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Esquire Best Books of the Year 2022

Esquire Best Books of the Year 2022 names 50 books. 21 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

  1. A Ballet of Lepers by Leonard Cohensource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newtonsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Anthem by Noah Hawleysource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Because Our Fathers Lied by Craig McNamarasource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radkesource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Cult Classic by Sloane Crosleysource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannahamsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgeraldsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Fairy Tale by Stephen Kingsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Fen, Bog and Swamp by Annie Proulxsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kellysource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Groundskeeping by Lee Colesource (opens in a new tab)
  13. Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparantasource (opens in a new tab)
  14. How Civil Wars Start by Barbara F. Waltersource (opens in a new tab)
  15. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsusource (opens in a new tab)
  16. How to Take Over the World by Ryan Northsource (opens in a new tab)
  17. Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greersource (opens in a new tab)
  18. Liarmouth by John Waterssource (opens in a new tab)
  19. Liberation Day by George Saunderssource (opens in a new tab)
  20. Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulzsource (opens in a new tab)
  21. Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon Jamessource (opens in a new tab)
  22. Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Taltysource (opens in a new tab)
  23. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafkasource (opens in a new tab)
  24. Nuclear Family by Joseph Hansource (opens in a new tab)
  25. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalezsource (opens in a new tab)
  26. Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliversource (opens in a new tab)
  27. Phasers On Stun! by Ryan Brittsource (opens in a new tab)
  28. Raising Lazarus by Beth Macysource (opens in a new tab)
  29. Scoundrel by Sarah Weinmansource (opens in a new tab)
  30. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandelsource (opens in a new tab)
  31. South to America by Imani Perrysource (opens in a new tab)
  32. Thank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jensource (opens in a new tab)
  33. The Angel of Rome by Jess Waltersource (opens in a new tab)
  34. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Lisource (opens in a new tab)
  35. The Candy House by Jennifer Egansource (opens in a new tab)
  36. The Employees by Olga Ravnsource (opens in a new tab)
  37. The Furrows by Namwali Serpellsource (opens in a new tab)
  38. The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Varasource (opens in a new tab)
  39. The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O'Rourkesource (opens in a new tab)
  40. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthysource (opens in a new tab)
  41. The Pink Hotel by Liska Jacobssource (opens in a new tab)
  42. Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuongsource (opens in a new tab)
  43. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagiharasource (opens in a new tab)
  44. Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrottasource (opens in a new tab)
  45. True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us by Danielle J. Lindemannsource (opens in a new tab)
  46. Trust by Hernan Diazsource (opens in a new tab)
  47. Trust the Plan by Will Sommersource (opens in a new tab)
  48. Vladimir by Julia May Jonassource (opens in a new tab)
  49. Woman, Eating by Claire Kohdasource (opens in a new tab)
  50. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuartsource (opens in a new tab)

About the Esquire Best Books of the Year

Esquire's own year-end best-books list for each year, one combined list per year. Esquire's terms of use bar scraping its content for AI use, so nothing was read from esquire.com directly; every list comes from a Wayback Machine copy (robots.txt was checked: it allows the book pages). 2017-2025 are Esquire's running 'Best Books of <year>' galleries in their final archived form; only the 2016 list (25 to 1) is ranked. 2011 is the December 2011 issue's 10 best books and 2012 is the 8-book 'Best Books of 2012' feature. 2014 is 'The 5 Most Important Books of 2014', kept because it is Esquire's only year-end book list that year. No year-end list was found for 2006-2010, 2013, or 2015. Archived copies of the 2025 gallery hold only its first 20 of 35 books; books 21-35 come from yearendlists.com's copy of the list, which matches Esquire on books 1-20. The 2019 gallery repeats two books, so it counts 49 unique books from 51 slides. The 2018 gallery names titles only; its authors come from Library of Congress catalog records for the ISBN in each slide's shop link (or the title, for Kindle-only links), and from the slide text where the LoC record has no author. Obvious author misspellings on the page are corrected (e.g. Jia Tolentino, Téa Obreht). Left out: mid-year 'best so far' lists, seasonal and monthly reading lists, genre lists, and Esquire UK.

Organization: Esquire. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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