I can’t remember a year where I’ve read so few of the books that are being touted on the Best of the Year Lists (see, for example, Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, and Time). This year I read 34 books published in 2022, which is similar to how I read last year, meaning just under one-third of my books were new releases. I think I did a lot more “comfort reading” this year, so I read less literary fiction, which is maybe why I didn’t read a lot of the “best-of’s”.
Here are my favorites that were published this year, in rough order:
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
- Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu
- Lady Justice by Dahlia Lithwick
- The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews
- Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry
- Haven by Emma Donoghue
Other 2022 releases I enjoyed this year were Michelle Gallen’s Factory Girls, Stacie Murphy’s The Unquiet Dead, T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone, Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes, and Jennifer Haupt’s Come As You Are.
There were a few 2022 books that are touted on the best-of lists but didn’t live up to the hype for me. These were Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House, Susan Straight’s Mecca, and Karen Joy Fowler’s Booth.
I’ll be posting next week about my favorite overall reads of 2022; these are just the books that were released this year. What were your favorite new releases in 2022?
