Five Books I Loved in 2022 | January to June

I’ve read more mediocre and terrible books this month than I have in the last year. Sometimes I get in one of those reading ruts, where it seems like every book I pick up has very little in the realm of plot or character development or writing technique that I enjoy. This is one such rut. To combat my reading woes, I went back through my Goodreads list and read some of the reviews for books that I enjoyed, and there were a lot. It instantly cheered me up.

My reading routine always looks a little different than others because I’m usually reading books from my master reading list. I don’t normally just go to my bookshelf and select a book that I’m in the mood for. I carefully calculate library hold times and curate a list that checks off the books on my yearly TBR, adding in galleys from publishers when they approach release date. I probably make it more stressful than I should, but it works with my analytical brain.

What I enjoy about this process is that I’m reading across a wide spectrum of genre and in topics that I often wouldn’t have chosen, had it not been for an arbitrary and sometimes impossibly complex reading challenge prompt. That said, I often find myself reading books that are more like textbooks, one after another, or several romance novels, a genre that usually makes me cringe. For now, the system works for me, and I am able to read some really great books. Below are five of my favorites from the first half of this year.

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

After hearing rave reviews for this book literally everywhere, I added myself to the very long hold list at my local library. It was definitely worth the wait. I've read quite a few books about immigrants and undocumented people in the United States, but the way Qian tells her story made this one stand out. I think naturally-born American citizens take a lot for granted, living in a country where others work so hard and sometimes even risk their lives to come here. Reading about her family's struggles really put things into perspective for me. This is one of the most honestly-written memoirs that I've ever read. Qian doesn't try to beautify her story. She lets it speak for itself, including all the dark, gritty, and painful details. I learned a lot about Chinese culture while reading this, but I also learned about the very thick divide there is between the wealthy and the impoverished in America.

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

This book brought me to tears on multiple occasions. I could relate to a lot of the situations Ben found themselves in when it came to their relationship with their parents. I don't identify as nonbinary, but I don't think you need to in order to find your heart in this novel. Deaver does such a great job of writing dialogue that is real and follows the cadence of normal conversation. I felt like I was sitting in a room, watching these characters talk. And on the note of characters, there wasn't a single one I didn't connect with. I also appreciated the way art was used as a form of therapy, as that has been something I've used in my own life when struggling with mental health and verbalizing trauma. This book was so much more than I expected it to be and I can't wait to read more from Mason Deaver.

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

I was so impressed with this book. Grohl is a wonderful storyteller and listening to the audiobook (which is narrated by him) was like sitting down with an old friend and listening to him share tale after tale of all the interesting things that he's done in his life. This also served up a nice slice of nostalgia for me because so many of the bands he was in and met along the tour circuit in his career were bands that I listened to when I was younger and still listen to now. He is a good example of going after your dreams, even if getting there takes something other than the conventional route.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

I was definitely wary of reading a book about the pandemic while we are still in the pandemic, but Picoult did a pretty good job at not traumatizing her reader with this story. She shares narratives both from the perspective of someone who is working on the front lines and someone who is not, and I think she gave an accurate representation of the emotional turmoil that a lot of us felt on both sides of that line. This novel tickled my travel bug and made me want to visit the Galapagos Islands or anywhere that is beautiful and remote. There was a huge twist about 60% through this book that caught me completely off guard. It was shocking but was also a great way for her to take this story off the road we thought it was traveling on. As always, she ends the story with me wanting another chapter or two. I know she leaves it up to our imagination, but I'd love to know where she'd take it if she had to add a few more pages. I think this would be a great beach read because once I started this one, I didn't want to put it down. I would add a few content warnings for the topic of COVID/the pandemic and discussion/description of self-harm. If you are sensitive to these topics. read with care.

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

This was a comprehensive look at complex-PTSD, from both objective and subjective viewpoints. Foo works through her own traumatic past in this book, while researching the topic, talking to experts, and taking a deeper look at how it is affecting the Asian community at large. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Foo, while also reading along on my Kindle so that I could highlight the many portions of this text that I wanted to remember. I really loved that she included the audio recordings of some of her meetings with the specialist that ultimately helped her overcome the effects of the trauma, Dr. Ham. He played a pivotal part in helping her reframe some of the things that happened in her brain when she was exposed to a trigger. Foo did a wonderful job explaining the different types of therapy that were out there, both conventional counseling or psychotherapy, along with things like Yin or restorative yoga. I appreciated that she also shares the types of treatments that didn't work so well, which helps readers to understand that there isn't a clear-cut answer for how to work through one's own mental health conditions. I’ll also add some content warnings here for discussion of physical and mental abuse by parental figures, self-harm, suicide ideation/attempts by parental figures. Foo offers an author’s note with more information about these topics.

If you’re interested in reading more of my book reviews, visit my Goodreads page.