My top 5 books from 2022

There are many ways to assess a year gone by, e.g. money, bonus, new cuountries visited, etc. One particularly useful way is to remember the books we read in the past year. To be sure, I did not complete meet my Goodreads (yup, I enjoy the app!) 2022 Reading Challenge (24 read vs a target of 30). 

Credit: Ed Robertson (Unsplash)

Nonetheless, 24 is a large enough number for me to pick out my top five books of 2022 and here they are (in no particular order):

1. Empires in the Sun: The Struggle for the Mastery of Africa by Lawrence James.

A concise, yet insightful, synopsis of Africa’s recent colonial history. The author extrapolates broad brush strokes from the many individual happenings around the continent — very useful for the reader. 

2. God’s Own Land: A Novel of Pakistan by Shaukat Siddiqui.

A classic Urdu novel set in 1950s Pakistan. God’s Own Land is the sort of novel which deserves to be in school curriculums. It pierces the universal human condition while at the same time provides deep insights into Pakistani society (many of which remain valid seven decades later). 

3. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, Barbara Harshav (Translator). 

A wonderful novel about searching and finding. The plot unravels slowly and with elegance as the characters are fleshed out. A good read when in a pensive, soul searching frame of mind. 

4. How to Be an Existentialist: or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses by Gary Cox

It’s hard to go wrong with Existentialism as a philosopy. It is, after all, a philosophy of action even though it may be cerebral in its literary form. A great ‘how to’ compendium with a dash of humor thrown in .. wordy at times but comprehensible. 

5. Red Metal by Mark Greaney

Technically a war novel, but Red Metal becomes a little more given the Ukraine war playing out as I write this. The book is a fictional account of a war between Russia and NATO. Yes, it’s a novel, i.e. fiction, but there is a strong element of realism in the writings. A good, exciting novel for readers of the war genre. 

What books are on your reading list for 2023? Please share your recommendations in the comments below.