The Year in Books and Graphic Novels 2022 and an analysis of 20 years of books and comics
January
1. Temple Alley Summer – Kashiwaba Sachiko, illustrated by Miho Satake, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa
2. Dreams From My Father – Barack Obama, audiobook read by the author
3. X-Men Grand Design Vol. 1 – Ed Piskor
4. Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery – Rosalie Knecht
5. All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team – Christina Soontornvat, illustrations by Karen Minot
6. X-Men Grand Design Volume 2: Second Genesis – Ed Piskor
7. Year of the Rabbit – Tian Veasna
February
1. Deadly Class Volume 1: 1987 Reagan Youth – Chris Remender, Wes Craig
2. The Eye of the World – Robert Jordan
3. Pattern Master – Octavia E. Butler
4. X-Men Grand Design Volume 3: X-Tinction – Ed Piskor
5. The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History – Margalit Fox
6. Deadly Class Volume 2: 1988 Kids of the Black Hole – Rick Remender, Wes Craig
March
1. Once and Future Volume 1: The King is Undead – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora
2. Once and Future Volume 2: Old English – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora
3. Dragon Hoops – Gene Luen Yang
4. Ringworld – Larry Niven
5. Once and Future Volume 3: A Parliament of Magpies – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora
6. Princess Jellyfish Volume 8 – Akiko Higashimura
7. Princess Jellyfish Volume 9 – Akiko Higashimura
8. The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter – Elizabeth Moon
April
1. Planetes Volume 1 – Makoto Yurimura
2. The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith
3. Doom Patrol Volume 1: Crawling From the Wreckage – Grant Morrison, Richard Case
4. ODY-C Volume 1: Off To Far Ithacaa – Matt Fraction, Christian Ward
5. Conan of Cimmeria – Robert E Howard, Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter
6. Doom Patrol Volume 2: The Painting That Ate Paris – Grant Morrison, Richard Case, John Nyberg
7. Doom Patrol Volume 3: Down Paradise Way – Grant Morrison, Richard Case
May
1. Doom Patrol Volume 4: Musclebound – Grant Morrison, Richard Case, Kelley Jones, Mark McKenna, John Nyberg
2. Eragon – Christopher Paolini
3. The Promised Neverland Vol 1 – Kaiu Shirai, Posaku Demizu
4. Deadly Class Volume 3: 1988 Snake Pit – Rick Remender, Wes Craig
5.�� Once and Future Volume 4: Monarchies in the U.K. – Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora
6. The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper
7. The Forest – Thomas Ott
8. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K LeGuin
June
1. Deadly Class Volume 4: 1988 Die For Me – Rick Remender, Wes Craig
2. Arthurian Legends – Wace and Layamon
3. Dune – Frank Herbert
4. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K LeGuin
5. The Lost Years of Merlin – T.A. Barron
July
1. The Secret To Super-Human Strength – Alison Bechdel
2. The Promised Neverland Volume 2 – Kaiu Shirai, Posaku Demizu
3. The New World – Ales Kot, Tradd Moore
4. Super Sentai Himitsu Sentai Gorenger – Shotaro Ishinomori
5. Spider-Gwen Volume 0: Most Wanted? – Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez
6. The Deed of Paksenarrion: Divided Allegiance – Elizabeth Moon
7. Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 1 – Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, Chris Samnee
8. Giant Days Volume 1 – John Allison, Lisa Treimann
9. Giant Days Volume 2 – John Allison, Lisa Treimann, Max Sarin
August
1. Lockwood & Co. Volume 1: The Screaming Staircase – Jonathan Stroud
2. Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 2 – Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, et al
3. Ultimate Miles Morales Spider-Man Volume 3 – Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, et al
4. The Wheel of Time Book 2: The Great Hunt – Robert Jordan
5. Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
6. A Study in Scarlet – Arthur Conan Doyle
7. French Medieval Romances from the Lais of Marie of France – Translated by Eugene Mason
September
1. Pyongyang – Guy Delisle
2. Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold – Alisa Kwitney, Kent Williams, et al
3. The Dead of Paksenarrion: Oath of Gold – Elizabeth Moon
4. Brave Chef Brianna – Sam Sykes, Selina Espiritu
5. Fledgling – Octavia E. Butler
6. At Death’s Door – Jill Thompson
October
1. We – Yevgeny Zamyatin, read by Toby Jones
2. The Witch Boy – Molly Knox Ostertag
3. 20th Century Boys Vol. 7: The Truth – Naoki Urasawa
4. 20th Century Boys Vol. 8: – Naoki Urasawa
5. Isaac the Pirate Vol. 1: To Exotic Lands – Christophe Blaine
6. Dungeon Zenith: Volume 4: Outside the Ramparts – Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Boulet
7. The Wheel of Time Book 3: The Dragon Reborn – Robert Jordan
8. 20th Century Boys Volume 9: Rabbit Nabokov – Naoki Urasawa
9. The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
10. Isaac the Pirate Volume 2: The Capital – Christophe Blaine
11. 20th Century Boys Volume 10: The Faceless Boy - Naoki Urasawa
November
1. Gotham Central Book 1: In the Line of Duty – Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka
2. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol. 1 – Tomohito Oda
3. The Promised Neverland Volume 3 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu
4. Sleepless Volume 1 – Sarah Vaughn, Leila Del Duch
5. R.U.R. – Karel Capek, translated by David Wyllie
6. 20th Century Boys Volume 11: List of Ingredients – Naoki Urasawa
7. 20th Century Boys Volume 12: Friend’s Face – Naoki Urasawa
8. 20th Century Boys Volume 13: Beginning of the End – Naoki Urasawa
9. 20th Century Boys Volume 14: The Boy and the Dream – Naoki Urasawa
10. The Sandman Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes – Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Sam Ketih, Malcolm Jones III
11. Dodger – Terry Pratchett
12. The Promised Neverland Volume 4 – Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu
13. 20th Century Boys Volume 15: Expo Hurray – Naoki Urasawa
14. 20th Century Boys Volume 16: Beyond the Looking Glass – Naoki Urasawa
15. 20th Century Boys Volume 17: Cross-Counter – Naoki Urasawa
16. 20th Century Boys Volume 18: Everybody’s Song – Naoki Urasawa
17. 20th Century Boys Volume 19: The Man Who Came Back – Naoki Urasawa
18. 20th Century Boys Volume 20: Humanity in the Balance – Naoki Urasawa
19. Thursday Next book 2: Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde
20. 20th Century Boys Volume 21: Arrival of the Space Aliens – Naoki Urasawa
21. 20th Century Boys Volume 22: The Beginning of Justice
22. The Promised Neverland Volume 5 – Kaiu Shira, Posuka Demizu
December
1. Thrawn Ascension: Book 1: Chaos Rising – Timothy Zahn
2. Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high - Kerry Patterson,
Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
3. Sandman Volume 2: The Doll’s House – Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III
4. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters – Emil Ferris
5. Please Don’t Step On My JNCO Jeans – Noah Van Sciver
6. The Sandman Volume 3: Dream Country – Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, Malcolm Jones III, Charles Vess
7. Winterfair Gifts – Lois McMaster Bujold
8. Sandman Book 4: Season of Mists – Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, George Pratt, Dick Giordano, Kelley Jones, P. Craig Russell
9. Sandman Book 5: A Game of You – Neil Gaiman, Sean McManus, Bryan Talbot, Colleen Doran
105 books and graphic novels in 2022! 34 novels (and 1 novella) and 70/71 graphic novels. I read one book twice for a book club. That’s 13 more than I read last year.
Now for totals from 2002 to 2022.
Totals:
2002 20
2003 86 – 7.16/month
2004 9
2005 84 – 7/month
2006 79 – 6.58/month
2007 58 – 4.83/month
2008 49 – 4.083/month
2009 51 – 4.25
2010 72 - 6
2011 60 - 5
2012 80 – 6.66
2013 50 – 4.16
2014 144 - 12
2015 92 – 7.66
2016 151 – 12.58
2017 138 – 11.5
2018 116 – 9.66
2019 96 - 8
2020 102 – 8.5
2021 92 – 7.66
2022 105 – 8.75
Including the years that I have incomplete data for (2002 and 2004 I only have 3 months of data), I read 1734 books and graphic novels from 2002 to 2022, 86.7 per year. If we leave off 2002, and 2004, I read 85.25 per year and an average of 7.89 books per month. I’ll post the graphic novels and regular books break down shortly.
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INTERVIEW: Rosalie Knecht
It's been a busy month/year/life for Rosalie Knecht, whose much-anticipated novel Who Is Vera Kelly? (Tin House 2018) hit shelves this week. Already, the New York Times Book Review is calling it "gripping, subtle, magnificently written." ("Knecht is the real deal," the review goes on to note.) A social worker by day, Knecht is also Literary Hub's Book Therapist, the author of Relief Map (Tin House 2016), and the translator of César Airas' The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions 2011).
This month, Knecht took 24 hours to catch her breath at Ace Hotel New York. As the latest author to participate in the Dear Reader series, she spent a night at Ace and penned a letter to an imagined audience. What she wrote has been a mystery until today, when it's being placed bedside in each room. We caught up with Rosalie to talk letters, the perfect reader and resisting the urge to map.
If you could correspond with any fictional character or literary figure via letters, who would it be? And why?
ROSALIE KNECHT: I would have loved to get Raymond Chandler's letters. He was hilarious, and much easier to take through the mail than in person.
Do you map out your writing, or do you discover your path as you go? How often does your work go in directions you never expected?
A few times I've gotten all excited and mapped out a book all the way through, or half of the way through, and it feels amazing and productive and is much easier than just spending that time on writing scenes, but in the end, I've never written a project the way it was outlined. If an outline is too detailed, or it extends too far ahead of where I am in the writing, it completely deadens the work. I just lose interest in writing it. So I've learned that I can only sketch out the general shape of things, or it will take all of the fun out of it.
Dear Reader tasks you with writing for an imagined audience of strangers. How much do you think about your audience when you write? Have you ever been surprised by who is drawn to your work?
I don't really think about audience. I think about an abstract, single reader, who enjoys exactly the things I enjoy and hates exactly the things I hate. I look forward to being surprised by people being drawn to my work in the future.
What's a book that you wish more people knew about?
I Served the King of England, by Bohumil Hrabal. A picaresque about a boy working in hotels, while the twentieth century happens around him. It's just really beautiful and funny, and brutal at the end.
Do you have any rituals, ceremonies or requirements that accompany your writing process?
Just that it has to be the first thing I do that day. All right, that's a lie. I can maybe wash a few dishes, straighten the kitchen, look at Twitter for fifteen minutes, but if I get really absorbed in anything else before writing, it's a thousand times harder to get started. Ideally I get up, the kitchen is clean, the cats have already been fed, and all I have to do is make coffee and sit down at my desk.
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Dear Reader is a collaboration of Tin House and Ace Hotel New York. You can find this interview and other delights at Tin House’s website.
Photos by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York.
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