The Books of 2022

This year I challenged myself to read 22 books. I ended up reading 32. Here’s a list of all the books I read and my ratings and thoughts on them. (Books are ordered from most recently read to last)

1. Untamed - Glennon Doyle. 5/5

I already read this book a few years back and this year decided to buy the audiobook and listen to it again. And I’m so glad I did. This book is a roadmap to all of life’s struggles. If you read one book this year, let it be this one. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would.

2. The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun - Gretchen Rubin. 4/5

I’m a big believer that if you’re not happy, then change something. This book teaches you just that. Read it, then make your own happiness project. Watch your life change.

3. Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection - Haemin Sunim. 5/5

This is one of the most heartwarming and comforting books I’ve ever read. You can finish it in a day and it will leave you feeling warm and okay.

4. Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens. 5/5

Where the Crawdads Sing is probably the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read.

5. Nala’s World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe - Dean Nicholson. 5/5

This book is so heartwarming and inspiring that it’ll leave you wanting to have an adventure like Dean’s of your own. A heartfelt book about the bond of pets and how they make you a kinder person.

6. After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America - Jessica Goudeau. 4/5

Educational, deeply deeply heartbreaking & surprisingly hopeful in every single way. I can promise you won’t finish this book without wanting to help in some way.

7. Storyteller: 100 Poem Letters - Morgan Harper Nichols. 2/5

If all letters were poems we’d have a much more beautiful world.

8. Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park - Conor Knighton. 5/5

This book will not only each you things you probably didn’t know about our national parks, but it will inspire you to start checking them off your own list. Shows the deep beauty our national parks have to offer.

9. How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage - Morgan Harper Nichols. 3/5

Eloquent poetry on life, beauty and courage.

10, 11, & 12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, & Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling. 3/5

The classics. Need I say more? Perfect reads for a fall rainy day.

13. The Comfort Book - Matt Haig 5/5

A book full of so much hope and promise for anyone, whether you’re going through a hard time or not, please read this book. In these pages I found so much comfort, and exactly what I needed to hear.

14 & 15. One of Us Is Next & One of Us Is Lying - Karne M. McManus. 3/5

None of the book went the way I thought it was going to as any good written mystery should. Made me audibly gasp and want to read it all in one sitting. The first book is definitely better in my opinion but the second book came with all the same twists and turns keeping you going page after page.

16. The Summer of Broken Rules - K.L. Walther. 4/5

Fun summer read with love, adventure and the importance of family & friendship.

17. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig. 5/5

If I could give this more than five stars I would. This book shows the importance of human connection and living a life with no regrets and that most of all, where you are is exactly where you should be.

18. The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman. 4/5

The amazing second book in the series. Has all the same twists and turns at The Thursday Murder Club while still letting you guess every move.

19. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid. 4/5

A badass icon, a journalist & one beautifully heartbreaking story that is begging to be told. This book will teach you the meaning of love and family and how they never have to look the same twice.

20. The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff. 3/5

Taoism told by the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh.

21. The Four Agreements - Miguel Ruiz. 3/5

How to get more joy and less suffering. It’s all done within ourselves.

22. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life - William Finnegan. 5/5

History of surfing taught through personal narrative. Beautifully encapsulates the beach bum lifestyle and addiction that is surfing.

23. Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer. 3/5

Shows how a broken world can sometimes drive the “normal” ones mad. A warning to anyone who doesn’t like to live according to the status quo.

24. Falling Toward the Moon - R.H. Sin, Robert M. Drake. 3/5

Poetry about life and love. Written for anyone who needs to hear something beautiful.

25, 26, & 27. The Pilgrimage, Warrior of the Light, The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. 3-4/5

Three books by a writer who has lived it all. One about adventure, one about life and one about dreams.

28. To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret - Jedidiah Jenkins. 5/5

One of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read full of truth and rawness about human nature and how we exist in a beautifully broken world that never quits to amaze those who search long enough. A true lesson that travel does not fix your problems but gives you new perspective to look at them from.

29. The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000 Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds - Caroline Van Hemert. 4/5

Adventure, learning & life — need I saw more? This book will take you on a journey through Alaska and make you want to be in Caroline’s shoes.

30. Brainwaves - Ziggy Alberts. 5/5

Love and life explained in one of the most beautiful ways by one of the most brilliant musicians I’ve ever heard. People say poetry is music — this book proves this unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. Raw, real, & true.

31. Like Streams to the Ocean: Notes on Ego, Love, and the Things That Make Us Who We Are - Jedidiah Jenkins. 5/5

Like listening to a conversation with your best friend.

32. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed. 4/5

Warning: this book will make you want to pack a bag, tie up some hiking boots, and get out on the trail.