10 Best Books of 2022
If you don’t like reading about other peoples’ reading lives here’s your chance to jump ship. Let me quickly break down the stats for you, and then we’ll get to the 10 best books I read in 2022.
I read 47 books this year, and I only quit one. My books read list is split almost exactly in half with 25 fiction and 22 nonfiction, and 8 of those fiction books came from the library. Last year I read about 20 more books, but our family did have two major life events occur in 2022. We moved back to our hometown in June, and we had a baby in July (a month early)!
Keep reading for my 10 best books of 2022, broken down by two categories: Fiction and Nonfiction.
Let’s Start With Fiction
Number six in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, this is one of my favorites so far. She uses a technique I found fascinating to push the plot forward. Yes, there’s a case in the present, but what really propels this novel forward is looking back in time to what happened between the last book (The Brutal Telling) and this one. It’s such a compelling read. I could hardly put it down, and not only because it was a library book on a time crunch.
I found this on a recommendation from my favorite book source, The Modern Mrs. Darcy blog by Anne Bogel. I don’t remember what about her description piqued my interest, but it definitely held up upon reading. It’s the story of a family from Beirut, currently residing in the US. The book delves into their history, into their secrets, and into the events that shaped this family into what you see today. I couldn’t stop turning the pages, even when dinner burned on the stove beside me.
A funny story about my copy of this book: As I read, I discovered at just past the halfway point there was a terrible misprint. At about page 200, we’ll say (I don’t remember the actual numbers), the page numbers went back to 163 and continued on like this for at least 30 pages, before returning to the 200s. Those 30 pages replaced the ones that should have been there. I got a replacement quickly and at no cost to me, so all was right with the world, and I did get to read those 30 missing pages. This was not the only experience I had with misprints this year.
If you like spooky books with a haunting feel to them, if you like books that follow a tragic love story, this might be one you’ll enjoy. Set on the coast of Maine, you travel between the present day of the time period and a long time ago, following the story of two different girls and their experiences in this same house and quiet coastal town. It’s not a page-turner because of the action, but because of the mystery pulling you forward across the waves. What happened all those years ago? What makes these beings linger in such liminal space? Why is this house haunted with such malevolence?
Reading the first pages of this book brought an eerie sense that I’d felt this panicked feeling before at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Station Eleven a post-apocalyptic world, where most of the population was wiped out by a flu pandemic. The story follows Kristen Raymonde, a member of a travelling troupe of musicians and actors performing Shakespeare to preserve what’s left of the arts. I loved the mixture of classic Shakespeare and roving bands in this setting. It’s a different book than I’ve read before. The desolation of the times came alive in the pages, but with the lyrical twist of the great bard himself coming along for the ride.
I’ll admit the series on Hulu bright this one to my attention, but it’s well worth the read, even so. I enjoyed the deep dive into family dynamics, interconnected relationships, and the discovery of what led to their present way of being. This book got me through several long lines at the DMV and County Clerk’s Office when we moved back to Tennessee. It was such an engrossing read. I needed to know how these families came together and what made them the way they are.
And Now to the Nonfiction
Tsh Oxenreider, her husband and three young kids pack up a backpack each, sell their home and move from city to city circumnavigating the globe for a year. Why does this matter to you? I have a serious case of wanderlust, longing to see those faraway places, but I don’t have the means or the time to do that as much as I’d need to to see it all. Enter Tsh. In her book, I felt like I was along for the ride with her family, experiencing the packed streets of China, the lush green of New Zealand, and Christmas in summertime in Australia. Pair this book with a cup of hot cinnamon spice tea, a little honey and a splash of cream.
I really loved the behind the scenes nature of this book. I loved watching (and re-watching) The Office. In his book, Brian gives you a transcript of his conversations with other cast and crew from the show to get their perspective on the overall show and a deep dive on each episode. It was so neat to learn some of the little tidbits about the show, and the book reads like an ongoing conversation with the cast and crew. If you like knowing how iconic television shows are thought up, fought for, and brought to fruition on your screen this is an excellent choice for you. Bonus points if you already love The Office.
As someone who likes a more challenging nonfiction read, this was a perfect choice. Dallas Willard expertly delves deep into topics and concepts most often associated with a seminary classroom, but doesn’t use the coded language only pastors and other ministry personnel understand. He writes in a way that challenges you in your faith and pushes you in your intellectuality. He takes the top shelf concepts and puts on a lower level for his readers. Personally, I love it when books push the boundaries of my knowledge and understanding. He includes small sections in each chapter that walks you through an exercise in Lectio Divina, which I found very helpful.
I first learned about her book during a live teaching she gave in my writer’s group. As soon as I heard the concept, I knew I had to read this book. I’m an introvert, which can be difficult to navigate in a world which seems to be run by extroverts. In her book, Holley Gerth provides explanations for why being an Introvert is a good thing, why people like me are needed to balance out our extrovert friends, and even gives a look at the science behind why this is all true. If you’re an introvert or you love someone who is an introvert, this might be a great read to understand what it’s like navigating the world as one.
You may not be familiar with this author if you don’t watch the Bravo show Below Deck. This is a reality tv show depicting the lives of the people who live and work on mega-yachts (super-yachts and sailing yachts), along with their captains. Captain Lee is just such a captain. My initial interest in this book was simply because he had written a book. I didn’t expect it to be very well written, but I was wanted to know more about his life before Below Deck. It did not disappoint. Reading this book felt like reading a fiction novel. Several chapters left me thinking, there is no way this is true! But indeed, it is true. If you like the ocean, dream of one day living on a houseboat, or you simply like the idea of someone else living on the open sea this might be the next book for you.
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Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
