Favorite Reads of 2022

Books are one of my favorite things, and I love to talk about them. Every reader is unique, of course, and we each have a wheelhouse–characteristics that will make us love (or hate) a book. Maybe you love stories about magical portals (I recommend The Ten Thousand Doors of January) or LGBTQ romance (definitely read Red, White and Royal Blue). Maybe you can’t stand purple prose, or you can’t focus well enough to read non-fiction.

What I want most in a book is to fall through the page. I want to forget I’m reading and just be in the story or the author’s thoughts. Yet I also read for craft. Why did one author present her memoir in a non-linear way, jumping back and forth in time seemingly at random, while another chose straight factual chronology? What makes a thriller so compelling that I can’t stop reading it? What can I learn from this book to help me improve my own thinking and writing?

Of all the books I read in 2022, these are my favorites. These stories moved me, impressed me, and stuck with me. I’m presenting them in no particular order, and I recommend them all equally. I hope whatever you read this year meant as much to you as these books did to me.

Non-Fiction

The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke: Finalist for the National Book Award, New York Times best seller, and hitting many Top Books of 2022 lists, this book should be required reading for all med students, as well as anyone affected by chronic illness. O’Rourke seamlessly blends her personal journey with chronic illness with superb reporting on the medical, scientific and social issues that chronic illness presents to us. This book will make you feel seen, and it will make you think.

Long Covid Survival Guide, edited by Fiona Lowenstein: This book is an instruction manual for dealing with Long Covid, and is relevant to many other chronic illnesses as well. The contributing authors share much needed, diverse perspectives on how to manage the practical, medical, and emotional challenges of living with serious chronic illness.

What Doesn’t Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness by Tessa Miller: I wish I had this book when I got sick. Miller has Crohn’s disease, but the lessons she shares in this book apply to anyone with chronic illness. From identifying good doctors to managing relationships to coping with trauma, this book covers it all with detail and compassion.

About Alice by Calvin Trillin: I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, which made Trillin’s portrait of his late wife feel even more intimate. Trillin shares what Alice meant to him and their family, how she helped him be a better writer, and how sharp and incisive her own writing was. It’s sad and amusing, and left me wishing I could have known Alice myself.

In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom: This book is a New York Times best seller and is on many Best Of lists for 2022. Bloom’s husband developed early Alzheimer’s and eventually chose to end his life at Dignitas. In this memoir, Bloom shares her husband’s life and his death with heartbreaking love and grace.

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett: This is the first Patchett book I have read, and I immediately put all her other books on my TBR list. These essays are somehow entertaining and poignant all at the same time, and Patchett’s delightful personality shines through.

Fatigue by Jennifer Acker: This Kindle exclusive packs an enormous experience into a small package. Acker became sick with ME, and then her husband became disabled with a frozen shoulder. She describes how their dual challenges required them to care for each other in new ways and how it changed their marriage. I learned so much from this that I am applying to my own memoir of disability and marriage.

Fiction

Babel by R.F. Kuang: Sometimes I read a book and am destroyed by how good it is. Babel wrecked me. Set in an alternate Victorian world where the British Empire is the seat of power and magical silver-working, this book examines class, language translation, colonialism, and revolution, and somehow makes you care so deeply about it all that the ending breaks your heart. I have been a fan of Kuang since her very first book, but this is a master work.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: The title is the premise of this horror novel. Abby, the narrator, is a high school student in 1988 (and the cultural references throughout warmed my Gen X heart) when her best friend begins acting strangely. Events snowball to a terrifying conclusion, but this is a book about friendship and I loved it.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik: This conclusion of the Scholomance Trilogy was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was not disappointed. Like the first two books in the series, this was a combination of teenage angst, magic, monsters, and a love story, and manages to be suspenseful, funny, and touching. That’s a lot to pack into one book and Novik does it with ease.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb: Ostensibly a thriller about a stolen Stradivarius (and it’s a great thriller), what I really loved about this book was the inside look at racism in classical music. Slocumb is a professional violinist and educator, and he drew upon his own experiences to portray the main character’s challenges as a Black classical musician.

The Travel Guide to the Dimension of Lost Things by Effie Seiberg: This one is a short story, not a novel, and I don’t read many short stories, but this one stuck with me. It’s about depression, and losing yourself, and maybe finding yourself again, but told with just the right amount of snark.

And one last note from me: support your local libraries! Libraries are key to an educated citizenry and functioning democracy, and knowledge should be free to all. Do what you can to use and support the libraries near you!