Year-End Lists

The Economist: Best Books of 2022

[see also 2023 • 2021 • 2012]

Politics and current affairs

• The Impossible City

  A Hong Kong Memoir
  Karen Cheung
• There Are No Accidents
  Jessie Singer
• Confidence Man

  The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
  Maggie Haberman
• We Have Tired of Violence

  A True Story of Murder, Memory, and the Fight for Justice in Indonesia
  Matt Easton
• The Naked Don't Fear the Water

  An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees
  Matthieu Aikins
• The Age of the Strongman

  How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World
  Gideon Rachman
• The Economic Weapon

  The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War
  Nicholas Mulder

Business and economics

• Money Men

  A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth
  Dan McCrum
• Chip War

  The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
  Chris Miller
• Dead in the Water

  A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
  Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel
• The Power Law

  Inside Silicon Valley's Venture Capital Machine
  Sebastian Mallaby
• For Profit

  A History of Corporations
  William Magnuson
• Butler to the World

  How Britain Helps the World's Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything
  Oliver Bullough
• Slouching Towards Utopia

  An Economic History of the Twentieth Century
  J. Bradford DeLong
• Power Failure

  The Rise and Fall of General Electric
  William D. Cohan

Biography and memoir

• The Escape Artist

  The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
  Jonathan Freedland
• The Facemaker

  A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I
  Lindsey Fitzharris
• Agatha Christie

  An Elusive Woman
  Lucy Worsley
• The Huxleys

  An Intimate History of Evolution
  Alison Bashford
• Inventor of the Future

  The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller
  Alec Nevala-Lee
• Hayek

  A Life
  Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausinger

History

• Budapest

  Between East and West
  Victor Sebestyen
• The Siege of Loyalty House

  A Civil War Story
  Jessie Childs
• The Serpent Coiled in Naples
  Marius Kociejowski
• A Pipeline Runs Through It

  The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War
  Keith Fisher
• The World

  A Family History of Humanity
  Simon Sebag Montefiore

Fiction

• The Candy House
  Jennifer Egan
• Maror
  Lavie Tidhar
• Still Born
  Guadalupe Nettel
• The Trees
  Percival Everett
• Small Things Like These
  Claire Keegan
• When We Were Birds
  Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

Culture and ideas

• Of Boys and Men

  Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It
  Richard V. Reeves
• Life Is Hard

  How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
  Kieran Setiya
• The Subplot

  What China Is Reading and Why It Matters
  Megan Walsh
• Papyrus

  The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
  Irene Vallejo
• Magnificent Rebels

  The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self
  Andrea Wulf

Science and technology

• The Song of the Cell

  An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
  Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Elusive

  How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass
  Frank Close
• An Immense World

  How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
  Ed Yong
• Beyond Measure

  The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants
  James Vincent
• The Equality Machine

  Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future
  Orly Lobel
• This Mortal Coil

  A History of Death
  Andrew Doig

Esquire: The Best Nonfiction Books of 2022

[see also The 20 Best Books of 2023 • The Best Books of 2022 • The 50 Best Books of 2021 • The Best Books of the 2010s • The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019]

1. The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

   A Memoir
   Paul Newman
2. Bad Sex
   Nona Willis Aronowitz
3. The High Sierra

   A Love Story
   Kim Stanley Robinson
4. My Pinup
   Hilton Als
5. Dirtbag, Massachusetts

   A Confessional
   Isaac Fitzgerald
6. Dickens and Prince
   Nick Hornby
7. Because Our Fathers Lied

   A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today
   Craig McNamara
8. Raising Lazarus

   Hope, Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis
   Beth Macy
9. Fight Like Hell

   The Untold History of American Labor
   Kim Kelly
10. Phasers on Stun!

    How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World
    Ryan Britt
11. Year of the Tiger

    An Activist's Life
    Alice Wong
12. Fen, Bog and Swamp

    A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
    Annie Proulx
13. Butts

    A Backstory
    Heather Radke
14. Novelist as a Vocation
    Haruki Murakami
15. How You Get Famous

    Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn
    Nicole Pasulka
16. The Last Resort

    A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach
    Sarah Stodola
17. Hollywood Ending

    Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence
    Ken Auletta
18. The Last Days of Roger Federer

    And Other Endings
    Geoff Dyer
19. The Gotti Wars

    Taking Down America's Most Notorious Mobster
    John Gleeson
20. Dress Code

    Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink
    Véronique Hyland
21. How Civil Wars Start

    And How to Stop Them
    Barbara F. Walter
22. Lost & Found

    A Memoir
    Kathryn Schulz
23. You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
    Zora Neale Hurston
24. Sweat

    A History of Exercise
    Bill Hayes
25. Admissions

    A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School
    Kendra James
26. South to America

    A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
    Imani Perry
27. The Nineties
    Chuck Klosterman
28. Foreverland

    On the Divine Tedium of Marriage
    Heather Havrilesky
29. True Story

    What Reality TV Says about Us
    Danielle J. Lindemann
30. Scoundrel

    How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free
    Sarah Weinman
31. The Invisible Kingdom

    Reimagining Chronic Illness
    Meghan O’Rourke
32. Trust the Plan

    The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped the World
    Will Sommer
33. Overdue

    Reckoning with the Public Library
    Amanda Oliver
34. How to Take Over the World

    Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain
    Ryan North
35. Ancestor Trouble

    A Reckoning and a Reconciliation
    Maud Newton

J. Howard Rosier: The Best Books of 2022, as published by Chron

1. Constructing a Nervous System

   A Memoir
   Margo Jefferson
2. Bliss Montage
   Ling Ma
3. Seduced by Story

   The Use and Abuse of Narrative
   Peter Brooks
4. Dr. No
   Percival Everett
5. Milkweed Smithereens
   Bernadette Mayer
6. The Tribe

   Portraits of Cuba
   Carlos Manuel Álvarez
7. House of Bondage
   Ernest Cole
8. Golden Ax
   Rio Cortez
9. The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On
   Franny Choi
10. Dinosaurs
    Lydia Millet

Constance Grady: 16 Best Books of 2022, as published by Vox

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2019]

Fiction

• When We Were Sisters
  Fatimah Asghar
• O Caledonia
  Elspeth Barker
• Either/Or
  Elif Batuman
• If I Survive You
  Jonathan Escoffery
• Vladimir
  Julia May Jonas
• Lessons
  Ian McEwan
• The Whalebone Theatre
  Joanna Quinn
• The Furrows
  Namwali Serpell
• The Immortal King Rao
  Vauhini Vara
• Joan Is Okay
  Weike Wang
• Now Is Not the Time to Panic
  Kevin Wilson

Nonfiction

• Ducks

  Two Years in the Oil Sands
  Kate Beaton
• The Method

  How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act
  Isaac Butler
• Shy

  The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
  Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green
• Hotbed

  Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism
  Joanna Scutts
• Portable Magic

  A History of Books and Their Readers
  Emma Smith

People: Top 10 Books of 2022

1. Our Missing Hearts
   Celeste Ng
2. Trust
   Hernan Diaz
3. The Man Who Could Move Clouds
   Ingrid Rojas Contreras
4. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
   Laura Warrell
5. The Hero of This Book
   Elizabeth McCracken
6. Lost & Found

   A Memoir
   Kathryn Schulz
7. The Rabbit Hutch
   Tess Gunty
8. If I Survive You
   Jonathan Escoffery
9. An Immense World

   How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
   Ed Yong
10. Vladimir
    Julia May Jonas

Entertainment Weekly: The Best Books of 2022

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
  Gabrielle Zevin
• The Candy House
  Jennifer Egan
• The Marriage Portrait
  Maggie O'Farrell
• Trust
  Hernan Diaz
• I'm Glad My Mom Died
  Jennette McCurdy
• All This Could Be Different
  Sarah Thankam Mathews
• The School for Good Mothers
  Jessamine Chan
• Heat 2
  Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner
• Book Lovers
  Emily Henry
• Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road
  Kyle Buchanan

Also on our list

• Stay True

  A Memoir
  Hua Hsu
• Vladimir
  Julia May Jonas
• Dinosaurs
  Lydia Millet
• The Hero of This Book
  Elizabeth McCracken
• If I Survive You
  Jonathan Escoffery
• Demon Copperhead
  Barbara Kingsolver
• In Love

  A Memoir of Love and Loss
  Amy Bloom
• Lessons in Chemistry
  Bonnie Garmus
• Lucy by the Sea
  Elizabeth Strout
• Dirtbag, Massachusetts

  A Confessional
  Isaac Fitzgerald
• Tracy Flick Can't Win
  Tom Perrotta
• The Rabbit Hutch
  Tess Gunty
• Young Mungo
  Douglas Stuart
• A Heart That Works
  Rob Delaney
• Ancestor Trouble

  A Reckoning and a Reconciliation
  Maud Newton
• The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

  A Memoir
  Paul Newman
• This Time Tomorrow
  Emma Straub
• Now Is Not the Time to Panic
  Kevin Wilson

Library Journal: Best Literary Fiction of 2022

[see also 2023 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012 • 2011]

• Trust
  Hernan Diaz
• The Candy House
  Jennifer Egan
• Brother Alive
  Zain Khalid
• Demon Copperhead
  Barbara Kingsolver
• Lessons
  Ian McEwan
• If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
  Noor Naga
• Young Mungo
  Douglas Stuart
• The Town of Babylon
  Alejandro Varela
• Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm
  Laura Warrell
• Properties of Thirst
  Marianne Wiggins

The Skinny: Books of 2022

• Our Wives Under the Sea
  Julia Armfield
• Children of Paradise
  Camilla Grudova
• There Are More Things
  Yara Rodrigues Fowler
• Time Is a Mother
  Ocean Vuong
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
  Gabrielle Zevin

Annabel Gutterman: The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2022, as published by Time Magazine

[see also The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2021 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021]

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
   Gabrielle Zevin
2. The Hero of This Book
   Elizabeth McCracken
3. The Book of Goose
   Yiyun Li
4. All This Could Be Different
   Sarah Thankam Mathews
5. Vladimir
   Julia May Jonas
6. If I Survive You
   Jonathan Escoffery
7. Young Mungo
   Douglas Stuart
8. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
   Kim Fu
9. Trust
   Hernan Diaz
10. Signal Fires
    Dani Shapiro

USA Today: Best Books of 2022

[see also 2021]

• In Love

  A Memoir of Love and Loss
  Amy Bloom
• Star Wars

  Brotherhood
  Mike Chen
• Don't Know Tough
  Eli Cranor
• Booth
  Karen Joy Fowler
• Notes on an Execution
  Danya Kukafka
• Sea of Tranquility
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Lessons
  Ian McEwan
• Life's Work

  A Memoir
  David Milch
• Read Dangerously

  The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times
  Azar Nafisi
• A Thousand Steps
  T. Jefferson Parker
• Our Missing Hearts
  Celeste Ng
• Liberation Day
  George Saunders
• The Revolutionary

  Samuel Adams
  Stacy Schiff
• The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit
  Ron Shelton
• The Summer Place
  Jennifer Weiner
• Properties of Thirst
  Marianne Wiggins
• Now Is Not the Time to Panic
  Kevin Wilson
• To Paradise
  Hanya Yanagihara