Best Books 2022: What Books Were Your Favorite Read?

As the year grinds to a halt, we’ll be reviewing some of the best books of 2022 and you can let us know which ones were your favorites. Here’s hoping you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

One thing is certain, books either as paperback or electronic reading devices, will never become extinct. This is because people of all ages, race and gender love stories. Reading literature provides just the right amount of relief from unpleasant realities. It also transports readers to different worlds, could be the land of mysteries, adventures, horror, or love.

Books, especially paperbacks are addictive and it’s quite easy to get lost in their pages. Well-crafted stories are equally the ones that stick forever, often engaging the imagination. Let’s delve into the list of best books 2022 that folks around the literary globe enjoyed reading.

What Books Were The Best Books Of 2022?

You asked, we delivered. These are the best books of 2022 by genre, they came highly recommended from avid readers. We have decided that both the books published recently and prior to 2022 be included in this list. Because books in the ‘best books’ category shouldn’t be limited only to the year it hit the market.

Fiction Books 2022

1. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
2. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
3. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
4. Lessons by Ian McEwan
5. Bournville by Jonathan Coe
6. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
7. Companion Piece by Ali Smith
8. The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
9. Harrow by Joy Williams
10. The Trees by Percival Everett
11. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
12. After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
13. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
14. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
15. Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
16. Trust by Hernan Diaz
17. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
18. Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
19. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
20. The Exhibitionist by Charlotte
21. I’m Sorry You Feel that Way by Rebecca Wait
22. Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso
23. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell
24. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
25. Amy & Lan by Sadie Jones
26. An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses
27. The Whale Tattoo by Jon Ransom
28. I’m A Fan by Sheena Patel
29. When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà
30. Delphi by Clare Pollard
31. Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
32. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
33. Send Nudes by Saba Sams
34. Reward System by Jem Calder
35. We Move by Gurnaik Johal
36. Liberation Day by George Saunders
37. Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère
38. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
39. Marigold and Rose by Louise Gluck
40. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Crime/Thriller Books 2022

1. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
4. The Cook by Ajay Chowdhury
5. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
6. The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
7. Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
8. The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill by C.S. Robertson
9. Meantime by Frankie Boyle
10. The Partisan by Patrick Worrall
11. Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib
12. WAKE by Shelley Burr
13. More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez
14. The Maid by Nita Prose
15. A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin
16. Give Unto Others by Donna Leon
17. The Murder Book by Mark Billingham
18. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
19. Maror by Lavie Tidhar
20. Blue Water by Leonora Nattrass
21. The Lost Man of Bombay by Vaseem Khan
22. Queen High by C J Carey
23. Breaking Point by Olivier Norek
24. The Moose Paradox by Antti Tuomainen
25. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
26. The Room in the Attic by Louise Douglas
27. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garci
28. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
29. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
30. The Maid by Nita Prose 
31. The Book Of Cold Cases by Simone ST. James
32. A Flicker In The Dark by Richard Osman
33. The It Girl by Ruth Ware
34. All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
35. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
36. The House Maid by Frieda McFadden
37. Billy Summers by Stephen King
38. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
39. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
40. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Romance Novels 2022

1. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
2. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
3. Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher
4. It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2) by Colleen Hoover 
5. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
6. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
7. Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout, #1) by Lucy Score
8. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care (Bright Falls, #1) by Ashley Herring Blake
9. Twisted Hate by Ana Huang
10. Hook, Line, and Sinker (Bellinger Sisters, #2) by Tessa Bailey
11. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
12. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
13. Electric Idol (Dark Olympus, #2) by Katee Robert
14. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
15. The American Roommate Experiment (Spanish Love Deception, #2) by Elena Armas
16. Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
17. Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
18. The Kiss Curse (The Ex Hex, #2) by Erin Sterling
19. Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie, #1) by Nisha Sharma
20. The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa
21. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
22. Confess by Colleen Hoover
23. By the Book: A Meant to be Novel by Jasmine Guillory
24. Husband Material by Alexis Hall
25. Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
26. After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez
27. In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer
28. Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting
29. For Butter Or Worse: A Rom Com by Erin La Rosa
30. Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner
31. The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon
32. Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel by Alison Cochrun
33. A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera
34. Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
35. Husband Material by Alexis Hall
36. I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
37. How to Fake It in Hollywood: A Novel by Ava Wilder, 2022
38. A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
39. Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron
40. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

Memoirs 2022

1. Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
2. Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
3. Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver, 2022
4. Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron
5. Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair
6. Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono, 2022
7. In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
8. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
9. Admissions: Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James
10. Rough Draft: A Memoir by Katy Tur
11. Hello, Molly! A Memoir by Molly Shannon
12. The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
13. README.txt: A Memoir by Chelsea Manning
14. South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
15. Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott
16. Constructing a Nervous System: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
17. Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgerald
18. Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Heather Havrilesky
19. The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke
20. Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me by Ada Calhoun
21. Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream by Tiffanie Drayton
22. We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu
23. Burn the Page: A True Story of Torching Doubts, Blazing Trails, and Igniting Change by Danica Roem
24. James Patterson: The Stories of My Life by James Patterson
25. Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
26. Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
27. I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home by Jami Attenberg
28. Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today by Craig McNamara
29. Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Robin Gaby Fisher
30. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry
31. The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays by CJ Hauser
32. A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E. Grant
33. Homelands: The History of a Friendship by Chitra Ramaswamy
34. The Last Days: A Memoir of Faith, Desire and Freedom by Ali Millar
35. The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found by Frank Bruni
36. Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
37. Never Simple: A Memoir by Liz Scheier
38. Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos
39. Miss Me with That: Hot Takes, Helpful Tidbits, and a Few Hard Truths by Rachel Lindsay
40. Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games by Cliff Bleszinski

Poetry Books 2022

1. Unexhausted Time by Emily Berry
2. Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
3. All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran
4. The Illustrated Woman by Helen Mort
5. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire
6. Broken Halves of a Milky Sun: Poems by Aaiún Nin
7. Golden Ax by Rio Cortez
8. Manorism by Yomi Sode
9. A Hundred Lovers: Poems by Richie Hofmann
10. The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón
11. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire
12. Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
13. Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace
14. Duende: Poems, 1966-Now by Quincy Troupe
15.  Quiet by Victoria Adukwei Bulley
16. Best Barbarian: Poems by Roger Reeves
17. The English Summer by Holly Hopkins
18. Customs: Poems by Solmaz Sharif
19. A Year & Other Poems by Jos Charles
20. 100 Queer Poems, edited by Andrew McMillan and Mary Jean Chan
21. Why the Assembly Disbanded by Roberto Tejada
22. The True Account of Myself as a Bird by Robert Wrigley
23. Home Is Not A Place by Johny Pitts, Roger Robinson
24. Against Heaven: Poems by Kemi Alabi
25. The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
26. Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking: Poems by C. T. Salazar
27. All the Blood Involved in Love by Maya Marshall
28. Mausoleum of Flowers by Daniel Summerhill
29. Return Flight by Jennifer Huang
30. Song of My Softening by Omotara James
31. Please Make Me Pretty, I Don’t Want to Die: Poems by Tawanda Mulalu
32. Balladz by Sharon Olds
33. Content Warning: Everything by Akwaeke Emezi
34. Refractive Africa by Will Alexander
35. Canopy: Poems by Linda Gregerson
36. The Slain Birds by Michael Longley
37. Dream of the Divided Field: Poems
38. Bluest Nude by Ama Codjoe
39. Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020 by Carl Phillips
40. Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years by Joy Harjo

History Books 2022

1. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
2. The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland
3. The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
4. Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain by Hannah Rose Woods
5. American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild
6. The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes
7. Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921 by Antony Beevor
8. Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire by Caroline Elkins
9. Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre
10. The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells by Sarah Churchwell
11. African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals by David Hackett Fischer
12. Persians: The Age of the Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
13. Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis’ Fortress Prison by Ben Macintyre
14. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
15. G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage
16. Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It by Janina Ramirez
17. Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day byBrian Groom
18. The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England by Joanne Paul
19. France: An Adventure History by Graham Robb
20. The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick
21. The Lion House: The Coming of A King by Christopher de Bellaigue
22. Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang
23. Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 byThomas E. Ricks
24. Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science by James Poskett
25. The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome by Harry Sidebottom
26. The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy by Philippe Sands
27. The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor–the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown
28. Queens of the Age of Chivalry by Alison Weir
29. A History of Britain in Just a Minute by Gyles Brandreth
30. Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World by Kate Mosse
31. Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time by Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
32. Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
33. The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown by Anna Keay
34. The Siege of Loyalty House: A New History of the English Civil War by Jessie Childs
35. Britain’s Plot to Kill Hitler: The True Story of Operation Foxley and SOE by Eric Lee
36. Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe by Ian Kershaw
37. 1945: Victory in the West by Peter Caddick-Adams
38. The World by Simon Sebag Montefiore
39. The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History of Britain in Eleven Vessels by Tom Nancollas
40. The Last Emperor of Mexico: A Disaster in the New World by Edward Shawcross

Sports Books 2022

1. The Beautiful Poetry of Football Commentary by Charlie Eccleshare
2. Expected Goals: The Story of how Data Conquered Football and Changed the Game Forever by Rory Smith
3. Always Believe: The Autobiography of Olivier Giroud by Olivier Giroud
4. A New Formation: How Black Footballers Shaped the Modern Game by Calum Jacobs
5. England Football: The Biography: 1872 – 2022 by Paul Hayward
6. 1999: Manchester United, the Treble and All That by Matt Dickinson
7. A Delicate Game: Brain Injury, Sport and Sacrifice by Hana Walker-Brown
8. The People’s Game: A View from a Front Seat in Football: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER by Gary Neville
9. Being Geoffrey Boycott by Geoffrey Boycott
10. On Days Like These: My Life in Football by Martin O’Neill
11. Field of Play: 60 Years of NFL Photography by Joe Montana
12. Calling the Shots: My Autobiography by Sue Barker
13. Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was by Daniel Friebe
14. The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson byJeff Pearlman
15. How to Be a Football Manager: Enter the Hilarious and Crazy World of the Gaffer by Ian Holloway
16. How (Not) To Be Strong: The Inspirational Instant Sunday Times Bestseller by Alex Scott
17. Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar by Alan Shipnuck
18. Johan Cruyff: Always on the Attack by Auke Kok
19. Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide by Christopher McDougall
20. My Sporting Life: Memories, Moments and Declarations by Michael Parkinson
21. How to Be an Ex-Footballer by Peter Crouch
22. Jordan Henderson: The Autobiography: The Must-read Autobiography from Liverpool’s Beloved Captain by Jordan Henderson
23. How to Win the World Cup: Secrets and Insights from International Football’s Top Managers by Chris Evans
24. BBC Sports Report: A Celebration of the World’s Longest-Running Sports Radio Programme by Pat Murphy
25. A Very Tall Story by Martin Bayfield
26. Football Murals: A Celebration of Soccer’s Greatest Street Art by Andy Brassell
27. The Rodfather: Inside the Beautiful (Ugly, Ridiculous, Hilarious) Game by Paul Howard
28. A History of the GAA in 100 Objects by Siobhan Doyle
29. Scoring Goals in the Dark by Gareth Maher
30. Swagger: Super Bowls, Brass Balls, and Footballs–A Memoir by Jimmy Johnson
31. The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II by Buzz Bissinger
32. Cheers, Geoff! Tales from the Touchline by Geoff Shreeves
33. Beryl: In Search of Britain’s Greatest Athlete by Jeremy Wilson
34. A Giant Win: Inside the New York Giants’ Historic Upset Over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII by Tom Coughlin
35. The Break: Life as a Cycling Maverick by Steve Cummings
36. Barry Hearn: My Life: Knockouts, Snookers, Bullseyes, Tight Lines and Sweet Deals by Barry Hearn
37. Chased By Pandas: My Life in the Mysterious World of Cycling by Dan Martin
38. Head On: A Memoir by Larry Csonka
39. My Hidden Race: Anyika Onuora by Anyika Onuora
40. Seventeen and Oh: Miami, 1972, and the NFL’s Only Perfect Season by Marshall Jon Fisher

To get a full review of all the books above, watch out for the next post. A detailed review will be posted shortly. Book suggestions, recommendations, as well as reviews are welcomed too.