A list of the books I read in the second quarter of 2022, in rough chronological order:

1. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North

2. Shit Cassandra Saw, by Gwen E. Kirby

3. Miroir de Nos Peines, by Pierre Lemaitre (French language edition)

4. Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson

5. Comme un Coeur Posé sur la Mer, by Gabrielle Blanchout (French language edition)

6. Love Like That, by Emma Duffy-Comparone

7. Let’s Not Do That Again, by Grant Ginder

8. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, by Kim Fu

9. Joueuse, by Benoît Philippon (French language edition)

10. Don’t Know Tough, by Eli Cranor

11. Origami Blues, by Sarah Clain (French language edition)

12. Secret Identity, by Alex Segura

13. One-Shot Harry, by Gary Phillips

14. Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri

15. Confessions, by Kinae Minato

16. Country Hardball, by Steve Weddle

17. L.A. Weather, by María Amparo Escandón

18. Peindre la Pluie en Couleurs, by Aurélie Tramier (French language edition)

19. November Road, by Lou Berney

20. Reprieve, by James Han Mattson

21. Summer Sons, by Lee Mandelo

22. Demain, J’Arrête! by Gilles LeGardinier (French language edition)

23. Ramadan Ramsey, by Louis Edwards

24. Hermès Baby, by Louise De Bergh (French language edition)

25. Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon

26. The Death of Vivek Oji, by Akwaeke Emezi

27. Poulets Grillées, by Sophie Hénaff (French language edition)

28. Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, by Mark Haber

29. The Eight Mountains, by Paolo Cognetti

30. An Olive Grove in Ends, by Moses McKenzie

31. This is How it Always Is, by Laurie Frankel

32. Jules, by Didier van Cauwelaert (French language edition)

33. Calypso, by David Sedaris

34. Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between, by Joseph Osmundson

35. Le Magasin des Jouets Cassés, by Julien Rampin (French language edition)

36. After the Lights Go Out, by John Vercher

37. Cult Classic, by Sloane Crosley

38. L’Héritage de Tata Lucie, by Philippe Saimbert (French language edition)

39. The Devil Himself, by Peter Farris

40. Last Summer on State Street, by Toya Wolfe

As in the past, I’ve bolded the books that really wowed me and that I would recommend highly.

For the bolding this quarter, I struggled even more than usual. Over the past three months, I read several collections of short stories (some highly connected and some not connected at all). In every single case, one or more of the stories in the collections completely stunned me—the type of wow that made me put the book down and just sit with it for a while.

However, when it comes to an entire story collection, I lean toward feeling like at least 80 percent of the book needs to have that level of impact for me to bold it as a favorite of the quarter; I waver as to whether this is a fair measuring stick.

All this to say that, as you check out my list, don’t assume that a short story collection that I didn’t bold didn’t have bold-worthy pieces—and often more than one. If you love short stories, I’d actually recommend every single one of the collections I read this quarter and listed above.

For a list of the books I read in the first quarter of this year, including the books I appreciated the most out of Q1 2022, you can find it via this link. I’ve published my Q2 2022 list as well! You can find my Q2 2022 reads and favorites here. And if you’d like to see how I wrapped up my 2022 reading year, you can check out my Q4 2022 list via this link.

For my final review of my 2022 reading year, including my list of the best of the best of all my favorite years from the year, click here.

And to learn which books I read in 2021 that I considered the best of the best (along with links to all the other books I read and recommended last year), click here.

I’ve you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have recommendations for what I should read? Let’s hear them!