by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness)
My reading life has been up and down so far this year. However, that doesn't mean that I am not SUPER excited for several books coming out in the first half of 2022. Here are 5 books that I am ecstatic to read this (1st half of the) year:
Jordan Calhoun's Piccolo Is Black: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Pop Culture (Amazon.com | Bookshop.org)
Release Date: April 26, 2022
I cannot wait to read this book from Calhoun. I was fortunate enough to work with him several years ago on a book club project, and I have continued to follow his career. Through his writing for Black Nerd Problems and his stellar writing for The Atlantic, I knew that Piccolo Is Black: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Pop Culture would be at the top of my 2022 list..
From the publisher:
"Like most Black kids who grew up without diverse representation, Jordan Calhoun learned the skill of assigning race to fictional characters. Piccolo, Panthro, Demona, Ursula...he could recognize a Black character when he saw one. He lived in an all-Black city, went to an all-Black school, and could identify characters whose struggles informed his understanding of the Black experience in America.
"Piccolo Is Black: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Pop Culture chronicles Calhoun's journey from his childhood in Detroit, Michigan as a Seventh-day Adventist to being transferred to private, predominantly white, deeply religious, Seventh-day Adventist schools. He tells his story through the lens of the pop culture he loved and the common adaptations he made while navigating his religious, non-religious, and racial identities.
"Calhoun reminds us that entertainment has value in forming our identities, and that we have something to gain by looking back at our childhood entertainment and pop culture experiences. Part homage to the characters he identified with and loved, part celebration of the pop culture-television, movies, music, video games-that influenced his childhood, Piccolo Is Black: A Memoir of Race, Religion, and Pop Culture is an honest, thought-provoking, and often hilarious coming-of-age memoir that celebrates Black identity in America."
Kendra Adachi's The Lazy Genius Kitchen: Have What You Need, Use What You Have, and Enjoy It Like Never Before (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Release Date: March 22, 2022
I loved Adachi's The Lazy Genius Way. I devoured that book! I love how Adachi is able to connect with the reader by identifying her audience and understanding just what they need. This is why I cannot wait to read her follow up to The Lazy Genius Way--The Lazy Genius Kitchen.
From the publisher:
"Learn to love your kitchen with this practical guidebook from the New York Times best-selling author of The Lazy Genius Way. Using proven Lazy Genius principles — embracing what matters and ditching what doesn't — Kendra Adachi helps you feed your people with efficiency and ease. You'll learn to apply her simple, actionable five-step process — prioritize, essentialize, organize, personalize, and systemize — to multiple areas of your kitchen so you can equip and enjoy it in ways you've always wanted, no matter your life stage or skill set.
"As you learn to plan, prep, cook, and host like a Lazy Genius, you will find the five Lazy Genius steps become a part of every aspect of your happier, easier kitchen life. They are foundational to finding pain points, naming helpful solutions, and creating a sustainable rhythm in your kitchen. This practical book — loaded with color, illustrations, and actionable help — is where you begin.
"This is a guidebook, not a cookbook, about kitchen organization, meal planning, grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up. Straightforward, strategic, soulful, and a little sassy, The Lazy Genius Kitchen might just change everything in your hardest-working room."
Emily Henry's Book Lovers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Release Date: May 3, 2022
I just need to say right here, right now...I will read anything Emily Henry writes. I cannot wait to read Book Lovers. I absolutely LOVED Beach Read, which made me a Henry fan for life. She has such an amazing ability to write complex characters who readers just love. I cannot wait for this one!
From the publisher:
"Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
"Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
"If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
“'Emily Henry never fails to deliver … this may just be her best yet.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid'"
Jane Pek's The Verifiers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Oh my gosh. When I saw this book and read about the premise, I just knew I had to have it. I LOVE a good mystery book, and this one seems like it might (?) border on cozy mystery--which is my very favorite type of mystery. I think this sounds amazing, and I cannot wait to read it.
From the publisher:
"Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: She has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls - and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.
"A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate - and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.
"A Vintage Original."
Jessica Beacom and Stacie Hassing's The Real Food Table: 100 Easy & Delicious Mostly Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, and Dairy-Free Recipes for Every Day (Amazon.com | Bookshop.org)
Release Date: March 8, 2022
So...#sorrynotsorry that I couldn't let this list go by without a cookbook that I cannot wait to get my hands on. I follow @therealfooddieticians on Instagram and have loved their recipes for a long time. I am so excited to get this cookbook!
From the publisher:
"Comfort food that is actually healthy—gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and more—and easy to make sounds almost too good to be true. But now, with The Real Food Dietitians: The Real Food Table, you can make all your favorite meals right in your home without sacrificing any of the flavors you love.
"As busy moms, authors Jessica Beacom and Stacie Hassing know how challenging it can be to get dinner on the table on a busy weeknight, much less a meal that helps you feel better inside and out by accommodating food allergies, sensitivities and fighting inflammation. That’s why they wrote The Real Food Dietitians: The Real Food Table, to help you make mealtime a delicious, easy, and healthy experience!
"This cookbook delivers more than 100 recipes for all meals of the day, including:
-Entrées like the Easier-than-Ever Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs and Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
-Snacks like Sticky Teriyaki Chicken Wings and Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle-Lime Aioli,
-Drinks including Summer Strawberry Wine Sangria
-Healthy desserts like the gluten- and dairy-free Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
-Recipes for quick and easy pantry essentials, like the Quick Pickled Carrots or Cucumbers and Honey Mustard Dressing
-And more—this cookbook has it all!
"The Real Food Dietitians: The Real Food Table is full of recipes with short, accessible, and budget-friendly ingredient lists, so you can put healthy and delicious dinners on the table without spending hours in the kitchen."
(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
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