My Favorite Ten Books of 2022

If someone asked me what has been the most life-changing year of my life, I would say 2022. The year started with the passing of my Mom - and only kept changing when I had to leave everything behind for an uncertain future in England. More than ever, I found comfort in books. Knowing that I can leave reality, for even a moment, and get lost in a book has been sanity-saving.

Originally, I was going to do twenty books, but after I spent so much time going into why I loved them; I thought it may be time-sufficient to limit my books to ten (as a side note, a very difficult task). The books I picked below had an impact on me - emotionally and/or mentally. I always feel like books find you in a time and place when you need them the most, and I found the below at the perfect time. They made me laugh and they made me cry - and they reminded me that it was okay to not be okay. 2022 was a year of healing and leaving, but it was also a year of strength and love. No matter what you have going on in your life or relationships, please know you are not alone. I struggled so long with trying to look strong and happy that it took a well-placed quote to remind me that no one really has it all together.

We are all in this together - so why not get lost in an adventure or two along the way? If you are in need of a literature hug, these books will be the perfect next adventure.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman⭐

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This was my first read of 2022 - I started this book by reading it to my Mom while she was incubated in the ICU. I was convinced she was mentally bored while she laid there waiting to get better, and I thought starting a new book together would lighten the room. I acted out the character's voices and often found myself so caught up in the story, I would forget that I was speaking out loud. When I got to a particularly funny part, I would look up half-expecting a warm laugh or her sparkling eyes to greet me. I was met with the monotonous beeping of the ECG monitor, but I was still so sure we would see the story through.

That being said, it was difficult to finish the book alone. I would often catch myself looking up from the book and bursting out in tears. A part of me wanted to push the book to the back of my bookcase - if her story couldn't be completed then why should this one? But there was also her voice in my head, urging me not to give up and finish what we had started. I knew that she would have hated not knowing the ending so I kept reading it out loud, certain she was listening somewhere.

I couldn't have picked a better book to read to my Mom. It is a courageous take on depression, loneliness, and mental struggles; all enduring parts of the human experience. A (failed) bank robber rushes into an open house and takes everyone hostage. But you soon find out that he is no normal bank robber and the open house attendants are so much more than normal hostages. Backman gently reminds us that everyone is struggling with their own demons - and treating each other with kindness and compassion can win the day (or even save a life).

“This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots. So it needs saying from the outset that it’s always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being human is.”

― Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi ⭐

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This was the first book that I purchased in the UK. In the US, we have Barnes & Nobles; in the UK, they have Waterstones. At a particularly small Waterstones in Durham, I found this magical book, tucked away between Fantasy and Fiction. The plot won me over - a coffee shop offering its customers a unique experience to travel back in time. With every magical experience, there are always rules to follow: the customer must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. This book asks the question: what would you change if you could go back in time?

When I finished reading the book (and mentally was still in the world of coffee, shop owners, and ghosts of the past) I pondered over this question. My heart kept going back to the last conversation I had with my Mom. I had taken her out to lunch to celebrate a raise I had gotten from work, and she had started talking about my Stepdad. The next thing I knew, we were arguing and she was crying. Regardless of my mood, she gave me the tightest hug and said that she was so proud of me and loved me. My Mom gave those types of hugs that you had to mentally pry yourself away - but I wish I hadn't started that fight and that I had hugged her back twice as hard.

“But Kazu still goes on believing that, no matter what difficulties people face, they will always have the strength to overcome them. It just takes heart. And if the chair can change someone’s heart, it clearly has its purpose.”

― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Home Going by Yaa Gyasi ⭐

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This book humbled me in so many ways. I read it as part of a book club and found myself having to take breaks from the heaviness and heartbreak. In my opinion, the best books are the ones that challenge you. They challenge you to reframe your thoughts, your worldviews, and your experiences. It is a profound read that spoke of families torn apart; but also of love, healing, and a new beginning.

The title, Homegoing, is taken from an old African-American belief that death allowed an enslaved person’s spirit to travel back to Africa. This book follows an Asante woman's descendants through seven generations and provides a thought-provoking read that follows two sisters, Effia and Esi. One is sold into slavery and the other becomes a slave trader's wife. The writing is beautiful and brings the characters to life, reminding us of the cost and loss of freedom for so many.

“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”

― Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig⭐

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This book found me while I was staying with my Grandma before moving to England. It was the exact book that I needed at that moment: a little bit of surrealism, but a lot of adventure. We meet Tom Hazard when he looks like he is an average 41-year-old history teacher when in reality he has a rare condition that causes him to age slower than the average human. I felt like I was part of Tom's story as he walked Elizabethan England, played the piano in Jazz-Age Paris, and embarked on an adventure to New York. He met wonderful people, fell in love, and had to say the hardest goodbyes. The only thing that keeps him going is a promise to find his daughter. As long as he keeps changing his identity, he can stay one step ahead of his past - and stay alive. The only thing he must not do is fall in love.

Matt Haig became one of my favorite authors after I read The Midnight Library. This book made me love him even more. Haig really delves into the question of what (and who) makes life worth living.

“People you love never die. That is what Omai had said, all those years ago. And he was right. They don't die. Not completely. They live in your mind, the way they always lived inside you. You keep their light alive. If you remember them well enough, they can still guide you, like the shine of long-extinguished stars could guide ships in unfamiliar waters.”

― Matt Haig, How to Stop Time

Outlawed by Anna North⭐

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Y'all this book is like a utopian western - just better. Specifically, it is a feminist story of not only overcoming but becoming. A western unlike any other, Outlawed features queer cowgirls, gender nonconforming robbers, and a band of feminists that fight against the grain for autonomy, agency, and the power to define their own worth. Set in the 1890s, Ada has it all: a bashful husband and an upcoming career as an apprentice midwife. But her luck will not last. It is every woman's duty to have a child, to replace those that were lost in the Great Flu. And after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are hanged as witches, Ada's survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows and she must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.

Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear. I couldn't put this book down, it reminded me that any type of change takes courage - and when needed, a spark can become a flame.

“And so I began my criminal career there in the house of God, with a leaky pen instead of a pistol and books instead of silver for my reward.”

― Anna North, Outlawed

The Book of Form & Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki⭐

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I was sold on this book after I found out the narrator was a book! It was such a magical experience and then I found myself relating to the characters and heartache on a personal level. I never thought I would relate to a fourteen-year-old boy, Benny Oh, but after the tragic loss of his father, my heart went out to him. However, the story takes a deeper turn when Benny begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house--a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, angry, and full of pain. When his mother, Annabelle, develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous.

Throughout Benny's journey, he meets a homeless philosopher-poet, who encourages him to ask important questions and find his own voice amongst the many. And he meets his very own Book--a talking thing--who narrates Benny's life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.

"Every person is trapped in their own particular bubble of delusion, and it’s every person’s task in life to break free. Books can help. We can make the past into the present, take you back in time and help you remember. We can show you things, shift your realities and widen your world, but the work of waking up is up to you."

― Narrator (The Book), Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form & Emptiness

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly⭐

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If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be this one. I found this book (or rather, it found me) at Harrogate's crime-writing festival. I had excitedly wandered around the stalls of books when this one stood out to me. I am not quite sure why it was there, it wasn't a mystery or thriller, but the beautiful cover inspired me to open it. It was right there, after reading the first page that I felt my heart drop. Later, after I curled up at home with a cup of hot cocoa and blankets, I started reading and got lost in reimagined fairytales, life stories, the Crooked Man, and a boy's quest to find something he had lost, but he had inside him the entire time. I honestly can't recommend this book enough. I haven't been able to talk about this book with anyone, but if you have or do read it, please let me know as I would love to have a proper book club discussion; this book deserves it.

“Before she came ill, David's mother would often tell him that stories were alive. They weren't alive in the way that people were alive, or even dogs or cats. (...) Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by torch light beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. (...) They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.”

― John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab ⭐

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Everyone had told me I had to read this book, and it did not disappoint. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was the perfect cocktail of magic, adventure, and love. In 1714, Addie made a desperate bargain to live forever - only giving up her soul when she didn't want it anymore. However, she is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets, unable to leave a mark on the world. Nearly 300 years later, Addie is still caught up in the beauty of a sunset and traveling. Yet everything changes when Addie stumbles across a young man and he remembers her name.

Honestly, this was one of the best endings I have ever read. In an attempt to be spoil-free, I will keep it brief, but it had me laugh-crying. It was completely unexpected but also completely legendary. It is one of those books that you don't want to end, but once it is done, it leaves you in a thought-provoking state of imagining what comes next.

"Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives--or to find strength in a very long one."

― V. E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

They Both Die at The End by Adam Silvera⭐

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Adam Silvia has a talent that makes you keep thinking of his books, long after you turned the last page. I know people will experience this book in different ways, but for me, I experienced it in a personal way that had me rooting for a different ending than the title suggests.

Now imagine, it is past midnight, and you get a call telling you that within the next 24-hours, you will die. They can't tell you how or even why, but that it will happen. Mateo and Rufus, both get the same dreaded call and through friendship and love make something meaningful out of sadness. Throughout it all, Silvia gives a wake-up call to stop walking through life and start living life. Truly living, having the hard conversations, singing karaoke like there is no one else in the room, dancing in the rain, and falling in love. Also, They Both Die At The End gently reminded me that we don't have to go through difficult times alone: a friend is only a phone call away.

“You may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. Some you’ll discover you should put behind you. Others are worth every risk.”

― Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End

Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune

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This book made TJ Klune one of my favorite authors. Just like Fredrik Backman (author of A Man Called Ove) he had a talent for making me fall in love with traditionally unlikable characters. Wallace is a corporate lawyer that has a complete disregard for anyone's feelings but his own and when a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own sparsely-attended funeral, Wallace is outraged. But he begins to suspect he is, in fact, dead. Then when Hugo, owner of a most peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace reluctantly accepts the truth. So when he’s given one week to pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in just seven days.

After reading this book, I recommended it to everyone. I also immediately read another one of his books, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and found myself, again, falling in love with the plot and characters. I noticed that both books carry the same theme: becoming comfortable in day-to-day operations and forgetting about doing things that truly make you happy. There are so many things to take away from this book, but if you take away one, remember that you are worthy of beautiful things and never give up on your dreams.

“Everyone loses their way at some point, and it’s not just because of their mistakes or the decisions they make. It’s because they’re horribly, wonderfully human. And the one thing I’ve learned about being human is that we can’t do this alone. When we’re lost, we need help to try to find our way again.”

― T.J. Klune, Under the Whispering Door