I view books a lot differently than the other media I consume over the course of a year. The rest of my Top 5 lists are going to be things released over the calendar year of 2022, but that's not the case with books. There are just too many things on my "to read" list, and a lot of them are older releases.
The other difference is that I have no problem putting a book away if I'm not into it. With movies, I feel obligated to finish even if I'm not enjoying it. Books are different, and if it hasn't grabbed me by 25/30 pages in, I'll set it aside and pick up something else. Sometimes I get back to it, sometimes I don't.
The last couple of years I averaged about a book a month, which is pretty good, I think. In 2020 my total was double that, because of the pandemic mostly. I read a lot that year in my (ample) downtime, and listened to a bunch of audiobooks while I was on my 2 hour "I need to get the fuck out of this apartment for a minute" walks every day during that first quarantine period.
This year my total dropped a little bit, and I blame TikTok. That thing is a black hole. I’m too weak to actually delete it, but I did put a time limit on it. We’ll see if that helps.
Here are my favorite reads from this year, in no particular order.
City on Fire by Don Winslow - I had never heard of Don Winslow until the release of his book The Force in 2017. Chris and Andy from The Watch (one of my favorite podcasts) had him on around that time, and talked about a few of his other novels in addition to The Force. I've loved almost every other book they've recommended, so I grabbed it and finished it in about three days. After that, I was hooked, and have since read almost everything he has written. City on Fire is a the first in a new trilogy (and also, sadly, his last three books as he's retiring from writing*) about a mob war in Rhode Island. Like all of his books, it's full of great characters, deeply rooted stories, and a fully fleshed out world. I can't wait until the next book comes out in a few months.
* Steven Soderbergh also retired a few years ago, and he's made like 8 movies and a handful of TV shows since then. Creative people have a hard time not creating, so we'll see how Wilson actually handles an abundance of free time. Hopefully he struggles with it, and we get a few more Boone Daniels adventures.
Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner - I was very skeptical of this book. But you know what? It's fucking awesome. Maybe a few too many coincidences along the way, but it's Michael Mann telling crime stories in Los Angeles (and Chicago, and Paraguay), which is worth a few eye rolls here and there. The book is part prequel—showing the HEAT crew in action seven years before the firefight on the streets of downtown L.A.—and part sequel focusing on the fallout and subsequent years for the only survivors of what is still one of the best action sequences in film. Meg Gardiner, who I was unfamiliar with before this, has a spot on my "To Read in 2023"list and I can't wait to see what her solo books are like. Meanwhile, I'll be wishing HEAT 2 existed as a movie, while simultaneously worrying that Mann might still try to do it.
Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard - If I had to choose one favorite writer, Leonard would probably share the top spot with Stephen King. It's definitely a 1a and 1b situation. His stuff is breezy, funny, and just plain cool. He's the only person that ever makes me rethink my official position that we should saw Florida off at the border like in that Bugs Bunny cartoon and let it drift away to be swallowed by the Bermuda Triangle. Maximum Bob is about an awful judge known for giving the maximum sentence to everyone that shows up in his court. Someone is trying to kill him, but the list of suspects isn't short, and the detectives working the case aren't even sure if they want to prevent it from happening. It's just a delightful little crime novel, and if you've ever watched JUSTIFIED, you'll recognize a few of the characters that show up.
Corporate Rock Sucks by Jim Ruland - This is a pretty thorough history of the rise and slow fall of SST Records, and an essential read for anyone that grew up listening to punk and hardcore. Greg Ginn's DIY approach to everything is nothing short of inspiring, and had a huge influence on everything I've ever been a part of. He's also a huge asshole, which is the part that I try not to emulate. I have some frustrations with this book—mainly Ruland's tendency to 'yadda yadda yadda' some of the more interesting aspects of a couple of the bands, and the fact that Ginn wanted no part of being interviewed for it. Ruland relies on old quotes from him to fill in some gaps, and a lot of key players in pivotal SST bands declined to take part due to ongoing legal issues with Ginn and the label. But but overall it's incredibly detailed and hugely interesting. I'm glad it exists, and I hope we get a few more books on important labels like SST. Who's writing the history of Victory Style II and how it spawned and entire generation of straight edge kids? Do I have to? Because I will.
Sellout by Dan Ozzi - This is probably my favorite of the year. It's about all the punk bands that signed to major labels from the late 90's to mid 2000's, which is the exact timeframe that I was in punk/hardcore bands trying to make something happen. I never thought I was going to be a rockstar on a major label, but I did think I was going to be in a full-time touring band, playing shows in a new city every night. This book shows what I might have had in a different life, but also shows that there were only a few bands that managed to not get swallowed whole and destroyed by a wild time in a rapidly changing industry. The details in these stories are ones that I had never heard before, but a lot of the situations I recognized immediately. Green Day, Jawbreaker, My Chemical Romance are all documented, but my favorite chapter, by far, was about Thursday—a band I don't even like. They had the most interesting arc in the book, since they had to deal with a genuine crazy person in Tony Victory and rap mogul L.A. Reid. Much like Corporate Rock Sucks, I'm really glad this kind of documentation exists, and I can't wait for more like it.
Worth Mentioning
King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, and Shame the Devil - George Pelecanos - I read 3/4 of Pelecanos’ DC quartet, which were excellent crime novels, but none of them grabbed me quite enough to make it into the Top 5.
Wild & Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen - charts the “golden era” of Saturday Night Live movies, and the stars that made them. He interviews directors like Carl Reiner, John Landis, and Amy Heckerling that were tasked with making TV stars into movie stars, and the crazy antics they encountered along the way.
Later - Stephen King - I only read one King book this year, which is rare for me. I didn’t love this one, but it’s still entertaining enough to get a mention.