On books of 2022 *perfect for the holidays*
My favs collected for you. :: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 17th 2022
I am a huge reader. On average, I read 40-50 books a year. As I am often asked throughout the year about different recommendations, I was initially going to write a whole holiday gift wish list including immense details of everything I love, things like my favourite CBD oils, sensitive people soaps, etc, and then all of a sudden I felt really invaded because I was sharing everything I use or do. So I deleted that list and started a new one, which is this letter. Hello welcome!
I love to start conversations about books.
I am going to give you my favourite books of 2022 (a lot of them ended up being fiction this year) below with brief little snippets. I find when people recommend books without snippets, I am not sure if I want to read them or why. So I hope this helps you pick out the ones you want to read. :) One of the greatest joys of my job as a person writing a newsletter is being an excellent book recommender. Most of these books were born in 2022. If this is not true, they are from very recently - as in the last few years.
You are deserving of good things. Part of my homemade crafts of last year when I made my friends bookmarks.
If you want to look at my many book recommendations from last year as well, there are spread out in monthly recommendations over the 12 months that I did the magazine style Beatrix Newsletter. In 2021, I read some of my favourite books ever!!
I will also be including my top neurodivergent books in general in this letter, because it has been literally the number one question from people after reading my book - CAN YOU TURN THE LIGHTS OFF? this year.
Without further ado,
in memoirs:
10 steps to nanette - Hannah Gadsby.
Hannah Gadsby tells us the tale of her entire life as a lesbian and as an autist who fucking hates Taylor Swift. I loved it, even though I love Taylor Swift. What surprised me about this book is how much I learnt about Australian politics in addition…and also… my favourite part… the way Hannah writes about relationships (especially with family or neighbours) had me swooning very often. 10/10.
Broken horses - Brandi Carlile
I enjoyed this memoir from fellow Gemini Brandi Carlile so much. Alcoholic parents; poverty; art as a life force; being gay… this is just a giant love letter to everyone she’s ever loved. Her music makes me feel things I can’t feel otherwise, and knowing the meaning behind songs that mean so much to me was so nice, plus her stories actually mirrored parts of me I was glad to connect with.
in poetry:
I got this book that is all of Audre Lorde poems collected in one huge bible looking thing. It was one of my favourite things this year.
in self-help:
Scattered minds - Gabor Mate
I sent this book to many a people who I feel would be so seen in this tale.
I am a huge Gabor stan. I feel like he is tapped into the same universal creative force I am tapped into because sometimes I swear I read something he wrote and I am like I have literally had this thought before. Anyway, huge fan of the doctor’s work in general. IN THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS remains probably (definitely) the best book on addiction ever made. I feel like SCATTERED MINDS may be the equivalent in terms of ADHD. It was by far, my favorite self-help book I read this year worth mentioning as a life-changing one. Highly recommend anyone with a body or raising children read this one.
in LGBTQ fiction:
How to make a wish - Ashley Herring Blake
Y’all probably know my complaint by now that there are so little really good contemporary romance literature that is queer for adults. Most of it are coming of age books or YA. This book was really deep for a YA. The main character lost her dad and is tasked to grow up with a mother who is struck with ptsd and grief that makes mothering more so a peer experience. Parentified to the max, she has to follow her mom from boyfriend to boyfriend’s house, to rental to rental in the Cape Cod area. One day, she meets a girl who is living with her best friend’s family following her mom’s death in the city. It changes everything. In a way, this book felt like reading a memoir that was portrayed as a fiction. The author clearly has lived this life. I loved it. 10/10.
Written in the stars - Alexandria Bellefleur
About queer girls who own an astrology business and their love lives in Seattle. The astrologer gets set up on a date with a business partner’s sister. The sister doesn’t believe in astrology (this trope is too real), and they couldn’t be more different. Horrible first date. But the sister wants her brother off her back about meeting someone so she lies to him that they hit it off. The brother tells queer astro girl he’s so happy. Shocked, she texts uptight non believer accountant lesbian: what is the deal? They start to hang out under the premise that this is a fake relationship to keep their families out of either judging them for being single or meddling in their lives because they pity them… but they soon discover, they really want to sleep with each other. Understandable. But is it love?
Some girls do - Jennifer Dugan
Okay, Hillary is always sending me cute little queer novels that we never got to read growing up, and I always resist them. I am like I WANT ADULT TOPICS/ CHALLENGES/ RESOLUTIONS. But I read this whole one in a night last night, and figured I would include it. I haven’t yet told her I was crying at the last page, which she will be very pleased by.
Reading book lovers on the lake dock this summer.
in fiction:
The heart principal - Helen Hoang
One of my favourite fiction books of the past 10 years. Would read multiple times. Would recommend to anyone who loves me to please read this book. Features an autistic woman named Anna in a shitty relationship with a dude who wants an open relationship which sets Anna off to try to have a one night stand just to prove she can! She gets on a dating app and meets Quan - who she can actually be herself with. A story about burn out from career + care taking, and finding true love as an autistic - so many things I relate to so intimately. I was sad for weeks after this book was done. If you are not familiar with Helen Hoang, I really suggest reading all her books!
Book lovers - Emily Henry
Books lovers is a story about an overworked agent woman who lost her mother at a young age and had the task to finish raising her younger sister. She does everything for everyone but ends up being labeled as cold and a bitch in love because of her fear of opening up and trusting other people. She is scared of truly loving anyone, because she could lose them just like she lost her mom. Enter, a nemesis editor turned… lover? What will happen? A nuanced story about family and love. Also she quotes Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights in this and I just… yes. I also really loved the setting of this book - in New York and then just outside of Asheville - which I had spent some time in in the spring this year.
Carrie soto is back- Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid is by far my favourite fiction writer. I also highly recommend reading Malibu rising + Daisy Jones and the six - which I read for the first time this year too. Most of her books are set in Los Angeles, which obviously feels like home to me. Her stories make me learn about life and myself in ways I wouldn’t have access to if it weren’t for her writing. I see myself represented in her stories too. Shannon said Carrie Soto is obviously autistic right? after we read this together. Tennis star Carrie Soto is back after a long break due to injuries/ a fall out with her coach. This story is ultimately a love story between father and daughter. I loved every single moment of it.
What a happy family - Saumya Dave
This is Dave’s sophomore novel and it did not disappoint. It follows and tells the same story from the angle of several Desi family members based in Atlanta: 3 siblings; 2 sisters and one brother, and mom and dad. It talks about family, race, feminism, mental health, marriage, friendship, so much. I absolutely it. It made me laugh and it made me cry.
Every summer after - Carley Fortune
Set in Toronto and in Ontario’s cottage country (the Algonquin area, versus Muskoka which I thought was very cool), Sam and Percy met when they were kids and were each other’s best friends. But they haven’t talked in 10 years. One day, Percy gets a phone call from Sam’s brother that their mom (who doubled as Percy’s second mom) has passed from cancer. Percy immediately packs her bags and heads north from Toronto. I am a friggen fan for ONE TRUE LOVE stories, like the one person who you’re just perpetually always going to be in love with, that unbreakable soul connection, and when the people actually figure it out and get together, god it’s fucking satisfying. I read this book in a day. I can’t wait for Carley Fortune’s second fiction.
Second first impressions - Sally Throne
I am a sucker for a Sally Throne novel. When 25 year old Ruthie is left in charge of the old age community she works and lives at, she realizes that a mega construction/ developing company is going to want to destroy the living space that is her home and the homes of the people she has grown to love. But what happens when the son of the company’s CEO is the hottie she met at the gas station last night whom she bailed out when he lost his wallet? More than that, what happens when he moves into the cottage next to her? It was sexy and cozy and fun. Also, get to the prom scene and I dare you not to cry!!
Last tang standing - Lauren Ho
This book gave me huge crazy rich asians vibe, which is one of my favourite fiction trilogies in general. Set in Singapore, Andrea Tang is a big shot lawyer climbing up the ladder with pressures from her family to secure a partner. Things hit rock bottom for her when she gets word that her last single cousin is getting married, making her, yes, the last Tang standing. To make matters worse, she thought she could count on her cousin to not get married to a man because she’s a lesbian. Turns out her cuz made a deal with her new beau. As Andrea goes to a party, she meets a rich billionaire man who she starts to date. He’s perfect for everything Andrea has been told to want and secure… but there is also a budding and forbidden office romance with a lawyer who’s engaged to someone else and in competition with her for a promotion. This lawyer man doesn’t really want to be a lawyer, doesn’t really want to marry his partner, and actually is an artist on the side creating wildly popular comic stories that go viral sending Andrea messages about how he truly feels about his job, his love life and about her through his stories. A story about choosing what you want versus what everyone else tells you, or pressures you, to want.
Eliza starts a rumor - Jane L. Rosen
Set in the Hudson Valley, Eliza is a housewife and mother who was raped in high school. I am just going to tell you straight up the big reveal because it was triggering for me to not know or fully get it right away. Even if the book deals with a very sensitive matter, I actually deeply loved it. It talks about being a rape survivor in such a real nuanced way that paints the reality so many of us don’t want to speak about or rather, are afraid to talk about. Hugely validating. It also is very #metoo in general, following the lives of other women in the Hudson Valley, and their involvement in the community board Eliza created. There is a narc husband someone leaves, another cheating husband that is confronted. It’s basically a book about women supporting women in regards to the shitty ways men act toward us; a book about how friendship is the way out.
Birds of california - Katie Cotugno
Fiona St-James was a teenage superstar on a hit network show, but she falls out of the limelight after her angry addict behaviour that she displays publicly destroys her in the tabloids. Years later, hiding out at her father’s house in the Valley, her co-star, Sam, finds her at her job (her dad’s printing shop) to try to convince her to do a reboot of the hit show. It’s a no from her. But she has always been in love with Sam Fox who played her brother on the show. Problem is, Fiona has never told anyone the reason behind her breakdown - it’s PTSD and it’s from being groomed and in an inappropriate age gap relationship/ power dynamic situation with an older man involved on the show. This tender story explores vulnerability, truth-telling and ultimately freedom from trauma.
Unhoneymooners - Christina Lauren
Take a trip to Hawaii with these two characters who score a free trip when their siblings (who are marrying each other) fall ill and can’t go on their honeymoon as expected. The book asks a question, after a long time of being “unlucky”, watching everyone else getting what you want, can things change when you put yourself out there? Have you been in charge of your luck this whole time? Re: the luck thing - probably.
The ex talk - Rachel Lynn Solomon
When Dominic Yun starts to work at the radio station Shay Goldstein has been working at for the past 10 years in Seattle, she hates him. When the station needs to save itself, Shay jokingly brings up an idea for a dating show that exes host together. Problem is, who would be the exes? When their boss suggests Dominic and Shay lie and say they dated and broke up, they agree… for the station, and for Shay, a chance at being on air, her and her late father’s dream. This book is filled with longing, and important themes of grief and friendship and above all else, safely abandoning your guard and defences and letting someone in. I felt really moved in my heart and my entire body during some scenes of this book. A rom com that is special.
in top neurodivergence books in order of my own specific preference:
Women and girls on the autism spectrum (journalistic/ self-help)- Sarah Hendrickx (special shout out to this one, it’s truly maybe my fav and helped me make sense to myself/ write CYTTLO)
Divergent Mind (journalistic/ scientific) - Jenera Nerenberg
Making sense (scientific/ self-help) - Rachel Schneider
Drama Queen (memoir) - Sara Gibbs
The electricity of every living thing (memoir) - Katherine May (also wintering by Katherine May is great!)
Odd girl out (memoir) - Laura James
I overcame my autism and all I got was this lousy anxiety disorder (memoir) - Sarah Kurchak
Unmasking autism (scientific/ self-help) - Devon Price
But you don’t look autistic at all (self-help) - Bianca Toeps
Wishing you all the cozy reading vibes as we enter winter and the holidays.
From the very bottom of my heart, happy reading. Feel free to save this email so you can come back to it when you need your next read, or forward this email to a friend who loves to read! xx
p.s, if you have a book you think I’d love, please recommend it to me too!