Kat and others have posted about their reading in 2022. What fun it is to see what they read and what they found best!

I am a total spreadsheet person (“There is no problem that cannot be solved by a spreadsheet.” -from an acquaintance even nerdier than I am), so I keep an Excel spreadsheet of all books I have read, the ones I did not finish, and the audiobooks I have listened to since 2002 — a high of 119 in 2021 and a low of 50 in 2014 (before I kept track of ones I didn’t finish). The totals for 2022 are 16 did not finish, 12 currently reading, 6 audiobooks, 20 Kindle (nearly all freebies), and 51 in analog form, for a total of 77 books *read*.

Here are my faves from 2022. I have linked to my reviews. The first three were outstanding; the rest were *merely* very good.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. Nonfiction about zoonotic diseases, those that jump from an animal host to a human. Think dengue fever, malaria, rabies, Ebola, HIV, SARS… and covid. This book was published in 2012 in a remarkable feat of prescience, although most epidemiologists have predicted since ~2000 that the next pandemic could/would be a zoonotic respiratory disease. And the worse scenario would be that it is spread through the air and victims would be pre-symptomatically infectious. (Sound like any illness you know of?) Author’s next book is a summary/history of the covid pandemic.

A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie by Dean Koontz. This book is a must-read for every dog lover out there. Trixie is a former service dog who invalided out due to an injury. She is incredibly smart and sensitive and playful, an absolute joy of a dog. Spoiler: she dies at the end, but only after 14 years with the author, wife, and assistants.

Daughter of Auschwitz: A Memoir by Tova Friedman & Malcolm Braban. Author is a survivor of Auschwitz, somehow at age ~4 missing the gassing of all children useless for labor. She was compelled to write this when she learned how few of today’s youth are aware of the Holocaust or the concentration camps.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I am so glad I did not come of age in the 1950s. What a frustrating time to be an intelligent, educated woman.

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. A sweet story of anonymous London commuters becoming friends.

Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton. YA, but an inspiring story. It is worth reading just for all the inventive ways teenage boys mock-insult each other — such creativity!