Bookshop.org Staff Picks: Best Nonfiction of 2022
By Bookshop.org
By Bookshop.org
Happy roundup list season to all those who celebrate! Here are a few of our favorites among the many incredible nonfiction books published this year. As the holiday season creeps up on us, these books would make great gifts—and for more ideas, keep an eye out for our upcoming gift guides, or ask your favorite local bookseller!
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy
$27.99 $26.03I still have never seen an episode of iCarly but that doesn’t matter. This memoir is such a valuable and profound peek into a mother-daughter relationship that is so textured with emotion and psychological mind games, it’s almost disorienting. McCurdy’s determination to reclaim her life from the hands of an abuser she’s always been hellbent on protecting, and from the disordered eating that came from that relationship, is nothing short of inspiring. Complicated, compassionate, and sometimes comically absurd, this is a great read. —Amanda Rivera
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir
Paul Newman
$32.00 $29.76Compiled using five years’ worth of conversations from the ‘80s, iconic Hollywood actor and pasta sauce mogul Paul Newman’s memoir is here at last. The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is an honest, humble, and occasionally humorous account of the highs and lows of the legend’s public and personal lives. —Kevin Chau
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
Michelle Obama
$32.50 $30.23Following up on her indie bestselling Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama’s new memoir The Light We Carry offers powerful stories and profound insights on finding our inner light and sharing it with others in order to get through uncertain times. An essential new meditation on finding joy and connection amid chaos. —Andy Hunter
I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To): Low-Effort, High-Reward Recipes: A Cookbook
Ali Slagle
$29.99 $27.89Devotees of the New York Times Cooking world will be thrilled that Ali Slagle has taken the plunge and created her first cookbook. Filled with easy, flavorful dishes for the at-home chef who needs some inspo. —Steph Opitz
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us
Hanif Abdurraqib
$26.00 $24.18Hanif Abdurraqib’s collection of music and personal essays is stunning and insightful. He connects personal experience to artistic expression with elegant and vivid writing. From a thrilling account of Prince’s Super Bowl performance to the saga of the Fleetwood Mac album Rumours, each piece is gripping and unexpected. This new hardcover edition, which contains three new essays and a new afterword by Jason Reynolds, looks terrific! —Jacob Schraer
Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional
Isaac Fitzgerald
$27.00 $25.11I wish that I could go back and read this book again for the first time. Isaac Fitzgerald has crafted a memoir that is for all of the misfits. It is for anyone who spent most of their life running from their past and now have to face it. It is eye-opening, brilliant, funny, kind, smart, and a hell of a read. —Katherine Morgan
Who Is Wellness For?: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind
Fariha Roisin
$26.99 $25.10This book is a much needed class-conscious critique of the modern “wellness” industry, and an intimate portrayal of a person determined to truly heal. Roisin’s story, though rife with trauma, shines as a hopeful glimpse of what could be when we finally face the things that almost destroyed us and start the demanding journey of becoming whole. Visceral and inspiring, informative and stimulating, Who is Wellness For? urges the reader to push past our capitalist culture’s surface level ideals of health to a more revolutionary and compassionate journey of holistic wellness that dares to better the world. —Amanda Rivera
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
Michael Schur
$28.99 $26.96The producer of The Office, The Good Place, and other hit tv series, has the correct answer to every moral question possible, from “Should I punch my friend for no reason?” to “Why bother being good if there are no consequences to being bad?” Delivered with the wry humor that characterizes Schur’s television shows, How to Be Perfect draws on actual moral philosophy to bring thought-provoking, heartfelt, and totally ridiculous insight into our daily struggles. —Kevin Chau