The Best Book I Read In 2022
And other notable mentions
The Best Book of the Year
Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
Read it if you’re interested in: Bildungsromans, opioid addiction in America, coming of age stories, incredibly beautiful prose
A modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, this is the story of a young boy growing up in Southern Appalachia to a single mother, as he attempts to carve out a life for himself in a place ravaged by time and circumstance.
Sometimes I think to myself, ‘I could write a book.’ Then I read something like this and I realize I don’t even know what it means to write a book. This was far and away the best thing I’ve read this year, blowing everything else out of the water. I can’t remember another book I’ve read recently where every single sentence blew me away. Barbara Kingsolver is an absolute magician, a master of her craft. If anyone figures out how a 67 year old woman crafted a 15 year old boy character who is as real as anyone I’ve met in life, please let me know. Note: You don’t need to have read David Copperfield to enjoy this (I haven’t read it myself).
The Best of the Rest from 2022
Best Overall Fiction Honorable Mentions
The Cherry Robbers
by Sarai Walker
Read it if you’re interested in: Haunting family sagas, the intricate dynamics of sisterhood, Horror-esque themes and Gothic noirs.
Iris Chapel is the second youngest of six sisters, all heiresses to the Chapel firearms fortune. They live in a massive Victorian home with their aloof father and disturbed mother, who believes she’s being haunted by the ghosts of those killed by Chapel guns. The sisters’ station in life is to marry well and serve their husbands. But when they start pairing off, they begin to die, one by one, until finally it is only Iris left. She must find a way to stay alive.
A phenomenal literary feat loosely inspired by the life of Sarah Winchester, daughter of the Winchester rifle family. This book is a dark, eerie, Gothic triumph, one that feels much like falling down Alice’s rabbit hole, if the rabbit hole were filled with ghosts and curses. It’s unlike anything else I read this year, both creepy and seductive.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
Read it if you’re interested in: Nerds finding themselves in the world, gaming, literary fiction, finding brilliance in unlikely places
Two brilliant young people meet in unfortunate circumstances at a hospital and go on to create a world changing video game together.
This much hyped novel did not disappoint— it’s as good as the cover is beautiful. Readers need not be gamers, or even much interested in gaming, to appreciate this masterpiece. It is at its core a profound story about friendship and love, with characters so realistically written that they’ll stick with you long after the final page.
Best Overall Nonfiction
One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—And it’s Aftermath
by Asne Seierstad
Read if you’re interested in: European politics, Norway, theories about radicalization, narrative nonfiction, sociology
In 2011, a far right terrorist killed sixty nine people, mostly teenagers, during a world changing attack in what is normally a peaceful country. This is a story about how a man was radicalized, the hope of youth, and the work it takes for a nation to heal.
An extraordinarily well researched story, this is a deeply affecting, heartbreaking read. It focuses on the perpetrator of the attack and two victims in particular, whom the author uses to inform the entire story. It is difficult to read at many points but worth it, layered with a nuanced understanding of Norwegian and European politics that is perhaps even more relevant today. The author does a remarkable job of paying homage to the victims while helping readers to understand what led up to this incomprehensible point, all the while getting inside the head of a person who committed unspeakable violence.
Best Memoir
Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
Read it if you’re interested in: Chinese history, the Cultural Revolution, Mao, the resiliency of the human spirit
Chang, raised in China during Mao Zedong’s ascendance, recounts the stories of her grandmother, her mother and herself as they navigate life in the years of his reign.
The book begins when Chang is born to two young, idealistic Communist revolutionaries as the party begins to take hold in China. Her father is a true believer and a party official when he meets her mother, a young spark in the movement. But as the revolution rolls on, they quickly find themselves on the wrong side of Chairman Mao and his ideology. It is only many years later that the author learns the full scope of what went on, when her mother visits her in London and, in a series of conversations, tells the story of her life. This is not an easy book to read. It is dense, and it is filled with supremely difficult moments. Chang presents to us scenarios we can not imagine: labor camps, denunciation meetings, hundreds of miles of walking on bound feet. You need not be familiar with Chinese history to appreciate it. In fact, the author does a phenomenal job of explaining the history alongside her own family’s story.
There is no bad time to read this book, but I think perhaps there is no better time than right now to read this book. Chang writes with exceptional clarity about what happens when categorization of identity becomes the most important thing in a society, and words are equated with violence.
Best Psychology
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again
by Johann Hari
Read it if you’re interested in: The effects of digital inundation on our minds, the world’s shrinking attention span, manipulative corporations, navigating the future
A look at why our collective attention is waning, the technology and circumstances that brought us here, and how to get our focus back.
I first listened to Johann Hari talk about this subject on Bari Weiss’ podcast and immediately ran out for the book. It’s a fascinating and riveting exploration about modern day attention, with insights and data that’ll make your hair stand on end. It’s full of scientific studies including one particularly astounding one about how constantly picking up your phone affects your ability to focus. The really unique thing about this book that makes it stand out from others on the subject is that it pushes back against the notion that we, as users of technology, deserve blame for this and that we should merely try to be more mindful and spend more time disconnected. He insists the answer lies in a broader approach and a fundamental change to technology itself. Plus there’s some very interesting stuff about children and attention in here for parents.
Best Mystery
Two Nights in Lisbon
by Chris Pavone
Read it if you’re interested in: International intrigue, beautifully written crime fiction, twisty mysteries full of cliffhangers
A woman wakes up in Lisbon, where she has accompanied her new husband on a business trip, only to find that he has vanished without a trace. Contending with local police, the CIA and a handful of shadowy figures, she must procure a king’s ransom to ensure his safety.
A kidnapped man, a woman with a mysterious past and just a hint of international intrigue: this is a cleverly executed and expertly crafted story that has all the elements of a great thriller. It’s captivating from the get go, and readers will want to know where the hell this story is going. The pacing is excellent: cliffhangers and multiple story lines propel the plot forward quickly.
Best Literary Fiction
Cloud Cuckoo Land
by Anthony Doerr
Read it if you like: Nonliner plot lines, fantastical settings, dreamy storylines
This genre bending novel spans three drastically different settings and timelines: Constantinople in 1453, Idaho in 2020 and a point in the distant future. As the various characters navigate their own troubled times, a mysterious thread binds them all together.
This is everything a book should be: Magic, an homage to words, to books, to life itself. It defies clear categorization, and is appreciated best by letting it transport you without trying too hard to figure out how the puzzle pieces fit. All will be revealed in time, in a marvelous and satisfying way.
Small World
by Jonathan Evison
Read it if you’re interested in: Great American novels, historical epics, the transportive powers of railroads
An epic in the vein of the Great American Novel threading multiple storylines over centuries all woven together by the building of the transcontinental railroad.
A phenomenally crafted saga great for fans of Michael Christie’s Greenwood (from a previous newsletter) and Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle. The lives of a set of characters, each very different from one another, play out against the backdrop of the building of America’s railroads, culminating in a perfectly wrought cataclysm on one of those very trains. The different perspectives make for a deeply American story, one that asks and answers profound questions about what makes this country wonderful.
Best Science Fiction
Wanderers
by Chuck Wendig
Read it if you’re interested in: Creepy apocalyptic tales, mysterious diseases, a scrappy group of misfits fighting for humanity’s survival on a grand scale
A young girl in a small town begins sleepwalking and cannot be stopped. She is soon joined by another person, and then another. Soon enough a group of sleepwalkers is trekking across America, bound for something nobody seems able to figure out.
Admittedly this is probably not a book for everyone, but I was immersed from the start. An absolute page turner, reminiscent of Stephen King's The Stand (but maybe even better!). While more political than I care for my fiction to be at certain points, its easy to brush that aside if you're interested enough in the wider story. Wendig does hit you over the head with his politics, though. Parts of it are gruesome and tough to read, so steer clear if you're squeamish. I was so engrossed in it I had to stop every once in a while and reassure myself this wasn't actually happening in real life. Sequel coming in August and I can't wait.
Best History/Current Events
Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath
by Bill Browder
Read it if you’re interested in: Vladimir Putin’s Russia, money laundering oligarchs, stranger-than-fiction murderous conspiracies
Bill Browder follows up his acclaimed Red Notice with the second part of that story. After the murder of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Russian jail, Browder works to unearth what was actually behind the fraudulent money scheme Magnitsky was killed over.
This is a stranger than fiction account of the wheelings, dealings and brazen crimes that go on under Vladimir Putin in modern day Russia. The lengths Putin and his cronies go to keep his crimes a secret is astonishing to hear from someone who has witnessed them first hand. This is the book equivalent of a James Bond movie, only it’s real. Is it the most well written book? No. It reads like it was written by a guy who works in investment banking, which it is. But does that take away from the book? Also no. Come here for the plot, the insane revelations about oligarchs in Russia, and the actual-out-loud gasping. PSA: You don’t have to read his first one to appreciate this one.