2022 Top Reads by Inklings Staff

Babel

“Finishing a book like this is equal parts pleasure and pain: pleasure in that reading something as striking and beautiful as this is everything a reader hopes to feel in a book juxtaposed by the pain of something beautiful ending and leaving these characters behind in the pages. There are few books that have brought tears to my eyes (I can still count them on one hand) but Kuang's Babel, or The Necessity of Violence is now numbered among them.”

Maxwell, Paragraphs Bookstore

If you enjoyed Black Sun, then you’ll love Fevered Star.

“Once again, Rebecca Roanhorse has crafted a magnificent book continuing her Between Earth and Sky series. The Crow God has risen, and war seems inevitable between the clans, dragging Tova further into darkness. Toying with living legends, loyalty, and fate is a dangerous endeavor - whose side will you be on once the battle lines are drawn? This is an excellent follow-up to Black Sun. I'm still waiting for Xiala and Serapio's happy ending.”

Anna, The Well-Read Moose

The colorful, peculiar history of the houseplant—from ancient Rome to Victorian England to Instagram—a botanical adventure full of histrionic highs, devastating lows, and sensational turning points along the way.
From the hanging gardens of Babylon to that fiddle-leaf fig in your living room, houseplants have been humanity's companions for a... Read more »

Instant New York Times bestseller!

Inspired by the real-life heroine who saved thousands of Jewish children during WWII, The Warsaw Orphan is Kelly Rimmer’s most anticipated novel since her bestselling sensation, The Things We Cannot Say.

“Gripping… This one easily stands on its own.” —Publishers Weekly
“Heart-stopping.” – Lisa Wingate, #1 New York... Read more »

A New York Times Editors' Choice! 

One of Booklist’s “Top 10 Historical Fiction Novels of 2022”

One of the Los Angeles Times's “10 Books to Add to Your Reading List”

One of Book Culture's Most Anticipated Reads

“A bighearted, widescreen American tale.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Masterpiece . . . The quintessential great American... Read more »

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Marie Claire
 
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of... Read more »

Dinosaurs

“I love Lydia Millet! I will read everything she writes. Her stories leave me slightly to extremely off kilter. This one, about kindness, purpose and family, is a treat, a favorite small gift...It was a joy to listen to. ”

Melanie, The Well-Read Moose

If you enjoyed Cloud Atlas, then you’ll love Cloud Cuckoo Land.

“Highly imaginative and incredibly ambitious, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a story within a story that is about stories. Though the premise, like the title, sounds maddening, I found Anthony Doerr’s novel to be rich, intricate, and deeply profound. Like the thread that binds together a vibrant tapestry, the story within the story, also named Cloud Cuckoo Land, weaves the tales of Anna, Omeir, Zeno, Seymour, and Konstance as it defies time and space to ensure their stories endure. A love letter to the tales that have survived the cruel test of time and to the stories that take us away to magical realms above our own, those who’ve read Cloud Atlas and The Ten Thousand Doors of January will take pleasure and delight in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Marin Ireland and Simon Jones' narrations were the cherry on the cake, making the story all the better for their lively and delightful voices.”

Nicholas, Mysterious Galaxy Books

In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to... Read more »

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her latest book, Brené Brown writes, “If we want to find the way back to ourselves and one another, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories and be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is the framework for meaningful connection.”

In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a... Read more »

Tiny Beautiful Things (10th Anniversary Edition)

“Before she was known as the author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed was the anonymous Dear Sugar on The Rumpus website – an agony aunt of sorts, if agony aunts were endowed with ruthless compassion, profound honesty, and excellent prose. Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of these columns. After I listened to Dear Sugar, the podcast she shared with Steve Almond, I decided to give the audio of this a go. No regrets! It is moving and eloquent, and never predictable -- and the fact that she reads it herself means that her compassion comes through not only in her writing but in her voice.”

Claire, East City Bookshop

Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow."-- Scott Sigler Pierce Brown' s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender' s Game by Orson Scott Card. " I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. " That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father... Read more »

If you enjoyed There There, then you’ll love Firekeeper's Daughter.

“Firekeeper's Daughter is a wonder! We so rarely hear YA through an Indigenous people's voice and this book does it so very well. Main character Daunis Lorenzo Fontaine lives a fine line between her white French Canadian mother and her Ojibwe father in a complicated family dynamic. She is smart, hockey talented, driven, and tenacious as she navigates the murder of her best friend Lily, rampant drug culture, and the journey to find herself. Angeline Boulley seamlessly incorporates the Ojbiwe language and lifeways that both inform and educate the reader in this amazing story that will stay with me long after I have moved onto other books. A MUST-read (or listen)!”

Rebecca, Rediscovered Books

FORMAT: UNABRIDGED

Legend holds that Glendower, a vanished Welsh king, sleeps beneath the hills until he's needed. The first person to find him will be granted a wish - either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.

Gansey has it all - family money, a car, time for extracurriculars and friends - but he's always loved the tales of... Read more »

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

“It’s a bit like You’ve Got Mail but with a demi-god cowboy, a female undertaker who just wants to keep her family’s business afloat, and a wise-cracking mailrabbit that drinks whiskey and talks like an old-timey gangster. Bannen brings together the cozy and the macabre to create a love story that had me smiling from start to finish. If you’re looking for a book that is both spooky and sweet, but that also has a dash of spice, this is it!”

Jennifer, Mysterious Galaxy Books

Meet Me in the Margins

“I've LOLed many times while listening to this enemies-to-lovers romance about books. I almost predicted the twist but was thrown off by a character I never suspected. This book would be great for readers who would prefer a non-steamy read. I felt for Savannah as I learned more about her family's dynamic and how she has tried to navigate it. There were moments that I have rolled my eyes at because of course the character doesn't know she's living in a romance novel. Overall, this was a fun read/listen.”

Joey, The Bluestocking Bookshop

Passion flares between enemies

Two hotheaded Highlanders, the offspring of feuding lairds, are tricked by the King's Regent into a desperate choice: marry or die. Bhaic MacPherson is more disposed to lead his clan into battle than stay married to the daughter of his enemy. But perhaps the intensity of his feelings has more to do with desire... Read more »

Late Migrations

“Margaret Renkl feels the lives and struggles of each creature that enters her yard as keenly as she feels the paths followed by her mother, grandmother, her people. Learning to accept the sometimes harsh, always lush natural world may crack open a window to acceptance of our own losses. In Late Migrations, we welcome new life, mourn its passing, and honor it along the way.”

Kat Baird, The Book Bin (Corvallis)

The Door of No Return

“At once beautiful and horrible. Like waves on water, this story lifts the reader up and then plummets down into darkness. The final verses offer a glimpse of hope that I intend to follow into book two. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith has become, hands down, my favorite narrator ever. He is fantastic.”

Kristine, Buttonwood Books and Toys

In the spirit of Lisa Jewell and Kate Morton, an emotional mystery set in the rugged remote landscape of north Cornwall full of dark secrets and twists, about three unusual sisters forced to confront the past.

Some secrets need to be set free…

When half-sisters Kat, Flora, and Lauren are unexpectedly summoned to Rock Point, their wild and remote... Read more »