Well, I managed to read a lot of great books in 2022, and since a few of you have asked…here's my annual list of great reading for you!
My Absolute FIVE STAR Favorites
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin
Two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
Lessons in Chemistry — Bonnie Garmus
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. It's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind.
Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt
A charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
A Town Called Solace — Mary Lawson (longlisted for Booker Prize 2021)
A family in crisis: rebellious teenager Rose has been missing for weeks. Younger sister Clara keeps a daily vigil at the living-room window. Enter thirtyish Liam Kane, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town.
Among the Lesser Gods — Margo Catts
"Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart." Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado, she's intent on putting off the future.
Mercy Street — Jennifer Haigh
A tense, riveting story about the disparate lives that intersect at a women's clinic in Boston. A novel for right now—a story of the polarized American present.
True Biz — Sara Nović
This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf. A story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss.
All My Rage — Sabaa Tahir
A brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary YA novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.
I Found These Gems Also Totally Enjoyable
The Christie Affair — Nina de Gramont
A beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of Agatha Christie's disappearance for eleven infamous days.
The Reading List — Sara Nisha Adams
An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.
Carrie Soto Is Back — Taylor Jenkins Reid
A powerful novel about the cost of greatness: a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime.
Hester — Laurie Lico Albanese
A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
Other Birds — Sarah Addison Allen
An enchanting tale filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won't let you go.
We Are the Light — Matthew Quick
From the bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook, an unforgettable novel about the quicksand of grief and the daily miracle of love.
Our Missing Hearts — Celeste Ng
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve "American culture."
Fun, Romantic, Happy-Place Reading
Book Lovers — Emily Henry (if you haven't read Emily Henry and you like contemporary romance…run, don't walk!)
Beach Read — Emily Henry
Dead Romantics — Ashley Poston
And, of course, COHO! I got involved with the Colleen Hoover craze…and have to admit I see why all the fuss:
It Ends with Us · It Starts with Us · November 9 · All Your Perfects · Ugly Love · Verity
Don't Forget to Support Our Local Authors — Love!
Pearl of Arabia — Connor Black
The sweeping saga of a young woman uncovering her mysterious past, only to find herself at the epicenter of a power struggle that could shatter a nation.
Julian's Gambit: Alerti Chronicles — Book One — Tom Schnurr
His father is dead. His family is under siege. But Julian has a magical secret. Thrust into events beyond his control, Julian must call on all his cunning, strength and loyalties—and even forbidden magic—to fulfill his dead father's wishes.