Feature Image Credit: @jinabookclub
2022 has arrived and we can’t wait for all new book releases in store for this next year. From the most anticipated YA to traveling through time and places, this year is bound to bring new experiences, loves, and heartaches. Definitely make room on those bookshelves, and get excited for what the next several months have in store. Here is a list of the best book coming in 2022!
Don’t miss these best book club picks for 2022!>>
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (January 1, 2022)
In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please. The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him, and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances. These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, is the reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.
Violeta by Isabel Allende (January 25, 2022)
Told in letters from Violeta to her grandson Camilo, this book chronicles the extraordinary life of a 100-year old Chilean woman who has survived 2 pandemics, 2 world wars, and the myriad of events that occurred in the 20th century. Born on a stormy day in 1920 to a family with five lively sons, Violeta is a force of nature who depicts the decades in beautiful letters that bring to life her family, loves, losses and the historic events taking place around her. This epic saga will transport the reader across a century of family drama and intense historical and political events.
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James (February 1, 2022)
This is Sogolon’s story, her account of what happened to the boy Tracker, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud, seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch. Aesi was chancellor to the king and it is said that they worked so closely together they were like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own. This is a battle between different empires, and Sogolon is a woman that bows to no man, and fights to tell her own story.
The Books Of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk (February 1, 2022)
Jacob Frank arrived in a village in Poland in the mid-eighteenth century. However, this wasn’t his real name, or persona. Yet, in the decade to follow his arrival, he reinvents himself over and over as he crosses the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples. He converts from Islam to Catholicism, then pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, wreaking havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike. The story of a real historical figure around whom mystery and controversy swirl, Frank is narrated through the perspectives of his contemporaries—the ones who revere him, and those who revile him. In a nod to books written in Hebrew, The Books of Jacob is paginated in reverse, beginning on p. 955 and ending on p. 1 – but read traditionally, front cover to back.
Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi (February 15, 2022)
Bitter is thrilled to attend a special school, Eucalyptus, where she can finally focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens, especially after a childhood in foster care. However, on the streets outside of this haven are protests against the city of Lucille. Bitter’s instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus, but her friends aren’t so willing to settle for a life that is separated from the world. Bitter isn’t sure where she belongs, in the studio or in the streets. If she does find a way to help the revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: at what cost?
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (February 15, 2022)
They saved Crescent City, and now Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal. The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But the rebels are threatening the Asteri’s powers, and Bryce, Hunt, and their friends are pulled into the rebels’ plans. They must choose, though, whether to stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent. Sarah J. Maas weaves yet another captivating story of a world about to explode, and the people who will do anything to save it.
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (March 1, 2022)
The next great love story is here, and it’s between a mother and a daughter. When Carol dies, she leaves her daughter, Katy, reeling. As if losing her mother wasn’t enough, the trip they had both planned to Positano hangs in the balance. It was the place that Carol had spent a summer right before meeting Katy’s dad, and she has dreamed of going her whole life – but, she never wanted to go alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. More than that, she actually can see Carol, in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and only thirty years old. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman who stands before her. However, she is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay (March 1, 2022)
On New Year’s Eve in 1999, four teenagers working at Blockbuster are attacked, leaving only one survivor. The police identify the boyfriend of one of the victims as the prime suspect and he flees, only to be never seen again. Fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream shop with only one survivor. As the lives of three people intersect, including the survivor from the Blockbuster attack, the brother of the accused, and an FBI agent who is investigating both crimes, are the two cases connected or simply isolated incidents?
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (March 1, 2022)
Back then in Lahore, Pakistan, Misbah was a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel. Now in Juniper, California, Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. That is, until The Fight. Sal is fighting hard keep the family motel running, as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, is working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him forever. When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth, and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (April 5, 2022)
At only eighteen years old, Edwin St. Andrew crosses the Atlantic by steamship and finds himself entering the beautiful Canadian forest, surprisingly hearing the notes of an echoing violin. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour, traveling all over Earth. Her home is the second moon colony, a place of spired towers and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended:. The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (April 5, 2022)
Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born to be sworn enemies: Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built. Mungo tries to hide his true self, especially from his bog brother Hamish, a local and brutal gang leader. And when Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. A future where their love and dreams of finding a place where they belong still exist. This is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
The Memory Librarian And Other Stories Of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe (April 19, 2022)
Janelle Monáe, and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators, have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduces a world in which thoughts could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate. That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free. Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence … and what it takes to get out of it. The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry (May 3, 2022)
As a literary agent, Norah’s life revolves around books. Although she rarely relates to the heroine in the stories, she will do anything for her baby sister. So, when Libby asks her to spend the month of August with her in Sunshine Falls, she can’t say no. What Norah was expecting were scenes straight from the novels, with picturesque landscaping and hot bartenders, but what she got was a repeated run-in from Charlie, an editor in the city. Not one to ignore coincidences, Norah starts to wonder if there’s more to these random encounters that will involve an interesting plot twist for them both.
Book of Night by Holly Black (May 3, 2022)
Charlie Hall knows that altering someone’s shadow can have dire consequences, like taking precious time off of one’s life. The shadow contains all of the deep, dark secrets and in that is a precious kind of power. Trying to escape the world of shadow trading, Charlie tries her best to get by with bartending and side jobs, but the past rears its ugly head when a sinister shadow from the past comes back to haunt her. Convinced she can beat out this demon, Charlie starts to spin into a spiral of chaos, putting everything, including her sister, at risk of being destroyed.
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley (June 7, 2022)
Kiara and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by in East Oakland after dropping out of high school, their family broken by death and prison. Kiara, desperate to keep up with their rent payments while also taking care of an abandoned boy in the neighborhood, turns to nightcrawling. And when she ends up a key witness in a massive Oakland Police Department scandal, her world breaks open even more. An Oprah’s Book Club selection, this powerful and vulnerable novel sheds light on the failure of the justice system and a young Black girl desperate for survival and hope.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks (June 14, 2022)
In Kentucky, 1850, Jarret is an enslaved stableman who forms a connection with a certain horse, leading to record-setting victories throughout the South. A traveling artist has made a name for himself with paintings of this racehorse. In the midst of the Civil War, the artist, fighting for the Union, reunites with the horse and his groom on a perilous night. A century later, Martha Jackson is a gallery owner in New York City known for taking risks, and she becomes fixated on an equestrian oil-painting from the nineteenth century with a puzzling origin. Sixty-five years later, Jess, an Australian Smithsonian scientist, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find their lives connected through a shared interest in this horse. Based on the true story of the thoroughbred Lexington, this moving novel explores racism, art, science, and the connections that unknowingly form over centuries.
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager (June 21, 2022)
Trying to escape a streak of bad press, Casey Fletcher has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s Vermont lake house. She passes time with her pair of binoculars and several bottle of bourbon, and watching Tom and Katherine Royce in the house across the lake. A glamorous couple, Tom, the tech innovator, and Katherine, the gorgeous former model. One day, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a friendship. The more they get to know each other, the more Casey watches, and the more she realizes that Tom and Katherine aren’t as perfect as they appear. When Katherine vanishes in thin air, Casey becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her. And the truth may be darker and more deceiving than she could ever imagine.
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh (June 21, 2022)
Little Marek’s father told him that his mother died in childbirth, and the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd didn’t have a reason to not believe him. One of life’s few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina. Her gifts extended beyond childcare, having the ability to communicate with the natural world. However, some fear Ina’s home in the woods outside of the village; it’s said to be a godless place. Among these people is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. In a year of drought and famine, people are desperate to believe that there are powers who have their best interest at heart. But when fate brings Marek into a violent proximity to the lord’s family, new and occult forces upset the old order. The end of the year will leave a thin veil between life and death, and the natural world and the spirit world.
Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min (July 26, 2022)
Santi arrives at his new high school, embraced with open arms from almost everyone in the extremely talented marching band. Suwa is an irritable and arrogant musical prodigy who doesn’t think Santi has what it takes to be in the band. When the two open up to each other and reveal their painful pasts, a friendship begins, eventually turning into something more. But with Suwa aiming for a solo spotlight and both boys forced to make sacrifices for their dreams, will their love endure?
Babel by R.F. Kuang (August 23, 2022)
In 1828, Robin Swift is orphaned in Canton and brought to London by Professor Lovell, who has Robin trained in Latin, Ancient Greek and Chinese. The goal is for Robin to enroll in Oxford University’s Royal Institute of Translations, which is also known as Babel, not only the world’s center for translation, but also magic. Silver working is the art of acquiring the meaning in lost translation utilizing enchanted silver bars. This practice has made the British unmatched in power, giving them the knowledge necessary for colonization. Robin realizes that as a Chinese boy, serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As he advances in his studies, he is caught between Babel and the Hermes society, a group whose mission it is to stop imperial expansion. When Britain seeks an unjust war with China, Robin is faced with difficult decisions and questions about what his role will be.
Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter (August 23, 2022)
Forty years ago, Emily Vaughn was a popular athlete getting ready for the prom, while keeping a secret that leads to her death. Forty years later, her murder remains unsolved. Her friends have closed ranks and her wealthy and prestigious family has retreated inwards. US Marshal Andrea Oliver arrives in Longbill Beach to protect a judge receiving death threats—but her real mission is to uncover the truth behind Emily’s murder before she gets silenced too.
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (August 30,2022)
Carrie Soto was the best tennis player the world had ever seen, and she didn’t make many friends getting to the top. Six years after retirement, she watches her record stripped away by an incredibly talented new tennis player. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie decides to come out of retirement for one last year to win back her record. Even if her body doesn’t move the way it used to, and even though she’ll have to accept help from a former love, Carrie is determined to prove herself in the epic finale of her career.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King (September 6, 2022)
Charlie Reade seems like a completely normal high school kid. But after his mom was killed in a hit-and-run when he was ten, his dad turned to drinking to deal with the grief, and Charlie had to learn to take care of himself and his dad. At seventeen, Charlie meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse, and his dog, Radar. Charlie starts working for Mr. Bowditch and falls in love with Radar. He never pays much attention to the locked shed in the backyard that emits strange noises. When Bowditch dies, he leaves a cassette tape for Charlie, explaining that inside the shed, there’s a portal to another world. A hero and his dog must lead the battle in this war between good and evil.
Sacrificio by Ernesto Mestre-Reed (September 6, 2022)
In Cuba, 1998, Rafa is an Afro-Cuban orphan who relocates to Havana and gets a job at a café. He soon falls into an entanglement with Renato, the leader of “Los Injected Ones”, a counterrevolutionary group planning a violent overthrow of the Castro government during the Pope’s forthcoming visit. When Renato goes missing, Rafa’s hunt for him leads him through different spots in Havana: an AIDS infirmary, tourist hotels, and to the outskirts of the capital. There he finds an unreal slum created with the city’s debris by Los Injected Ones. With beautiful and mesmerizing prose, Sacrificio shows the reality of young lives cast aside in a society they eagerly want to change.
Natural History by Andrea Barrett (September 13, 2022)
In a collection of six short stories, Andrea Barrett intertwines the lives of characters from some of her previous works. Primarily taking place in a small central New York state community, the collection spans over 150 years, between the Civil War to present day. Throughout all stories, the characters grapple with difficult decisions and demonstrate a passion for science and the natural world. Natural History shows the way the smallest events can cause ripples across future generations.
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (October 4, 2022)
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner is living with his father, knowing that he shouldn’t stand out too much. The government enforces laws meant to preserve “American culture” and authorities are permitted to relocate children of dissidents, particularly those of Asian descent. Bird’s mother left the family when he was nine years old. A Chinese American woman, Margaret was a poet whose work is being removed from libraries alongside other books seen as unpatriotic. Bird knows nothing about Margaret’s work or where she went, but when he receives a cryptic drawing in the mail, he is drawn into a quest to find her.
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (October 4, 2022)
Olivia McAfee’s perfect life was upended when she and her son Asher moved back to her quiet New Hampshire hometown after witnessing her husband’s darker side. Lily Campanello is starting her final year of high school in Adams, New Hampshire, hopeful for a fresh start. Olivia and Lily’s paths cross as Asher and Lily begin to fall for each other. But when Lily is found dead, Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is sure of his innocence, but she can’t help recognizing the same flashes of temper in Ash that she saw in his father. As things progress, she realizes her son’s been keeping more secrets than she thought.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (October 18, 2022)
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, a boy is born to a teenage single mother. He faces foster care, child labor, run-down schools, athletic success, addiction, messy romance and devastating losses. He deals with his own invisibility in a world where the rural people have been abandoned. Inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield , Barbara Kingsolver sheds light on a forgotten population.
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (October 25, 2022)
In 1980’s Pass Christian, Mississippi, Bobby Western dives from the Coast Guard boat deck, his dive light illuminating a sunken jet and nine dead bodies. The pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box, and the tenth passenger are nowhere to be found. How is this possible? Bobby becomes a witness to a scheme that only stands to hurt him. Spanning over the American South, from New Orleans to the Florida Coast, this novel explores morality and science and the madness of human consciousness.
The Magic Kingdom by Russell Banks (November 8, 2022)
Harley Mann begins recording his life story onto a reel-to-reel machine in 1971. Following his father’s tragic death, his family relocates to Florida’s swamplands, just miles away from the future location of Disney World. They join a community of Shakers led by Elder John, a colony steadfast on labor, faith, charity, and resisting temptations outside their land. While this way of life provided a much-needed sanctuary for Harley and his family, his loyalty to the Shakers rattles and breaks when he falls in love with Sadie Pratt, a consumptive patient living on the property. In his recordings, Harley reflects on youth, nature, and the dreams of an American utopia.
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman (December 6, 2022)
When Razia meets Taslim, a new girl in her Pakistani-American community, they go on a series of small rebellions together, like listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting class to explore New York City. The divide between who Razia is and who her parents expect her to be deepens when she gets accepted to a prestigious Manhattan high school. There, she meets Angela and something deeper than friendship begins to grow between them. When their relationship is discovered, Razia must made a decision between her family and what she wants for her future. An unforgettable coming-of-age story set in the 1980s, this novel explores joy, loss, female friendship, and queer love in a Muslim-American community.
Very good choices!!!!!!