Best Books of 2022! 📚🧡

Let's chat about my favourite books of the year! Grab a cup of tea and pull up a seat. xx

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MY BOOKS:

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Things mentioned:

The Need by Helen Phillips
Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love by Huma Qureshi*
100 Queer Poems anthology
Creatures of Passage by Merowa Yejide
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Indelicacy by Amina Cain
We Don't Know What We're Doing by Thomas Morris
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
What Willow Says by Lynn Buckle
Silent House by Nell Pattison
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
Ghost Music by An Yu
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au*
Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro

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WHO I AM

Hello, I'm Jen Campbell. I'm an award-winning poet and bestselling author of twelve books, spanning short stories, poetry, picture books, and nonfiction.

My books for adults include The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, The Girl Aquarium, The Bookshop Book, and The Sunday Times bestselling Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops series. My picture book trilogy Franklin and Luna, and my middle-grade book The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers, are published by Thames & Hudson.

I've won both an Eric Gregory Award and the Jane Martin Poetry Prize, my books have been translated into twenty languages, and I have two new titles forthcoming in 2023 — more details on those soon.

I've worked in the publishing industry for over fifteen years, initially as a bookseller, and now as a freelance editor, content creator and disability advocate. I review books online, in print and on the radio. I run a Youtube channel where I talk about books, the history of fairy tales, and the representation of disability and disfigurement. I also offer online writing workshops and editorial services, give talks at schools, publishing companies, universities and book festivals on a variety of topics, and I run a book club for TOAST clothing.

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Where to find me:

This video contains no sponsored content. Books marked with * were sent to my for honest review.

#FavouriteBooks #BestBooksOf2022 #Booktube

[viksukak]

I read Elena Knows after you first recommended it earlier last year and it is absolutely my favourite book I read in 2022. I have recommended it to a few folk as well and everyone I know has loved it! Thank you for the video and the book ❤

[alysereads]

Our best books of the year videos have three books in common! Glad to know I’m in good company!! Happy 2023 reading!

[KierTheScrivener]

When I read Indelicacy, I finished it and immediately read it again..I especially love how much it sits out and in history/time/place.

I am super excited to read Women Talking and Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love

[GunpowderFictionPlot]

This was great. So many people not just putting Elena Knows in their list, but putting it at the top of their list.

I was surprised Maps didn't flat out win the Booker Prize. It was brilliant and thought provoking in so many different ways and I very rarely say that about books that are so emotionally gifted (normally being emotionally gifted is the joy).

[lauralungu]

I read Elena Knows and I really like it. It raised a lot of questions about convictions and that can block us from understand someone's experience. Tragic and realistic. Thanks Jen Campbell for the reviews share!

[stephaniegahn]

My favorite books of 2022 were: The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, The Rivals of Casper Road by Roan Parrish, Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Last Christmas in Paris by Hazal Gaynor and Heather Webb.

[davidatteberry]

Best of the Year:
Fiction: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
Non-Fiction: Ancestor Trouble - Maude Newton
Memoir/(Auto)Biography - Some New Kind of Kick - Kid Congo Powers
Poetry: Come Kingdom - Derrick Harriell

[Sara-gxie]

I’ve just added a few titles to my TBR. Always love how you talk about the books!

[kaortega]

So many great titles listed here! I have made notes on so many to place on my "loose" 2023 TBR! Happy New Year To You & Yours!

[lauralungu]

Jen ... I am soo content that I found your channel!! I love these videos where you recommend best of the year, that you enjoyed. Thank you!!!

[jay_poet]

I’ve added so many of these to my tbr. Thank you so much for these great recs that I haven’t really seen mentioned anywhere else.

[kathleenwalsh]

Thanks, Jen, for the extended description of these books.

[wolfgaec]

Thank you so much for this video! I think I wrote down almost every one of these recommendations. You read such a variety of literature and it’s so refreshing- especially living in the US, I always here about the same books repeated. You definitely have the most diverse reading list and it’s refreshing!

[YourTrueShelf]

Also enjoyed creatures of passage. What willow says and night crawling are both on my tbr and I look forward to reading them soon 😊
Glad that Elena Knows stayed as your number one favourite pretty much all year!

[tawnyman]

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is one of my favs of the year too. I’m so excited to see what Maddie Mortimer does next. It reminded me a lot of one of my other favorites, Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson, at least in writing style. I’ve bumped Grief is the Thing with Feathers up my tbr since you’ve mentioned the connection to Maps and since it’s mentioned as a comp title in the description of Little Scratch.

[azu_rikka]

My favourite discovery this year was Patrick McCabe's 'The butcher boy', published in 1992. I love it!

[kaislakuurama]

I also ordered Elena Knows already last year because of your recommendation, and it got high up in my favourite reads of the year. It is crazy how many of these books I knew from your videos but completely surprised to see you read them only just last year. It seemed like it lasted three years at least :D but I will definitely, definitely buy a whole lot more books from your favourites, your recommendations are top notch ❤️

[playsintraffic]

A great list! I took notes and am adding books to my to-read list.

[lorimiller]

There are so many books on your list this year I want to read, I’ve saved this video so I can go back and reference it. Thank you, Jen, for all your videos and care for your community. ❤

[ameerahalgohary]

Thanks for the great recommendations, as always ❤️
A lot of them end up being my favorites as well 😍