The year 2023 is almost upon us with who knows what fresh terrors and here we are on its brink... Before making that jump, though, let's go over a short wrap-up of my past reading year and finally announce the winners of 2022.
So first, off to the books I haven't even mentioned here on my blog because they don't really fit in thematically; you will find in this first section some highlights and honorary mentions from genres that are either not speculative fiction and fiction or just not horror enough; my world tour reads, one self help book, memoires and such.
2021 was the year I discovered the Sri Lankan/Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai and in 2022 I expanded the discovery; although The Hungry Ghosts, which was loosely based on his own life story of migrating to Canada was a little triggering for me and not exactly my cup, I loved his Mansions of the Moon, an alternate history focusing on Siddhartha's wife Yasodhara and her own way to enlightenment.
This was also the year I discovered Haruki Murakami and although I'm by no way a Murakami expert (yet!), I thoroughly enjoyed Novelist As a Vocation and Sputnik Sweetheart. I was so impressed by his honesty and humility in the former book that I already put a library hold on various works of his.
In the Shine & Shadow World Tour Reads I got the chance to read the enchanting Malaysian tale The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo, a cute historical novel of two young people trying to solve a mystery and their ways crossing in mysterious ways; for Australia The Yield by Tara June Winch, which was a slow-burning, heart-wrenching account of the history of an aboriginal family; the gender-role questioning Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna in a Fur Coat) by Sabahattin Ali for Turkey, a discussion I had the honor of moderating; Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai for India, which was a slow, melancholy family story, and finally, part also tragic, part sweet and quirky I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez for Chicano Lit.
I learned to understand trees with Das Geheime Leben der Bäume (The Secret Life of Trees) by Peter Wohlleben and cried with the children in Michelle Good's account of the Canadian Indian residential school system, Five Little Indians. I dived into deep depressions with Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human. I was guest in a Harlem housing complex in Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana and at a Penobscot Indian Reservation with Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty. In Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar I felt with a trans boy in Little Syria, NY who lost his mom and Samra Habib told me about her life as a queer Muslim in We Have Always Been Here. I felt rage reading about Henrietta Lacks, whose cancer cells revolutionized medical research but no one bothered telling her family (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot). In The Sum of Us Heather McGee showed me how much money her government pays to maintain racist structures. With Because Internet, Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch I hope to have expanded my linguistic knowledge and, finally, with The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi I hope to have learned a few skills to make my life easier. I would unconditionally recommend all these titles.
Some of these titles were so good they even made it into the final list below, even though they're not my usual alley of horror/horror adjacent/sf.
This all being said, let the drumroll begin, here is the Protean Depravity Selection of the Best Books of the Year 2022!
Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Novel of the Year 2022
Mary: An Awakening – Nat Cassidy
A History of Wild Places – Shea Ernshaw
Just Like Mother - Anne Heltzel
The Doloriad – Missouri Williams
Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Freakiest Book of the Year 2022
Patricia Wants to Cuddle - Samantha Allen
All's Well – Mona Awad
The Pisces – Melissa Broder
Let No One Sleep - Juan José Millás
Liarmouth – John Waters
The winner is...
Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Novella of the Year 2022
Rosebud – Paul Cornell
Sair Back, Sair Banes – Anthony Engelbretson
Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing - Hailey Piper
Flowers for the Sea – Zin E. Rocklyn
Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Anthology of the Year 2022
Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories - ed. Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias
Best Horror of The Year Volume 13 - ed. Ellen Datlow
Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous - ed. Ellen Datlow
Antifa Splatterpunk - ed. Eric Raglin
Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology - ed. A.R. Ward
Protean Depravity Best Collection by a Single Author of the Year 2022
Parallel Hells – Leon Craig
Tenants from the Downstairs - Sidik Fofana
Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted – RJ Joseph
Night of the Living Rez – Morgan Talty
The Black Maybe - Attila Veres
On a last note and as usual, here is the space for all the best books I couldn't read this year. Because no matter how many pandemics come and go, no matter what
post-apocalyptic lifestyle you prefer to adopt and no matter what
gigantic amounts you read, there will always be some books that remain. Here they are... The Didn't Read Books can still compete in the following year if I manage to read them.
Protean Depravity Best Books I Didn't Read in 2022
The Bangalore Detectives Club - Harini Nagendra
Black Lake Manor - Guy Morpuss
Reluctant Immortals - Gwendolyn Kiste
The Pain Eater - Kyle Muntz
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