Favorite Books Read in 2022

Here are my favorite books for 2022, and as usual, I’ve excluded my rereads om this list. Coming up with my 2022 favorites was easy because 37 books out of 84 were rereads. Anyway, here’s the list:

1. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb – I’m ashamed to say that prior to reading this book, I really had no idea about Malala except that she’s a Nobel Peace Prize awardee. I picked this book on a whim after encountering her name a few times in my students’ English textbook. I’m thankful for my curiosity because that led me to one of the best books that I’ve ever read in my entire life. Overall, the book was bold, genuine, engaging, and well-written. I admit that I immediately bought a copy of her documentary movie the soonest I finished reading this.
   
   
   
2. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker – This is a story about a family plagued with schizophrenia. The only thing I knew about schizophrenia was that it’s connected to having multiple personality and being bipolar, but reading this book made me aware of the misconceptions I had with the disease. I couldn’t imagine the pain and hurt everyone had suffered because of this disease.
   
   
   
3. The Bombay Prince (Perveen Mistry #3) by Sujata Massey – I love this!!! I bought the hardback version after reading this book! I swear, this series just keeps getting better!
   
   
   
4. Noli Me Tángere by José Rizal – Welp, I have here a classic written in the 1880s. Every Filipino has read this book in high school, but I don’t think it was appreciated enough by students. I, for one, am guilty of this. I’ve only appreciated it when I read it as an adult. Also, this book depressed me a little because it was very evident that the social and economic problems back then are still persistent up to this day. Also, I’ve read a lot of reviews that El Filibusterismo, this book’s sequel and another fantastic book, is better. However, I personally enjoyed Noli Me Tángere much more and had evoked more emotions in me as a reader than El Fili.
   
   
   
5. The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn – Out of the five books in the series, this and book 1 are my absolute favorites. There’s something about these books that made me want to root for the couples.
   
   
   
6. Spy x Family #1-5 by Tatsuya Endo – I breezed through these manga volumes because they’re that entertaining.
   
   
   
7. The Satapur Moonstone (Perveen Mistry #2) by Sujata Massey – Besides the plot, there’s a sub-plot about Perveen and another character that began in this book. That sub-plot made me anticipate and book 3 more.
   
   
   
8. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi – Honestly, I’ve had this book since 2017 (I think), but it’s only in 2022 when I chose this as my book for the Holy Week. Why did I wait all these years to read this, I have no idea. I love this. It’s not your usual preachy type of book. Religion was dealt scientifically and logically in this book, and that gave it a refreshing point of view.
   
   
   
9. An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgertons #3) by Julia Quinn – While not the best and being the weakest among my favorites, I am putting this here because it’s Bridgerton’s take on Cinderella, and it was a fun read.