 |
| This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualified purchases. |
Today, we're talking about the weird and wonderful books that are coming out in the second half of 2022. Which books are you looking forward to reading?
Best July-December 2022 Book Releases
Joan: A Novel Of Joan Of Arc by Katherine J. Chen
Adult Historical Fiction
July 5, 2022
1412. France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. From this chaos emerges a teenage girl who will turn the tide of battle and lead the French to victory, an unlikely hero whose name will echo across the centuries.
In Katherine J. Chen's hands, the myth and legend of Joan of Arc is transformed into a flesh-and-blood young woman: reckless, steel-willed, and brilliant. This deeply researched novel is a sweeping narrative of her life, from a childhood steeped in both joy and violence to her meteoric rise to fame at the head of the French army, where she navigates both the perils of the battlefield and the equally treacherous politics of the royal court. Many are threatened by a woman who leads, and Joan draws wrath and suspicion from all corners, even as her first taste of fame and glory leave her vulnerable to her own powerful ambition.
Why I'm excited to read it: Joan of Arc is one of history's most famous women, but I honestly don't know much about her. This novel seems like an entertaining way to learn.
How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Adult Horror
July 12, 2022
January 17, 2023
Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.
When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before their parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.
Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.
Why I'm excited to read it: Grady Hendrix writes fascinating, frightening, funny horror stories. They're spooky, but they're also extremely relevant to modern life. I love his supernatural takes on relatable human experiences.
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher
Adult Horror
July 12, 2022
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
Why I'm excited to read it: Someday I'll read a T. Kingfisher book. They always sound so weird! And they always get awesome reviews from my bookish friends. This novel is a retelling of an Edgar Allan Poe story. I usually avoid retellings, but I can't resist Poe. His work helped spark my love of horror.
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Adult Fantasy
August 2, 2022
Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.
But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.
Why I'm excited to read it: Honestly, this book sounded a bit silly until I got to the part about eating human minds. That's my kind of creepiness! Now I need to read it.
A TIDY ENDING BY JOANNA CANNON
Adult Mystery
August 2, 2022
Linda has lived in a quiet neighborhood since fleeing the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is: pushing the vacuum around and cooking fish sticks for dinner, a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy magazines coming through the mail slot addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca.
Linda’s husband Terry isn’t perfect—he picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house, and spends most of his time in front of the TV. But that seems fairly standard—until he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women in the town start to go missing.
If only Linda could track down and befriend Rebecca, maybe some of that enviable lifestyle would rub off on her and she wouldn’t have to worry about what Terry is up to. But the grass isn’t always greener and you can’t change who you really are. And some secrets can’t stay buried forever.
Why I'm excited to read it: A few years ago, I read Joanna Cannon's Three Things About Elsie, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. It stars a trio of elderly people who set out to solve a mystery, but they all have memory problems, so their plans don't go as planned. I could not put that book down. It's full of twists and devastating reveals. I'm hoping for more of the same with the author's newest novel.
The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
Adult Dystopia / Science Fiction
August 9, 2022
Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother's disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman—especially a Black woman—can find herself on trial for witchcraft.
But fourteen years have passed since her mother's disappearance, and now Jo is finally ready to let go of the past. Yet her future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30—or enroll in a registry that allows them to be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy. At 28, Jo is ambivalent about marriage. With her ability to control her life on the line, she feels as if she has her never understood her mother more. When she's offered the opportunity to honor one last request from her mother's will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.
Why I'm excited to read it: It's being compared to the work of Margaret Atwood and Shirley Jackson. Those are two of my favorite authors.
Babel, Or The Necessity Of Violence: An Arcane History Of The Oxford Translator's Revolution by R.F. Kuang
Adult Historical Fantasy
August 23, 2022
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.
Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?
Why I'm excited to read it: I still haven't read R.F. Quang's The Poppy War, even though I've been saying I'll read it for years. I'm so bad with series! I want to know why this author has so many rabid fans online. Maybe this book will be less intimidating than a whole series.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Adult Historical Fiction
August 30, 2022
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season.
Why I'm excited to read it: On the surface, this isn't a "me" book. I don't like books about sports. I do like books by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I trust her writing ability so much that I'll read anything she writes.
The Lost Girls Of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Adult Historical Fiction
August 30, 2022
Sage Winters always knew her sister was a little different even though they were identical twins. They loved the same things and shared a deep understanding, but Rosemary—awake to every emotion, easily moved to joy or tears—seemed to need more protection from the world.
Six years after Rosemary’s death from pneumonia, Sage, now sixteen, still misses her deeply. Their mother perished in a car crash, and Sage’s stepfather, Alan, resents being burdened by a responsibility he never wanted. Yet despite living as near strangers in their Staten Island apartment, Sage is stunned to discover that Alan has kept a shocking secret: Rosemary didn’t die. She was committed to Willowbrook State School and has lingered there until just a few days ago, when she went missing.
Sage knows little about Willowbrook. It’s always been a place shrouded by rumor and mystery. A place local parents threaten to send misbehaving kids. With no idea what to expect, Sage secretly sets out for Willowbrook, determined to find Rosemary. What she learns, once she steps through its doors and is mistakenly believed to be her sister, will change her life in ways she never could imagined.
Why I'm excited to read it: It got my attention because Willowbrook State School was a real place on Staten Island. In the 1970s, it was exposed as an abusive dumping ground for disabled children. I'm interested to see what a fiction author can do with that setting.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Adult Fantasy
September 6, 2022
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Why I'm excited to read it: New Stephen King book! I'm on a lifelong mission to read everything he has published. Someday I'll catch up. He writes too fast and has been writing for longer than I've been alive.
Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young
Adult Memoir
September 20, 2022
Behind the tall, foreboding gates of a commune in Brazil, Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family, as the daughter of high-ranking members. Her great-grandmother donated land for one of The Family’s first communes in Texas. Her mother, at thirteen, was forced to marry the leader and served as his secretary for many years. Beholden to The Family’s strict rules, Daniella suffers physical, emotional, and sexual abuse—masked as godly discipline and divine love—and is forbidden from getting a traditional education.
At fifteen years old, fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself, Daniella escapes to Texas. There, she bravely enrolls herself in high school and excels, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military to begin a career as an intelligence officer, where she believes she will finally belong.
But she soon learns that her new world—surrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistan—looks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind.
Why I'm excited to read it: Cult memoir! Of course I'm going to read it. I have entire shelves of cult books, and this one needs to be on it. It's being compared to Tara Westover's Educated, which is a harrowing and well-written memoir.
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Adult Historical Fiction
October 4, 2022
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic—leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.
When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows—while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
Why I'm excited to read it: I'm always intrigued when authors drop real people into their historical fiction books. Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of The Scarlet Letter. Was Isobel the inspiration for his main character, Hester Prynne?
Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders
Adult Short Story Collection
October 18, 2022
"Love Letter" is a tender missive from grandfather to grandson, in the midst of a dystopian political situation in the not-too-distant future, that reminds us of our obligations to our ideals, ourselves, and each other. "Ghoul" is set in a Hell-themed section of an underground amusement park in Colorado, and follows the exploits of a lonely, morally complex character named Brian, who comes to question everything he takes for granted about his "reality." In "Mother's Day," two women who loved the same man come to an existential reckoning in the middle of a hailstorm. And in "Elliott Spencer," our eighty-nine-year-old protagonist finds himself brainwashed—his memory "scraped"—a victim of a scheme in which poor, vulnerable people are reprogrammed and deployed as political protesters.
Why I'm excited to read it: I haven't read a George Saunders book since college, and I honestly don't understand why college professors are so obsessed with him, but I'm intrigued by this collection. The stories are about memory and reality, which are topics that always capture my attention.
Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth by Colleen Darnell and John Darnell
Adult Biography Nonfiction
November 1, 2022
Akhenaten has been the subject of radically different, even contradictory, biographies. The king has achieved fame as the world's first individual and the first monotheist, but others have seen him as an incestuous tyrant who nearly ruined the kingdom he ruled. The gold funerary mask of his son Tutankhamun and the painted bust of his wife Nefertiti are the most recognizable artifacts from all of ancient Egypt. But who are Akhenaten and Nefertiti? And what can we actually say about rulers who lived more than three thousand years ago?
November 2022 marks the centennial of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and although "King Tut" is a household name, his nine-year rule pales in comparison to the revolutionary reign of his parents. Akhenaten and Nefertiti became gods on earth by transforming Egyptian solar worship, innovating in art and urban design, and merging religion and politics in ways never attempted before.
Why I'm excited to read it: I know nothing about ancient Egypt! I'd like to learn. I feel like Egyptian history is a passionate interest for a lot of people, and I want to know what's so captivating about it.
The Wilderwoman by Ruth Emmie Lang
Adult Fantasy
November 18, 2022
Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared. The older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent their mother from vanishing one morning.
Zadie’s estranged younger sister, Finn, can’t see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an “echo” more powerful than anything she’s experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird…
When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora.
Now, it’s up to Finn to convince her sister that not only is their mom still out there, but that she wants to be found. Against Zadie’s better judgement, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn’s echoes to retrace Nora’s footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years: Why did she leave?
But the more time Finn spends in their mother’s past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide how far she's willing to go to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good.
Why I'm excited to read it: A few years ago, I read Ruth Emmie Lang's Beasts Of Extraordinary Circumstance and completely adored it. It has the tone of a lighthearted middle grade fantasy novel, but the characters are adults with grown-up ideas and problems. I've never read anything like it. I can't wait to read the author's newest book!
Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke
Adult History Nonfiction
November 22, 2022
Whether we love them or hate them, think they’re sexy, think they’re strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. A woman’s butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out.
Spanning nearly two centuries, this vivid cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s, the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way, she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like “Buns of Steel.” She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann, once known as the “Venus Hottentot,” Josephine Baker, Jennifer Lopez, and other women of color whose butts have been idolized, envied, and despised.
Part deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion—and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.
Why I'm excited to read it: It's being compared to Mary Roach's books. She's my favorite nonfiction writer. Also, who can turn down a book about butts? When a stranger on a train asks you what you're reading, you can say "butt book" and not even be joking.
EMPIRE OF ICE AND STONE: THE DISASTROUS AND HEROIC VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK BY BUDDY LEVY
Adult Biography Nonfiction
December 6, 2022
After a celebratory four-year polar expedition for the American Museum of Natural History that brought him fame, explorer and ethnologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson proposes an even bolder arctic mission. A charismatic, flamboyant impresario, he recruits a team of renowned scientists—including two who accompanied Ernest Shackleton aboard the Nimrod to the South Pole—and secures financing from Canada to journey into the high arctic to investigate the region’s resource potential.
Considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator, Captain Bob Bartlett was a veteran of three North Pole excursions with Robert Peary between 1898-1909, making him more than qualified for Stefansson’s Canadian Arctic Expedition. Commissioned to captain the Karluk, a more than thirty-year-old steam brigantine that served as a fishing tender and whaler, Bartlett found a vessel less than sea worthy and ordered a complete refit, putting him at odds with his impatient employer.
Once underway in June 1913, it became clear that even with extensive repairs, the Karluk was ill-equipped for Stefansson’s enterprise, as was its crew and scientist passengers. After six weeks of travel, the ship became icebound. Accompanied by five men, Stefansson crossed the floes to hunt caribou, and never returned. Responsible for the twenty-five souls left in his charge, Bartlett endured the sinking of the Karluk and traversed nearly 1000 miles of frozen wilderness to save his marooned shipmates—fighting to survive excruciating, frigid temperatures in makeshift shelters with scarce food sources as months pass with no sign of rescue.
The Book Eaters sounds weird and interesting. Can't stop laughing at Butts. (Apparently I have the maturity of a six year old.) Carrie Soto is one of my most highly anticipated books this year. TJR never disappoints me.
ReplyDeleteI'm super excited for the new TJR book, I preordered it as soon it was announced!
ReplyDeleteInteresting looking books! I have pre ordered Carrie Soto Is Back - I wanted to start on this author somewhere!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/19/top-ten-tuesday-storylines-settings-that-make-me-think-of-summer/
TJR's book was so good. I can't wait for others to read it when it releases.
ReplyDeleteThe Book Eaters sounds so cool, it was one of the books I added to my TBR when I did this topic a few weeks back. The Joan of Arc book also sounds really interesting, I'll have to look into that, and Babel is also one that's on my TBR.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/19/top-ten-tuesday-377/
I'm eager to read the new Joanna Cannon and the new George Saunders. I have loved books by these two in the past.
ReplyDeleteWow, some pretty interesting stuff coming! Can you believe I've never read King??
ReplyDeleteButts a Backstory <-- YES! That title for the win. The TJR book is calling to me. I already put in a library hold. There's nothing like a comeback story to pump me up
ReplyDeleteI love these coming soon posts! I can't wait for Carrie Soto.
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent mixture of genres! And in a way I'm surprised that I have many of them already on my TBR (probably from previous Tuesday lists!). The new one to me is The Women Could Fly and it sounds fabulous. On my list it goes!
ReplyDeletemy TTT: https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/ttt-evocative-novels-list
I'm really looking forward to reading How to Sell a Haunted House and Babel. :D
ReplyDeleteYou've got great books! My first Kingfisher book was Paladin and I enjoyed it. The knew Hendrix book sounds good. And I'm so on the fence about Carrie sotto.
ReplyDeleteIs it funny that I didn't know Stephen King is still publishing books? I read them when I was a teenager, but haven't read one in years. That new one looks really good!
ReplyDeleteLots of good books here. I have been wanting to read Mark Twain's work on Joan of Ark... I am always up for a George Saunders book! And Hester sounds interesting and it's been a long time since I when through my Hawthorne period.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on anything about polar exploration - so great! Also Yes to the Taylor Jenkins novel about a tennis player (I'm big on tennis - got to get it). I'll also try Saunders' Liberation Day Stories .... and the Joan of Arc novel looks good! thanks for the upcoming look.
ReplyDeleteHow to Sell a Haunted House sounds really good!
ReplyDeleteYou MUST read What Moves the Dead! It was phenomenal- also my first Kingfisher, but it definitely won't be my last! Also really liked The Women Can Fly! The cover of Joan is gorgeous, too. And I am excited for Haunted House as well! I need to check out a few of these others on your llist too, thanks for sharing them!
ReplyDelete