I’m in disbelief. The final curtains are drawing upon 2021. And that means another year awaits, full of promise and potential, a blank slate upon which we can draw parts of our destiny. If you’re like me, and gave up on New Years’ resolutions a looong time ago, there are other ways to hold yourself accountable to the things you want to do.
If you’re also like me and take in books as a second form of sustenance (or just want to read more), this list is for you, my friend. Here are 22 titles that left an impact on me this past year. They’ve expanded my worldview, challenged me as a writer, and were really dang hard to put down! I have a feeling there’s at least one here for you. So grab a warm mug of tea, light your favorite scented candle, and follow along for my recommendations of 22 books to read in 2022.
Note: Images credits to Goodreads.
Memoir
1. Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
Suleika’s life as a professional is just beginning when she receives a life-shattering diagnosis of leukemia. What follows is four years of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, a clinical trial, and debilitating symptoms. However, Suleika finds that the most difficult part comes after remission; when forced to reexamine her life in the aftermath of being on the brink of death. She travels the U.S., gleaning wisdom from friends met during her illness to understand what it means to live between the two kingdoms of sickness and health. So impactful and universally relevant.
2. Born a Crime: Stories of a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
We all know him from The Daily Show or Netflix comedy specials. But Trevor Noah has a convoluted backstory that begins in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. Literally “born a crime,” Noah navigates an upbringing that straddles racial lines, and aims to make sense of a post-apartheid society. Honest truth sprinkled with a hefty dose of humor.
3. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Published posthumously, neurosurgeon Paul Kalinithi’s book talks of his journey from practitioner to patient. At 36, he is diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer, bringing the world he worked tirelessly built crumbling before him. Kalinithi aims to explore the difficult question: What makes life worth living? Have a box of tissues ready as you fly through this one!
4. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
Therapists are all-knowing beings who do no wrong and know all the things, right? Not quite. Psychotherapist Lori Gottleib gets candid about what she sees in her practice, but also what her own experience as a client is like. Gottlieb shows us that underneath the façades and frivolities, we all are more alike than we believe. In this witty memoir, she shines a spotlight on our shared vulnerabilities.
5. We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib
Queerness and Islam— not exactly mutually exclusive terms. Samra Habib proves otherwise. Habib struggles with their identity as a young woman brought up in Pakistan, where their family is the target of Islamic extremists, then struggles again upon immigrating to Canada and encountering bullying, racism, and questions about their sexuality. Samra takes us through their quest of self-discovery and search for community, bringing us around the world and into interactions with many LGBTQ+ individuals they meet along the way. And ultimately, they show us that who we really are is within us all along.
6. From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
Tembi had me at her delectable food descriptions. But her love with (and loss of) her Sicilian husband Saro, whom she meets while studying abroad in Italy during university (swoon!) had me 110% invested in her story. After his death, she travels with their daughter back to his traditional home, connecting with his mother, the other village women, and the longstanding Sicilian customs. A vivid sense of place and soulful voice throughout.
7. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Japanese Breakfast on the stage, Michelle Zauner on the page. Zauner recounts her memories with her late Korean mother, who introduced her to the hearty and wholesome cuisine of the country. After losing her mom to cancer, Zauner develops a void within herself and attempts to reconnect with her culture, and her beloved mother, by recreating the dishes she grew up with—kimchi and ganjang-gejang, to name a couple. Through this process of grief and gastronomical experimentation, we see the strong connections between food, love, and culture.
Nonfiction
8. Untold: Defining Moments of the Uprooted
This anthology of personal stories from a wide variety of South Asians aims to empower those whose stories have so long been untold. Shedding the stigma, twenty-one individuals share their personal experiences with infertility, sexual orientation, chronic illness, colorism, and so many more pertinent topics. You can’t help but revel in this collective catharsis from generations of repression and forced silence.
9. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century
The largest minority in the U.S., disabled folx are often susceptible to the harshest forms of discrimination. This collection of personal essays draws on chronically ill, neurodivergent, and disabled individuals to share their stories of what it’s like to navigate a world that constantly tells them that they are less than. We learn the struggles that disabled folx face to obtain simple accommodations and the invalidation that pervades them throughout their day-to-day lives. This book certainly makes us all question our internalized and societal attitudes toward ableism.
10. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Sleep. We all need more of it, and most of us don’t get enough of it. But Dr. Matthew Walker, a world-renowned sleep researcher (he has a MasterClass AND a TED Talk) is here to help. He lays out important empirical data regarding sleep in an easy to comprehend manner. He also provides practical tips we can employ to improve our sleep hygiene and get enough zzzs to maximize our overall health.
11. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Cathy is a woman who speaks with conviction. In her personal essays, she draws upon her lived experiences to criticize aspects of the culture that have left her with “minor feelings.” That is, American norms and values that have been at odds with her Korean American upbringing. Hong lays it all out for us with anecdotes and calls to action that leave us questioning the status quo.
12. What Doesn’t Kill You: A Life With Chronic Illness – Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller
Tessa Miller’s journalistic expertise shines through in this part personal, part practical piece. She talks about her experience living with Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune condition that causes debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms, and how her patient experience has been harrowing at times, to say the least. Miller calls out the systemic ableism, racism, and sexism in the medical establishment, and gives us tips on how to better advocate for ourselves as patients.
13. Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In his raw memoir, written as a letter to his young son, Ta-Nehisi Coates addresses the question: What does it mean to be a black man in America? And how can we acknowledge the historical and contemporary injustices upon which this country is built? Coates weaves through his own past, and draws upon the political climate of the past and present, to instill his son (and us as the readers) with what we need to know to move forward.
Fiction
14. The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
Leave it to Zeyn Joukhadar to create an impeccable work of magical realism. This novel starts off in Syria, and recounts a modern-day family’s experience with bombings and fleeing from their home through Jordan, Northern Africa, and Spain. Alongside the present-day journey is a similar sojourn undertaken by a mapmaker’s apprentice in the 12th century, spanning the opposite direction. Through both of these “heroine’s journeys” we find overlapping situations and hope amid moments of grueling strife.
15. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi starts us off in 18th-century Ghana, weaving stories through generations that bring us to present-day America. She creates vivid characters and holds back no truth in depicting the inhumane occurrences of the slave trade. As each story unfolds its own separate yet intertwined tale, we can’t help but think of how much of our human history is buried, and of the underlying realities that we all carry in our blood.
16. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
You know the cliché, “I was on the edge of my seat?” Well, you’ll literally be struggling to stay on your chair/couch/bed while you read this dazzling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Set in the present day, it takes us through the life of Evelyn Hugo, a Hollywood A-lister with a tumultuous journey through love, loss, and the limelight. As secrets and plot twists emerge, you’ll find yourself anxious to know what ultimately brought Ms. Hugo to share her unexpected truths after a lifetime of silence.
17. A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Set in the Bay Area, Mirza’s debut novel tells the story of a Muslim Indian-American family as they grapple with estrangement, cultural identity, and love. From the perspectives of each member of the family, we see the pain and pleasure that underscore the complexities of being on the cusp of generational faultlines. A fantastic story with careful attention to detail and phenomenally developed characters.
18. Songbirds by Christy Lefteri
This story, set on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, sheds light on the injustices faced by domestic workers who come to Cyprus from abroad. Through a fictional (though uncannily realistic) story about the disappearance of a Sri Lankan woman, Lefteri uses her poetic cadence to unravel the mysteries behind women’s disappearances. It goes to show the power of a carefully composed story in spreading awareness about situations in the world seldom covered by the mainstream media.
19. Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
Goodreads calls Abulhawa’s novel “lyrical,” and I concur. Nahr, a Palestinian woman, recounts, from prison, her story of never feeling as if she belongs; first in growing up in Kuwait, and later in Jordan. When fate brings her to Palestine, and into the arms of a passionate lover, she begins to gain a semblance of home. Drama and violence ensue as we follow her journey against the backdrop of Israeli occupation. In the present day, we root for her as the possibility of re-entering the world, and being reunited with those dear to her, remains just within her reach.
20. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
A historical fiction novel that takes us back to 1930s Malaysia, The Night Tiger follows a Chinese superstition surrounding men who transform into tigers. An 11-year-old house servant and a young woman’s lives collide as they’re both thrust into the mystery of a tiger that’s stirred up a storm in their town. Choo explores themes such as colonialism, sibling rivalry, gender roles, and folklore in this complexly rich book.
Poetry
21. Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
One can’t help but wish they could pick Nobel Prize winner and well-revered Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore’s brain after reading his writings. In Gitanjali, he evokes a spiritual voice to eternalize his relationship with the divine. Beyond the alliteration and artistic language, one can’t help but feel transported to another plane altogether whilst delving into what many would argue to be Tagore’s magnum opus.
22. When You Ask Me Where I’m Going by Jasmin Kaur
Aside from being deeply emotive and visceral in her poetry and prose, Jasmin Kaur is underrated. Kaur has a profound way of visiting the darker, barred-off spaces of the human experience, and articulating them in a way whereby one can help but say, “I feel seen.” Whether you are an avid reader/writer of poetry or are looking to dip your toes in the genre, this collection is a superb start.
***
Those are my 22 recommended reads for 2022. Hopefully, you find one or many of them enjoyable! What were your favorite reads of 2021? What are you looking forward to reading this upcoming year? I’d love to know!
Happy New Year and happy reading!