22 Books To Read In 2022: Novels, Kids' Works, And More

MARYLAND — Books can make a great last-minute holiday present to a friend or family member, or a gift to yourself to start the New Year off with a great story. We’ve compiled a collection of books — great reads from 2021 and highly anticipated releases in 2022 — that make up our list of “22 Books To Read In 2022.”

They range from memoirs to magical realism novels, poems to cookbooks. We included a few children’s books, too.

Have you read a great book this year you think other Patch readers would enjoy? Let us know in the comments and share the love of a good read.

Fiction

"The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan
Release Date: June 10, 2021
Chan’s debut novel tells the story of Frida, the mother of a little girl named Harriet who brings her the joy she wasn’t finding elsewhere. That’s until they have a bad day, and Frida is faced with the possibility that the state might take Harriet away from her. “Woven seamlessly throughout are societal assumptions and stereotypes about mothers, especially mothers of color, and their consequences,” writes Publishers Weekly. “Chan’s imaginative flourishes render the mothers’ vulnerability to social pressures and governmental whims nightmarish and palpable. It’s a powerful story, made more so by its empathetic and complicated heroine.”

"Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead
Release Date: Aug. 23, 2021
Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead tells the story of Ray Carney, a man living in Harlem who gets involved in a heist. “We take in the people, sights, and sounds of Harlem from his point of view, from chapter to chapter, from year to year,” writes NPR’s Denny S. Bryce. “Whitehead has created a character who exemplifies the classic heist anti-hero while also giving the reader a penetrating look into a Black man's life in Harlem in the 1960s and the circumstances he might not be able to avoid. No matter how much trouble he finds, we can't help but root for Ray Carney every step of the way.”

"To Paradise" by Hanya Yanagirara
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022
Submitted by Christine Bollow from Silver Spring’s Loyalty Bookstore
Expansive, wholly original, and utterly engrossing, To Paradise is a masterpiece. Fans of Yanagihara's A Little Life will find themselves making a little more room in their hearts for this marvelous, emotional, and brilliant story.

"Into the Ether" by David Sherer
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2021
Readers looking for a local author and a story with a familiar setting can turn to “Into the Ether” written by a Bethesda resident. It follows the story of Adrian Wren, a DMV area doctor who learns of top-secret information that leads him to flee the country. "There must be literally 75 to 100 references to the local area here — to Bethesda, Glen Echo, Kensington, D.C.," said Sherer in an interview with Patch earlier this year.

Non-Fiction

"Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance" by Mia Bay
Release Date: March 23, 2021
Bay tells the history of “mobility and resistance,” the New York Times writes. She writes about the wood Jim Crow car on trains and the segregation of transportation more broadly. The Times calls this account of history “superb.”

"All The Frequent Troubles Of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler" by Rebecca Donner
Release Date: Aug. 23, 2021
Donner tells the story of her great-great aunt, Mildred Harnack, an American who was sentenced to death by the Nazis. The New York Times writes that the book is “astonishing” and shows “what it felt like in real time to experience the tightening vise of the Nazi regime.”

"All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake" by Tiya Miles
Release Date: June 8, 2021
Miles writes about cotton sack from the mid-19th century — an enslaved woman named Rose gave it to her daughter Ashley, and Miles tries to reconstruct what she can, writes The New York Times. This was a National Book Award winner.

Memoir, Biography

"Finding Me" by Viola Davis
Release Date: April 5, 2022
Award-winning actor Viola Davis looks back on her days growing up in Rhode Island, all the way leading up to her current success as an actor. She’s been nominated for countless awards for her performances in “Fences,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “How To Get Away With Murder,” “The Help” and more.

"In The Eye of the Wild" by Nastassja Martin
Release Date: Nov. 16, 2021
The author recounts the story of her near fatal encounter with a Kamchatka bear in the mountains of Siberia. The event makes her rebalance the way she thinks about the world, and with exquisite prose and sharp observations, Martin reveals how curiosity can uncover the most vivid aspects of the human condition,” Publishers Weekly writes. “This is a profound look at the violence and beauty of life.”

"Crying In H Mart" by Michelle Zauner
Release Date: April 20, 2021
Barnes and Noble named this memoir as one of the best books of 2021. Zauner writes about growing up and her relationship with her mother, up to when her mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She recalls the “gifts of taste, language, and history” given to her by her mother.

"I Came All This Way to Meet You" by Jami Attenberg
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2022
Submitted by Hannah Oliver Depp, owner of Silver Spring’s Loyalty Bookstore
No book about the writing life are as honest about money, time, and the personal connections, both straining and glorious, as "I Came All This Way To Meet You." Reading a memoir is a truly intimate act and Attenberg appreciates this, giving us a story of how a writer is made time and time again. An engrossing and deceptively simple read, this honed book will stick with you long after you put it down.

"Scientist: E.O. Wilson: A Life in Nature" by Richard Rhodes
Release Date: October 2021
Regarded as one of the most groundbreaking and controversial scientists, E.O. Wilson was born in Alabama and grew up to publish “Sociobiology” in 1975 which says that all animal and human behavior is governed by the laws of evolution and genetics. This was named a Barnes and Noble book of the year.

Children’s Books

All of these books are recommended by the Association for Library Service to Children, which provided synopses for these and more on its website. These books were published in 2020, and selected as best books in 2021.

"The Bear in My Family" by Maya Tatsukawa
Can you learn to live with a large bossy bear? Read this book to see.

"If You Take Away the Otter" by Susannah Buhrman-Deever
This book tells the story of the Pacific Coast’s habitat, and what happens when one animal ios taken out of the balance by hunters.

"Lupe Wong Won’t Dance" by Donna Barba Higuera
Lupe rallies against square dancing in gym class when it threatens her chance to meet pitching idol and fellow Mexinese/Chinacan, Fu Li Hernandez.

"Before the Ever After" by Jacqueline Woodson
This book tells the story of a community that rallies around a family when the father has alarming medical symptoms that are found to be the results of old football injuries.

Poetry and Essays

"These Precious Days" by Ann Patchett
Release Date: Nov. 23, 2o21
This writer reflects on family, friendships, marriage and more in her collection of personal essays. “Patchett has a talent for friendship and celebrates many of those friends here,” the New York Times writes of her collection. “She writes with pure love for her mother …”

"Bless the Daughter Raised By The Voices In Her Head" by Warsan Shire
Release Date: March 2022
This poetry collection tells stories about migration, womanhood and trauma. “Warsan Shire is an expert sculptor,” author Vivek Shraya said. “She molds words into clay, her poems into statues—each one a wonder that I return to, in reverence.”

"Many Different Kinds Of Love: A Story of Life, Death, and the NHS" by Michael Rosen
Release Date: March 18, 2021
The author tells the story of his COVID-19 diagnosis and illness in this poetry collection. He’s in a coma for six weeks, and his wife, doctors and nurses help him make a recovery. “The much loved writer gives a memorable account of the disease from a patient’s point of view, in poems, notes and emails – and conveys how it feels to come back from the brink,” The Guardian writes.

Cookbooks

"Death & Co Welcome Home" by Alex Day, Nick Fauchald and David Kaplan
Release Date: November 2021
If you like cocktails and want to learn to make them like a high-end bartender, this is the book for you. Intended to teach drink lovers the ways of cocktail bar Death and Co., this book does include obscure ingredients that even a fanatic likely won’t have in their personal bar.

"Boards: Stylish Spreads for Casual Gatherings" by America’s Test Kitchen
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Whether you’re looking for an appetizer to please a party or a small gathering of friends, a charcuterie board or vegetable platter is usually a great way to go. With creative ways to arrange your cheeses, nuts and more, this book has great ideas for your next entertaining venture.

"101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die" by Jet Tila
Release Date: Jan. 25, 2o22
Tila’s recipes range from classic foods to street vendor delights and more. The book has recipes that are “authentic, accessible and ultra-craveable.”