It’s time to bid goodbye to 2022 and welcome a new year — and an avalanche of highly-anticipated, newly published books. But before that happens, make sure you didn’t miss the very best reads from the past year, especially now that many of them are either on sale or on clearance.
Here at Scary Mommy, we’re mostly moms with young kids and we’re mostly pretty busy reading lots and lots of stories at our day jobs. But we’re also people who absolutely love to read and who make time for books outside of work whenever we can. It’s also all part of our day’s work to share our favorite reads with each other and talk about all of the latest releases.
We sat down together and shared our favorite novels and memoirs from 2022. There’s not a dud in here, and they’re all worth the hours of self-care time it takes to read them. Enjoy!
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: One day, way back in the early 90s, a boy and a girl met at a children’s hospital. They chatted, played Nintendo and quickly became friends. What they didn’t know is that their friendship would last for their entire lives – or that their love of games and gaming would propel them to fame and fortune.
The novel follows Sadie and Sam, best friends, through 30 years of their lives. From awkward children, to dreaming college student, to being two of the top game designers in this world, it is sweet, concise, and incredibly readable. There are heartbreaks, incredible achievements, and tragic moments along the way. Sam and Sadie will be there through it all.
This was one of my favorite books of the year. I loved every page and devoured it. Don’t worry at all if you’re not interested in the gaming world (although if you are interested, it only adds to your experience) — author Gabrielle Zevin adeptly immerses readers into the world and makes it both accessible and interesting. It’s so refreshing to find a beautiful story about friendship over romantic loves and it’s so much fun to read about game theory in the context a novel. I also loved how it’s at once traditionally written and linear, but also has moments – and twice, entire chapters – that are abstract and experimental and innovative. If there’s one word for this book, it’s Fun.
Book Lovers Emily Henry
Recommendations from Emily Weaver, Scary Mommy Book Club Editor: Hallmark would love to tell a modern and romantic version of this story. Prada is for the DevilThis is the perfect script to adapt. Book Lovers The story is full of humor and romance, with a little bit of charm from small towns. The story follows Nora, a big-shot book editor and her little sister, Libby as they travel to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, on a sisterly bonding journey. Their peaceful stay is interrupted when Nora meets Charlie Lastra, her equally hardworking work colleague and heartthrob.
Emily Henry is the queen witty banter. I had the pleasure to interview her for Scary Mama Book Club. You can read it here!
I’ll show my self out By Jessi K.
Scary Mommy Editor In-Chief Kate Aletta recommends: I’ll show my self out Jessi KLEIN had me both laughing out loud and taking a deep breath. It’s a collection of short essays that is very entertaining about motherhood, identity and entering that strange phase in your life where you are not young, but not old, but don’t want the label middle-aged. It was a Christmas gift I gave to my sisters-in-law because I knew they would see themselves in these pages as I did.
It’s better to have less than nothing Andrew Sean Greer
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: This was the book that made 2022 my most laughable year. It’s the sequel to the Pulitzer-Prize winning book LessIt continues to follow Author Less, a gay, successful author who struggles to find his way in the literary world. He travels around the globe in the first book. But in the second book, he is closer to home and embarks upon a somewhat doomed tour of books to make money. The people he meets along the way and the stuff that happens to him are unforgettable – but what can sometimes read as an extremely light comedy is also filled with meaning and touching moments.
I already know I’ll re-read this delightful book.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: This memoir has rocketed to the top of the non-fiction best-seller lists and is one of the most talked-about books of the year — and yet I wasn’t sure if I’d like it because I wasn’t familiar with the actress who wrote it (she was on Nickelodeon after my time).
But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t matter much if I was familiar with her work, because her story was beautifully written, candid, unblinking, and more than a little bit shocking. While I couldn’t identify with a lot of the specific topics of the book – like emotional abuse, addiction, child stardom, and disordered eating – I absolutely could identify with the greater themes that McCrudy explored with such openness, like loneliness, grief, control, and relationships.
Following her career from her early days of acting to her realized dream of being a child star to her disenchantment with the entire industry, this book is a fast, page-turning read that centers of McCurdy’s toxic and complex relationship with her mom. The storytelling is adept and fresh – and by the end, you can clearly see that the author’s dream to become a writer (and Not An actor) has been realized.
Take my hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Scary Mommy Editor In-Chief Kate Aletta recommends: I have read Take my hand Dolen Perkins Valdez was commissioned by Sarah Aswell, our trusted Book Club editor. Civil Townsend is a young nurse who wants to make a positive difference. Civil’s story reveals the vast disparities in healthcare care between Black Americans and white Americans. It is a sad, beautiful story that is well worth the effort.
Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: Benny and Byron have recently lost their mother—and when her attorney tells them that she’s left them a mysterious audio file and a traditional Jamaican black cake for them to eat together, they aren’t sure what to expect.
The story that unfolds next is completely unexpected—and takes the siblings back to the time of their parents’ childhood, a journey that includes the Caribbean, London, and beyond. It introduces them to someone who is very close to their mom and they had never known existed.
This explosive debut novel continues to ask the same questions: What would you do for a living? What would you do for love? Your family? For your dreams? To be true to yourself It’s a book with a story that has a little bit of everything: mystery, heartbreak, love, courage, forgiveness, adventure. It is also funny and upbeat.
I. Could. Not. Put. This. Book. Down. It’s beautifully written, and the story will stay with you forever. I fell in love with the main characters and their hopes became my hopes until I turned the last page — and I did not ever want to turn the last page!
Left on Tenth Delia Ephron
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: You’re probably familiar with Nora Ephron, but did you know that her sister Delia is not only also a decorated writer, but that she’s just as charming and funny? In this memoir, she recounts the loss of her husband Jerry and her sister Nora – and then the surprising way she was able to find love again. The second half of her book focuses on her battle with the same cancer that killed her sister. She is joined by her husband. This book was very uplifting. It highlighted all the possible outcomes for people who are late in life. It shows just how beautiful and rich life can still be, even through all the heartache, sadness, and grief. It is a beautiful story about a strong and funny woman.
Greta James: The Unsinkable Greta Jennifer E. Smith
Book Club Editor Emily Weaver’s recommendations: Greta Jones, the main character in this story, is a singer/songwriter whose career has been hampered by the recent death of her mom. Greta joins her father on an Alaskan cruise in the hope of healing their broken hearts. Jennifer webs a moving story about grief, love, and family — it had me both laughing and crying! Anyone who has ever walked the unsupported path or pursued a dream that was not supported by their family will find this book incredibly inspiring. I want this book to be made into a TV show like ASAP.
The Sentence Louise Erdrich
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: Louis Erdrich is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The Sentence takes place in a little indie bookstore in Minneapolis that’s populated with a colorful cast of characters on both sides of the checkout counter. There’s just one problem: the events of this book begin at the tail end of 2019 and a whole lot of trouble is coming for everyone. A strange virus is on the horizon and George Floyd, a Black American man, is being murdered by police miles away. The bookstore is haunted daily by a ghost that is not happy.
In the middle of all of this is Tookie: an Indigenous bookseller who spent much of her life in prison for a crime she can’t let go of, and a person who is struggling with all sorts of other ghosts of her own.
I won’t lie: this is the best book I’ve read in a long time, and the only thing that I’ve read that’s captured 2020 in any sort of realistic fashion. Tookie is a strong, intelligent, and resilient woman who struggles to make it through each day. I was completely captivated by the first chapter. This book contains an enormous heart, a head swimming full of ideas, and one of my favorite love stories I’ve read to date (and it’s as unconventional as they come). It’s for anyone who believes in the power of books and reading, the love of chosen family, and that there’s some hope out there in our future.
It’s not the time to panic Kevin Wilson
Scary Mommy’s Book Club Editor Sarah Aswell recommended: After finishing his last novel, There is nothing to see here, I was super excited to pick up Kevin Wilson’s latest effort, It’s not the time to panic. It’s the completely original story of two teenage friends, Frankie and Zeke, who create an art project together that spirals out of control, first through their small town and then across the country and globe. The book opens 20 years later, when a reporter approaches Frankie and reveals that she knows that she’s responsible for the phenomenon.
I’ve never read anything quite like this book, which is saying a lot! Wilson’s thoughtfulness, humor, speed, and unique premise were my favorite parts of this book. With this book, he’s cemented himself as one of my favorite authors.
First Born Will Dean
Recommendations from Emily Weaver, Scary Mommy Book Club Editor: If I had to choose my favorite thriller from 2022, it would be First Born, a chilling story about twenty-something-year-old English twins Katie and Molly. Although they might have similar features, this is not the end of their similarities. Katie is adventurous and impulsive; she’s moved across the pond to attend NYU. Then there’s Molly, who doesn’t agree to plan A until she has plan B, C, and D mapped out to a tee. When Molly learns that Katie has died, she flies to NYC to bring justice to Katie’s name and put her killer behind bars. As details of Katie’s new life begin to unravel, Molly realizes she never quite knew her twin at all. I can’t put into words how suspenseful and jaw dropping this thriller is. Dean kept me guessing when I was close to solving the case. It’s a great book for fans of Lisa Jewell The Wife Between Us!
