Favorite Books from 2022 and 2023

Hi Everyone!

I am back after a hiatus of 2 years or so. The last couple of years have been the worst years of my life. I never imagined that I would have to wade through so much $h*t in my life, all because of a person whom I trusted a lot. It is a lesson for me to never trust any human on this planet ever blindly. Nobody has your interests in mind. Everyone is selfish and only cares about themselves. I will make a detailed post with life update very soon as soon as I am out of the mess that I am currently in.

Since I have been missing from couple of years, I thought I will make a post about some of my favorites books from 2022 and 2023. They both were pretty bad years even reading wise as I could not read a lot. But reading helped me calm my nerves and relax so I sought comfort in books. I could not read fantasy or scifi as I could not focus well on reading so I mostly read nonfiction and translated fiction (Japanese and Korean) books.

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My favorite books are as follows:

1. Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo:

This is a Korean book, translated into English. I feel every human must read this to understand what we women face and endure. I still felt women in Korea faced less discrimination, compared to what we Indian women face. The protagonist in the novel faces discrimination just because she is a woman throughout her life, just like women generally do.

2. Monster Friends by Kaeti Vandorn

This was a really cute graphic novel. My son picked it up from the library on his own and really loved it. He made me read it. It is about two monsters who end up becoming friends. One is curious, talkative and funny and the other is grouchy, introvert and serious. It is about their friendship. I wish this were part of a series. Hoping that the author writes more books about these characters. It would make a great animated series too.

3. Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson is unbeatable in world building. I said this to him in person when I got this book signed from him at Worldcon. Soul stones and soul stamps are such cool magic tools. Magic system is top notch in this and very different from every other fantasy book I have read so far. It was interesting to learn in the Epilogue where the idea of stamps came from (in a Taiwan museum). The story was nice and different. I loved the main characters too.

4. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

This book reminded me of “Sadie by Courtney Summers” a lot as they both have a missing girl, another girl searching for the missing girl and trying to solve the mystery, mixed media (conversations, logs) etc. I loved the first 75% of the book a lot. The characters were great, story was suspenseful and the book kept me hooked to the mystery. But the reveal about the murderers and the motive for the murders were a bit of a let down. For some reason, I found the ending to be not as great as the rest of the book. Sort of an anticlimactic ending. I want to try the other books in the series.

5. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

It is a Japanese translated fiction by a famous Japanese author. It is a sweet story about friendship between people who have seen death and have experienced loss in their lives. The book talks about dealing with grief and loss of a close one. I loved the novella a lot but the short story at the end of the book was okay (not as good as the novella).

6. Finlay Donovan is Killing it by Elle Cosimano

This was a fun read. A woman who overhears the main protagonist talking about a murder assumes that she kills people for money and tries to hire her. I loved the main character who is a writer and she definitely reminded me of the main protagonist from “Where’d you go Bernadette”. Even the book cover is similar. It was humorous and at the same time, it was a murder mystery. I couldn’t guess the killer until the author revealed it which rarely happens for me. I read it when I was feeling low and it really uplifted my mood.

7. How to be Perfect by Michael Schur

The TV show “The Good Place” is one of my most favorite shows ever. My favorite character in the show was Chidi with his philosophical musings. So when I heard about the existence of a book written by the creator himself delving into the philosophy discussed in the show little bit deeper, I immediately picked it up. This was a great introduction to philosophy which people often think is the most boring topic ever. I was never interested in philosophy until I saw the TV show and now this book wants me to read and learn more about philosophy. The audiobook had the entire show cast and that made listening to it even more enjoyable.

8. Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

This was a weird book translated from Japanese about a woman who pretends to have become pregnant just to avoid doing menial tasks in her office. The book had some really great points about how women are treated differently, even though they are equally ambitious about their career and life. I loved the last few chapters the most as it had a lot of interesting commentary on life after having children. If you liked Convenience store woman, give this book a try.

9. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

This is officially one of my most favorite series ever and to think that I ended up DNFing this book few times in the past. The problem is that the show and book get interesting only after several episodes/half way point in the book. I seem to be a mood reader and I am glad I gave this series another chance. The book is even better than the TV show as I got explanations for a lot of events that were brushed across in the show. Miller was my favorite on the show and in this book. I am sad that we won’t have his POV anymore. Holden is probably the stupidest captain in any sci-fi. Lol.
I agree that this is Game of Thrones in space. I finally found a series with multiple POVs, lot of politics, kick ass morally grey characters, interesting aliens, lot of action, fast paced plot, epic story about lot of different characters that I was looking for. Do pick it up if you like hard SF.

10. The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun

It is a Korean novel translated into English. I would classify this novel as a straight up horror novel, instead of calling it a thriller. It brought my worst fears to life. Being crippled and under the care of a person who despises you is worse than being dead. The main protagonist loses his wife in an accident and ends up paralyzed. His mother in law who does not like him takes care of him in the worst way imaginable. It was a very slow paced novel and I wish the author hadn’t spent so many pages on the past. It got little boring in the middle but then again picked up the pace towards the end.
I wouldn’t read the novel again as it made me very uncomfortable and creeped me out. But I would recommend reading it once as it is a well written novel about something absolutely terrifying.

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I will be back soon with more posts after few months, hopefully. Do let me know what your favorite reads were from last couple of years. (I have forgotten how to even write after being away for so long!)