Four Books to Get You Through January | 2022

Happy new year! Another year around the sun and if you're looking at a Dry Jan sans (many) plans or have put in an ambitious Goodreads goal for 2022, hopefully these book recommendations can prove helpful. These four (three fiction and one collection of essays) are at the top of my list for 2022: 

Win Me Something | Kyle Lucia Wu

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 I discovered this novel through @MichelleReadsBooks and it instantly caught my attention as I've loved her recommendations previously, particularly A Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Luster (that was on my list this time last year) which she compares it to. A coming of age novel, the story follows Willa who is growing up as a biracial Chinese American young woman in New Jersey, and searching for belonging and navigating how she can find power in defining herself and her identity. 

Fault Lines | Emily Itami 

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A cover that I've seen everywhere in the last month, Fault Lines has been compared to Sorrow and Bliss - one of my favourite reads of 2021 so any likeness, I'm definitely interested. Described as a bittersweet love story and a daring exploration of modern relationships, the story follows Mizuki, a Japanese housewife with a loving husband and children, who has a chance encounter with a successful restauranteur and the further she falls into the relationship, the clearer it is that she is leading a double life. Also have to mention the very eye-pleasing cover.

These Precious Days | Ann Patchett 

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Since Obama's yearly book, film and music lists on Instagram have now become cultural navigators, we'd be fools not to follow his latest recommendations and this one caught my eye in particular. A non-fiction memoir book isn't my usual go-to but I've seen this featured on countless book lists recently and it's been described as a warm and rewarding read. A collection of reflective essays on family, friendships and home, the beautiful prose takes you through the writer's past experiences to draw on the power of both struggles and success. Another book on his list that I've purchased to read recently is Intimacies by Kate Kitamura which looks just as good (and sold out on Amazon!)

Apples Never Fall | Liane Moriarty 

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Nothing serves isolating-in-the-house escapism quite like a gentle thriller and given the authors' prior success in providing much entertainment in both book form and on television - namely Nine Perfect Strangers this year and the everlasting favourite that is Big Little Lies - naturally, I have high hopes for this one and would put bets on it coming to the screen in the not so far future. With themes of disappearance, deceit and tennis... this time the story follows a supposedly contented family of former athletes who become confronted with the mysterious disappearance of their mother, and its potential link to a surprising former house guest from the previous year. 

Read Five Books to Get You Through January | 2021 here.