Get your fall reading list ready because I have the best books to read this Fall 2022 with all the top choices of great books to read.
Hallelujah, Fall is just around the corner!
With back-to-school season and cooler weather come some of the best fall reads I’ve seen in a while. All summer long, I’ve been reading advance copies and perusing the upcoming release lists. I’ve wrestled over which books to include and which to leave out.
Here for your reading pleasure is my list of the best books of Fall 2022. I’ve got book club favorites, historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and some nonfiction books. Some I’ve read and some I can’t wait to read, but all of them are perfect for my Fall 2022 Reading Guide.
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Best Books of Fall 2022
Our Missing Hearts
Celeste Ng
In a dystopian America, libraries are heavily censored and authorities can relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian descent. For years, Bird has disavowed the work of his mother, a banned Chinese American who left years ago. When he receives a drawing in the mail, Bird sets out on a quest to search for his missing mother, leading him to an underground network in New York and a new act of defiance.
Carrie Soto is Back
Taylor Jenkins Reid
When Carrie Soto retired from tennis six years ago, she was the best player the world had ever seen, shattering every record imaginable. Now a hotshot new tennis star is threatening to break Carrie’s legacy. At 37, Carrie attempts to come back for one more epic season to defend her title, even if defying all the odds means she has to train with a man from her past.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
On a bitterly cold day, Sam Masur runs into Sadie Green on a train platform and they renew their childhood friendship bonding over video games. Together, they create Ichigo, a blockbuster game that changes their lives. Over the next three decades, their friendship is tested as their success leads them to money, fame, love, and betrayal. More a heartrending story about friendship than video games, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is an unputdownable read with complex character development that easily earns it a place among the best books to read this fall.
The Light Pirate
Lily Brooks-Dalton
In a Florida already wracked by climate change, Frida gives birth to baby Wanda amid a deadly hurricane. As the world continues to disintegrate, Wanda grows and adapts to an ever-changing world. Living in a community abandoned by society, Wanda seeks adventure, community, and love in a place remade by nature.
It Starts With Us
Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover returns with a sequel to her TikTok sensation It Ends with Us. With her divorce settled, Lily has settled into a good co-parenting routine with Ryle. When Lily bumps into Atlas, she is excited to go on a date with her first love. Now Lily must navigate her jealous ex-husband while embracing her second chance at love.
Mystery & Thriller Books for Fall
Alias Emma
Ava Glass
On one of her first assignments as a secret agent, Emma Makepeace has 12 hours to deliver the son of a Russian dissident into protective custody. When Russian assassins hack into the city’s widespread security camera network, Emma must use all her training and skill to deliver him across the most camera-ridden city in the world without being spotted.
All Good People Here
Ashley Flowers
When she was six years old, Margot’s next-door neighbor and best friend, January, was murdered in their small hometown. Now a big-city journalist, Margot returns home to help care for her uncle when another girl disappears. Determined to find the missing girl and solve January’s murder, Margot begins to wonder how well she knows her neighbors.
The Boys from Biloxi
John Grisham
In the 1960s, Keith and Hugh were best friends and baseball all-stars. But as they grow older, their lives take different trajectories. Keith’s father becomes a legendary prosecutor determined to clean up Biloxi and Hugh’s dad works his way up to become the head of the local mob. As both boys follow in their father’s footsteps, they find themselves on opposite sides of the law in Grisham’s latest legal thriller.
The Personal Assistant
Kimberly Belle
Alex’s unexpected rise as a social media influencer would never have been possible without the help of her personal assistant AC. Just as a controversial post she swear she didn’t write turns her audience against her, Alex’s assistant disappears. As things keep getting worse for Alex’s family, she digs into the identity of the woman who knew everything about her life. But when a woman is found murdered, Alex and her husband find themselves the prime suspects.
The Prisoner
B. A. Paris
Always a survivor, Amelie has made it on her parents died when she was a child. After marrying a billionaire with a lavish lifestyle, Amelie wakes up a prisoner in a pitch-black room. Why has this happened? Who are her captors? And why does she begin to feel safer here than when she was with her husband?
Best Fall Reads: Historical Fiction
On the Rooftop
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
In 1950s San Francisco, Vivian is ecstatic when her three daughters begin to make a name for themselves as the singing girl group, The Salvations. Although Vivian has arranged a once-in-a-lifetime chance for The Salvations, her daughters have begun to grow up and have desires of their own. As the neighborhood begins gentrifying, Vivian struggles to maintain control even when her past comes back to threaten her.
The Marriage Portrait
Maggie O’Farrell
Coming off her hit bestseller, Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell returns with another gorgeous historical fiction novel set in Renaissance Italy. When her sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia de Medici unexpectedly marries her late sister’s fiance. As Lucrezia sits for a marriage portrait, she ponders her new husband’s nature – whether he is a kind sophisticate or a ruthless politician.
Shrines of Gaiety
Kate Atkinson
In London of the Roaring Twenties, the nightlife in Soho has become a haven for those recovering from the Great War. With ruthless ambition, Nellie Coker has built an empire amid Soho’s gaiety, desperate to secure advantages for her six children. But success breeds enemies, and the dark underworld of London threatens to ruin everything Nellie has built.
Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver
In a modern-day version of David Copperfield set in the Appalachian Mountains, Demon Copperhead speaks of how institutional poverty and the opioid epidemic damaged an entire generation of children. A child of a single mother living in a single-wide trailer, young Demon must survive foster care, child labor, poor schools, addiction, success, and failure in this epic tale perfect for book clubs who love thought-provoking topics.
Best Fall Books for Book Clubs
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Jamie Ford
Former poet laureate Dorothy Moy has always channeled her dissociative episodes and mental health into her work. When her daughter starts showing similar behaviors and remembering items from the lives of past ancestors, Dorothy worries she’ll lose custody. So she undergoes an experimental treatment to alleviate inherited trauma, becoming intimately connected with the past generations of women in her family.
Now Is Not the Time to Panic
Kevin Wilson
Frankie Budge is just trying to survive another lonely summer in Tennessee when she meets the new boy in town, Zeke, a talented artist. Together, they create an unforgettable poster with an enigmatic phrase and plaster it over town. Suddenly rumors begin flying and the town starts to panic, threatening to tear Frankie and Zeke apart. Twenty years later, a journalist tracks down Frankie to research the Panic, and Frankie must decide how much of the truth she is willing to tell.
Wrong Place Wrong Time
Gillian McAllister
Just after midnight, Jen is watching out the window for her teenage son Todd to come home when she sees him murder an older man right outside their house. With her son in custody, Jen goes to be in despair but wakes to find the day starting all over again. Caught in a time loop, Jen must find out the impetus for the murder and try anything she can to stop it.
Mad Honey
Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Olivia McAfee’s picture-perfect life is shattered when she finds out her husband’s dark secrets. Now divorced, she moves to her quiet New Hampshire hometown with her teenage son Asher. When Asher’s girlfriend dies and he’s the prime suspect, Olivia knows he must be innocent. Yet as more of Asher’s secrets are revealed, she begins to wonder if he’s more like his father than she thought.
Best Books to Read This Fall
Love on the Brain
Ali Hazelwood
When NASA offers Bee Königswasser the lead on a neuroengineering project, she is thrilled until she learns she must work with her grad school archnemesis, the handsome Levi Ward. When her equipment goes missing and the staff begins ignoring her, Bee realizes that Levi is starting to support her at work, and must decide if she has the guts to lay her heart on the line.
Other Birds
Sarah Addison Allen
After her mother’s death, Zoey Hennessey moves into her apartment at The Dellawisp along the South Carolina coast. When a neighbor dies the night she arrives, Zoey is caught up in the mystery of The Dellawisp. As Zoey gets to know her quirky neighbors and searches for a lost manuscript, unfinished stories seem to permeate the premises in this tale of magical realism.
Babel
R. F. Kuang
In 1828, Robin Swift, an orphan, is brought from Canton to London by the mysterious Dr. Lovell. For years he trains in different languages to be accepted to Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. Learning to translate, and the magic that comes with it, soon puts Swift on a collision course between loyalty to his homeland and his adopted country when Britain starts a war with China.
The Passenger
Cormac McCarthy
In his first book since winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Road sixteen years ago, Cormac McCarthy returns with the first book in a two-part series. In Mississippi in 1980, Bobby Western dives into the ocean to investigate a crashed ocean liner. As he explores the crash site, he is haunted by officials, the ghost of his father, and by his sister who is the love and ruin of him. You won’t have to wait long for the sequel since the second book, Stella Maris, is coming out in November.
Fairy Tale
Stephen King
Seventeen-year-old Charlie is used to being on his own until he befriends Howard, an old recluse, and his beloved dog Radar, who live in a large house on the hill. After Howard dies, he leaves Charlie a note about a magical portal to a parallel world where good and evil are at war. Now, it’s up to Charlie and Radar to save both worlds.
Nonfiction Fall 2022 Reading List
I’m Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy
Both vulnerable and hilarious, Jennette McCurdy’s tell-all memoir sends a poignant message of the dangers of child acting. McCurdy brilliantly embraces her inner child by describing how desperately she wanted to please her mom by acting, even if it lead to an eating disordered and a chaotic relationship with her family that she didn’t fully understand until attending therapy after her mother’s death.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
Matthew Perry
Known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, Matthew Perry gives a behind-the-scenes look at the hit sitcom. Yet, while his career was hitting a high, Perry struggled through some of his darkest days. In this candid memoir, Perry discusses his lifelong battle with addiction and the persistence, hope, and friends who helped him along the way.
The Light We Carry
Michelle Obama
In an uncertain world, former First Lady Michelle Obama teaches strategies to help you find hope and balance. Instead of cliche affirmations, Obama digs deep into the conversation about difficult topics and finds practical wisdom to help readers cope. With insightful stories and usable tools, Obama hopes to empower readers to find connections in an ever-changing world.
American Demon
Daniel Stashower
If you want a chilling true crime story to read this fall, Daniel Stashower’s latest book is just what you need. In 1934, a day at the beach turned gruesome when beachgoers discovered the lower half of a woman’s body. The first of a dozen victims, for four years Cleveland was gripped in terror by a serial killer who butchered and dismembered his victims. Stashower’s account details the horror of the city and the determination of Eliot Ness to capture the killer.
Newsroom Confidential
Margaret Sullivan
For over four decades, Margaret Sullivan has spent her life in the newsroom, going from a summer intern at the Buffalo News to becoming the first female public editor at The New York Times. Along the way, Sullivan has battled sexism along with normal competition and become a sharp critic of the ethics of journalism. In Newsroom Confidential, Sullivan describes her journey and discusses how the public has lost trust in the media and what journalists can do to regain that trust.
What Fall 2022 Books Are You Most Excited For?
What new releases are on your must-read list this Fall? Did I miss any of the Best Books of Fall 2022 that you are anticipating? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases:
dawn says
Reading other birds now and loving it! Also just finished the secret society of irregular witches and absolutely adored it.