--- description: Gripping novels, transporting short stories and poetry, revealing memoirs, and timely histories that asked us to look deeper. title: The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt318ecd2c915d9fa9/698a379bb21a9cf2c6506a74/top-100-books-2022-hub.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  Ryan Jenq for TIME # The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 Gripping novels, transporting poetry, and timely nonfiction that asked us to look deeper Andrew R. Chow, Lucy Feldman, Mahita Gajanan, Annabel Gutterman, Angela Haupt, Cady Lang, and Laura Zornosa ## Best Books 2022 *  [A Heart That Works](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228395/a-heart-that-works/) by Rob Delaney byTIME Staff *  [Afterlives](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228414/afterlives/) by Abdulrazak Gurnah byTIME Staff *  [All the Lovers in the Night](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228416/all-the-lovers-in-the-night/) by Mieko Kawakami byTIME Staff *  [All This Could Be Different](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6229047/all-this-could-be-different/) by Sarah Thankam Mathews byTIME Staff *  [An Immense World](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228427/an-immense-world/) by Ed Yong byTIME Staff *  [Ancestor Trouble](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228429/ancestor-trouble/) by Maud Newton byTIME Staff *  [Animal Joy](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228432/animal-joy/) by Nuar Alsadir byTIME Staff *  [Anna: The Biography](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228434/anna-the-biography/) by Amy Odell byTIME Staff *  [Babel](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228437/babel/) by R.F. Kuang byTIME Staff *  [Bitter Orange Tree](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228439/bitter-orange-tree/) by Jokha Alharthi byTIME Staff *  [The Book of Goose](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228442/the-book-of-goose/) by Yiyun Li byTIME Staff *  [Breathless](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228444/breathless/) by David Quammen byTIME Staff *  [Butts: A Backstory](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228446/butts-a-backstory/) by Heather Radke byTIME Staff *  [Calling for a Blanket Dance](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228448/calling-for-a-blanket-dance/) by Oscar Hokeah byTIME Staff *  [The Candy House](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228450/the-candy-house/) by Jennifer Egan byTIME Staff *  [Carrie Soto Is Back](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228452/carrie-soto-is-back/) by Taylor Jenkins Reid byTIME Staff *  [Chef's Kiss](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228454/chefs-kiss/) by TJ Alexander byTIME Staff *  [Civil Rights Queen](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228456/civil-rights-queen/) by Tomiko Brown-Nagin byTIME Staff *  [Constructing a Nervous System](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228458/constructing-a-nervous-system/) by Margo Jefferson byTIME Staff *  [Cover Story](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228461/cover-story/) by Susan Rigetti byTIME Staff *  [The Crane Wife](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228463/the-crane-wife/) by CJ Hauser byTIME Staff *  [The Daughter of Doctor Moreau](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228471/the-daughter-of-doctor-moreau/) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia byTIME Staff *  [Dinosaurs](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228473/dinosaurs/) by Lydia Millet byTIME Staff *  [Dirtbag, Massachusetts](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228475/dirtbag-massachusetts/) by Isaac Fitzgerald byTIME Staff *  [Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228477/ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/) by Kate Beaton byTIME Staff *  [Easy Beauty](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228480/easy-beauty/) by Chloé Cooper Jones byTIME Staff *  [Eating to Extinction](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228482/eating-to-extinction/) by Dan Saladino byTIME Staff *  [Either/Or](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228484/either-or/) by Elif Batuman byTIME Staff *  [The Emergency](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228486/the-emergency/) by Thomas Fisher byTIME Staff *  [The Employees](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228498/the-employees/) by Olga Ravn byTIME Staff *  [The Escape Artist](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228500/the-escape-artist/) by Jonathan Freedland byTIME Staff *  [Everything I Need I Get from You](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228502/everything-i-need-i-get-from-you/) by Kaitlyn Tiffany byTIME Staff *  [The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228504/the-extraordinary-life-of-an-ordinary-man/) by Paul Newman byTIME Staff *  [The Family Outing](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228506/the-family-outing/) by Jessi Hempel byTIME Staff *  [Fellowship Point](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228508/fellowship-point/) by Alice Elliott Dark byTIME Staff *  [Finding Me](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228510/finding-me/) by Viola Davis byTIME Staff *  [Fiona and Jane](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228512/fiona-and-jane/) by Jean Chen Ho byTIME Staff *  [The Furrows](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228514/the-furrows/) by Namwali Serpell byTIME Staff *  [Getting Lost](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228517/getting-lost/) by Annie Ernaux byTIME Staff *  [Glory](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228519/glory/) by NoViolet Bulawayo byTIME Staff *  [Goliath](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228521/goliath/) by Tochi Onyebuchi byTIME Staff *  [Half American](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228523/half-american/) by Matthew F. Delmont byTIME Staff *  [The Hero of This Book](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228525/the-hero-of-this-book/) by Elizabeth McCracken byTIME Staff *  [His Name Is George Floyd](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228528/his-name-is-george-floyd/) by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa byTIME Staff *  [Honey & Spice](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228531/honey-and-spice-2/) by Bolu Babalola byTIME Staff *  [How Far the Light Reaches](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228533/how-far-the-light-reaches/) by Sabrina Imbler byTIME Staff *  [The Hurting Kind](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228535/the-hurting-kind/) by Ada Limón byTIME Staff *  [I Came All This Way to Meet You](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228537/i-came-all-this-way-to-meet-you/) by Jami Attenberg byTIME Staff *  [I'm Glad My Mom Died](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228539/im-glad-my-mom-died/) by Jennette McCurdy byTIME Staff *  [If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English](/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228541/if-an-egyptian-cannot-speak-english/) by Noor Naga byTIME Staff The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/"},"headline":"The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022","description":"Gripping novels, transporting poetry, and timely nonfiction that asked us to look deeper Andrew R. 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