It was another big year for Stephen King – I will read pretty much whatever that man writes. His newest collection of “short” stories and “Billy Summers” were both great summer reads. It’s interesting how much what I’m doing in real life can influence my enjoyment of a book or story. Because we had such an extended spell of dry weather in the second half of the year, I spent a lot of time reading while laying in my hammock this summer.

• Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West – Cormac McCarthy
• The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) – Patrick Rothfuss
• Fairy Tale – Stephen King
• You Like It Darker – Stephen King
• Billy Summers – Stephen King
• Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey – Michael Collins
• Holly – Stephen King
• A Man on the Moon – Andrew Chaikin
• Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
• God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4) – Frank Herbert
• Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the ’80s – Gary Gulman
• Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live

I keep track of a lot of things I do in my daily life. I’m not sure why I do it. It’s interesting because my son does that as well. We were just talking last night about how he keeps track of major events in his life along with the music he was listening to, people he was hanging out with and games he was playing at the time. I guess it’s a way to relive those events and experience those feelings again.

Anyway, here’s my list for 2022. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked. Like many people these days, I often get pulled into scrolling on my phone rather than reading the books I want to read. This year, I also spent a lot of time reading technical books and articles in order to expand my skillset for work. And, as always, I read a lot of martial arts related material as well. None of these types of materials are listed here. I started the year by following on the many WWII books that I read last year and finished that series up with “Japan at War” which was really interesting. It painted a very different picture of the Japanese experience of WWII than what I had expected.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Grapes of Wrath” are both true classics for good reason.

There were no “making of” books that piquéd my interest this year (after the death of JW Rinzler, I’m not sure that there will be many great books like that) but I did eagerly await and read “The Art of Ron Cobb”, which is a treasure trove of Cobb’s work along with interesting commentary.

I also finished the final two books in the “Matador” series that I began reading a long time ago. In order to get reacquainted with that universe, I also read the first book again. I will just say that the later books are not as great as the first couple.

• Round the Clock: The Experience of the Allied Bomber Crews Who Flew by Day and by – Night from England in the Second World War
• Combat Crew: A True Story of Flying and Fighting in World War II
• Japan at War: An Oral History
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words
• Dune Messiah (Dune, #2)
• The War on the West
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The Man Who Never Missed (Matador, #1)
• Black Steel (Matador, #7)
• The Art of Ron Cobb
• Brother Death (Matador, #8)
• Understand, Good, Play