New Books Read in 2022

This is the breakdown of all the new books that I read in 2022 by genre.  This list does not include anything that I reread during 2022.

Mystery/Thriller:

1. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

2. Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala

3. The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

4. The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

5. So Happy for You by Celia Laskey

6. You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

7. The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy

Contemporary Fiction: 

1. Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall (YA)

2. What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris

3. True Biz by Sara Novic

4. Island Time by Georgia Clark 

5. The Lucky List by Rachael Lippincott (YA)

6. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (YA)

7. When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley

8. The Shore by Katie Runde

9. Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie (YA)

10. The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

11. The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

12. Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

13. Florida Woman by Deb Rogers

14. The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth (YA)

15. Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi (tr. by David Body and Lucy North)

16. I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers (YA)

17. The Art of Insanity by Christine Webb (YA)

18. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum (YA)

19. We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds (YA)

20. Begin Again by Emma Lord (YA)

Romance:

1. Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

2. Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

3. Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

4. Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

5. Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

6. The Suite Spot by Trish Doller

7. She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick (YA)

8. Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar (YA) 

9. A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings

10. Birds of California by Katie Cotugno

11. Book Lovers by Emily Henry

12. Melt with You by Jennifer Dugan (YA)

13. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

14. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

15. The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

16. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

17. Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler (YA)

18. Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales (YA)

19. Season of Love by Helena Greer

20. Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

21. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

22. Lease on Love by Falon Ballard

23. In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

24. The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

25. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

26. Flip the Script by Lyla Lee (YA)

27. The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken

28. When in Rome by Sarah Adams

29. Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander

30. Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

31. Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

32. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

33. Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald

34. Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

35. How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow (YA)

36. Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

37. For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding

38. 6 Times We Almost Kissed by Tess Sharpe (YA)

39. Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick (YA)

Historical Fiction:

1. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

2. Babel by R.F. Kuang

Literary Fiction:

1. No Light to Land On by Yara Zgheib

2. What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

3. Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

4. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

5. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

6. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed

7. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

8. Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

9. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (tr. by Sam Bett and David Boyd)

10. Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin (tr. by Anton Hur)

11. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson

12. Yerba Buena by Nina Lacour

13. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

14. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

15. Idol, Burning by Rin Usami (tr. by Asa Yoneda)

16. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

17. We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart

18. Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

19. Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung

20. An Island by Karen Jennings

21. Second Place by Rachel Cusk

22. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

23. The Trees by Percival Everett

24. Trust by Hernan Diaz

25. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

26. American Fever by Dur E Aziz Amna

27. All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

28. Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

29. Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress

30. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

31. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

32. We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets (tr. by Emma Rault)

33. Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin (tr. by Jamie Chang)

34. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

35. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

36. The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

37. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

38. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

39. When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar

40. The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones

41. The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

42. Foster by Claire Keegan

43. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

44. Glory by Noviolet Bulawayo

45. Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet

46. How to Turn into a Bird by Maria Jose Ferrada (tr. by Elizabeth Bryer)

47. A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella

Fantasy/Paranormal

1. From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper

2. Youngblood by Sasha Laurens (YA)

3. The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

Sci-Fi/Dystopian:

1. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

2. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

3. The Employees by Olga Ravn (tr. by Martin Aitken)

4. Clean Air by Sarah Blake

5. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

6. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Memoir:

1. Admissions by Kendra James

2. Tell Me Everything by Erika Krouse

Other Nonfiction: 

1. Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (tr. by Sherif Hetata)

Short Story Collection:

1. Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

2. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung (tr. by Anton Hur)

3. Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

4. Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty

5. Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman

6. The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai

7. Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin (tr.by Megan McDowell)

8. If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

Poetry Collection:

1. Finna by Nate Marshall

New Books Read in 2021

This is the breakdown of all the new books that I read in 2021 by genre.  This list does not include anything that I reread during 2021.

Mystery/Thriller:

1. The Survivors by Jane Harper

2. The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe (YA)

3. We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

4. Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

5. When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain

6. The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (YA)

7. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

8. Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang

9. The Damage by Caitlin Wahrer

10. Survive the Night by Riley Sager

11. That Weekend by Kara Thomas (YA)

12. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

13. The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

14. Dear Child by Romy Hausmann (tr. by Jamie Bulloch)

15. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

16. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

17. They'll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman (YA)

Contemporary Fiction: 

1. The Push by Ashley Audrain

2. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

3. Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

4. The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

5. Girl A by Abigail Dean

6. In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo

7. You Have a Match by Emma Lord (YA)

8. What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins

9. Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi (YA)

10. How Lucky by Will Leitch

11. Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie

12. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

13. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (tr. by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

14. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

15. The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

16. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman (tr. by Neil Smith)

17. The Guncle by Steven Rowley

18. A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Petrantonio (tr. by Ann Goldstein)

19. Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler (YA)

20. Parachutes by Kelly Yang (YA)

21. Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli (YA)

22. She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen (YA)

23. The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

24. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo (tr. by Jamie Chang)

25. Colorful by Eto Mori (tr. by Jocelyne Allen)

26. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (tr. by Philip Gabriel)

27. The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo

28. The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura (tr. by Lucy North)

29. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

30. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

31. We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

32. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

33. Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun (tr. by Janet Hong)

34. Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

35. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (tr. by Anton Hur)

36. The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan

Romance:

1. The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

2. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

3. Shipped by Angie Hockman

4. Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur

5. The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

6. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

7. Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher

8. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

9. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

10. Well Matched by Jen DeLuca

11. The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

12. The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu

Historical Fiction:

1. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

2. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

3. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

4. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

5. Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson

6. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Literary Fiction:

1. The Mothers by Brit Bennett

2. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

3. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

4. What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

5. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

6. Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey

7. Kept Animals by Kate Milliken

8. Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

9. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

10. Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

11. God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney

12. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

13. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

14. Bewilderness by Karen Tucker

15. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

16. Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng

17. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

18. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

19. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin (tr. by Aneesa Abbas Higgins)

20. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

21. The Promise by Damon Galgut

Fantasy:

1. Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

2. Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

3. Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper

Sci-Fi:

Memoir:

1. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

2. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

3. Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

4. Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

5. Stolen by Elizabeth Gilpin

6. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

7. House of Sticks by Ly Tran

8. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

9. Shoutin' in the Fire by Dante Stewart

10. Black Box by Shiori Ito (tr. by Allison Markin Powell)

Other Nonfiction: 

1. How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

Short Story Collections:

1. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans

2. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

3. Shoko's Smile by Choi Eunyoung (tr. by Sung Ryu)

4. Humiliation by Paulina Flores (tr. by Megan McDowell)

5. Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

6. Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

7. The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

8. Hao by Ye Chun

9. How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

10. Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

11. Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade

12. Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

Poetry Collections:

1. Counting Descent by Clint Smith

2. If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar

October Wrap-Up and Mini Reviews

 1. We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (Contemporary Fiction) - This was an interesting story about a complicated friendship between Riley and Jen.  The book deals with multiple contemporary issues, and I would say that it dealt with them sensitively.  I think it really tackles well the complexities behind a close interracial friendship, and how miscommunications can arise in that relationship, since each person is coming from a different background and perspective.  The story was emotional, compelling, and readable.  I read the majority during a long car ride.  I think some of the most poignant part of points were scenes with Tamara, a mother who had lost her son.  Seeing her grief on the page really rounded out the story.

2. Shoutin' in the Fire by Dante Stewart (Memoir) - Stewart is a great writer, and this is a powerful memoir.  The book is a mix of personal stories about his life, and him sharing a message.  This story focuses on faith, race, and being American.  The author has a lot to say about these topics.  He is very raw and honest in his writing.  He confronts things he did or said in the past that he no longer agrees with.  Stewart's story is complex.

3. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (Literary Fiction) - This is a masterful work of literature, topping out at almost 800 pages, that deserves to be read widely.  I spent several weeks with this book, giving it its due time, and not rushing through it.  This story covers a wide scope of history, and takes the time to deeply delve fully into every character.  I would say I was most invested in the present day storyline of Ailey, and really enjoyed the detours in her mom and her sister's lives as well.  Some of the historical sections had me fully invested and some of them would drag occasionally.  But I think they were all worthy of being in the book.  Overall, I loved this story, and I think it deserved to make it onto the National Book Award shortlist this year, though it did not.

4. Well Matched by Jen DeLuca (Romance) - This was another enjoyable read in the Renaissance Faire romance series.  Mitch and April have great chemistry, and I enjoyed the fake dating trope in the story as well.  Like many romances, there were some miscommunications, but I enjoyed the journey.  I also really liked reading April's relationships with her sister, Emily (from Well Met), and her daughter, Caitlin, as she sends her off to college.

5. Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper (Fantasy) - This was a fun, Halloween-themed read, perfect for this time of the year.  The story was mostly light and fun, with some serious parts relating to commitment to relationships and finding what you want in life.  The book centers around a magical competition.  I've seen comparisons to the tournament from the Goblet of Fire and I would say that those comparisons fit.  I enjoyed the relationships and the small-town cast of characters.

September Wrap-Up and Mini Reviews

 1. Dear Child by Romy Hausmann (tr. by Jamie Bulloch) (Mystery) - This was a slow-burn mystery and character study, translated from its original German.  I found it to be an interesting book, and a sad story.  This dealt with the aftermath of trauma and different interpretations by different characters.  I'm curious about how life would turn out for Jonathan and Hannah (two children) after the events of this novel.  

2. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (Romance) - This was a cute story that plays with romance tropes, including fake dating.  The ending is obvious from the beginning, but the journey is the important part.  I enjoyed how kind Adam was to Olive, while having a reputation for being a tough professor.  I like that this book also showed important issues in the STEM field and academia.  I am a high school science teacher, so I enjoyed reading the science and lab references in the book.  This book also dealt realistically with some of Olive's fears and anxieties in academia, including being able to public-speak about her research.

3. The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo (Contemporary Fiction) - This was a thoroughly enjoyable read!  I loved getting to see Hannah explore her Nigerian culture and get to know her half-siblings.  While there was a strong romance in the book, I think the book was also a lot about family and Hannah's personal growth.  I liked the love interest, Lawrence, but I do think the book confessed to potentially falling in love too quickly given the timeline of the story.  The story dealt realistically with the family issues.  I also liked that this book explored a side of Africa that I don't see as much in stories. 

4. The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura (tr. by Lucy North) (Contemporary Fiction) - While this is advertised as a thriller, I saw it as more of a contemporary with suspenseful elements.  As the narrator follows the "woman in the purple skirt," the reader will wonder what is going on with her and why she is doing this.  It was a quiet story, but a quick read with some suspense as to what would eventually happen that kept me turning the pages.  The ending was surprising and took an unexpected turn.

5. Hao by Ye Chun (Short Story Collection) - This was a really great collection of stories.  Most of these were pretty short, in the 10-15 page range.  This collection has some stories about people in China and some about immigrants to the United States.  Some stories are contemporary, while some are historical.  Many of the stories touched on themes of motherhood, told from the perspective of the mothers.  I liked how I learned some things I didn't know about the history of China from this collection.  I was drawn to Google some history after reading a story about the Cultural Revolution.  A well-written collection!

6. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (Memoir) - This was a moving memoir about a childhood as an immigrant from China living in poverty in New York.  I am sad for what Qian went through as a young girl, but am happy that she is in a good place now.  Her love for her family shines through in the pages of this book.

7. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (Contemporary Fiction) - I wasn't really sure what genre to categorize this as, because there is a mystery in the book, but it is really more about the characters and relationships.  I guessed the answer to the mystery portion before it was revealed in the book.  This story is based around a true story from the 1990s.  This explores race relations between Black and Korean Americans in LA.  This book follows two families, whose lives intersect through multiple tragedies.  There are no easy answers in this novel.  I felt that it was an excellent and compelling read, exploring moral complexity.

8.  How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa (Short Story Collection) - I gradually read these stories throughout the summer and just finished the last few this month.  This collection focused on immigrants to Canada from Laos.  I have never read any book by a Laotian author before, so I think this was a worthwhile perspective to read.  The stories are a mix of narration by adults and children.  Many of them are adults reflecting back on their childhood from the child's perspective.

9. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn (Contemporary Fiction) - This started as a slow-burn of a novel, and gradually, I became fully invested in the characters.  Once invested, I could not put this story down.  The characters are complex and imperfect, especially Margot.  She was a complicated character, because she cares about her sister, Thandi, yet she doesn't always want what Thandi wants for herself.  She does some questionable things morally.  I enjoyed the exploration of the Jamaican culture in the story.

August Wrap-Up and Mini Reviews

 1. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (Romance) - I have read all three books in this companion series, and I think this one was my favorite.  I think this was in part because this book was very personal to the author, so the emotions rang true.  I loved Quan as a romantic male lead, and how he connected with Anna so quickly and showed her how she could be loved.  I also loved the exploration of Anna coming to terms with her autism diagnosis, and how this allowed her to understand herself more than ever before.  Parts of this book were a difficult read, as it confronted head-on what it is like to be a caretaker.  I think that storyline is important, and not something I've read often, so it was good to read it here.  I was sad a bit about the resolution of Anna's relationship with her sister, Priscilla.  I highly recommend this book!

2. The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood (Contemporary Fiction) - This was a good book, alternating between the perspectives of Anvar and Azza.  I would say that this story focuses more on Anvar overall, though.  I liked Anvar.  He struggled with the expectations from his family and had a good sense of humor.  I liked the book's focus on characters who I haven't read as much about (immigrants from Pakistan and Iraq).  The story went in some directions that I was not expecting and was compelling.

3. House of Sticks by Ly Tran (Memoir) - I am glad that Ly Tran wrote this story of her struggles and resilience.  This story spans from her immigration from Vietnam at age 3 in 1993 through her college years.  She writes very lovingly about the people in her life, even when the relationships were complicated.  She struggled from 3rd grade on with poor vision and a need for glasses, but her father believed glasses were a government conspiracy.  Ly is angry that her parents won't get her the glasses that she needs, but she also understands that her father had been through a lot in "re-education camps" after the Vietnam War ended, and this has affected the same he saw things in the world.  Throughout her childhood, Ly's family faces poverty.  They eventually become owners of a nail salon, though they never thrive there financially.  There are some scenes in the book depicting terrible treatment by customers at the salon, especially directed at Ly's mom.  The book also shows Ly's struggles with depression in college which were not easy to read, but I'm glad she has gotten to a good place and been able to be successful now.

4. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo (tr. by Jamie Chang) (Contemporary Fiction) - This was translated from Korean, and was a perfect read for Women in Translation month.  The story read quickly, as it was only about 150 pages.  The book traced Jiyoung's life from birth through the early childhood of her own child.  The story focuses on instances of sexism through her life, from the treatment of boys at school to her experience getting a job and then her experiences with marriage.  The story doesn't delve as deeply into her emotions, but the book has a logical reason for this.  This was a worthwhile read.  While it is set in Korea, the story feels applicable to many countries other than that as well, though the author cites specific statistics from her country.

5. The Hunting Wives by May Cobb (Thriller) - This was a quick and easy read, but not one that I would revisit.  The characters are all unlikeable and I didn't really care about or feel connected to any of them.  This is definitely a book to read if you don't mind watching characters make many terrible decisions.  There were many times when I wanted to be able to tell Sophie to stop before she got inot the new group too deeply.  I felt bad for her husband, Graham, who seemed like a nice guy.  This book is advertised as a thriller, but the thriller aspect doesn't really start until page 200.  The story really picks up at that point, and I was more invested in finding about what happened to one of the characters.

6. If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar (Poetry Collection) - These were interesting poems that I would definitely consider rereading.  There were some cultural aspects to them that I didn't fully understand on the first read, so revisiting some of the poems at a later date would help deepen the experience of reading them.

7. Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta (Short Story Collection) - While called a short story collection, this read more like a novel that was told over the years.  All the stories focused on Kara, a Canadian of Jamaican heritage, and spanned the time from elementary school into college.  This was a strong collection that gave insight into Kara's culture, and how that affected her relationships with family and friends.  This story delves into Kara's mother and grandparents, and the complicated relationships with each of them.  I also liked how the dialect of the grandmother was included in the writing of this book.

8. Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (Short Story Collection) - I actually read most of this collection back in March, but I didn't read the final two stories until this month.  I'm not sure why I waited so long to finish it, as this was a strong collection, focusing on indigenous Latina characters in the southwest.  The setting was central to the story and felt vivid.  A lot of the stories had some dark undertones.  I could see myself revisiting some of the stories in the future.

9. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Literary Fiction) - This was a wonderful and captivating novel! I liked it even more than I expected to, especially since it is much more of a quiet and introspective novel.  This novel is a deep dive into Gifty's mind and life, with flashbacks to her past.  I have seen some readers say that it read like a memoir, and that description makes sense to me.  This book is about many things, from science to faith to addiction.  It tackles all of the topics in the story with sensitivity and compassion for the characters.  I have a copy of Gyasi's first novel, Homegoing, so I definitely need to move that up on my list to read soon.

10. Colorful by Eto Mori (tr. by Jocelyne Allen) (Contemporary Fiction) - I wasn't sure at first how this could end in a happy way.  I won't mention the ending, because it is better to experience it, but I will say that I was satisfied with the ending.  This story delves into mental health for teenagers.  While it was originally published in Japanese in the late 1990s, I think it is just as relevant in the United States today.

11. The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (Short Story Collection) - It only took me a couple days to read this collection of stories.  Many of them were very short (only 1-2 pages), while others were a bit longer.  These painted an atmospheric picture of the people in New Orleans.  Some of the stories included COVID, though none mentioned it by name.  This was a great collection, that I enjoyed reading!  I definitely want to check out Ruffin's novel, We Cast a Shadow, soon.

12. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (tr. by Philip Gabriel) (Contemporary Fiction) - This was a sweet story about a man named Satoru who takes his cat, Nana, on a trip to look for someone to care for said cat, as he will no longer be able to.  We don't find out why he won't be able to until close to the end of the book, but the reason is fairly predictable.  The story traces his friendship with each person that Satoru stops to visit.  This was a quiet story, with some sadness, and a good read.  I think this book is especially good for anyone who has loved a cat.