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The 40 Best Books of 2022
The best books of 2022 are, in a word, stunning. There were gripping nonfiction stories and novels about everything from cults, female friendships, family ties, class, and future civilizations. Books that will make you laugh, chilling thrillers, and thrilling memoirs. Romantic books that will have you downloading dating apps again. There’s no reason to ask, “What book should I read?” for quite some time.
Get your card out—whether it’s a Visa or a good old-fashioned library card—and get ready to order these new 2022 books. Do what you can to get your hands on these glossy hardbacks, their candy-bright covers just waiting to transform a built-in bookshelf or be tucked into a tote bag. Go ahead, spam your book-club group text with arguments for why your novels to read should include literary fiction about an octopus (Remarkably Bright Creatures) or a novel about obsessive female friendship set in early-2000s Berlin (Other People’s Clothes) or the book about a mixed-race vampire who can’t stop watching mukbang videos (Woman, Eating).
Get excited: These are Glamour’s best books of 2022. (Need more for your commute? Try the best audiobooks or the best podcasts of the year.)
All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Anon Pls. by Deuxmoi
If you have ethical qualms with exposing the personal lives of celebrities, congratulations—you’re on the right side of history. But in my humble opinion, gossip is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And splashing around in DeuxMoi’s bottomless sea of blind items is the only thing keeping my feed alive. Now the creator(s) of Instagram’s favorite gossip blog have written an ultra-readable debut novel documenting the account’s origin story. Or, at least, a version of it that fittingly sits somewhere between truth and fiction. Soon to be turned into an HBO Max series, Anon Pls. is the perfect mental getaway from emotionally taxing holiday gatherings. —Hanna Lustig, staff writer
- Penguin Random House2/40
Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
Have you had one of those friendships that served you for many, many years but now exists only in the past tense? Fiona and Jane, Taiwanese girls living in Los Angeles, were best friends all throughout childhood, high school, and college. Then Fiona moves away, and like so many long friendships, theirs evaporates. Ten years later we meet them just in that tender, terrifying moment of reconnecting. —Jenny Singer, contributor
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The Burning Season by Alison Wisdom
Religious fanaticism is at the core of Wisdom's unsettling second novel, which focuses on a young woman who gives up her secular life to move with her husband to Dawes, Texas, a small community of believers—i.e., a fundamentalist cult. What follows is a dark, often shocking glimpse into the ways in which religion at its most extreme and devout can mask deeply held ideologies around misogyny, violence, and chilling conformity. A simmering novel I couldn't stop thinking about for weeks after. —Perrie Samotin, digital director
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Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom
I read Aesthetica in one day; I simply couldn’t put it down. About a former influencer’s rise to the top, Aesthetica examines what she had to do to get there—needles and all. In the present, protagonist Anna Wrey now seeks to reverse these procedures via the risky “Aesthetica” surgery, which promises to return one’s face and body to their original, and appropriately aged, forms. Captivating, raw, and exceedingly relevant while still feeling timeless, Aesthetica takes #nofilter to a whole other level. It should be assigned reading for young women. You can read our interview with the novel's author here. —Danielle Sinay, associate beauty editor
- Penguin Random House6/40
Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel
Other People’s Clothes, Calla Henkel’s debut novel, takes place in trendy Berlin in the late aughts and follows a darkly obsessive girl-on-girl friendship. If that description doesn’t have you whipping out your card to order, good for you—enjoy your balanced, healthy life. Everyone else: Try to take a break from your Depression Music playlist, say no to that fourth coffee, and let’s book-club this one. —J.S.
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House of Sky and Breath: A Crescent City Novel by Sarah J. Maas
House of Sky and Breath is not the best book of the year, but it's certainly the one I had the most fun with. As the second installment in Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City fantasy series, it's a must-read for anyone who liked her popular A Court of Thorns and Roses—though to say exactly why would only spoil the ending. Just know that as I read the final pages, I gasped so loud I woke my husband out of a deep sleep. —Anna Moeslein, deputy editor
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Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress
I'm a sucker for a campus novel, and I'm endlessly fascinated by the New York art world and the aspiring creators that long to be a part of it, so I enjoyed Angress's novel immensely. The first half is set at the fictional elite arts college Wrynn, and the second in New York City circa 2011, with the Occupy movement looming. Told in four alternating perspectives, we meet Louisa, a talented Southern painter on scholarship; her rich roommate Karina, also a painter and the daughter of prominent New York art collectors; Preston, an antiestablishment wave maker with an incendiary art blog; and professor Robert looking to shake things up in midlife after having been once renowned for his political art. Themes include class, talent, sexuality, envy, and what it means to create from a place of meaning. —P.S.
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Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again. After reading and falling in love with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I sought out all of the author's books, the newest of which is Carrie Soto Is Back. The story follows the former, and now retired, best tennis player in the world as she decides to reclaim her title at 38 years old and defiantly returns to the sport. Carrie is unlikable at first—she's stubborn, competitive, not always nice, and will do anything to win—but that’s why I loved rooting for her. Women protagonists don’t need delicate treatment, and Reid’s rendition of Carrie Soto is a breath of fresh air, not unlike her previous characters Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. Charming and invigorating, Carrie Soto Is Back was an absolutely delightful and inspiring read. Feels like it's only a matter of time until we can add it to our “movies based on books” guide. —D.S.
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Call Me Penny Pickleberry by Meghan Grana
At a time when children are facing levels of anxiety never before experienced, Call Me Penny Pickleberry offers a charming and empowering story that teaches children the importance of positive self-talk in a manner that they will love. The book's inclusion of simple yet effective practices for supporting self-confidence is invaluable. —Eilish Morley, senior business director
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The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Novels that attempt to track a family across decades can often become unwieldy, but in the right hands, they can be absolute perfection. The Latecomer follows an upper-middle-class New York City family, the Oppenheimers, from the first meeting of the parents in the 1970s to the birth of their triplets during the early days of IVF and the arrival of a fourth child much later. The triplets, frankly, hate each other and we get to delve deep into each of their lives from differing college experiences, political ideologies, jobs, and romantic relationships. We also see their parents become increasingly distant. A slow-building saga with a plot twist or two that will resonate with anyone who has questioned why “we're family” doesn't always mean “we love each other unconditionally.” —P.S.
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of those can't-put-down books whose story stays with you long after the final chapter. Love, friendship, art, sacrifice—it layers all these universal themes into a single yet multidimensional narrative. I won't go into detail about the plot since I'll probably spoil it, so I'll just say Gabrielle Zevin's novel was first recommended to me and I've told just about anyone who'll listen to read it too. —Talia Abbas, senior commerce editor
- Macmillan13/40
Pure Color by Sheila Heti
Lines from Sheila Heti’s debut book How Should a Person Be still echo in our heads—and in literature today. Her second book, Motherhood, looked unsparingly at the decision to opt into being a mother. In Pure Color, Heti, a cross between a poet, a stand-up, and a philosopher, pens her own creation myth. —J.S.
- Two Dollar Radio14/40
New Animal by Ella Baxter
New Animal follows a late-20s woman, single, slightly lost, and working a job as a cosmetic mortician, i.e., the artist who applies makeup to dead bodies before funeral proceedings. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: This book does take a turn into BDSM sex explorations. So clichéd! Just kidding—there’s not one expected detail here. In her author bio Ella Baxter says that, in addition to writing, she “runs a small business making bespoke death shrouds.” Excellent. —J.S.
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- Custom House15/40
Wahala by Nikki May
Nikki May wrote the first scene of her debut novel Wahala on the train after leaving a “long and very loud” lunch with her Nigerian friends. The upshot is a funny, slightly murdery story about three women and their wahala, or “trouble”—their boyfriends, their professional aspirations, and their weaves. —J.S.
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Groundskeeping by Lee Cole
I was so captivated by Cole's gorgeous writing, I found myself googling him frequently to see other things he'd written. This novel—set during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election—follows aspiring writer Owen Callahan, who spent his early 20s, for a lack of a better phrase, dicking around and is trying to get his life back on track. Owen moves back to Kentucky, where he was raised, to live with his MAGA-supporting grandfather and uncle and takes a job as a groundskeeper at a local liberal arts college in exchange for enrollment in a writing class. When he begins a relationship with Alma, an Ivy-educated writer-in-residence who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants, he starts to question his own family ties and upbringing. —P.S.
- Penguin RandomHouse17/40
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
I somehow found myself drawn to a handful of prescient books this year, Sea of Tranquility being one of the highlights. It's a masterpiece about time travel that comes at you quietly, confronting you with the world you know—and an alternate reality that feels closer (and more plausible) than you might like to admit. Emily St. John Mandel's writing reads like music; the words dance off the page. I'd suggest keeping a pen nearby—you'll be tempted to underline every other sentence. —T.A.
- Penguin RandomHouse18/40
A House Between Earth and the Moon by Rebecca Scherm
If you read just one novel about future billionaires funding scientists to try to save a select few from global warming by making it possible to live in outer space, definitely let it be A House Between Earth and Moon. Brit Bennett, the author of The Vanishing Half, says, “I couldn’t put it down.” —J.S.
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Fellowship Point by Alice Elliot Dark
I loved the characters in Fellowship Point and how the book explores women navigating the expectations of them as daughters, mothers, and wives. If you love characters you feel like you could meet in real life, plus questions of environmental ethics with a juicy mystery squeezed in, this is perfect for a long-winter read. —Kathryne Hall, visuals director
- Simon & Schuster20/40
Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz
One of the most hilarious women online and one of Glamour's favorite featured writers, Jill Gutowitz was always meant to write a book about queerness and pop culture, and we’re so glad she has. Girls Can Kiss Now was one of the most important accessories of 2022. —J.S.
- Penguin RandomHouse21/40
The Maid by Nita Prose
Not to be confused with the memoir Maid by Stephanie Land, or the subsequent hit Netflix series starring Margaret Qualley, this is a murder mystery novel—a twist-and-turn whodunit set in a five-star hotel, from the perspective of the maid who finds the body. Think Clue. Think page-turner. —J.S.
- Penguin RandomHouse22/40
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
It’s the ’90s, and Joan, her mother, and her sister escape a domestic violence situation and settle in Memphis, where they have deep roots. But what Joan discovers as she grows up is a long story of violence and of female resilience in her family history. Tara M. Stringfellow, a former lawyer, gives us multiple generations of memorable matriarchs. —J.S.
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Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
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The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for the 2011 A Visit From the Goon Squad—this is that book’s “sibling novel,” which means it will be very funny, penetrating, and impactful. In the meantime, it’s never a bad idea to let yourself get sucked into Egan’s iconic 2012 short story “Black Box,” which was written entirely in tweets. —J.S.
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Complicit by Winnie M. Li
In recent years the #MeToo novel has emerged as a vital literary subgenre, and this story follows Sarah Lai, a onetime rising movie producer who was cast out of the industry and now works at an obscure college teaching apathetic students. When a New York Times journalist reaches out to Lai for an explosive story he's writing about celebrated film producer Hugo North, she talks—but by doing so, reveals some secrets of her own. —P.S.
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- Penguin Random House27/40
Happy for You by Claire Stanford
Our heroine of this novel is a PhD who has been hired by the “third most popular internet company” to work on a project that will aim to understand, measure, and grow happiness. Get ready to be as drawn into this story as you would be to any shiny, user-friendly “five minutes a day to more happiness!” app. —J.S.
- Simon and Schuster28/40
End of the World House by Adrienne Celt
So this book is about two female best friends who get stuck in a Groundhog Day–Palm Springs–esque time loop in the Louvre in Paris as the apocalypse is hitting and their longtime friendship is falling apart. Many books will attempt to capture the feeling of living through the pandemic without actually evoking the COVID pandemic, but will any do it with as compelling a premise as this one? —J.S.
- St. Martin's Press29/40
An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World by Patrisse Cullors
Any decent non-Black person who thinks about American slavery imagines/hopes/insists to themselves that they would have been on the side of the abolitionists. Contemporary abolition usually refers to abolishing the legalized slavery of the prison system, and sometimes to abolishing the police. If that sounds like going too far, it could be time to read up on why many of the great activists of our day are abolitionists. If we’re serious about real change, and not just Black squares, we’re going to need a handbook. Patrisse Cullors, one of the original cofounders of the Black Lives Matter movement, teaches how to build an activism practice from a place of compassion and love. —J.S.
- ExperienceInteriors30/40
The Red Zone: A Love Story by Chloe Caldwell
What’s not a black-and-white issue and should be read all over? Stories about period blood. Celebrated essayist Chloe Caldwell is back with a memoir and meditation on menstruation. Read it with a hot-water bottle on your abdomen and chocolate close at hand, then lend it to all your menstruating friends. —J.S.
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- Harper Collins31/40
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Yes, this book begins from the perspective of an octopus. Deal with it! Maybe more books should! Prepare to be compelled by the connection between Tova, recently widowed and working as a night janitor in an aquarium, and Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who, with great dignity, agrees to help Tova solve the mystery of her son who went missing years ago at sea. —J.S.
- Penguin RandomHouse32/40
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
- Simon and Schuster33/40
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Awaeke Emezi
Awaeke Emezi, the celebrated author of The Death of Vivek Oji, is back with a sexy romance, the writer’s first, following a protagonist who is starting over on love after a tragic loss. It's the perfect spring story, featuring rooftop parties, beach vacations, and new beginnings. The title is a lyric from the song “Hunger” by Florence + The Machine. —J.S.
- Macmillan34/40
Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley is known for her sharp wit and her ability to hold a reader hostage with her storytelling skills. The longtime essayist turned her attention to fiction in 2015 with The Clasp. Her sophomore novel, Cult Classic, is a mystery about a New York City woman who is apparently haunted by boyfriends past. Reappearing exes, barbed jokes, and the seductive lure of a cult—take our money, we want in on this cult. —J.S.
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- Penguin RandomHouse35/40
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Hanya Yanigahara’s 2015 novel A Little Life was a smash success, a best seller—displayed with honor in every bookstore but with a big caveat: It is hard to think of a book before or since that inspired such profound anguish in readers. Even fans of Yanigahara admitted that her story, which focused on a group of gay male trauma survivors, created a state of prolonged emotional agony. Well! There’s more where that came from in To Paradise. A good gift for the Smart Sads in your life. —J.S.
- ExperienceInteriors36/40
Somewhere We Are Human by Reyna Grande & Sonia Guiñansaca
The title of this essay and art collection captures it. In the national conversation about immigrants and refugees, the actual people discussed are often reduced to numbers or worse. Reacquaint yourself with the humanity of the subjects of headlines with this book of over 40 essays, poems, and works of art by immigrants, refugees, and undocumented people. For those of us who are not directly touched by the immigration and refugee crises, listening is an obligation. —J.S.
- Simon and Schuster37/40
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner
The Bible (for Jews, the Torah) opens with a story of forbidden fruit—an apple, some translations have it. Shmutz opens with an 18-year-old Orthodox woman who has tasted of the same tree: She has a shiny Apple laptop, and on it, she consumes fantastic amounts of porn. When she closes the laptop, she’s back in her life of dating for marriage, set up by a matchmaker. This is Berliner’s first novel, and I'm already salivating for more. —J.S.
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I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
McCurdy’s memoir is funny, biting, and brutal—not to mention gorgeous to look at. An intimate look inside the horrors of child stardom, the iCarly star recalls in excruciating detail the extent of her stage mother’s toxic influence. Having quit acting and undergone therapy, McCurdy reframes her life story with charm and self-compassion. —H.L.
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The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff
You don't need to be an aficionado of the series to love this book by Glamour senior West Coast editor Jessica Radloff. Yes, it's a comprehensive history of the show, and a fascinating one at that, but the candidness of the stars, guest stars, exec producers, writers, and more really sets this apart. A truly enjoyable read. —Natasha Pearlman, executive editor
- William Morrow40/40
Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean
Emiko Jean, the author of the best-selling young-adult Tokyo Ever After books, published her first book for adults this summer. Mika Suzuki is a 35-year-old with a mess of a life when she gets a call from 16-year-old Penny, the biological daughter whom she placed for adoption at birth. Mika and Penny forge a relationship, but only after Mika sells herself to Penny by telling, well, not exactly true things about how great Mika’s life is going. Expect YA wonder with adult-level spice. Definitely “best books of 2022” material. —J.S.
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