Wow. I have failed this month of December in creating anything new for you to read. My apologies. It’s been a strange time. I’ve had little time to read, and what I’ve read I have not loved enough to recommend to you. Part of the reason I’ve read so little this month is due to work (my busiest time of year is at year’s end), and the other part is that after 2.5 years of avoiding it, I fell victim to Covid. Though it was terrible, I was lucky it required little-to-no medical intervention and I recovered after about a week’s time.

But now it is near the end of the year, so it felt right to make a post with a list of my favorite reads of the year. Without further ado…

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

The first book I’ve read by Yukio Mishima and I read it in a day. I really enjoyed it and the simplistic story told in an expert way was refreshing. It is, as bare bones, the tale of a young fisherman on a small island who finds love in a community too small to keep secrets.

I plan to read Mishima’s masterpiece (according to the author himself) which is the four-book saga The Sea of Fertility. I have the first book and hope to begin it in the new year after I finish the next few books I have lined up.

How Not to Die & How Not to Diet by Michael Greger

These two books I really enjoyed as I was reading and learning about nutrition earlier this year while focusing on becoming a healthier self, father, and husband. I lost 40 lbs and have kept it off through simple dietary changes. My exercise and healthy eating habits have wavered of late (Christmas cookies are partially to blame), but I’m still mostly healthy due to great habits I incorporated and I plan to get back to exercising and eating better after the holidays.

Fullmetal Alchemist

This manga series, adapted faithfully into the 2009 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, is absolutely an incredible story overall and one of my favorites of all time. I first discovered it via the show which was my gateway into the immense world of anime, and it remains a favorite of that medium. The original manga are just as good (though the music in the show really sets some scenes) and I read it for the first time this year.

Kokoro by Natume Soseki

Read at the start of 2022, this book was interesting mostly because it was written over 100 years ago. The story may be considered slow or lacking, but I think that is what makes it a good book. It takes it slow and has a human element not often found in many stories.

The story is about a young student who finds a mentor and slowly unravels what made his teacher the recluse he had become. This mystery is unraveled quickly as the book is not very long.

I spent the second half of the year mostly reading Vonnegut’s novels and other works. It all started when I read Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style by Suzanne Collins and Kurt Vonnegut. It is a book about the craft of writing, but also gives insight into Vonnegut’s life as the two were closely intertwined. In between reading all of his novels, I also read a great biography about Vonnegut written by Chris Shields and titled And So It Goes – Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. It really put his novels in a new perspective and helped me enjoy them more than I otherwise might have.

I will wrap up the last few of his novels in the new year. The few I really enjoyed this year were Bluebeard, Jailbird, Mother Night, Player Piano, and Cat’s Cradle.