We at bookclique reviewed a bounteous plethora of books in 2022. We spanned decades and genres; we plucked old favorites off our shelves and peeked at not-yet-published preorders. Essays, novels, poetry, memoirs, a memoir composed of poetry, Jane Austen on Audible, even a handbook on writing in case you wanted to try your hand. A bildungsroman about a spirited Pakistani exchange student, a dystopian near-future where “bad” mothers learn to parent robot children, a page-turning murder trial with fascinating twists, connected stories eviscerating and elevating technology, indigenous people fighting to save their tribes from erasure, Asian actors in eat-or-be-eaten (literally) Hollywood, friends and one famous actor isolating during Covid, and a true story charting illness and healing are just a few of the stories we read and loved. Prize winners, bestsellers, off-the-radar-recommendations, ones to make you weep, ones to evoke nostalgia, ones to rouse or discomfort you, and ones to transport you. In a year that saw successful efforts to ban books in schools and libraries, we believe that we must fight back: reading is power, reading is pleasure, reading is intellectual freedom, and reading must be protected and supported. So purchase books, download books, borrow books, discuss books, recommend books, and donate books. Here are our favorites from 2022:
Miracle Country by Kendra Atleework
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
Phantompains by Therese Estacion
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
What We Carry by Maya Shanbhag Lang
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaoud
Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boyle
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura
The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found by Frank Bruni
American Fever by Dur E Aziz Amna
Maisie Dobbs Series by Jacqueline Winspear
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin