Well, friends, here we are at the end of December, and that means it’s time for everyone, everywhere to share their “Best Of” lists for 2022!
I loved so many of the books I read this past year, but some really and truly stood out. Some are 2022 new releases, some are books from earlier years that just came my way in 2022, and some are books that I’ve had on my shelves but only now got around to reading.
Here is a totally subjective list of the books I loved best. (For purposes of this post, I’m excluding rereads, even though there were a few of these that were 5-star reads)
First, I’ll highlight my top 5: The five books that were special reading experiences in a variety of ways — books that introduced me to new worlds or experiences, were beautifully written, and/or delivered an emotional punch that has stayed with me ever since.
- Fairy Tale by Stephen King: Masterful storytelling (and a very good dog) made this a delightful read.
- True Biz by Sara Novic: This book introduced me to a world I knew little about — informative, but also just a really great story.
- Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey: What can I say about a series finale that absolutely pays off with a satisfying conclusion? It brought me to tears, astonished me, and yet ended in a way that truly fit the characters and overall themes. What a series!
- Lute by Jennifer Thorne: Haunting and beautifully written.
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: I never would have expected to enjoy (much less love) a novel about video game designers. Absolutely one of the best new releases of 2022.
But these are by no means the only great books I read this past year! According to Goodreads, I gave 5-star ratings to 45 books in 2022. Here’s the rest of my favorites — not all 45 by any means, but the books I consider the best of the best:
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- Paper Girls: The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan
- Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
- Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk
- Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
- I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
- Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
- Heat Wave by TJ Klune
- The No-Show by Beth O’Leary
- Snake Falls to Earth by Darcy Little Badger
- Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson
- Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
- Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon
- The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
- The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
- We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
- Getaway by Zoje Stage
- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Beyond these, there were a whole bunch of other books that I really loved too, so all in all, I’d say this was a great year for reading!
What were your favorite books of 2022? Do we have any in common?
Wishing all of us a happy and healthy 2023, filled with amazing books!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Great list! Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Heat Wave made my list too.
Ah, they were both so good!
An awesome list here! Hamnet😭😭😭
Hamnet was so good! It’s one of the books that makes me grateful to be in a great book group, because I probably would not have read it otherwise.
So memorable! Last year it was near the top of my best of year list!
We’ve got quite a few favorite reads in common from this year! Toomrrow x3, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and the No Show were all favorites of mine as well!
All three of those were great reads! Very different, but all really memorable.
Heatwave! Love that series so much!
SO good! After reading the first two books, I ended up listening to the audio as well (excellent!), so I think I should do the audio of Heat Wave soon too. I love the characters so much.
Fairy Tale, Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow would both be on my top reads of the year too.
Such great books!!
I’m so glad to see Such Sharp Teeth and Lute on your list. And I’m going to buy Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, it’s popping up on so many best of lists😁
I thought Lute was amazing — I wish more people knew about it! I think you’ll really enjoy T&T&T. It really deserves all the attention it’s getting.
Elder Race will certainly be on my list too. And I’d like to try McCurdy’s autobio in the new year. Maybe by then a copy will be available at my library because everyone in the area will have read it already.
Good luck! I was surprised that my library request for the McCurdy book came in as quickly as it did. Definitely worth going with audiobook for it, if you like audiobooks, since she narrates her own story and it’s really powerful listening to it in her own voice.
There are a lot of good books on here. Many of them I want to read.