This year I read 30 books and prioritised time for rest, relaxation and reading. There’s nothing better than getting cosy and stuck into a good book, although from the looks of the photos I took this year I did most of my reading on the beach! It’s something I want to keep making time for this year and I’d like to get back into sharing these mini-reviews more regularly too. Here are my favourite books that I read in 2022:
The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, this was hands down the most powerful and heartbreaking book I read all year. The narrative is split in three – one narrative follows young lovers Kostas and Defne who live in postcolonial Cyprus, their love a painful secret as he is Christian and Greek, she is Turkish and Muslim. The second narrative takes place in the present day, the couple’s daughter Ada is troubled by her identity as a child of immigrants living in the UK and the recent loss of her mother. The third narrative is the most unusual, told from the perspective of a fig tree which was once the centre of the pub where Kostas an Defne met in secret, before being rooted in the garden of their UK home as a cutting. This narrative is the root of the story and ties it all together. It’s a story of generational trauma, grief and identity that is beautifully written and left a lasting impression.
Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Malibu Rising encompasses everything California life is known for; the glitz, the glamour and the drama. The story begins with Nina, the oldest of the four Riva children, separating from her famous tennis-star husband and follows the course of one day in a build up to the annual Riva family party which promises to be explosive. Flashbacks of the family’s backstory occur throughout and we learn of how their father, a famous singer, left their mother and after her death Nina dropped everything to care for her three siblings. Secrets that threaten the siblings seemingly idyllic surfing lifestyle are about to be unveiled which makes for the perfect beach read that you won’t be able to put down.
The View Was Exhausting – Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta
If you’re in need of a lighthearted pick me up, this is the book for you. It’s like reading a rom-com, only the authors take the trope of a fake relationship and turn it into something fresh, funny and exciting. British-Indian movie star, Whitman “Win” Tagore uses her rich best friend Leo Milanowski as an image-boosting fake boyfriend to keep the media attention she receives in her control. It’s a classic will they/won’t they scenario as the lines between what’s real and what’s for the cameras become blurred, with heaps of sexual tension, romance and fun. I’d say this is more than Chick Lit, not that there’s anything wrong with Chick Lit, as there’s also an interesting exploration of what it’s like to be a woman of colour in the industry, Win is no stranger to microagressions or having to work twice as hard as her white counter-parts on set.
Beasts of a Little Land – Juhea Kim
This is a stunning debut novel from Kim, spanning decades of Japenese occupation in Korea. Ten year old Jade is sold by her family to become an apprentice courtesan and soon after befriends JungHo, who is living alone on the streets until he finds a gang of orphans, as well as the daughters of the courtesan Luna and Lotus. This is a story of friendship and struggle at its core and we follow Jade and JungHo on a journey from Seoul to the forests of Manchuria in the fight for independence. I loved this for it’s rich characters and all the historical detail but it is definitely not a happy read.
I’ve already written about several books I loved this year. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Open Water by Caleb Azmah Nelson and the Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri definitely make this list of my favourites.
