Last month, the New York Times named its 10 best books of the year, with titles by Jennifer Egan, Ed Yong, and Barbara Kingsolver all making the cut. Now the newspaper is letting its readers have their say.
The Times asked readers for their recommendations of books, both new and old, that they enjoyed in 2022. Mona Shapiro praised Hello, Molly!, the memoir from actor Molly Shannon, co-written with Sean Wilsey, for its “wonderful verve, humor and positivity.”
Reader Michael Padden recommended Jeremy Atherton Lin’s Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, which won the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, saying the book helped him “unpack my own feelings as a gay man living in 2022.”
Nyda Mukhtar turned to a classic this year: Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, calling it “beautiful,” while Olivia Butts praised Michelle Zauner’s 2021 memoir, Crying in H Mart, explaining that “the way she wrote about her identity was so significant for me.”
Adam Roberts recommended David B. Feinberg’s 1988 novel, Eighty-Sixed, calling it “hilarious and heartfelt,” while Ira Kantor enthused about Joshua Prager’s The Family Roe: An American Story, writing, “This book will also have you going through the full palette of emotions: empathy, sadness and rage included.”
Other books that Times readers enjoyed this year included Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry, Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy by the Sea, and Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
