The Bestselling Books Skimm’rs Couldn’t Put Down This Year

Dolly Alderton recounts everything from bad dates, to falling in love, to going out with her girlfriends in this deeply funny account of her life. It features chapters that list everything she knew about love at different points in her life, which we find ourselves going back to again and again. She also writes about conquering her fear of turning 30, which makes it a great gift for anyone in their 20s.

In this brilliant new novel, Alice McDermott brings her quietly powerful style to 1963 Saigon. It follows Tricia, the docile new wife of a lawyer who’s working for U.S. Navy intelligence. When she’s drawn into the orbit of the fearless and assertive Charlene, another Navy wife, Tricia hesitantly joins her charitable efforts aimed at the Vietnamese people. Charlene is a mother of three, while Tricia is just beginning her journey to motherhood, and that dichotomy makes their relationship all the more rich to observe. “Absolution” is an absorbing read, filled with clear-eyed renderings of what it means to be a mother and a woman seeking agency in the world.

Cleo Wade, will you be our best friend? The poet, who’s been deemed “Millennial Oprah,” is back with a third book, this time about how to love yourself in times when you feel lost. The chapters are short, and the balance of prose and poetry feel like heartwarming affirmations. We read this in one sitting, but it’s also perfect for reading slowly — and if you read a chapter or two every morning, it’ll feel like starting your day with a literary hug.

Jasmine Yang flees rural China for New York City in search of the daughter her abusive husband forced her to give up for adoption at birth. Meanwhile, Rebecca Whitney, a publishing executive, juggles a high-powered career and a shady husband — and parenting her adopted daughter, who is biologically Jasmine’s. These two parallel narratives intersect in Kwok’s latest, which has the heart and heft of literary fiction and the couldn’t-put-this-down-even-if-tried engine of a thriller.

Birthday, graduation, new baby, you name it; we’ve given this book for it. It’s the inspirational story of a boy, a mole, a fox, and a horse who become unlikely friends and face life together — learning valuable lessons along the way, and rendered in beautiful illustrations. People who have received this book from us say they find themselves going back to read it over and over. It was also turned into a mesmerizing short film you can watch here.

Is there anything better than a coming-of-age story? Lauryn Chamberlain’s latest novel follows four best friends from college over the course of 15 years. It kicks off in 2006 the night before their graduation, with the following chapters alternating character viewpoints. From their 20s into their 30s, they navigate love, loss, and success as both professionals and creatives. This one oozes nostalgia…so if you’re reminiscing about your “Girls” era, check it out.

If you’ve ever been stuck in familiar patterns and felt yourself losing momentum, you’ll relate to this novel’s protagonist. When we meet Ro, she’s mourning a breakup, drifting away from her best friend, and letting childhood traumas lie. But as she prepares to say goodbye to Dolores — the giant octopus she takes care of at her aquarium job, who’s been sold to a wealthy investor — she goes through her own metamorphosis. Trust us: This unique, smart, emotionally rich book is a must-read.

There’s something so alluring about the idea of college in the ‘90s — no social media, no cell phones, just vibes. This book opens on Jack and Elizabeth, two kids who meet while in Chicago for school in the early ‘90s and quickly fall in love. Over the next 20 years (and almost 600 pages — it’s a long one, but we promise it’s worth it), they get married, get older, and grapple with how they imagined they’d be vs. how they really are. It sounds simple, but this is a layered examination of what it means to grow up, sell out, and believe in your own story. Don’t miss it.

Falling for a client? Definitely not kosher. Greta works as a transcriptionist for a sex therapist. She spends most of her day listening in on sessions and bonding with clients from afar. After overhearing many sessions, she starts to fall hard for a married client she nicknames “Big Swiss,” and becomes infatuated by their similarly dark pasts. So when she recognizes Big Swiss’ voice at the dog park, she introduces herself (with a fake name) and things take off from there. PS: HBO’s already scooped it up for a TV adaptation.

Instagram and #BookTok feeds were filled with pics of this read for all of 2022…and not just because of its stunning cover. If its premise sounds like it might not be up your alley, trust us when we say to give it a shot. It centers on Sadie and Sam, childhood friends who drift apart and reconnect during their college years at MIT and Harvard. Together they develop a legendary video game — and you’ll follow them over the course of decades, from Massachusetts to California, as they deal with ambition, loss, success, and heartache. We’re not crying, you are.

The protagonist of “Death Valley” is running away from a web of tragedies. At home, her father is in the ICU and her husband’s chronic illness is ever-present. So she drives, alone, to a Best Western in the California desert, planning to clear her head. Instead, she’s pointed to a hiking trail by one of the hotel’s receptionists. When she returns to the trail the next day, she ends up on a hero’s journey that alters her understanding of life, and death, and all that goes with it. This is a profound look at caregiving and grief, but it also manages to be a very funny, quick, and engaging read.

When your work is your identity, and it goes away — what then? That’s one of the questions that propels this excellent debut novel. It follows Mickey, a Black beauty writer in NYC who’s let go from her buzzy, great-on-paper job...and then has to reckon with the way she was treated there, and what she really wants next. She flees the city (and the woman she loves) to try and figure it out. The book truly gets what it is to be young and confused in today’s world (worry about being iced out of the group chat included), and we devoured it.

There’s nothing we love more than a family saga told from multiple viewpoints. Throw in a cast of wise, resilient women, and we’re completely sold. This one (by a National Book Award winner, NBD) centers on Flor, who has the ability to predict when someone will die. When she decides to throw a living wake — for herself — her sisters and nieces are worried. In the days leading up the big event, we hear from each family member, and piece together their collective story. Read with tissues.

In this delicious novel, from the author of “The Great Believers” — one of our absolute favorite books from the past five years — a podcast host returns to her New Hampshire boarding school alma mater to guest-teach a class. While there, she ends up reexamining a murder that happened on campus grounds back in the ’90s while she was a student. Anyone who loved Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History,” this has your name all over it.