Staff Picks: Best of 2022 Fiction Titles You May Have Missed

Wed, 12/07/2022 - 3:36pm by eapearce

It’s that time when many different outlets are compiling their “best books of the year” lists and it’s always exciting to see what gets named. Sometimes the titles are predictable–it seems like you saw everyone reading a particular book this year, and sometimes they’re surprising–a title you never heard of, or that no one you know has read. Today, we’re highlighting a few of the books that fall into the second category!

Checkout 19, by Claire-Louise Bennett | Request Now (New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year)

Checkout 19, by the same author that penned the 2016 novel Pond, tells the story of an unnamed British woman in her 40s living in Ireland. Fiercely attached to the written word, she both reads and writes voraciously, scouring books for inspiration and writing down her recollections of her life thus far. Much of her life story revolves around writing and reading, including her earliest attempts as a young woman to write fiction, and the various men–all readers themselves–who influence her worldview and work. This is a complex story that is both a portrait of an artist and a feminist literary critique–it’s not for everyone, but those who delve in will be rewarded with much to think about. 

Activities of Daily Living, by Lisa Hsiao Chen | Request Now (Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2022)

Alice, a Taiwanese-American immigrant in her late 30s, cares for her ailing white stepfather who is suffering from dementia. Her day job is as a video editor, but when she’s off the clock and not otherwise occupied with nursing duties, her true interest is in studying Tehching Hseih, a Taiwanese performance artist. As Alice and her sister prepare to pack up their stepfather’s home and move him to a nursing facility in California, her studies of Hseih become intertwined with her relationship to her stepfather and her childhood. Author Lisa Chen switches between the present-day decline of Alice’s stepfather and the challenging decisions she and her sister have to make about his care, and the 1980s, when Hseih was creating his works. As Hseih disappeared into his performance pieces, Alice’s stepfather slowly disappears into himself, making for a meditative and thoughtful novel that is deeply moving.

2 A.M. In Little America, by Ken Kalfus | Request Now (Vulture Best Books of 2022)

This dystopian novel envisions a future America where domestic conflict has caused many young people to flee the country, seeking asylum and a better and safer life elsewhere. Ron Patterson is one of these young people who fled to an unnamed city and shares a bunkhouse with other refugees and works as a repairman. His life is just getting stable again, when he meets a woman and quickly forges an intimate friendship with her. The book then jumps a decade forward in time, and readers learn that anti-immigrant sentiment has caused American refugees to live in a settlement called “Little America” in one of the few countries that will still allow them. Once again, Ron is close to finding stability and peace when political divisions threaten Little American and everyone residing there. Ron is pressed into service as an informant, and once again finds himself on uncertain ground as he works to stay afloat and battle the nostalgia he feels for his past, nearly secure lives. Readers of futuristic novels or those who liked Exit West will certainly want to check this out.

Manhunt, by Gretchen Felker-Martin | Request Now (Vulture Best Books of 2022)

Heralded as a “modern horror masterpiece” (Carmen Maria Machado), Manhunt is a whirlwind of a post-apocalyptic story. Transgender women Beth and Fran travel up and down the New England coast together hunting feral men (yes, that’s a thing in this book) to keep from getting a terrifying disease themselves. Meanwhile, Robbie, a trans man, clings to his gun and lives by his often-experienced motto, “other people aren’t safe.” When a freak accident brings the three of them together, they cling to one another and battle a variety of unusual and frightening circumstances, from murderous TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) to their own awkward relationship dynamics. NPR called this book “disgustingly rendered and brilliantly imagined,” while The New Yorker referred to it as “a filthy, furious delight.” Horror fans will definitely want to check this one out, though Felker-Martin also does an excellent job of covering wide-ranging topics like mental illness, trauma and dysphoria.