I abandoned the book-a-week pace of earlier years once the pandemic came for us. 2022 was a year I spent writing and revising, revising, revising my own book, which is now ready for preorder. I hope you will reserve a copy, and if you do, please write me a note or comment that you have done so, if only to spare you my reminders to preorder. 🙂
Much like last year, work assignments are responsible for selecting much of my 2022 reading, since author interviews comprise many of my ongoing contributions to NPR Life Kit, It’s Been a Minute, and I drop in for guest appearances on the Nerdette podcast for WBEZ.
Other recommendations from my book-devoted friends led to nourishing and surprising reading in 2022, though it was way too heavy on non-fiction. I’ll balance it out more in 2023.
My 2022 list:
| The Four Agreements | Don Miguel Ruiz |
| Sexual Revolution | Laurie Penny |
| The Power of Regret | Daniel Pink |
| Dopamine Nation | Anna Lembke |
| You Sound Like A White Girl | Julissa Arce |
| Atlas of the Heart | Brene Brown |
| Imagine If: Creating A Future For Us All | Sir Ken Robinson |
| How to Tell A Story | The Team at The Moth |
| All About Love | bell hooks |
| Sorrow and Bliss | Meg Mason |
| The Lifestyle | Taylor Hahn |
| This America: The Case for the Nation | Jill Lepore |
| Out of Love | Hazel Hayes |
| Thinking 101 | Woo-Kyoung Ahn |
| Good Inside | Becky Kennedy |
| Our Missing Hearts | Celeste Ng |
| Lark and Kasim Start a Revolution | Kacen Callendar |
| The Art of Love | Erich Fromm |
Fave Nonfiction: This America: A Case for the Nation. This slim, breezy, engrossing tale of America is one that I wish I would have been taught in school. It helped root so much of the fissures and struggles we see in today’s headlines in history and an unvarnished version of America. It is realistic and hopeful, though, because I believe the difference between patriotism and nationalism is that patriotism honors love in a nation’s possibility — which means critiquing it — over simply accepting it as it is. Runner up: Laurie Penny’s Sexual Revolution is a must-read especially as bodily autonomy and abortion rights were stripped from people who can become pregnant in half of the United States.
My Fave Fiction: Sorrow and Bliss, a love story that reminded me of the Sally Rooney bestsellers which evoke such feeling from small moments and the rich inner lives of characters.
Book That Will Improve Your Life: The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, by Daniel Pink, whose expansive study of regret led him to understand the pillars of a good life. My conversation with him about it was one of my favorite podcast episodes of the year.
My 2021 Conversations With Authors:
— The Power of Regret author Daniel Pink, on how understanding our regrets will steer us in the direction of a more fulfilling life.
— You Sound Like a White Girl author Julissa Arce, who shares a crucial message about how our worth does not come from our productivity, capitalism be damned.
— Status and Culture author W. David Marx on how our quest for status is what drives culture and constant change.
— Thinking 101 author Woo Kyoung Ahn on all the cognitive traps we fall into and how to beat them.
— Good Inside author Becky Kennedy, on more intentional, connection-first parenting.
— Dopamine Nation author Anna Lembke, on how understanding the way dopamine works will help us avoid the trap of endlessly seeking it