Top Ten Books I Read in 2022

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is our top books we read in 2022. I already wrote about my top 2022 releases and my favorite audiobooks. These are my favorite books that I read in 2022.

1. Inheritance by Dani Shapiro (2019): I loved everything about this memoir, from Shapiro’s exploration of her beliefs and identity as a Jew, to her genealogical research and discovery of who she was, to her greater understanding of her parents. This book had it all — it was an incredible story that was also really well-written.
2. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki (2021): I read this because I loved Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being and also this was nominated for (and won) the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022. Ozeki has a unique writing style, combining the fantastic with the introspective, in this story of a boy who loses his father and is tormented by hearing voices from the inanimate objects around him.
3. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (2022). I loved Stuart’s Shuggie Bain, and this follow-up didn’t disappoint. While similar, where Shuggie Bain was devastating, this story was moving and even hopeful at times.
4. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011). My first book by Towles, this was a thoughtful depiction of young New Yorkers in 1937, dealing with love and money, career and friendship.
5. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011). Miller is always highly recommended, and this book didn’t disappoint. While I wasn’t so interested in the Trojan War from a battle perspective, Miller focuses instead on the relationship between her two main characters, and what it means to be heroic. Patroclus expects to spend his life serving and living in the shadows of his beloved Achilles, but there’s more to him than he thinks.
6. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022). Kingsolver’s take on one of Dickens’ greatest works doesn’t disappoint for a minute. She brings a modernization to the story that will deepen readers’ understanding of the opioid epidemic and life in rural America.
7. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson (2021). I’ve loved all of Lawson’s books and think she is a writer who doesn’t get enough acclaim. This book about a small town in Canada brings together a troubled young girl and the son of the elderly neighbor she befriends. It’s “sweet” at times, in the way many small town books are, but also deeply moving.
8. Being Heumann by Judith Heumann (2020). I can’t say enough about this memoir and history of the disability rights movement, by a truly amazing person.
9. Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu (2022, ARC from NetGalley). I was fortunate to receive an ARC of this book which is a fascinating look at Chinese history during World War II and the experiences of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. after the war.
10. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022, recommended by Modern Mrs. Darcy): one of my favorite 2022 releases, this was a clever, humorous and sometimes devastating book about an unusual woman in the 1960s. If you’re looking for more books about women in science, this is a great read.
11. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (2022, recommended by Modern Mrs. Darcy): another of my favorite 2022 releases, this book explores racist policies in the 1970s around abortion, birth control, and sterilization of poor women of color, and centers around an actual civil rights lawsuit. It’s also a moving story about a young woman who explores what it means to be privileged.
12. Quiet by Susan Cain (2012). While not a perfect book, I’m including it because I learned a lot from it and continue to think about what it means to be introverted and how we can recognize our strengths and those of others.
13. Heartstopper #1 by Alice Oseman (2018): my sister recommended the show, which I absolutely loved, and now I can’t resist these graphic novels. This was a beautiful book and show, highly recommended.

Those are my favorite books of 2022! What were some of your favorites?