2022: Round-up of “Best Books” lists [updated]

How, as we ask every year, did Asia fare in the “Best Books” lists of 2022? Not particularly well, despite (as always) taking a broad view of what constitutes an “Asian” book.

Books in translation are notable by their relative absence: only All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami and Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada appear more more than once. Booker-winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka unsurprisingly appears on many lists.

Click on the title for our review and listen to the podcast where listed. (And see the Asian Review of Books’s own list.)

Foreign Affairs

  • A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945–1955 by Ronald H. Spector
  • Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s by Julian Gewirtz
  • States of Subsistence: The Politics of Bread in Contemporary Jordan by José Ciro Martínez
  • Bread and Freedom: Egypt’s Revolutionary Situation by Mona El-Ghobashy
  • Fixing Stories: Local Newsmaking and International Media in Turkey and Syria by Noah Amir Arjomand
  • The Digital Silk Road: China’s Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future by Jonathan E. Hillman
  • Infiltrating Society: The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs by Puangthong Pawakapan
  • Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzo by Michael J Green

Washington Post (50 notable works of fiction, The 12 best thriller and mystery novels)

  • All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
  • On Java Road by Lawrence Osborne
  • Either/Or by Elif Batuman
  • Fencing With the King by Diana Abu-Jaber
  • Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua
  • Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  • The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
  • To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
  • The Verifiers by Jane Pek

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022 (Fiction)

 

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022 (Non-Fiction)

TIME The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022

  • All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
  • Stay True by Hua Hsu [podcast]
  • Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada
  • Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
  • Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi
  • All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
  • Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
  • The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
  • Babel by RF Kuang
  • The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi
  • When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
  • Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
  • The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
  • Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  • Nuclear Family by Joseph Han
  • Either/Or by Elif Batuman

TimeOut The best books of 2022

World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2022

  • Island of Bewilderment by Simin Daneshvar
  • The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories by Dhumketu
  • Solo Dance by Li Kotomi
  • At the Edge of the Woods by Matasugu Ono
  • Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamada
  • Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada
  • Celia, Misoka, I by Xue Yiwei
  • Cocoon by Zhang Yueran
  • Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season: Selected Poems by Forough Farrokhzad
  • The Leash and the Ball by Rodaan Al Galidi
  • How I Survived a Chinese “Reeducation” Camp by Gulbahar Haitiwaji & Rozenn Morgat
  • Offended Sensibilities by Alisa Ganieva
  • Seasons of Purgatory by Shahriar Mandanipour
  • What Have You Left Behind? by Bushra al-Maqtari
  • A Song by the Aegean Sea by Mohamed Metwalli
  • Identitti by Mithu Sanyal
  • I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee
  • Violets by Kyung-sook Shin
  • Dawn by Sevgi Soysal

The Atlantic 10

Vulture The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)

  • Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
  • Run and Hide by Pankaj Mishra
  • Love Marriage by Monica Ali
  • All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

FT Best books of 2022: Fiction

  • The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
  • The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
  • Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie
  • The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Globe & Mail 100

  • Mansions of the Moon by Shyam Selvadurai
  • Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World by Anthony Sattin
  • Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
  • The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
  • The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad
  • The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
  • Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  • The Red Palace by June Hur
  • The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad
  • Quiet Night Think: Poems and Essays by Gillian Sze

Philadelphia Enquirer The Best Books of 2022

New York Public Library

  • Diary of a Void: A Novel by Emi Yagi
  • You’re Invited: A Novel by Amanda Jayatissa
  • Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao
  • How We Go High in the Dark: A Novel by Sequoia Nagamatsu
  • O by Zeina Hashem Beck
  • Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
  • The Stand-Up Groomsman: A Novel by Jackie Lau
  • The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
  • What Is Home, Mum? by Sabba Khan
  • The White Mosque: A Memoir by Sofia Samatar
  • As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
  • The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
  • Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
  • The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho
  • Run On Your New Legs, Vol. 1 by Wataru Midori
  • TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo
  • Wandance, Vol. 1 by Coffee

Esquire The Best Books of 2022

  • To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
  • Joan Is Okay: A Novel by Weike Wang
  • How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
  • Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
  • Either/Or by Elif Batuman
  • The Twilight World by Werner Herzog

Vogue The Best Books of 2022 So Far

  • The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang [podcast]
  • Stay True by Hua Hsu [podcast]
  • The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
  • To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
  • The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
  • Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
  • Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
  • Either/Or by Elif Batuman
  • The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
  • All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
  • Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2022

  • Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu
  • The Last Colony by Philippe Sands
  • Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda by Ruth Harris
  • Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea by Katie Stallard

Oprah Daily Our Favorite Books of the Year

Powell’s

  • Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada
  • The Pachinko Parlor by Elisa Shua Dusapin
  • The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
  • All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
  • The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
  • Bliss Montage Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
  • How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

School Library Journal

  • My Paati’s Saris by Jyoti Rajan Gopal
  • Kimchi, Kimchi Every Day by Erica Kim
  • The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky by Jihyun Kim
  • Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhhà Lại
  • Dadaji’s Paintbrush by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
  • Nour’s Secret Library by , Wafa’ Tarnowska
  • Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
  • Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-kalu & others
  • Marya Khan and the Incredible Henna Party by Saadia Faruqi
  • Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena by Julie C Dao
  • Wave by Dianai Farid
  • Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl by Julie Kagawa
  • Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
  • Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed
  • The Red Palace by Jane Hur
  • All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
  • Hope Is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese-American Poet Kahlil Gibran by Cory McCarthy
  • Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home by Zahra Marwan
  • The Flamingo by Guojing
  • Wingbearer by Marjorie Liu
  • Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria by Muhammad Najem & Nora Neus
  • Squire by Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh

The Telegraph The 50 best books of 2022

  • Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura
  • The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
  • To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

 

Updated on 8, 11 and 14 December 2002