Best books of 2022

The "best" books this year and in 2023

1. Books are for use.

2. Every person their book.

3. Every book its reader.

4. Save the time of the reader.

5. A library is a growing organism.

~ S. R. Ranganathan

I am a reader. Reading is what brought me to stories and questions. Reading brought me to libraries, bookstores, and becoming a librarian. In library school, we learn five “laws” of librarianship. These five laws stayed with me since I learned them 20 years ago and they resonate deeply as I review what I read this year.

As a reader, a librarian, and a coach, I love to recommend books to people. From the 47 books I read in 2022 , I’m sharing recommendations with you using the five laws as a framework with some prompts for reconsidering reading in 2023.

1. Books are for use. Use? What does “use” mean? What was useful to me this year probably differed from you. There is our first prompt: what does “use” mean to you and how were the books you read this year ‘of use’? This was a year when I imagined a new chapter in my life. As such, I was drawn to stories from those who followed Anne Sexton’s advice: “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.” Memoirs were of use to me and these are a few of my favorites:

   • My Song by Harry Belafonte: From his personal history to his account of black art and artists to his activism and his close relationships with MLK Jr. and RFK to inside stories of all sides of show business, this book that was full of history, texture, strength, and voice.

   • Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey: Funny, insightful, incredibly engaging, and very surprising - I loved this one (and I didn’t expect that).

   • Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up--and What We Make When We Make Dinner by Liz Hauck: A beautiful story on fathers and how much there is to learn from them even when they aren’t with us anymore. A lot of learning about the child services system and the maze young people navigate, in this case with support from around a kitchen table.

   • Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliot: Home Made brought me to this book and it was the hardest read of the year. My understanding of big words like poverty, family, love, hardship, resilience, and success was changed. Pulitzer Prize winner.

   • Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Tottenberg: I always love her voice on the radio and now I love Nina Tottenberg for her. Her love of her friends shines through, especially RBG.

2. Every person their book. My interpretation of this law falls in line with “So many books, not enough time.” There are so many types of books to read and this law reminds me of the importance and value of subjectivity. What kinds of books nourish you? In what ways do you read for yourself? I read to follow interests. To explore places, times, and perspectives. To grow, reflect, rest, laugh, cry, feel, and change. These are books that brought me pleasure. Mostly fiction.

   • Black Cake by Charmain Wilkerson: I could not put this down. Friendship. Families. Women shattering expectations. Learning that we don’t know. Love.

   • Any Other Family by Eleanor James: What does it mean to be a family? Powerful renditions of perfectionism, inner narratives, and what we will do when we love our children and our families.

   • The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E Smith: Grief touches us all in different ways and this book helped me explore that. I cried in the best way.

   • Where to Begin by Cleo Wade: Beautiful to experience, important to read. I’ve given this book as a gift to three people.

   • Three mysteries by Anthony Horowitz: When I just want to turn pages, I read his books. Clever. And I am always surprised by who-done-it.

3. Every book its reader. Have you ever picked up a book and it was exactly what you needed at exactly that time? This is the law of Ranganathan’s that I found myself thinking of the most in 2022. I adore its mystery and magic. How might you invite your book to find you? Perhaps more openness to recommendations, clicking on links you might usually ignore, browsing shelves (ideally in person - yes, go to your local library)? Perhaps simply believing that there is magic in the air? These are books that found me at just the right time — a time of transformation, bravery, and choice.

   • Untamed by Glennon Doyle: Confession - I was not a fan of Glennon Doyle until I checked this book out of the library. 10 pages in, I stopped reading, went to the bookstore attached to the cafe and bought it. It’s now written in and underlined. Wow.

   • Pause Rest Be by Octavia Raheem: The most important wisdom that I am still trying to receive. Read it. Reread it. Return to it regularly. I’ve saved more Instagram posts from Octavia Raheem this year than any other. Necessary.

   • Atomic Habits by James Clear: I started this book in print and put it down. Then, my husband (who is wonderful) told me that it was one of the best things he’s ever read. So I tried again. On Audible. My husband was right. Maybe I should listen to him more.

   • The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier: If I could tell my younger self to read a book to better manage a team, this is the one I would tell her to read. In the age of the “Great Resignation” and “Great Reconsideration,” this one helps. Quick and fun to read.

4. Save the time of the reader. In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about “habit stacking,” where you build a new habit by stacking it on a habit that you already have. Adding Audible to my walks and hikes allowed me to read new genres, “read” more, and experience books in a different medium. What are books you want to read but never do? What other ways of connecting to that content might you explore? My favorite listens?

   • James Clear reading Atomic Habits - I wouldn’t have read it otherwise. See above.

   • Matthew McConahaghy reading Greenlights - I can’t imagine what this book was like without him reading it aloud.

   • Will Smith reading Will - So much charisma. So much music. So much.

   • Martha Beck reading The Way of Integrity - Long walks let this sink in.

5. A library is a growing organism. Up until now, it’s not often that I buy books. This year, however, was one of great change and as a result, I found myself “weeding” books from my personal library and acquiring new ones. I wanted books that I could write in, that I could earmark, that I could revisit. I also acknowledged that my interests had changed. That I am in a different place today than when I had last purchased many of my books. So I tuned in. To my interests. To my questions. To my identity as a reader. Reading showed up for me this year as a way to explore, consider, and reconsider. When you think about growth, what are the books that have nourished you before? How might those stories support your growth now? These are the books I revisited this year that were already on the shelf and I read with new eyes. No notes can say enough.

   • Help Thanks Wow: the three essential prayers by Anne Lamott

   • The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery

   • The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer

   • Love is the Way by the Bishop Michael Curry (a great listen)

   • True Love by Thich Nhat Han

   • Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

   • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

   • The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

   • Heart Talk by Cleo Wade

   • Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

I’ll close this post with a quote that my dad, who passed away this year, sent me in the mail - snail mail. My dad loved to read and fostered my love of reading and questioning. He loved reading books by and about Winston Churchill who said, “If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle them, and, as it were, fondle them. Let them fall open where they will.”

Happy holidays, best wishes for the year ahead, and happy reading.