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A running ranking of the year's best books


The #9 Best Book of 2022: Book Lovers
★★★★★ A better version of the "city dweller finds love in a small town" trope, while also ranking as the funniest book I read in 2022.

Greg Barlin
Jan 3, 20232 min read


The #10 Best Book of 2022: Pay Dirt Road
★★★★☆ A waitress in rural Texas gets thrust into a murder investigation, with enough nuance that it rises above garden variety mysteries.

Greg Barlin
Jan 2, 20231 min read


The Best Books of 2022 (#20-#11), plus the "Naughty List" of books to avoid
Happy New Year! It’s time once again for what has become an annual tradition, my Books of the Year list. 2022 was a busy year of reading,...

Greg Barlin
Jan 1, 20234 min read


Discover Engaging Book Reviews at BarlinsBooks
An introduction to BarlinsBooks

Greg Barlin
Jan 1, 20233 min read


The Best Book of 2021: We Begin at the End
★★★★★ A thought-provoking and heartbreaking coming of age story, mixed with a small town mystery. My clear favorite of 2021 by a wide margin

Greg Barlin
Jan 12, 20222 min read


The #2 Best Book of 2021: Cloud Cuckoo Land
★★★★★ An ambitious, sprawling novel that intertwines 3 storylines across different places and times, but magically comes together in the end

Greg Barlin
Jan 11, 20222 min read


The #3 Best Book of 2021: Project Hail Mary
★★★★★ A scientist trapped alone in space trying to survive. What worked for The Martian does again and this time might be even better.

Greg Barlin
Jan 10, 20221 min read


The #4 Best Book of 2021: Razorblade Tears
★★★★★ When two young gay men are murdered, their fathers join forces to take solving the murders into their own hands.

Greg Barlin
Jan 9, 20222 min read
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