Finished in 2022
Another year, another list of mostly escapist reading. Last year I read a lot of historical romance, this year I didn’t read any. I did discover Scottish noir in a big way and fell in love with it, particularly the work of Ian Rankin. Once again, this year I read a lot of books by M. C. Beaton, also set in Scotland. Although Beaton has a dark sense of humor, her books are in no way noir. Humorous, cynical cozies—and they’re so short, usually no more than 150 pages—that I often used them as palate cleansers when I’d been on a kick of reading difficult or dark books. There’s a gazillion of them and I’ve gone through about half at this point, but I think I’ve burned myself out for the moment.
I also was inspired by the AMC series, Dark Winds, to go back to reading Tony Hillerman’s series. I read a lot of them back in the day, but stopped and still had a number unread. I’d read them so long ago that I went back to the last two I’d read and they were almost like new. I had only the vaguest notion of what happened in them. So, between Hillerman, Rankin, and Beaton I’ve been spending a lot of time in the 1990s—which is very weird indeed. Kind of like a half-remembered and not altogether pleasant dream.
1. In the Dark Places of Wisdom by Peter Knightley
(I finished all but a few pages of this in 2021 so I listed it with my 2021 books but technically I finished it in 2022.)
2. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
3. The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison
4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (I also probably reread Goodnight Moon but forgot to list it)
5. Abandoned In Death by J. D. Robb
6. Murder On Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
7. Death of a Dentist by M. C. Beaton
8. Witchmark by C. L. Polk
9. Death of a Script Writer by M. C. Beaton
10. Death of An Addict by M. C. Beaton
11. The Deep Blue Good-by John D. MacDonald (I’d never read him although he was big back in the day. I may not read any more.)
12. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
13. Laidlaw by William McIlvanney
14. A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton
15. Death of a Dustman by M. C. Beaton
16. Death of a Celebrity by M. C. Beaton
17. Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin
18. The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves (Like her writing and her mysteries but the character of Vera is so irritating.)
19. Death of a Village by M. C. Beaton
20. Death of a Poison Pen by M. C. Beaton
21. Death of a Bore by M. C. Beaton
22. Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman
23. Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman
24. Wychwood by George Mann
25. Hollowdene by George Mann
26. Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith (faux Scandanavian blanc and hilarious)
27. The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman
28. Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas
29. Desperation in Death by J. D. Robb
30. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (reread)
31. Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin
32. Dark Assassin by Anne Perry (another series I read a lot of back in the day and restarted)
33. Strip Jack by Ian Rankin
34. The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman
35. Waypoints by Sam Heughan
36. The Black Book by Ian Rankin
37. Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman
38. The Talented Mr. Varg by Alexander McCall Smith
39. Fogou by Jo May (magical mystery tour)
40. Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
Books I continued or started in 2022
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I read some nonfiction very slowly. Sometimes over a span of years. I also tend to read poetry slowly. It’s something to be savored, not rushed through. I’ve also gotten to the point in my life where if I’m reading a book, no matter how highly touted by critics, and have to force myself back to it, or I lose interest in what happens to the characters, or if it’s just too badly written, I abandon it. I usually give the books a decent chance—50 to 100 pages—but if something is badly written, I don’t bother. Too painful. Time is the most precious commodity and I also no longer feel the need to finish something because it’s “good for me” to do so. I guess that means I’m an intellectual lightweight.
There are other books I pick up and really like but have to take a break from and sometimes it takes me a while to get back to them. The weirdest thing is when I’m really loving a book, can’t wait to get back to it, but when I wake up the next day I just don’t want to continue reading. I can’t always tell why. Sometimes they are too something for the mood I’m in: too dark, too fey (or conversely, not fey enough), too something. The same thing happens with TV series. Love ‘em one day, not in the mood the next. I don’t consider any of these books or shows abandoned. I just need to “catch up with myself” and get back to them at a later date.
1. Orphic Poems by M. L. West
2. Heraclitus Fragments (tr. By Bruce Haxton (continued) (sort of poetry)
3. The Greeks and the Irrational by E. R. Dodds
4. Luckenbooth by Fagin (abandoned)
5. Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods by Andrew Collins
6. An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris
7. A Grimmoire Dark by D. S. Quinton (abandoned)
8. Nocturne for a Widow by Amanda DeWees (abandoned)
9. One Lost Soul by J. M. Dalgleish (abandoned)
10. Field Guide to The Haunted Forest by Jarod K. Anderson (poetry)
11. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham
12. The Living Stones by Ithell Colquhon (restart)(and so close to finishing!)
13. Open Season by C. J. Box (abandoned)
14. Powers of Ancient and Sacred Places by Paul Devereux (a sort of reread though I didn’t realize it when I bought it. This is a revised and updated edition of a book I finished many years ago under a different title.)
15. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan (abandoned)
16. Dark Matter Monsters by Simeon Hein
17. Field Notes by Maxim Griffin (beautiful art and landscape book to be savored)
18. Ghost Month by Ed Lin (abandoned)
19. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
20. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (close to finishing this as well)
21. Hokuloa Road by Elizabeth Hand
22. Spirits of Blood, Spirits of Breath by Barbara Alice Mann
23. Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (reread)
