#these are 21 very specific categories and lauren ho gets 2 recs

[liesmyth]

22 favourite reads of 2022!

Yes, that’s a lot of books but also: you can’t ever have too many books. These are some of my favourite reads of the year, arranged by a very rigorous (joke) vibe-based categorization method that I made up myself

✧  the push by ashley audrain — Favourite novel about Creepy Children; alternatively: Favourite novel about A Woman Going Fucking Through It.

✧ bunny by mona awad — Favourite "what the fuck did I read” book, lives at the intersection of litfic and horror, and it’s like if the girlblogging side of tumblr got a MFA (this is a compliment)

✧ jonathan strange & mr norrell by susanna clarke —  Favourite fantasy (with bonus footnotes, cruel faeries, and alternate history)

✧ bringing down the duke by evie dunmore — Favourite historical romance

✧ the witch elm by tana french — Favourite book about terrible characters suffering. Techically also a mystery thriller but the POV does the heavy lifting in why it’s so good

✧ the echo wife by sarah gailey — Favourite speculative fiction that makes a very good case for clonefucking

✧ the plot by jean hanff korelitz — Favourite litfic with a bonus side of Woman, Unhinged

✧ last tang standing by lauren ho + lucie yi is not a romantic also by lauren ho — Favourite romance, specifically: favourite het romance about a career woman over 30 who’s going through it in Singapore, and also the leading men are adorable”. Stellar audiobook version too

✧ my heart is a chainsaw by stephen graham jones — Favourite horror and favourite Horror Final Girl ft. lesbian vibes

✧ erotic stories for punjabi widows by balli kaur jaswal —  Favourite contemporary fiction, and also this is THE book you should gift to people. It has universal appeal and it’s wicked fun and might make you cry

✧ long bright river by liz moore — Favourite murder mystery that’s actually about disfunctional families and your own inner demons. Basically, the Dublin Murder Squad school of sad detectives.

✧ apples never fall by liane moriarty — Favourite domestic suspense but it’s Liane Moriarty so it’s inevitably forthy domestic suspense about middle class het Sydney couples with children. It’s also infuriatingly well written

✧ a deadly education by naomi novik — Favourite YA ft. plucky goth babygirl with death powers

✧ empire of pain by patrick radden keefe — Favourite nonfiction

✧ the last of the wine by mary renault — Favourite homoerotic historical fiction

✧ houston, houston, do you read? by james tiptree jr. — Favourite novella + favourite scifi. Technically a reread but it’s great and you should read it so here it goes! Also I needed a fave story In Space that wasn’t Harrow The Ninth

✧ the feminist by tony tulathimutte — Favourite short story

✧ the cherry robbers by sarai walker — Favourite gothic vibes historical fiction, and also ghosts and lesbians

✧ fingersmit by sarah waters —  Favourite historical fiction about scheming Victorian lesbians. If you’ve watched The Handmaiden, this is the book that inspired it

✧ thank you for listening by julia whelan — Favourite book about books, specifically Book About Making Romance Audioplays. Stellar audio version, too

✧ the last housewife by ashley winstead — Favourite book that’ll make you feel physical discomfort and make you want to commit murder. I loved this book and I want to tattoo it to the inside of my eyeballs but also: the content warnings aren’t fucking around