Our hosts picked out great books: Louise Erdrich! Susanna Clarke! The guy from the Mountain Goats who writes mysteries now! One host re-reads "The DaVinci Code" every year! Which... hey, you do you. Here’s some deeper reviews from our editorial team:
Brenna’s Picks
Vice President Brenna here! I read a ton, so I’ll limit my list to books that were published this year:
“The Golden Enclaves” by Naomi Novik brings to a close her series “The Scholomance” which asks and answers “What if Daria was half Indian, went to Hogwarts, and magic was taught by trying to kill the students?” It’s YA, full of snark and nuanced empathy about privilege and equality.
“Good Inside” by Dr. Becky Kennedy will make you feel like you can be a good parent of good children and still swear sometimes - both things can be true!
“How to Be Perfect” by Michael Shur is for when you want to actually take Chidi’s ethics classes in “The Good Place.”
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin was incredible, a story about friendship, video games, grief, and creativity.
“The Heart Principle” by Helen Hoang is another of her books on romance for neurodivergent characters which is so funny and generous and lovely.
Ali Hazelwood was a new author to me this year; if you like your contemporary romance pretty light, fun, sexy, formulaic, and with scientists as the H/h, these books are as comforting as a package of Oreos.
“Between Friends” is technically a new release so I’ll toss in a shout-out here to W.R. Gingell, one of my favorite fantasy writers. The “Between” series is set in Hobart, Australia, with a plucky teenage protagonist at the center of a mystery involving the death of her parents, a fae lord, a vampire, and lots of other Behind creatures. Imagine if Lovecraft tales were tempered by needing to go to the grocery store and told by a 16-year-old who mostly says, “Oi! That’s not on!” —Brenna
Ruby’s Picks
Editor Ruby here: I’ll copy Brenna and stick to recent books, but you can see my full list here.
“Manhunt” by Gretchen Felker-Martin is a gender plague book from the perspective of trans women, hunting down estrogen to avoid the testosterone-linked zombie plague while fighting off and dodging the TERF armies that have taken over the eastern seaboard. This book is scarier than the stuff I usually read, but I devoured it in two sittings. Nothing about Felker-Martin’s writing is easy – she really doesn’t let anyone off the hook – and this story is bright, sharp, and very worth your time.
“The Heartbreak Bakery” by A.R. Capetta is one of the cutest books I’ve ever read. Syd, a teen with “Simply Irresistible” powers tries to repair the accidental moods a batch of brownies has sowed, while navigating gender identity, a recent breakup, and a job at The Proud Muffin, a queer community space-slash-bakery. There’s really good recipes between most of the chapters – I made the strawberry basil peach pie this summer and it was divine.
“The Lost Dreamer” by Lizz Huerta really surprised me. I thought it would be a pretty run of the mill young adult “teen girl discovers magic powers to save the world” book. It’s more interesting than that. The Mesoamerican-inspired world feels genuine and the characters are deeply compelling. — Editor Ruby
Ira’s Picks
Over to Editor Ira. It takes a fair bit to win me over to the "real-life historical figure gets plugged into fictional shenanigans" genre, but it wouldn't if more authors could do it as deftly as Kim Newman does. His "Something More Than Night" finds the odd couple of Raymond Chandler and Boris Karloff teaming up to investigate the death of a mutual friend and uncovering a truly monstrous plot unfolding behind the scenes of a B-movie studio in 1930s Hollywood. It's a wild, weird, twisted mystery littered with obscure Easter eggs for obsessive lovers of the shabby side of Old Hollywood such as myself, kind of like a James Ellroy novel if Ellroy was interested in the concepts of fun or fantasy.
On the comics tip, the "Gamma Flight" collection dropped in early 2022, wrapping up Al Ewing's stunning run on "The Immortal Hulk." I endorse that entire series as one of the most thought-provoking explorations of identity, existentialism, and truly unsettling body horror I've seen in any medium. — Editor Ira
Megan’s Picks
Content creator (and Burger Dive host) Megan here! If you’re anything like me, it’s been years (seriously, like 10+ years) since you’ve read a book for fun. I got so burnt out on reading in high school and college that I just completely stopped. In 2022, a friend introduced me to the app Libby. All you have to do is link your library card, and you have access to thousands of free e-books and audiobooks! Audiobooks have truly changed my life. I listened to 80 books this year, and here are my top picks: the best afternoon read is “The Answer Is…” by Alex Trebek (Ken Jennings reads the audiobook, except for the chapters about Alex’s wife and Ken Jennings, which is very sweet); the best re-read from my childhood is “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart (also watch the Disney+ series from last year when you finish the book); the best non-fiction is “Unmask Alice” by Rick Emerson (if you were scared by “Go Ask Alice” as a middle schooler, this is for you); and the one I wish I could read again for the first time is “Behind Her Eyes” by Sarah Pinborough (I forced my husband to read this when I was done). I now understand why people like books, and can’t wait to get into more in 2023! — Content Creator Megan
MORE From the Archive:
