The Best Books of 2022
Last updated: September 17, 2024
2022 is the 7th year we're approaching experts and asking them to recommend the best books published in their field, whether it's history or historical fiction, science or science fiction, math or memoir, politics or philosophy.
Below you’ll find all our interviews on the best books of 2022 as they are published on Five Books. (Our best books of 2021, 2020, and 2019 are also still available: those books are still well worth reading!).
Almost all the book recommendations are based on an individual expert's choices. In some lists, one of our editors makes a selection, based on the vast quantities of books we read every week. We'll be adding to these throughout the year to find you the very best books:
Over the course of the year, we also interview the judges of distinguished prizes, as they have systematically gone through all the books published that year to choose the very best. It's another way of finding books that are not only well-researched but also enjoyable to read.
Either way, we can guarantee one thing: all the books below are very, very good books.
Editor’s Choice: Our 2022 Novels of the Year, recommended by Cal Flyn
Author and Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn highlights her favourite novels of 2022—from Jennifer Egan’s highly anticipated follow-up to the multi-award-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad, to a debut novel by a twenty-something writer who gave voice to cancer, literally.
The Best Fiction of 2022: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Neil MacGregor
The Booker Prize is awarded each year to the best original novel written in the English language. We asked the art historian Neil MacGregor, chair of this year’s judging panel, to talk us through the six novels that made the 2022 shortlist—and why fiction can be a most effective means of engaging us emotionally in social and political crisis elsewhere.
-
1
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
by Katherine Rundell -
2
Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688
by Clare Jackson -
3
A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters
by Henry Gee -
4
Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
by M E Sarotte -
5
My Fourth Time, We Drowned
by Sally Hayden -
6
Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology
by Chris Miller
Award Winning Nonfiction Books of 2022, recommended by Sophie Roell
Award Winning Nonfiction Books of 2022, recommended by Sophie Roell
It’s that time of year when there are dozens of the best-of-the-year lists. Which books are worth reading? One way of narrowing it down is by looking at the various awards that celebrate books across a range of nonfiction categories. Five Books editor Sophie Roell does a roundup of nonfiction books that won prizes in 2022.
Award-Winning Novels of 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
Any end-of-year list is necessarily partial; no one person could hope to read every novel published in the English language in any given year. That’s why prize lists are so useful for guiding the casual reader’s literary diet. Here, our deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a brief round-up of the books that ruled victorious during the 2022 awards season.
-
1
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
by Rebecca Donner -
2
The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III
by Andrew Roberts -
3
Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane
by Paul Auster -
4
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
by Jonathan Freedland -
5
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
by Katherine Rundell -
6
Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South
by Winfred Rembert
Award Winning Biographies of 2022, recommended by Sophie Roell
Award Winning Biographies of 2022, recommended by Sophie Roell
In telling stories of lives that are often very different from our own and yet connected to us by our common humanity, biographies are some of the most compelling nonfiction books around. Five Books editor Sophie Roell rounds up some of the biographies that have won or been shortlisted for prizes in 2022.
-
1
The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs
by Marc David Baer -
2
The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
by Malcolm Gaskill -
3
Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688
by Clare Jackson -
4
Going to Church in Medieval England
by Nicholas Orme -
5
God: An Anatomy
by Francesca Stavrakopoulou -
6
Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History
by Alex von Tunzelmann
The Best History Books: the 2022 Wolfson Prize Shortlist, recommended by Carole Hillenbrand
The Best History Books: the 2022 Wolfson Prize Shortlist, recommended by Carole Hillenbrand
Every year the Wolfson History Prize celebrates books that combine meticulous and original research with great writing, accessible to the general reader. Here, one of the 2022 judges, the eminent Islamic scholar Carole Hillenbrand, guides us through the shortlist to explain why each book is a must-read.
-
1
How to Say No: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Cynicism
by Diogenes and the Cynics, translated by Mark Usher -
2
Looking for Theophrastus: Travels in Search of a Lost Philosopher
by Laura Beatty -
3
Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy
by David Chalmers -
4
The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy
by Andy West -
5
Thinking to Some Purpose
by Susan Stebbing
The Best Philosophy Books of 2022, recommended by Nigel Warburton
The Best Philosophy Books of 2022, recommended by Nigel Warburton
Every year we ask our philosophy editor Nigel Warburton to recommend the best new books in the field. In 2022, his philosophy book recommendations include David Chalmers’ latest examination of consciousness, a memoir of teaching philosophy in prison, and a biography of the ancient provocateur and original cynic Diogenes.
-
1
Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire
by Caroline Elkins -
2
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
by Jonathan Freedland -
3
My Fourth Time, We Drowned
by Sally Hayden -
4
The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown
by Anna Keay -
5
A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story
by Polly Morland -
6
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
by Katherine Rundell
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Caroline Sanderson
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Caroline Sanderson
Every year the judges of the Baillie Gifford Prize pick out the best nonfiction books published in the United Kingdom over the previous 12 months. Author and books journalist Caroline Sanderson, chair of this year’s judging panel, talks us through the books that made the 2022 shortlist, books that are important, readable and will hopefully surprise you.
-
1
The Marriage Portrait: A Novel
by Maggie O'Farrell & narrated by Genevieve Gaunt -
2
The Maid
by Nita Prose & narrated by Lauren Ambrose -
3
You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
by Zora Neale Hurston and narrated by Robin Miles -
4
Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound
by Lake Bell -
5
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
by Amy Bloom
The Best Audiobooks of 2022, recommended by Robin Whitten
The Best Audiobooks of 2022, recommended by Robin Whitten
Every year AudioFile magazine reviews thousands of new audiobooks and in its annual best-of-the-year lists its editors include only books that make exceptional listening. Here Robin Whitten, AudioFile’s founder and editor, picks out five outstanding audiobooks in a range of genres and explains what it is that makes them special.
The Best Historical Fiction: The 2022 Walter Scott Prize Shortlist, recommended by Elizabeth Laird
Every year, the Walter Scott Prize highlights the best new historical novels. In 2022, the shortlist comprises four fantastic works of historical fiction that immerse the reader in the past—from 16th-century Scotland to 1920s Trinidad—while confronting universal human dramas we still struggle with today. Elizabeth Laird, one of the judges, talks us through their choices this year.