My 5 Favorite Books of 2022
Another year of excellent reading has ended and another one begins. As always, I’ve collected my favorites and am excited to share them with you, reader, as you decide what books will win your time this year, 2023. My friends Dom & Annika for the second year have also generously shared their lists with me so that I can share them with you.
Some honorable mentions.
In 2022 I read a lot more fiction than I am used to, and was lucky enough to hit a long streak of stories that seemed molded exactly to my taste. Fiction is at its best to me when it twists and turns into being VERY weird or when it melts me into the gooiest part of my humanity - which usually results in me sobbing. The books on my top 5 list this year had me excited. During my lunch breaks, before bed, while waiting at an auto shop, killing time before a hang out, I was buzzing to get back into the world and the ideas that the writers of these stories chose to share with us. Even now, I am thinking nostalgically to the time I spent between the pages, who I was then, and what these books helped me understand about humanity and myself.
All these books, I notice, are linked by the theme of what it takes to live a fully human life and they portray a deep and complex love for others within that journey. I hope you are moved by them as much as I was.
1. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (fiction)
Oh man, my love for this book cannot be quelled. If you were around me in February, I’m sure I would have found a way to mention this book in our conversation. Klara and the Sun follows the perspective of Klara, an “Artificial Friend,” as she observes the human world around her and attempts to understand the complexities of human emotion. When she is chosen to be the companion to a sick child, she finds she’ll stop at nothing to make sure she can save her and keep the family happy.
This book is a sci-fi novel that grounds its story in kindness and love. Something that particularly spoke to me is how Ishiguro touches on faith and spirituality, but we see it through the perspective of an AI robot kid. Klara is pure and lovely, and so smart. I adore her, and can see myself returning to Klara and the Sun for a pick me up down the road.
“Do you believe in the human heart? I don’t mean simply the organ, obviously. I’m speaking in the poetic sense. The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing? Something that makes each of us special and individual? And if we just suppose that there is. Then don’t you think, in order to truly learn Josie, you’d have to learn not just her mannerisms but what’s deeply inside her? Wouldn’t you have to learn her heart?”
2. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin (non-fiction)
Without diving into a long tangent, I have to emphasize how much I needed to read this book at this stage in my life. This is not just a book about how to handle your money, though it is stuffed with that knowledge. It is a book on how to practice compassionate self-awareness while living in a culture of capitalism that thrives off our mindless consumerism.
If you’ve read my blogs before, my sustainability journey is no surprise, but I admit it feels difficult to follow through when the world is built to capitalize even on moralistic values. Your Money or Your Life, guides you through the concept of money in order to really see it in a way that works for you and what you truly want out of life. It was definitely a tool that helped me shift my mindset towards money to be much more healthy and less fearful while highlighting sustainability as a practical way to save money, save the planet, and to amplify your own community and sense of togetherness.
“…ultimately you are the one who determines what money is worth to you. It is your life energy. You “pay” for your money with your time. […] While money has no intrinsic reality, our life energy does […] It is precious because it is limited and irretrievable and because our choices about how we use it express the meaning and purpose of our time here on earth.”
3. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (fiction)
I would not have picked up this book were it not for Annika picking it as one of our book club reads. Kudos to her for an extraordinary pick! It is a fictional story of Shakespeare’s family, and the tragic death of Hamnet, the son that the play Hamlet is named after. It is a story of grief, love, and of fate.
I fell in love with the writing and the characters and couldn’t stop turning the page to hope that everything would be okay, even while knowing how things end for the family. There is one whole chapter in particular that has stuck with me the entire year that describes how a plague began following the journey of a flea that hitches a ride on a boat and makes his way to the family in question. A worthwhile read.
“She hates the way the people part to let them past and then, behind them, regroup, erasing their passage, as if it were nothing, as if it never were. She wishes to scratch the ground, perhaps with a hoe, to score the streets beneath her, so that there will forever be a mark, for it always to be known that this way Hamnet came. He was here.”
4. All About Love by Bell Hooks (non-fiction)
It is my hope that everyone in the world reads this book. Bell Hooks does such a wonderful job of deconstructing our world view of love and then turning around and constructing a pure depiction of what love truly is. And of course, Hooks does this with a tender hand and a brave vulnerability that stuns me and motivates me both as a human being and as a writer.
I annotated every page of this book, and have gone back to it several times already to read through the highlights. I want to see a world that is kinder and loving and altruistic, and perhaps reading this book can get us one step closer to that.
“… living ethically ensures that relationships in our lives, including encounters with strangers, nurture our spiritual growth. Behaving unethically, with no thought to the consequences of our actions, is a bit like eating tons of junk food. While it may taste good, in the end the body is never really adequately nourished and remains in a constant state of lack and longing. Our souls feel this lack when we act unethically, behaving in ways that diminish our spirits and dehumanize others.”
5. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (fiction)
A bizarre and fascinating piece of fiction that is clever enough to know how to marry the themes of motherhood and artistry with both horror and magic. I bought it off a whim while on a trip, I liked the provocation of reading a book publicly with such a title, and I immediately started reading it and couldn’t put it down.
The story centers a new mother who is concerned she is turning into a dog when she finds coarse body hair all down her back and a nub on her tail bone that she has the urge to wag. Is she just going insane being trapped in her good mommy routine day in and day out? Or is she actually turning into a dog? It’s incredibly funny, gut wrenching, and real in the most surreal way. It’s also the most fun I had reading in 2022.
“Her mother was good and responsible and holy and always somewhere far away in her own head, or with a headache, or napping, or just, please, leave me alone.[…] always the girl had thought her mother was pushing her out the door, away and away, go fast.[…] but now she saw it for what it was: her mother’s best love. How many generations of women had delayed their greatness only to have time extinguish it completely? How many women had run out of time while the men didn’t know what to do with theirs? And what a mean trick to call such things holy or selfless. How evil to praise women for giving up each and every dream.”
Dom’s favorites of 2022
I never really thought I'd be into historical fiction, but Hamnet definitely opened my eyes to it. I loved so many of the writing decisions in this book, such as the way the chapters are structured and how Shakespeare is never referred to by name. Overall a great and heartbreaking story about a family living in a much different age.
4. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Such a fun sci fi book. It is by the same author as "the Martian," and arguably this is his best work to date.
3. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I will admit this took me a bit to fully get engrossed into, as it is a slow burn; but before you know it, the mystery of the world the characters live in gradually creeps up on you. The book only hints at the circumstances that the characters are in, and once you have all the pieces to the puzzle, you're left heartbroken, disgusted, and in awe.
2. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
A haunting and intriguing story through and through. This one follows two different, seemingly unrelated characters in a back-and-forth chapter structure, each one completely captivating in its own way. The way they come together at the end to form the finale left such an impact on me.
1. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
An absolute epic fantasy saga, this book turned me into such a fantasy nerd this year. The way Sanderson gets you completely captivated by his characters blows me away. And the last 100 pages were the most intense, epic, and gripping fantasy action I've ever read. I love this book (and series) so much.
Annika’s favorites of 2022
5. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
The three different stories in this book were each about people yearning for a better life. I really connected with their struggles of accepting the ways their lives could have been better. Each story felt so human, especially with how each incorporated the way political turmoil upheaves personal lives and relationships. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in each world Yanagihara crafted in this book and found myself desperate to see each character find their own paradise.
4. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
I have tried multiple times now to get into short story collections and this is the only one I have enjoyed through each one. Each story deals with a different horror or fairytale trope or wives’ tale but with a twist. It really showed off how fantastic of a writer Carmen Maria Machado truly is. Her words sucked me in and made me feel seen in the indescribable experience of being a woman. Every story had a grounding point and theme that shone through even as insanity ensued.
3. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Both books in this duology belong on this list for me, but I do favor the first. It was a short but sweet story that was so life affirming. The effortless way Becky Chambers built lovable characters in a compelling sci-fi world, was a sight to behold. It’s inspiring and a really wonderful tale with no words wasted.
2. There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton
I read this book as I began my own journey of trying to get a career starting job, so it was more so of a right place right time book for me. I always appreciate how circular Japanese novels are, everything comes back around. It makes the reading experience so worth it. This book reminded me that there is no veering off the path meant for you and any time spent isn’t time wasted. No job is beneath you and no job is easy.
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I actually read this book twice this year. First, as a physical book and it was my first read of the year. I then reread it in audiobook form just to re-experience the magic of it. I loved how fleshed out the world was with each chapter talking about a different character and telling their story that was interconnected with the main story. It showed how every person had their own life and perspective without completely derailing the narrative. The magic felt tangible and real without feeling hoaky. Erin Morgenstern described everything in such detail that it was easy to imagine the impossible.
