ongratulations, dear reader: we’ve made it to another great season in books. Whether you read like the wind this summer or fell short of your goals, there's something about back to school season that always inspires a return to reading. Luckily, a new season also means a whole new slate of releases to devour. Whether you’re looking to understand our current moment through rigorous nonfiction or escape it through otherworldly plots, 2022’s crop of titles offers something for readers of every persuasion. Our favorite books of the year so far run the gamut of genres, from epic fantasy to literary fiction, and tackle a constellation of subjects. If you want to read about spaceships, talking pigs, or supervillains, you’ve come to the right place.

1- The Pink Hotel, by Liska Jacobs


Set at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where the Rat Pack drank themselves under the table and the Beatles slipped in through the back for an after-hours dip, The Pink Hotel is the story of newlyweds Kit and Keith Collins. Kit and Keith have been invited to honeymoon at the hotel by the general manager, who hopes to hire Keith as his lieutenant. Meanwhile, dangerous wildfires sweep through Los Angeles, along with violent riots and rolling blackouts. The Pink Hotel closes its doors to “outsiders,” trapping the newlyweds with disgruntled staffers and ultra-wealthy eccentrics. As tensions rise, the guests’ boredom finds ever-escalating outlets. In this glittering satire about greed, excess, and human folly, Jacobs takes aim at our tenuous class system and sinks a kill shot. Read an exclusive interview with the author here at Esquire.

2- Nuclear Family, by Joseph Han


In this electric debut novel, we meet the Cho family: Mr. and Mrs. Cho run a popular Korean plate lunch restaurant in Hawai'i, where they dream of growing the business into a franchise their adult children, Grace and Jacob, will someday inherit. But trouble is brewing on the other side of the Pacific: while teaching English in South Korea, Jacob makes international headlines when he’s arrested for attempting to cross the Demilitarized Zone. Back in Hawai'i, gossip threatens to sink the family’s fortunes, but the truth is stranger than anyone can imagine: Jacob was possessed by the ghost of his grandfather, who’s desperate to find the family he once abandoned in North Korea. Through a multitude of hilarious and heartbreaking perspectives, Han tells a charged story about identity, migration, and borders.

3- Night of the Living Rez, by Morgan Talty


An astounding new voice arrives with this debut collection of twelve linked stories, all set in the Panawahpskek (Penobscot) Nation of Maine. In one standout story, two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, stage a heist at the tribal museum; in another, a grandmother suffering from dementia mistakes her grandson for her dead brother, believing that he’s come back to life. Talty’s accomplished stories turn an unflinching eye on the hardships of life in this community, like drug addiction and economic instability, while also capturing the scrappy growing pains of adolescence. Night of the Living Rez is proof that Talty is an important new writer to watch.

4- Phasers On Stun!, by Ryan Britt


Whether you're a tried and true Trekkie or a newbie hooked on Strange New Worlds, there's something for every science fiction obsessive in this lively cultural history of Star Trek. Through extensive reporting and research, Britt takes us inside the franchise's nearly sixty-year history, from its influence on diversifying the space program to its history-making strides for LGBTQIA+ representation. Featuring interviews with multiple generations of cast members and creatives, Phasers On Stun! merrily surprises, informs, and entertains. Read an exclusive excerpt about Star Trek's efforts to diversify television here at Esquire.

5- Raising Lazarus, by Beth Macy


Macy’s gripping follow-up to the mega-bestselling Dopesick finds her in a familiar milieu: back on the frontlines of the opioid crisis, where she embeds with healthcare workers, legislators, and activists seeking to save lives and heal communities. Where Dopesick focused on addiction sufferers and their families, Raising Lazarus turns the lens to the fight for justice, from the prosecution of the Sackler family to the reformers pioneering innovative treatments for the afflicted. Enlightening and exhaustive, it’s at once a damning exposé about greed and a moving paean to the power of community activism.

6- Tracy Flick Can't Win, by Tom Perrotta


Nearly 25 years after Election was published, Perrotta's hyper-competent heroine returns. Now in her forties, Tracy Flick is ruminating on roads not taken: the #MeToo movement causes her to question a long-ago sexual encounter with a teacher, while caretaking responsibilities have dashed her law school dreams and led her back to Green Meadow High School as the beleaguered assistant principal. With her boss set to retire, Tracy seems like a shoe-in for the top job—but first, she’ll have to overcome the male stakeholders seeking to derail her ascension. Told with Perrotta’s piercing wit, wisdom, and exquisite insight into human folly, Tracy’s second act delivers acerbic insight about frustrated ambition.