5 Best Books of 2022
With more than 130 million books available, it’s no wonder that choosing the right novel can be challenging. While some readers might have their favorite genres or authors, there are others who prefer to read based on their interests and current events. Furthermore, with the rise of e-readers and the subsequent increase in e-book sales, the popularity of novels has risen significantly over the last decade.
In this article, we will explore five bestselling novels of 2022 and why they are so popular. Whether you’re into fantasy, nonfiction, or romance—you’ll find a list of books that may be perfect for you. Keep reading to discover which books are currently trending.
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Genres: Science fiction, Psychological Fiction
What happens when you no longer own your thoughts and memories? Do you really want to know what someone was thinking during your most coveted memories? These questions are explored in The Candy House, a multi-layered, multi-modal, and complex novel about a network of shared consciousness and the dangers of losing authenticity.
An anthropologist’s work on predictive behavior leads to the development of Own Your Unconscious, a virtual platform where one can upload memories to relive their favorite experiences and to learn what others thought during certain moments in time. These experiences lead to joy and misery, as well as a quest for authenticity.
The narrative thread is developed via character intersections from chapter to chapter. Some of these connective threads are thin and hard to identify, whereas others are bold and definitive. There are stories within stories, but other stories exist outside these stories. The narrative is not linear, as time moves in all directions and intersects in the past, present, and future.
Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
Genres: Contemporary romance, Domestic Fiction
Disclaimer: One, always have a box of tissues ready. Two, never read it in public. Kenna has just been released from prison, where she served her time for an accident that had forever altered the course of her life. She returns to the town where it all went wrong, in the hopes of being reunited with the daughter she’s never known. But old grudges die hard, and the town isn’t so ready to welcome her back. The only ally she may have is Ledger, owner of the local bar, who has his own ties to her past.
There are so many sides to this story, so many different ways of looking at it. There’s no real right or wrong, just lots of gray in the middle. It wouldn’t surprise you if you felt strongly that Kenna’s situation is too harsh or too lenient. And it certainly wouldn’t be surprizing if those two groups end up overlapping, with the same readers feeling both. This is exactly the sort of story that balances on an edge, tugging your heartstrings one way, then another.
The Maid by Nita Prose
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Literary fiction
What a stunning debut novel!
Molly Grey, a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, discovers a guest, Mr. Black dead in bed. Who is responsible for the crime and will Molly go down just for being a bit different? Debut author, Nita Prose, should be very proud of The Maid. The prose is easy-to-read and entertaining. The author had a perfect cast of characters, not too many. The Maid is perfect for fans of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Nighttime” where Molly lives by a certain set of rules.
Overall, a delightful cozy mystery.
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
To Paradise is capacious, covering love and loss, hope and delusion, prejudice and privilege, societal progress and regress, and so, so much. But mostly it is about choices, the decisions, actions, and inaction that determine the course of a person’s life or a country’s history. It’s about the shame, regret, the leaps of faith that attend these choices. At a page-by-page story level, it is compelling, engrossing reading.
In the first two sections, set in 1893 and 1993, Yanagihara toys with American history like a cat with yarn—upending the mainstream morality and politics of the times in ways big and small. I would not call this ‘alternate history’ because that genre typically deals in hypotheticals, a game of ‘if this, then what?’ that she refuses to play. Instead, it is a demonstration that the way things turn out are not inevitable or even likely—the timeline we are living is just one of many possibilities.
The third section, perhaps unfairly, will garner the most attention. Set in the mid-to-late 21st century, it imagines a totalitarian government during a time of rolling pandemics, through the eyes of two brilliantly rendered and complex characters.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Genres: Fiction, Romance novel
Emily Henry is an incredible talent and this book proves that she’s brilliant at writing nuanced protagonists with stunning romantic chemistry. Nora’s complex dynamic with her younger sister,
Libby, and while I think that dynamic was well explored I personally simply did not care. It takes up so much of the narrative and so much mental space for Nora that her romance actually felt like a side plot to her relationship with Libby. The story just did not feel balanced particularly because it is marketed as a romance and her relationship with Charlie is not centralized nearly as much as her relationship with Libby.
The protagonist is a ruthlessly ambitious literary agent who identifies more with the villains in romance movies than the heroines. Swayed by her sister to spend the summer together in a picturesque small-town, the last person she expects to run into is Charlie—the surly editor she’s avoided ever since their disastrous first meeting. Modern and fresh, this is a must-read for rom-com lovers.
Also this book is incredibly meta and because the characters are in the publishing industry, they are hyper aware of the character archetypes and narrative tropes they fall into.
Conclusion
Be it a beach read or a cozy in-house winter read, these books are sure to keep you at the edge of your seats, squirming or nail biting or who knows perhaps all of it at once!
