ‘Kafka on the Shore’, some very deep things going on in these short stories, but unfortunately in each one there is always a woman who exists only to be an object for the author, which is so disappointing. Sometimes the stories even point this out, but end up doubling down rather than solving the problem. In this short collection, I’m afraid to say this rather spoiled things, despite some fascinating creativity elsewhere.

The ABC Murders - Agatha Christie

One of the best Christies. I knew the ending going into this but the concept is not only unique but also massively influential on crime fiction that followed it, and the conclusion to it all is especially well done.

Evidence of the Affair - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Although kind of an obvious story, Reid manages to add a surprising amount of depth in a short space of time. This doesn’t reach anywhere near the heights of the other two books of hers that I’ve read, but it’s still very good, and a nice idea.

Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

Very short but very profound. Not a word wasted, even during longer descriptive passages. Another example of a novel that lets the reader do the work once they’ve finished reading it, but in the best way. This a beautiful novel, with a simple story that nonetheless gets right to the heart of what it means to be human. Highly recommended.

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

This is more like it! By the end I was fully on board with why this is seen as a modern classic and a work of genius. It starts with a butler just talking about very mundane things in a very formal way, and essentially that’s how it continues too. But this is Ishiguro at his best, and the subtext of everything begins to build through the novel. In the end, it’s what’s very deliberately not said that packs a huge emotional punch. Highly recommended.

Well - that was a lot. In 2023 I am aiming to read fewer, longer books, including more classics. As I said above, I feel like trying to read broadly has not only been therapeutic for me but also beneficial to my own creativity, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the fruits of this year are as I continue to work my socks off in 2023.

I shall look forward to sharing what I’ve been up to on here soon, and I hope this list of books has helped you perhaps pick out something new to read in the coming year.