Best Books 2022: Fiction

I love reading across a variety of genres. Below are my top five fiction reads of 2022, in no particular order.

Also check out my top ten non-fiction books from last year.

Note: This is not an endorsement of all ideas contained in these books.

The Bloodpines (Matt Beers)

Powerful tale of a male rite of passage, but what struck me most was the expert character development. Beers made me first despise and then genuinely care about a certain character.

Christy (Catherine Marshall)

I was familiar with the plot from the 90s TV show, but I didn’t expect the theological insight. The doctor’s atheism is pitted against the preacher’s theological liberalism, but Alice Henderson’s orthodox Christianity shines as the best answer to the hard questions posed in Cutter Gap (and everywhere).

Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry)

It was a slow burn for me, but by the end, I did not want this book to end. I felt as if I’d lived Jayber’s entire life with him and wasn’t ready to say goodbye. (The good news is, Crow shows up in other Berry books, so there are other chances to interact with him.)

Though the writing is excellent, there are disappointingly some themes against apologetics, for pacifism, and seemingly hinting at a social gospel.

Macbeth (William Shakespeare)

Faster read than I expected. Hamlet is probably still my favorite Shakespeare, but watching the destruction of Macbeth from without and within creates compelling dread.

All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot)

Didn’t quite grab me as much as All Creatures Great and Small, but still full of charming characters populating vignettes that left me simultaneously wanting to tag along with an Irish country vet and grateful I don’t have to.

What fiction reads stood out to you in 2022? Leave a comment below. I’d love to add it to my list for 2023.