My favorite books I read this year
When I started my Doctor of Ministry program over a year ago, I thought I’d read fewer books of my choosing. Happily, that has not turned out to be the case! Here are some of the books I read in 2022 that I highly recommend to others. About half were published this year, and the rest came out in recent years.
Fiction
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. This story about a woman making her way in the male-dominated world of science - and building her own family of people who understand and care about her along the way - felt really relatable to me. (So did the main character to this Enneagram 5.)
A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang. This was a beautiful, tender novel about complicated family and friend relationships made even more so by the main character’s ties to multiple cultures.
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford. This story illuminates the power of trauma that is transmitted across generations in often invisible, incomprehensible ways.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. I loved the main character’s commitment to all words, but particularly the words that mainstream dictionaries leave out: the words specific to women’s experiences and that and those of the working class.
Underground Airlines by Ben Winters. What if the Civil War had never happened? This novel posits what this country would look like in a world in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated sooner.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. This tale alternates between past and present, revealing both the matriarch’s big secret and her resilience in the face of unimaginable challenge.
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. If you’re a book lover looking for a good read on grief, this is it. Strangers and friends share the names of classic works that help the characters both escape from and process what they’re facing. In the process, they build connections they come to depend upon.
Non-fiction
Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia by Natasha Lance Rogoff. I feel like this book was written just for me. Post-Cold War Russia? Sesame Street? It’s a fascinating read and provides great insight to the political and economic realities in Russia during the mid 1990s.
All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep: Hope - and Hard Pills to Swallow - About Fighting for Black Lives by Andre Henry. This was an eye-opening read about one Black man’s realizations about how deeply ingrained racism is and how many of his close relationships with white people could not stand as he began to see this. The book is a call to action for Black people to trust themselves and their experiences and for white people to examine our complicity in oppression.
It’s Not You, It’s Everything: What Our Pain Reveals About the Anxious Pursuit of the Good Life by Eric Minton. Do you have low- (or high) level anxiety all the time about the state of the world? This book does a great job of explaining why.
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear. If you haven’t yet read this book, do. Its encouragement and practical steps to design tiny habits based on the kind of people we want to be (rather than out of an external goal) are immediately usable.
Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by Abby Wambach. One of the best books on leadership I’ve read, especially for women and girls. You don’t have to be a sports person to get a lot out of it.
Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown. This book offers us language, based in research, for everything we feel. When we can recognize and express how we feel, we can better connect with others.
This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley. READ THIS BOOK. I recommend the audiobook (read by the author) in addition to the print version. There is so much beauty, depth, and wisdom on a range of themes.
What did you read this year that you loved?