These are the best books of 2022 (so far)
A few weeks before autumn begins to “throw” us sheets of literary novelties, we review the best book that this year has harvested (so far) in publishing. Carrying out a pedigree selection is not an easy task, because if 2022 has shown anything, it is that the market is on fire and it has a lot to do with the title of the most anticipated novel in the coming months, “Everything is going to get better”, by Almudena Grande s, which Tusquets will publish posthumously in October with post-pandemic echoes. But this… is another “movie” we’ll talk about when it’s time.
In the midst of the lyrics, it is convenient to pull statistics and uncover a fact that confirms how well the book sector is fed in Spain: it invoiced 2,576.7 million euros in 2021, almost 137 million more than in 2020, or that is, it hit a growth spurt of 5.6%, the largest so far in the 21st century. This was indicated in its last report -from last July- by the Madrid Publishers Association.
This bonanza and joy are reflected in a crop of magnificent titles and writers, some with tradition, others recently emerged. The books that we suggest here are a sample of the best among the best book, subscribed by critics, bloggers, bookstores,s and other experts in narrative excellence. Seneca, in his primary wisdom of him, already pointed it out: “It is not necessary to have many books, but good ones.”
The Swifts, By Fernando Aramburu
Why: the success he had with Patria presaged a novel with similar resonances, but the Basque writer opted for a different and powerful path, everyday life as a narrative weapon. Of what: A high school teacher, divorced and father of a difficult son, plans his death for him within a year after he decides it, for when the swifts fly through the Madrid sky again. Only his friend Patachula, another unbeliever but much more cynical, is aware of his objective. During that time, 365 days, Toni will review his life while he gets rid of material goods and tries to put an order in the mess. Only his dog gives him moments of placidity, the opposite that produces the appearance of an unattractive ex-girlfriend, annoying and sticky as a limpet.
Mrs. March, By Virginia Feito
Why: His appearance earlier this year was a surprising breath of fresh air. The first novel by a publicist written in English that revolutionized the American market arrived in Spain to achieve the same thing. Elizabeth Moss will take her to the movies. What: Mrs. March lives in New York, she is married to a successful writer and has an 8-year-old son. Her well-off life de Ella falters when in the novel that she has just published, her husband de Ella thinks he sees himself as the protagonist. An unparalleled paranoia will run through the book making it a kind of domestic thriller somewhere between comic and harrowing.
Annihilation, By Michael Houllebecq
Why: the most controversial French writer of recent decades has returned with his usual apocalyptic and provocative overtones that, as always, leave no one indifferent, neither fans nor critics. What: The year is 2027. France is preparing for a presidential election that could be won by a TV star. The strong man of this candidacy is the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Juge, for whom Paul Raison, the protagonist of the novel, a taciturn man without much faith, works as an adviser. The title is a mixture of crime novels with esoteric fringes, political criticism, a harsh review of the family, and an existential narrative about solitary confinement, death, and love.
What Happens at Night, by Peter Cameron
Why: The American is a master at portraying human sensitivity in the most adverse circumstances, like those in this suffocating novel about human dreams. What: A married couple travels from New York to a remote European country to pick up their adopted son. She is very ill, which has caused a cooling in her relationship with her husband. While they wait to pick up the child in a decadent hotel, some disturbing things will happen and they will meet characters as unique as their own personal and family situation.
Timandra, by Theodor Kallifatides
Why: its own author says that this is his best book, based on one of the most fascinating figures of Greek antiquity. Of what: Timandra recounts her life de Ella in the first person and describes the Athens of her time de Ella, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. Figures, places, times, the Agora, ports, gyms, and battlefields… everything is real. The other center of gravity of the novel is love: explored, debated, codified -as was customary among the Greeks of the time-, always accepted as a gift and condemnation, between laughter and tears, in a mysterious rite, a minute from death.
A ridiculous story, by Luis Landero
Why: The bar that the novelist set with Fine Rain was too high to imagine that he would surpass, but it has. Landero is in a state of grace. Of what: this is a delicious and acid story about the sentimental relationships of a self-made guy, Marcial, who falls in love with Pepita, an elegant and wealthy woman linked to the world of art and whom he will want to conquer with all the display of his hidden talent.
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