As we welcome in the new year with new goals and self-reflection, I’ve decided to look towards the best books that I read in 2022. At the beginning of last year, I set a goal to read 30 books. Although I didn’t reach that goal, my average rating for each book was much higher in comparison to 2021. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, so don’t stress yourself over not meeting a certain amount of books to read. Look at your reading or pages goals as goals and not necessities. I recommend breaking down your goals into smaller sections in order to work with your schedule. Instead, here are a few alternatives to your reading goals for 2023:
- Read for x minutes (daily, weekly, or monthly)
- Read one book translated into English
- Read one page everyday for a month
My reviews on each novel will be on the shorter side but I will provide a longer review to more books in the future. For each book, I have listed a StoryGraph link that provides a list of content warnings, tones/moods of the book, and an in depth description. If you want more updates and small reviews follow me on Goodreads and StoryGraph. However, I am more active on StoryGraph and my updates are more recent.
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Nonfiction, Health, Psychology
Synopsis: This book focuses on the psychology behind how people interact with their past trauma. It offers a new perspective on how reconnecting back to the mind and body allows for a different path of healing by offering techniques therapists instill to help with the recovery process.
Review: I understand this book is daunting in its content and pages; 445 pages to be exact, but finishing this was the best feeling. I would recommend reading this book along with other books so you can take a break every once in a while with this book. Personally, that is how I read the book and it took me three months to read. This turned out to be my favorite read of 2022 because I feel like you learn so much about yourself along the way. I found myself relating to differing stories and how people deal with the after affects of trauma. What I took away was that when you live your life in a constant state of fight-or-flight, it is easy to mistake survival for living. One of the easiest ways to heal is to connect back to yourself. Connecting back to oneself can mean a variety of things such as journaling, feeding your inner-child, or going outside. Though these things seem like obvious options, they are often the ones that are the most underestimated in the process of healing. At times, reading this made my chest ache and my eyes water because of the conversations that are being talked about. When you find a book that gives you the language to your heartache, it’s as if someone has eased the pain from your body. This book could be for you if that is the case.
- Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Nonfiction, essays, and feminism
Synopsis: Tolentino’s book is a collection of essays that revolve around the connected idea of self-delusion. Each essay explores the complexities of situating ourselves in topics such as social media culture to contemporary feminism, leading to an underlying message of disguise.
Review: Tolentino explores the complexities of living in an internet reigned culture with the fantasy of the “American Dream” in the backdrop. Her book follows nine essays on the basis of surviving on the internet today. My favorite essays from this collection were “The I in the Internet,” “Pure Heroines,” and “Ecstasy.” I often dislike essays that come off as if their perspective is superior to everyone else’s, but these essays are not like that at all. The essays are executed in a way that is honest, purely because the writer is not talking down on you, but having a conversation with you. The first essay, “The I in the Internet,” is well-said as it addresses how social media’s issue is that we take retweets or reposts as profound acts of solidarity. We’ve all seen it: when something attracts mass media attention, we see post after post after post until we get radio silence. This essay addresses that, deep down, we don’t just post about these events because we want to bring attention to what is happening. We take on this form of performative activism that signals to people, and hopefully validates, that you are in fact a good person with good morals.
- The song of Achilles by madeline miller
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Fiction, mythological retelling, and LGBTQIA+
Synopsis: The Song of Achilles takes on the perspective of Patroclus during the Trojan War. The novel portrays the before and aftermath of Patroclus falling in love with Achilles.
Review: If you are on TikTok or Instagram, I am sure you are familiar with this novel. I actually read Madeline Miller’s book, Circe, in 2021 and then read this book. You do not have to be well versed in the world of mythology in order to fall in love with this book. I finished this book in two days because I could not put it down. Finishing the book felt like someone scraped my insides and left me with my emotions. There is this tenseness throughout the whole entire novel, whether that was the Trojan War or Patroclus and Achilles’ timeline of events. Both platonically and romantically, their relationship is a beautiful reconfiguration of how love is talked about. Their love lives beyond lust; it transcends what it means to love another person, finding every possible path of closeness that goes beyond the physicality of the human body. Miller’s prose is beautiful in its description of intimacy and love between Patroclus and Achilles.
- conversations with friends by sally rooney
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Adult fiction, romance, and contemporary
Synopsis: Frances is a 21-year-old college student navigating her own troubles with her best friend and ex-girlfriend Bobbi. Throughout college, their lives intertwine with a married couple that they grow close to.
Review: What’s not to love about people who are completely toxic for each other trying to work it out? I think Sally Rooney’s characters and their relationships are what stuck out to me the most. As a reader, you find yourself being annoyed with Frances’ character, rightfully so, because of the choices that she is making. Even through all of that, you just find a twenty-something-year-old navigating their way through a weird time in adulthood. Frances’ character reminds me of someone who carries the same confidence as a seventeen-year-old. When I say that, I don’t mean that in a malicious way. What I mean is, at that age you feel unstoppable, as if consequences rule you out of the equation, but they don’t. Conversations with Friends is messy and frustrating but you can’t seem to put the book down. Being in your early twenties is messy and I think Rooney handles her character with a deep sense of humanity that is ugly yet understandable.
- her body and other parties by carmen maria machado
-
Genre: Fiction, short stories, magical realism, and horror.
Synopsis: Carmen Maria Machado writes a collection of eight short stories surrounding the existence of women, their bodies, and the people who feel entitled to their bodies.
Review: Machado’s prose is the physical embodiment of the human psyche. Each story overlaps in its genre, creating this experimental take on the feminist narrative. The stories take on varying grim and dark tellings of womanhood and femininity. One of the first short stories that I read, “Inventory,” from this collection was in my Introduction to Short Story Writing class at UW. “Inventory” gives a sneak peek into the relationship of each lover that she meets. The encounters and separation of each relationship is indirectly expressed, which is why I enjoyed this short story so much. Machado gives enough information that guides the reader into an obvious answer, but as a reader, you still question if your assumption is correct. With each lover, once you figure out what has happened, you are left with your emotional realization between her and her lovers.
- in the dream house by carmen maria machado
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Nonfiction, dark memoir, and LGBTQIA+
Synopsis: In the Dream House is an experimental memoir recounting Machado’s abusive relationship with an ex-girlfriend. The memoir is mixed in with horror and magical realism, taking on a different structure in how we choose to tell our stories.
Review: Listen… I know I just recommended her other book, but this one is also such a good read. If you’re the type of person who’s not into memoirs, I would give this one a try. As I was reading this, I forgot that this was even a memoir. Machado has a way with writing about trauma and pain that reflects our own experiences with it. By that I mean, when we endure traumatic events it is often difficult to face it head on, but her writing once again indirectly addresses the issue. It’s like knowing that something bad has occurred but you’re choosing not to acknowledge it right now because you cannot handle the pain that follows. In the Dream House mirrors the way in which we process trauma through our indirectness with the subject.
- before the coffee gets cold by toshikazu kawaguchi
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Fiction, magical realism, and contemporary.
Synopsis: Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a Japanese-translated novel about a small cafe in Tokyo that allows customers to travel back in time. Just remember, you must return before the coffee gets cold.
Review: I wish I was able to read this in Japanese because translated works often miss certain emotions or directions when translated. The writing was good, it just wasn’t my favorite, and I am giving it a little bit of grace due to the fact it was translated from Japanese to English. Overall, Kawaguchi’s ability to take away the appeal of time travel and add on meticulous rules creates a more captivating experience as a reader. You begin to question what the point of going back in time is when your main purpose of returning has no significance. The first two stories of the novel I thought were okay, but the last two stories were a great way to end the novel. I thought there was more substance to the plot line & there were more things at stake. The first two stories were more of a slow introduction to the functions of time travel but were still interesting plot lines.
- Crying in H mart by Michelle Zauner
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Nonficition, memoir, and food.
Synopsis: Crying In H Mart is a memoir about Michelle Zauner: singer and guitarist for Japanese Breakfast, and her relationship with her mother who has been diagnosed with cancer. Zauner works through her grief by reconnecting back to her Korean heritage.
Review: Regardless if you are struggling with grief or not, you will find a shared feeling within this novel. Especially if you fall under the category of the daughter of an immigrant mother in the U.S., Zauner’s journey through reconnecting with her mother after she has passed creates a heartbreaking picture. I teared up because you begin to question your own relationship with your mother. Questioning if you are close with your mother or if it’s too late to mend that distance. Then before you know it, you’re twenty and moved out of your childhood home realizing that your mom is a person, with her own lived issues and trauma. I will leave you with a quote from this memoir. Before Zauner’s mother passed, they talked about how much they’ve grown to actually enjoy talking to each other. Her mother says:
“You know what I realized? I’ve just never met someone like you.”
Zauner pg. 169 - patron saints of nothing By Randy Ribay
-
Photo from Penguin Random House
Genre: YA fiction, contemporary, and coming-of-age
Synopsis: Patron Saints of Nothing follows the story of Jay Reguero, a Filipino-American teenager who grows suspicious of the death of his cousin in the Philippines.
Review: I read this book for my grad school research paper regarding Filipino Literature. I didn’t grow up reading lots of books with Filipino characters, so reading this was like a breath of fresh air. The synopsis makes it sound like a murder mystery but at the heart of it, it’s about someone who is trying to make sense of their grief and guilt that they feel with their cousin’s death. I cried at the end of it and I read it in about two days. The novel showcases microaggressions, conversations of the war on drugs in the Philippines, and what it means to be Filipino. It contrasts the different views of a Filipino-American mindset to someone who was born and raised in the Philippines. When you are born and raised in the diaspora, you often question if you have the right to claim yourself as Filipino when people back home see you more as an American. Ribay’s novel shines a light on the exploration and reclaiming of one’s identity.
- avatar: the Last airbender – The promise: Part 1 by gene Luen yang
-
Photo by Zaira Bardos
Genre: Middle grade fiction, graphic novel, and fantasy
Synopsis: Picking up where the famous TV show “Avatar: The Last Airbender” left off, we are now brought to a small Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom that is causing tensions between all the neighboring kingdoms.
Review: If you’re like me and watched “Avatar: The Last Airbender” growing up, then you should give this a read. I started reading graphic novels last year and have found a new love for this genre of books. I have only read the first book in the series, but already it is entertaining and pushes the boundaries of everyone’s friendship. Now that they are a little bit older, their friendship is tested through their new responsibilities within each kingdom and their loyalty to one another.