Sometimes at this time of the year I look at the succinct lists and images that others post about their favourite books of the year, and I consider being more decisive and changing my annual Best Books List into something more concise and Instaworthy.
But no, I just can’t do it.
I could never be a literary prize judge: I hate whittling lists down to some arbitrary number and I really don’t know why I even try. Truth be told, this post is more about expressing my gratitude to each and every one of these authors for writing a book that gave me hours of reading pleasure.
So as in previous years, these are the books I really liked and admired during 2022. They are books that I read in 2022, not necessarily published in 2022. The contenders are ANZ authors only. If you read this blog regularly you know that I also read international authors and translations too, but for this list, well, there are plenty of other sources recommending books published elsewhere. All links go to my reviews.
I read 169 books in 2022, less than in previous years. Some of my reading time went on 15 books which I abandoned, the highest that’s ever been. I got sucked in by hype, by award nominations and by the prevailing narrative that it is a social duty to read books on certain worthy topics. (I don’t count these abandoned books as ‘read’, I don’t review them and I don’t rate them at Goodreads because that would not be fair.) But for most of my books this year, my instincts were right. I chose well, and wisely, and publishers who know my taste alerted me to books they thought I’d like — so I’ve had a good year.
As in previous years, I’ve longlisted the books that I rated 4 stars, but only if I also remembered why I liked them so much when I looked at their covers at Goodreads. (NB I reserve five stars for exceptional books not just something I really liked.)
New Zealand books are in Italics.
NB I reserve the right to add any extra books that I read between now and the end of the year if I think they warrant it!
The Longlists
Fiction Longlist, in alphabetical order.
Yes, it’s long. I read some remarkably good books this year and all of these are worth your time and money. There are two from NZ.
- Limberlost, by Robbie Arnott (2022) Text Publishing
- The Rain Heron, by Robbie Arnott (2020) Text Publishing
- Water Music, by Christine Balint (2021) Brio Books
- Blood in the Rain, by Margaret Barbalet (1986) Penguin Books Australia
- Time and Tide in Sarajevo, by Bronwyn Birdsall (2022) Affirm Press
- The Silence of Water, by Sharron Booth (2022) Fremantle Press
- A Stranger Here, by Gillian Bouras (1996) Penguin Books Australia
- The Islands, by Emily Brugman, (2022) Allen & Unwin
- The Grease Monkey’s Tale, by Paul Burman (2010) Legend Press, London UK
- True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey (2000) Knopf
- Marlo, by Jay Carmichael (2022) Scribe
- The Signal Line, by Brendan Colley (2022) Transit Lounge
- Hovering, by Rhett Davis (2022) Hachette
- Leaving Owl Creek, by Sandy Gordon (2022), Finlay Lloyd
- The Graphologist’s Apprentice, by Whiti Hereaka (2010) Huia, NZ,
- The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted, by Robert Hillman (2018) Text Publishing
- To Become a Whale, by Ben Hobson (2017), Allen & Unwin
- Hydra, by Adriane Howell (2022) Transit Lounge
- Salonika Burning, by Gail Jones (2022), Text Publishing
- Only Birds Above, by Portland Jones (2022), Fremantle Press
- Corporal Hitler’s Pistol, by Tom Keneally (2021),Vintage (Penguin Random House)
- Freedom Ride, by Sue Lawson (2015) Black Dog Books
- The Tower, by Carol Lefevre (2022), Spinifex Press
- The Pebbled Beach at Pentecost, by Andrew Lemon (2021), Australian Scholarly Publishing
- The Coast, by Eleanor Limprecht (2022), Allen & Unwin
- The Morality of Gentlemen, by Amanda Lohrey (1984), Montpelier Press in association with The Vulgar Press
- Loveland, by Robert Lukins (2022), Allen & Unwin
- Random Acts of Unkindness, by Anna Mandoki (2022), Midnight Sun Publishing
- Stardust and Golden, by Doug McEachern (2018), UWAP (University of Western Australia Press)
- Every Day is Gertie Day, by Helen Meany (2021), Brio Books
- Below the Styx, by Michael Meehan (2010), Allen & Unwin
- Moon Sugar, by Angela Meyer (2022), Transit Lounge
- The Electrical Experience, by Frank Moorhouse (1974) Angus & Robertson
- Loop Tracks, by Sue Orr (2021), Upswell
- Other Houses, by Paddy O’Reilly (2022), Affirm Press
- A Place Near Eden, by Nell Pierce (2022), Allen & Unwin
- Bone Memories, by Sally Piper (2022), UQP (University of Queensland Press),
- Bon and Lesley, by Shaun Prescott (2022), Giramondo
- Bad Art Mother, by Edwina Preston (2022), Wakefield Press
- The Roaring Nineties (The Goldfields Trilogy #1) , by Katharine Susannah Prichard (1946), The Australasian Publishing Co by arrangement with Jonathan Cape London
- Golden Miles, by Katharine Susannah Prichard (Goldfields trilogy #2), Virago
- Winged Seeds, by Katharine Susannah Prichard (Goldfields trilogy #3), Virago
- The Good Captain, by Sean Rabin (2022), Transit Lounge
- The Restorer, by Michael Sala (2017), Text Publishing
- Sweeney and the Bicycles, by Philip Salom (2022), Transit Lounge
- One Bright Morning, by Wendy Scarfe (2022), Wakefield Press
- The National Picture, by Stephen Scheding (2002), Vintage (Random House)
- Theatre of Darkness, by Thomas Shapcott (1998), Vintage (Random House Australia)
- Orphan Rock, by Dominique Wilson (2022), Transit Lounge
- The Visit, by Amy Witting (1977), Mandarin Australia, a division of the Octopus Publishing Group.
Non Fiction Longlist including Life Stories in alphabetical order (I read 30 books of Australian NF, but only one from New Zealand.)
- Black, White and Exempt, edited by Lucinda Aberdeen and Jennifer Jones (2021)
- Telltale: reading writing remembering, by Carmel Bird (2022)
- Cannon Fire, by Michael Cannon (2022)
- Mothertongues, by Ceridwen Dovey & Eliza Bell (2022)
- The Well in the Shadow: A Writer’s Journey Through Australian Literature, by Chester Eagle (2010)
- New Literary History of Australia (1988), edited by Laurie Hergenan (Decolonising a Blog… a work in progress #4)
- The Red Witch: A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard, by Nathan Hobby (2022)
- The Big Teal, by Simon Holmes à Court (2022)
- Bedtime Story, by Chloe Hooper (2022)
- Tales from the Greek, by John Hughes with artwork by Marco Luccio (2022)
- Actions & Travels, How Poetry Works, by Anna Jackson (2022)
- True Tracks, Respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, by Terri Janke (2021)
- Lohrey, (Contemporary Australian Writers series) by Julieanne Lamond (2022)
- Old Vintage Melbourne, 1960-1990, by Chris Macheras (2022)
- Wandering with Intent, by Kim Mahood (2022)
- The Uncaged Sky, My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison, by Kylie Moore-Gilbert (2022)
- A Paper Inheritance: the passionate literary lives of Leslie Rees and Coralie Clarke Rees, by Dymphna Stella Rees (2021)
- Richard Wright, the Life and Times, by Hazel Rowley (2001)
- The Idea of Australia, a search for the soul of the nation, by Julianne Schultz (2022)
- This Is Not Journalism, by Margaret Simons, in Meanjin, Winter 2022, Vol 81, Issue 2, edited by Jonathan Green
My favourites of 2022
Most Memorable ANZ LitLovers Australian Fiction Books of 2022 in alphabetical order
Yes, it’s a long shortlist. I’ve been brutal but now it gets to the stage where I really can’t remove anything else. Look at all these terrific books published in the middle of a pandemic… and then look at the others which have stood the test of time.
- Limberlost, by Robbie Arnott (2022)
- True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey (2000)
- The Signal Line, by Brendan Colley (2022)
- Hovering, by Rhett Davis (2022)
- The Graphologist’s Apprentice, by Whiti Hereaka (2010)
- Hydra, by Adriane Howell (2022)
- Salonika Burning, by Gail Jones (2022)
- Only Birds Above, by Portland Jones (2022)
- Freedom Ride, by Sue Lawson (2015)
- The Tower, by Carol Lefevre (2022)
- The Pebbled Beach at Pentecost, by Andrew Lemon (2021)
- The Coast, by Eleanor Limprecht (2022)
- The Morality of Gentlemen, by Amanda Lohrey (1984)
- Below the Styx, by Michael Meehan (2010)
- Moon Sugar, by Angela Meyer (2022)
- The Electrical Experience, by Frank Moorhouse (1974)
- Loop Tracks, by Sue Orr (2021)
- Other Houses, by Paddy O’Reilly (2022)
- Bon and Lesley, by Shaun Prescott (2022)
- Bad Art Mother, by Edwina Preston (2022)
- The Roaring Nineties (The Goldfields Trilogy #1) , by Katharine Susannah Prichard (1946)
- The Good Captain, by Sean Rabin (2022)
- Sweeney and the Bicycles, by Philip Salom (2022)
- The National Picture, by Stephen Scheding (2002)
- Orphan Rock, by Dominique Wilson (2022)
Most memorable ANZ LitLovers Non Fiction and Poetry Books of 2022 in alphabetical order
NF is tricky: There are books of major signifiance like Terri Janke’s True Tracks, and those that taught me something I ought to know like Aberdeen and Jones’ Black, White and Exempt and those that will have a lasting effect on how I interpret the world like Margaret Simon’s essay about journalism.
And then there are literary biographies which have the advantage of being my absolute favourite form of NF…
- Black, White and Exempt, edited by Lucinda Aberdeen and Jennifer Jones (2021)
- Telltale: reading writing remembering, by Carmel Bird (2022)
- Cannon Fire, by Michael Cannon (2022)
- The Well in the Shadow: A Writer’s Journey Through Australian Literature, by Chester Eagle (2010)
- The Red Witch: A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard, by Nathan Hobby (2022)
- True Tracks, Respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, by Terri Janke (2021)
- Lohrey, (Contemporary Australian Writers series) by Julieanne Lamond (2022)
- Wandering with Intent, by Kim Mahood (2022)
- The Idea of Australia, a search for the soul of the nation, by Julianne Schultz (2022)
- This Is Not Journalism, by Margaret Simons, in Meanjin, Winter 2022, Vol 81, Issue 2, edited by Jonathan Green
The ANZ LitLovers Non-Fiction Books of the Year are…
I hope my reviews here and here give some measure of the intense pleasure I had in reading these books about two of my favourite authors.
The ANZ LitLovers Fiction Books of the Year are…
*drum roll*
(Every one of the books on my shortlist could be a winner, but as you can see from my reviews (here and here and here) there was something about these three that stole my heart as well as my head.)
Over to you
Your thoughts on my choices? What was your most memorable book of the year?
PS, the next day, I have updated this to include the publishers of the fiction list, and it is no surprise to me to see that 59% of my longlist comes from members of Small Press Network Australia!
PS 20/12/22 If you’re interested to see the Best Books in our neighbourhood, visit the Asian Book Review’s 50 Highlights from 2022.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
I can never pick out winners, or indeed a sensible list – I will round up my thoughts on the year on 31st December but it’s likely to be a long and rambling post! But thank you for all your coverage of Australian and NZ lit – although I don’t always comment, I always read your posts with interest! :D
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By: kaggsysbookishramblings on December 15, 2022
at 9:44 pm
*chuckle* There’s a lot to be said for a long and rambling post…
I love your blog xo
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By: Lisa Hill on December 15, 2022
at 9:53 pm
😊
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By: kaggsysbookishramblings on December 16, 2022
at 1:17 am
Wow, I am very honoured!
Also, what an incredible feat to read 169 books, even if it’s a little down on previous years. Your advocacy and reviewing is a boost to ANZ authors – as a beneficiary, thank you so much!
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By: Nathan Hobby on December 15, 2022
at 9:45 pm
Even though yours is the book I know most about in terms of how much work it was, I don’t think I’ve been influenced by that at all. It’s simple really, I just loved reading it!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 15, 2022
at 9:55 pm
I enjoy reading about all the different approaches to putting together end of year lists. It is very hard to pick just one ‘winner’ or personal favourite.
I’ve worked out my three favourite fiction titles as we needed to have something for a work blog.
My own blog list will be closer to the New Year…and will also feature Limberlost. Delighted that it’s getting so much love across the board.
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By: Brona's Books on December 16, 2022
at 8:00 am
I’m still curious about Limberlost’s omission from the #VPLA shortlist and I’m wondering if commentary about it that I’ve seen more than once implies that it isn’t ‘edgy’ enough (compared to his two previous books). Which might be why we love it. There are no fancy tricks that mess about with genre (which IMO is becoming a bandwagon that some authors fall off.)
Bizarrely, you might think, because they are *so* different, Limberlost makes me feel as David Malouf’s Ransom did, and for the same reason, because it’s such a humane book exploring what it means in our complex, compromised world, to be a good person despite our flaws.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 16, 2022
at 8:39 am
I can never do this, though I can give my favourites for my reading group as we HAVE to! (That is, as I ask everyone to do so, I have to do it myself!) But I always enjoy seeing what you come up with. I’ve read or am reading 10 or so of the books in your lists and agree they are all good. I am particularly looking forward to reading Limberlost next year.
(Later today I will post my reading group favourites of the year).
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By: whisperinggums on December 16, 2022
at 8:30 am
Every year, I decide I won’t do it, and then I weaken.
While they might not ever know or care about what I think, I still feel for the authors whose books I read but omitted, and I feel for the ones on the longlist but not on the shortlist, and so on. It’s just the same as at school EOY prize-giving… there is no way to celebrate the efforts and achievements of some without excluding others.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 16, 2022
at 8:52 am
Exactly … but that’s life isn’t it. The way I do it I still only list some!
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By: whisperinggums on December 16, 2022
at 2:20 pm
I think we have two books in common, one by and of course, one about KSP. I read Carey’s True History a long time ago and thought it was a nonsense, both the language and the story.
But congratulations on your voracious reading, without you I would have much less idea what is going on in Aust.Lit.
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By: wadholloway on December 16, 2022
at 9:44 am
I just re-read your comment on my review of the Carey, and I think it’s a pity that there are books about working class life on this list that you haven’t read. Paddy O’Reilly’s novel, for example, shows how precarious life is for the working poor in the 21st century.
I was going to suggest that you might like Freedom Ride which is about the racism in towns visited by Charlie Perkins’ famous Freedom Ride, but it’s not written by a First Nations author so I guess you wouldn’t read it…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 16, 2022
at 10:02 am
What an amazing list, Lisa! I’ve only read a few of the same titles as you, including Limberlost which will be on my end of year list. I generally just pick my 10 favourite reads of the year and nominate THE favourite one. I’m pretty decisive like that, but I think it’s just all those years of working on publications that have strict word counts or space restrictions! I do love going back and looking at previous years’ lists to remind me of all the wonderful novels I’ve read.
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By: kimbofo on December 16, 2022
at 12:44 pm
Yes, it’s that journalistic discipline that I lack!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 16, 2022
at 3:12 pm
Me too….
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By: whisperinggums on December 16, 2022
at 3:44 pm
You are amazing Lisa and appreciate your blog. Your dedication to promoting Australian literature is unsurpassed IMO. Big thank-you.
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By: Fay K on December 16, 2022
at 1:19 pm
Thank you Fay… you know it’s readers like you that make me keep doing it!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 16, 2022
at 3:13 pm
The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin
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By: M. Knight on December 17, 2022
at 5:17 am
Thanks! I’ve just looked this up at Goodreads. I don’t usually read thrillers but it sounds like an interesting book about class and gentrification. My local library doesn’t have it, but further afield I can get it as an audio book. But *chuckle* maybe thrillers are not so good for bedtime reading?!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 17, 2022
at 9:06 am
(Tried sending this earlier, so sorry if this is a duplicate posting!) What an enormous thrill to be included in the short list of your best of an impressive 169 books read (and fifteen discarded unfinished) in 2022—and mine is not a small book. It has proved almost impossible to get this historical novel noticed in what remains of mainstream media book reviewing in Australia, so your review means a lot to me. Did they think it improper for an established historian to turn to fiction as a valid way to remind us that people in the past were as human, as complex and fallible as we are today? You were also right to highlight the general lack of awareness of Australia’s role historically in the Pacific region. Thank you Lisa.
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By: agflemon on December 17, 2022
at 7:09 pm
Hello Andrew, how nice to hear from you!
Re: reviews in mainstream media: I hear you. Hardly any Australian novels get reviewed these days, and it’s a shame, because as your book proves, there are excellent books out there which never get the attention they deserve.
I only wish I could read more than I do!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 17, 2022
at 9:28 pm
Lisa, I’ve just read your review of Andrew Lemon’s novel and will certainly get a copy right away. As one of the youngest of the ‘Old Pacific Colonials’, I’m sure it will have rich meaning for me as someone who has had a bash at Pacific-related historical fiction.
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By: Tony English on December 18, 2022
at 9:31 am
Ah, yes, *chuckle* I can see that this would be right up your alley. (And I note that Death of a Coast Watcher was one of my Top Ten Best Books last year! I’ll never forget that book.)
Your novel and Lemon’s one are classic examples of really terrific books which stay under the radar of the mainstream reviewing crowd. I’m just lucky that I get to read what I like and what interests me, and there are enough readers out there who like what I do, for me to keep doing it.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 18, 2022
at 10:55 am
This is amazing, I had no idea I could pop my books in here for a recognition, is this possible to put my 2021 books in . As a NewZealander living in Australia immediately at home. I’m chuffed. I also review books and am the very new CEO of book cover awards.
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By: Kez Wickham St George on December 18, 2022
at 11:00 am
Hello Kez, nice to hear from you.
If you have a book for review, check out my review policy here: https://anzlitlovers.com/review-comments-policy/ and then get in touch.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 18, 2022
at 4:48 pm
amazing, thank you, I feel I could fit into one of your reviews as Metal Mermaid is all about Emotional Growth while learning the caravanning ropes.
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By: Kez Wickham St George on December 19, 2022
at 12:05 pm
would you have any contacts with agents to promote my visit to New Zealand with my trilogy
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By: Kez Wickham St George on December 19, 2022
at 12:06 pm
No, sorry, Kez, I don’t do that sort of thing. This is only a book review site with a bit of book news every now and again, and I am entirely independent of the publishing industry, rarely out of my nest in the suburbs of Melbourne.
My advice would be for you to join your local writers’ centre and/or the ASA (Australian Society of Authors) and get their advice about how best to contact reviewers and agents and so forth. They do workshops about pitching your work, what to do and what not to do. I know this: it’s very important to get it right, because most are too busy to give you more than one chance.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 19, 2022
at 1:10 pm
Never an easy job, deciding on the favourites, particularly when we read so many quality books too!
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By: Theresa Smith Writes on December 18, 2022
at 4:56 pm
That’s for sure!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 18, 2022
at 5:20 pm
Wonderful, and I heartily approve of your plan to add others in as you read them; I quite often end up with a top ten book read between Christmas and New Year!
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By: Liz Dexter on December 19, 2022
at 5:39 am
The advantage of the online experience!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 19, 2022
at 8:47 am
Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Australian:
Oyster by Janette Turner Hospital
Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
I have some ambivalence with “end of the year” book list. In one perspective, you cannot read everything there is to offer, so a list my be an introduction to an overlooked book or author. However, some list ignore some segment or another. Not necessarily intentionally, but by personal preferences and perspective.* For instance, large Big Five publishers over independent publishers, American authors over British, coming of age over science fiction, and so on.
A better answer with be the best book is always the next book.
*By infrequently visiting this site I have noticed you mentioned The Red Witch book several times. Now it is in your best book of the year post.
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By: M. Knight on December 20, 2022
at 8:32 am
Hello again, I hadn’t heard of your first title, so I looked it up: Goodreads was down *again* but I found its description: “A dazzling epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West.” That would be a good choice for First Nations Reading Week, if I decide to host it again next year. I certainly agree with your Australian choices!
Yes, your ambivalence about lists is justified. Last week the Asian Review of Books analysed the well-known Best Books lists for any awareness of Asian literature, and, well, you don’t even need to read the article to know what they found. Someone else did the same analysis for translated literature and found the same thing. And since my list is deliberately all-Australian, (because OzLit shares the same fate as Asian Lit and Translated Lit) it doesn’t mention any of the translations or Asian books I’ve read during the year. So it might well look ‘vanilla’ to some people. My list also excludes genre fiction, poetry, and YA because it is indeed about my preference i.e. the novel. So yes, all lists involve exclusion. It’s unavoidable.
OTOH I have had some private messages from authors who were delighted to be included anywhere on this post. Just when they thought the book had sunk without a trace, it pops up as a Best Book here, and I can see from my traffic that some are clicking through to the review and taking an interest in the book. That pleases me very much!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 20, 2022
at 9:00 am
I think I’d find this an impossible task if I read as many as you do.
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By: BookerTalk on December 20, 2022
at 9:17 am
A self-inflicted problem!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 20, 2022
at 10:11 am
I might be tempted to do a ‘favourites of 2022’ post as my first blog post for 2023. Certainly, ‘Limberlost’ will be on any such list ;-)
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By: Jennifer on December 20, 2022
at 1:09 pm
I’ll look forward to that!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 20, 2022
at 3:20 pm
Someone to Watch Over Me by Dan Bronson
Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónan Hession
Once a Man Indulges by Tony Kelsey
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By: M. Knight on December 29, 2022
at 5:08 am
I haven’t read any of these books so I can’t comment on your list, except to say that it’s impressive as always.
They should give you a medal for all your good deeds for Australian and New Zealand literature. (What’s the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in Australia?)
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By: Emma on January 2, 2023
at 6:54 am
Look forward to your year end favourite posts every year, Lisa 😊 Thanks for sharing. Wonderful books on your list. Saving the whole post 😊 Will add Ronnie Arnott’s Limberlost to my TBR. I remember Kim also raving about it. So nice to see Peter Carey’s The History of the Kelly Gang still flying high and standing the test of time. Thanks for championing ANZ literature, and helping me discover new literature, which I wouldn’t discover otherwise 😊
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By: Vishy on January 3, 2023
at 6:48 pm
Thanks, Vishy … and you know I’m still making my way through your recommended list of Indian Lit. I get distracted by shiny new things, but I have some of them on my TBR and will get to them soon!
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By: Lisa Hill on January 3, 2023
at 6:56 pm
Hope you enjoy reading them 😊 I also just added Andrew Lemon’s The Pebbled Beach at Pentecost to my list. It looks very fascinating! It is very expensive right now though, and there is no Kindle edition, and so I’ll wait for a while.
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By: Vishy on January 3, 2023
at 7:27 pm
Oh, that is a pity, I don’t like supporting Amazon but sometimes the Kindle edition is the easiest way to access overseas titles.
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By: Lisa Hill on January 3, 2023
at 10:19 pm
Yes, that is true, that us the easiest way sometimes. Hope it comes out in Kindle. Will wait for it.
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By: Vishy on January 4, 2023
at 12:14 am