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The 60 Most Read Books of the 2022 Reading Challenge
As the final days of the year tick themselves off the calendar, the 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge is coming to a close. Sincere congratulations to all who participated, and can we just say…wow. More than 6.5 million (!) readers took the challenge this year, pledging to read more than 320 million (!!) books. That’s a lot of page-turning. Maybe there’s an alternative energy source here?
If you’re curious about which books were the most read in this year’s challenge, well, so were we. We’ve listed below the Top 60 books marked as Read (as opposed to, say, Want to Read) by those who signed up for the challenge. These are the raw numbers from Goodreads regulars, reporting on the books they finished in 2022.
The big takeaway, which quickly becomes apparent, is that author Colleen Hoover is the undisputed queen of publishing this year. She’s claimed 4 of the top 10 slots on our list, and 5 of the top 12. Hoover’s story is pretty amazing, and her success speaks to the supernova power of online reviews, viral reaction videos, and BookTok.
Those same online dynamics powered a huge surge for romance novels generally, romantic comedies specifically, and several individual books that broke through to mainstream pop culture in 2022. You’ll also find plenty of the year’s most talked-about titles in science fiction, memoirs, fantasy, thrillers, historical fiction, and existential ennui.
Check out our list, add anything promising to your own Want to Read shelf, and feel free to continue the conversation in the comments section.
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What are some of your favorite reads so far this year from your 2022 Reading Challenge? Let us know in the comments!
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
Comments Showing 251-300 of 327 (327 new)
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Kelli
(new)
Dec 15, 2022 07:40AM
I read 13 of the top 15 and 25 overall. Not at all surprised by the amount of romance and comedy on this list … post-pandemic, people are looking for easy breezy, feel good reads.
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The Sentence by Louise Erdich is one of the best books ever written. Timely and with elegant prose
Have only read 11 of these and sm in 3 book clubs!
Where are the historical fiction books, becoming more plentiful recently.
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I agree.
I have read 5 of this list and my absolute favorite is addy le rue, than the midnight library and third the crawdads sing although I’ve read it a few years back than it was in the too of my list 😁
I've read two of these books but not this year. Many of these books are basic reads and not of a general listing. Where are the popular authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, David Balducci, etc?
I am surprised how many of these I have absolutely no desire to read. I have read 16 and 1 is on my tbr
I've read 62 books this year and 13 are on this list BUT there's about 17 on my TBR on this list too! I have to say though, that I'm quite disappointed there aren't more BIPOC authors listed... just a bunch of Colleen Hoover smh.
I've read 3 of these with two more in my "Want to Read" lists. Of those 3, one was read in a previous year. Even though I don't always agree with others tastes, I do enjoy seeing what others are reading to see if I can pick up a few ideas for future reading.
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I could not agree more, Benjamin.
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."Me too.Most seem pretty much the same.Read one or two which were ok ish but not much more..
Barbara wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I agree a disappointing ..."
Only would consider one or two on this list
Emma wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I agree with you. At the..."
I agree also, what a disappointing bunch of fluff.
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book." I have not even heard of nearly all of these titles. The only one I've read is the Harry Potter book, and I read a lot of books. Only one non-fiction as far as I can tell and that is a self-help book.
Read 8, and don't intend to read any others on the list.
I've read 29 off this list, and have 12 more of them on my TBR. So that's pretty good.
I feel like the fact that Hoover has 10 out of 60 books on this list is half the reason they did top 60 instead of 50.
Barbara wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I agree a disappointing ..."
Agreed!!!
Ive read 15 of these between 2021 and 2022. All goodies!
6 read for me. It seems like a lot of romance novels that I don't read.
I've read 13 of those listed. I saw no other that is enticing in this list.
I’ve read 16 of these, but not all of them were read in 2022.
I've read 116 books this year and none of them are on my radar, not my thing at all.
I've read 6 of these although not read this year.
I've read 8 but I must say most appear to be light easy reads. Not an inspiring list at all.
Only two from the list and I’ve read 78 books this year and none of them have been Colleen Hoover. Wondering what all the fuss is about.
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book.". agree!Jiji wrote: "Colleen Hoover... Loved a couple of her earlier books but I can't get past Verity. I only read Verity and it fell flat so I never tried any others.
Surprised Harry Potter continues to be on most read books lists."
Keri wrote: "Only 3 for me in total and only one that I have read as yet."
Amber wrote: "Can we have a most read list that doesn’t include Colleen Hoover?"I would agree with you if it was another list (such as most recommended) , but if this is the list of the most-read books, don't see how they can change that?? If this is what folks are reading based on their challenges, that it is what it is......
Jon wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."I agree, but I think thi..."
I tend to agree with you.......
Ready for this Colleen Hoover fever to subside.
OMG.. I've read maybe 200 books this year but none of these, which mostly look like fluffy romances. Says something about Goodreads readers, I guess.
Taryn wrote: "This should be retitled as "The 60 Most Basic Books". Ok some exceptions apply but still."Give us a list of some of the books you think should have been included on your Non-Basic list of books.
Brittany wrote: "Out of almost 400 books, My personal 5 star reads for 2022 have been:
[bookcover:Wh..."
You read 400 books this year? I read 38 and thought I was doing good. 😁
I have read, or listened, to 38 books this year, and 12 were from this list. I have 6 books from this list that I had marked as want to read. I don’t always read current books. Two older books that I read this year and thought were very good were: “The Giver” by Lois Lowry and “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann. I also read “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles and thought it was very good. I also watched the movie made from this book, and as usual, the book was much better. The fact that Tom Hanks starred in this movie, that was streaming on Netflix, did help a lot, though.
The 2 best novels I read this year were Fellowship Point and The Love Songs of WEB DuBois. After reading the CH reviews, I won't be trying any of those. If the author can't observe proper rules of the English language, they won't be on my list to read. I don't mean to be a snob, but when I look at a book's first few pages, there needs to be some multi-syllable words or I'm not interested.
I've pnly read Crawdads and Harry Potter, but not this year. The majority of these don't look interesting to me.One of the best writers I discovered this past year is William Kent Krueger. One book and I was addicted!
I have read only 1 on the list and not this year. There is 1 other on the list that I want to read. I am surprised how similar the books on this list are. My challenge this year was to read 48 books, I am determined to make it, I have 6 left!
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."Agree. I wonder if it's a function of the demography of the group.
Are there any male writers any more??
Amazing. If you tot up the amount of book’s written by women in this list it must be nigh on 90%. I assume that women probably account for 90% of all readers these days. That seems remarkable.
I've read just one of them. Lucy Foley's 'The Guest List'.
Aimee wrote: "I have read 21 of these, but not all in this past year."Barbara wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."
I agree a disappointing ..."
Benjamin wrote: "Not to sound negative, but it's a shame these books are the most read. So many other great genres out there. They seemed a bit all the same type of book."
I agree, much of the same genre, and not very inspired.
