Here are the books I read in 2022, in order of my reading them. All books with a * I recommend, those with ** I highly recommend.

1. *The Viscount Who Loved Me (reread) – Julia Quinn
2. **Love and Other Words – Christina Lauren
3. **The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
4. *To Sir with Love – Lauren Layne
5. It Ends with Us – Colleen Hoover
6. Falling for Your Best Friend’s Twin – Emma St. Clair
7. Falling for Your Boss – Emma St. Clair
8. *At Last – Jill Shavis
9. The Stopover – T.L. Swan
10. *The Deal – Elle Kennedy
11. *Glitter and Glue – Kelly Corrigan
12. *Burn for You – J.T. Geissinger
13. *We Shouldn’t – Vi Keeland
14. **American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins
15. *Book Lovers – Emily Henry
16. *The Idea of You: A Novel – Robin Lee
17. **Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garm
18. Truth or Tequila – Donna Schwartze
19. *Something Wilder – Christina Lauren
20. *Shipped – Angie Hockman
21. *An Offer from a Gentleman (reread) – Julia Quinn
22. The Honey-Don’t List – Christina Lauren
23. *Start Without Me – Gary Janetti
24. **Nora Goes off Script – Annabel Monaghan
25. *To Sir Phillip, with Love (reread) – Julia Quinn
26. *Part of Your World – Abby Jimenez
27. Romancing Mister Bridgerton (reread) – Julia Quinn
28. Verity – Colleen Hoover
29. *The Dead Romantics – Ashley Poston
30. Only When It’s Us – Chloe Liese
31. *The One – John Marrs
32. Half-Blown Rose – Leesa Cross-Smith
33. We Do What We Do in the Dark – Michelle Hart
34. Meant to Be Mine – Hannah Orenstein
35. The Midcoast – Adam White
36. **Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
37. *This is How it Always Is – Laurie Frankel
38. Scattered Showers – Rainbow Rowell
39. *The Hotel Nantucket – Elin Hilderbrand
40. *I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy
41. **Killers of a Certain Age – Deanna Raybourn
42. *The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood
43. The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
44. **Bomb Shelter: Love, Time and Other Explosives – Mary Laura Philpott

I listed my favorite books of 2022 in my last post, but I’d like to add two:

1. Killers of a Certain Age is a very fun read. Four women who work for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, are on a retirement trip when they foil a plan to assassinate them. Toggling between when they were first recruited, their missions and, ultimately, to them trying to survive is an exciting ride!
2. Bomb Shelter I promoted before reading because I knew it would be great and it was. I laughed out loud, I teared up a lot, I commiserated and related to many things and I loved the book – it was terrific.

One more bonus book – our friends’ 11-year-old daughter self published The LGBTQ+ Handbook: How to Spot Rainbows (click title for link) to help simplify and explain the modern LGBTQ+ world. It’s well-done and very helpful to people of every generation.

Grammar help

I know you didn’t ask for it but here it is anyway. I saw this great article and thought I would share it. Are you using the past tense of some common verbs correctly? Bonus question, is it “I need to lay down” or “I need to lie down?” Check here.

Movies

Below are the movies I saw last year that I merited an A- or above:

1. The French Dispatch A
2. Coda A
3. King Richard A-
4. The Lost City A-
5. Everything Everywhere All at Once A-
6. Top Gun: Maverick A-
7. The Eyes of Tammy Faye A-
8. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On A-
9. Bullet Train A-

My daughter and I went to see Avatar: The Way of Water (A-). If you have any interest in seeing it at all, go see it in the theater. Much like the new Top Gun, it is essentially a redux of the original but I loved the first movie when it came out and this one is great too. Also, if you like fish/aquariums this is your movie! It is visually stunning.

TV

I feel like I’m always behind with the streaming shows, but I have finally caught up a little so now I have some breathing room. I haven’t LOVED anything so I’ll keep quiet until I do. Although I did really enjoy season 2 of “Only Murders in the Building” and am looking forward to season 3, especially after seeing the new cast members. And wahoo “Ted Lasso” is coming this spring!!

Let me say again how much I do enjoy “Ghosts” on CBS. So far so good with the new show “Will Trent” on ABC.

If you are a music fan, may I suggest you check out this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (on HBO Max). (Sidebar – the past shows are terrific too.) This year’s ceremony was in person and was incredibly entertaining, from the very professional filmed histories, the impressive live performances to the star-studded crowd – it is super fun. Inductees were Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton. Also worth watching is an amazing speech by John Mellencamp (F**k antisemitism!) inducting his attorney Allen Grubman. It’s awesome and it’s linked here so you can watch it.

Music

My daughter played me a lot of Lizzy McAlpine while she was home. I liked everything I heard but I especially liked “Hate to Be Lame” – click title to listen.

Thanks for reading and here’s to a healthy and entertaining 2023!!