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The best books we read in 2022
It's the most wonderful time of year! Kobo staffers share the best books they read in 2022.
Like the staff of Kobo, these book picks can come from anywhere. Some have been sitting in our TBR piles for ages, wowing us when we finally cracked them open. Others we read as soon as we could get our hands on them. Many of them just found us at the right time, and we're sharing them hoping one of them might be the right book for you right now.
Collected Works
Marjolein loved this literary debut from Sweden, which, contrary to its title, is actually a novel. She found it to be a captivating and mysterious story about family and miscommunication and likens it to Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
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Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
Nimod found this to be a moving graphic memoir chronicling the author's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. Told from the perspective of a woman working in a male-dominated field, the story highlights the toxicity of that work environment and the toxicity of the work on the environment, especially on First Nations lands.
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Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution
Jananie and Alanna loved everything about this historical fantasy, from its atmospheric dark academic setting to the extraordinary humanity of its characters and its critical commentary on race and colonialism. They recommend this to fans of The Secret History and the dark academia genre.
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Under the Whispering Door
Sarah found everything she needed in this ghostly, LGBTQ fantasy romance set in a tea shop. Despite centering around death, Sarah says this read is cute, cozy, beautiful, and doesn't get too heavy. She hasn't read anything else like it.
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Cover Story
Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised at how much she enjoyed this thriller and deems it a great vacation read, complete with an unreliable narrator and plot twists. She recommends it to fans of The Devil Wears Prada with its glitz and glam New York lifestyle.
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Notes on a Nervous Planet
Detailing the impact of outside forces like marketing, social media, and the constant news cycle on our mental health, Jacques eyes were opened to a better, healthier way of living through this memoir. He recommends listening to the audiobook as Matt Haig is an "astounding" narrator.
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Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Karan, an avid true-crime reader, stumbled upon this part-business, part-political memoir thanks to its true-crime twist. He recommends this to fans of Rachel Maddow's Blowout.
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This Is How You Lose the Time War
Rachel was immediately grabbed by this dual POV epistolary novel. She recommends it to anyone that enjoys genre fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and even romance, so long as you enjoy beautiful, flowery writing.
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To Paradise
Kristain is a huge fan of A Little Life and Yanagihara's engaging prose and was so excited by this 2022 release. She thinks anyone would be into this book, especially fans of historical fiction and readers looking to get into literary fiction.
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The Mother of All Degrassi: A Memoir
René enjoyed this memoir from Degrassi creator and executive producer Linda Schuyler. René found the story of Linda's trials and tribulations while developing the show and the way that she touched people's lives very heartwarming.
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All's Well
Harleigh is still in awe of this extremely eerie and weird dark comedy/horror/fantasy. She recommends this to anyone that enjoys an element of weirdness and discomfort to their reads, particularly fans of Mona Awad's Bunny and Melissa Broder's The Pisces.
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A Place for Us
Rameeza read this book in January 2022 and it stuck with her all year long. With its focus on the familial drama of a Muslim family living in California, Rameeza likens it to Sabaa Tahir's All My Rage and Celeste Ng's books.
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Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity
Erika was blown away by this audiobook's nuanced and multifaceted look at masking and its consequence for people with autism. She found it highly intersectional in its research and foundation and appreciated Price's dedication to the reader's understanding.
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Vesper Flights
Nathan read the bestselling memoir H is for Hawk and decided he "really liked hanging out with Helen Macdonald," and wanted to hang out with her more. He thinks Vesper Flights is a wonderful book of essays, each originally published in different places, but all of them centering in their own way around nature. He recommends it to those who enjoy personal essays and thoughtful, humane reflection.
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Kaikeyi
Jananie absolutely fell in love with this feminist retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana, told from the point of view of Kaikeyi, a minor character in the original. She says it is a very cool, mythological story about women helping women that anyone can find value in. She recommends it to fans of Circe.
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The Book Eaters
Terrence found this speculative fiction by Sunyi Dean to be one of the most interesting books he's read in a while. He calls it "incredibly original."
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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Tracy is a huge fiction reader but found this non-fiction read stood out and stuck with her the most. She calls this a deep study, high-level journalism about how the opioid crisis happened and almost extended into Europe. She recommends it to anybody who wants to know how corporate crimes are committed.
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Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces
Tracy read this memoir in one day and found it also stuck with her more than any other books she read this year. She learned a great deal about what otherness is and feels like, the effects of colonization on a person and a group, and how very, very complicated it all is.
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What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Trevor calls this a fantastic non-fiction book written in a humorous way. Be forewarned, it does not seek to answer practical scientific questions, but absurd possibilities such as: what if you could throw a baseball at the speed of light?
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People We Meet on Vacation
Yesha is typically a non-fiction reader but loved People We Meet on Vacation. She enjoyed the light and contemporary tone of the book and found the audiobook narration added an extra layer to the characters.
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Bombay Brokers
Michael enjoyed this non-fiction title so much, he read it all in one night. He calls this a work of cultural anthropology, economics, business, and government. Each chapter is a study of a different job in Mumbai, profiled by a different interviewer. He recommends it to fans of Jane Jacobs and Mike Davis's City of Quartz.
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