Richelle Hofer

“Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.” – Lena Dunham

I LOVE to read. When I read time is bent – hours go by and it feels like minutes. It refreshes my soul.

This year I read and reread some GREAT books – some new ones published this year and some older ones. It was hard to choose but here are 10 of my favorites from the books I read this year.

1. Atlas of the Heart by Brenè Brown (non-fiction)- My FAVORITE book from 2022 was Atlas of the Heart. You knew it would be Brené Brown, didn’t you? I cannot say enough about this book, though it is a little bit unconventionally written.  It is essentially a glossary of emotions with definitions.  The reason that I love it so much is because feelings are messy!  When you go through hard things in your life you are feeling so many things… even conflicting things.  It can be so hard to explain to someone what and how you’re feeling.  We just don’t have the words.  Atlas of the Heart gives us all the words.  As I read this book I identified and named emotions that I was feeling. It was so healing!  It’s like “YES!  That’s it, I’m feeling ________” (insert whatever it is that I discovered I was feeling)  It is simple, but so powerful.  I highly recommend it, but not just as a book you read one time, I refer to my book all the time through different situations.  
2. What Happened to You by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey (non fiction)- “What Happened to You” was the first audio book I listened to all the way through… and when I say I listened “All the way through”, I mean I literally even listened to the acknowledgments at the end… every word.
   This book was magnificent.  I think that we often grossly underestimate the effect of things from our past on our present lives.  By identifying those things (traumas) that we carry with us, we can begin to understand ourselves better and consequently start to work through the inadvertent and unwanted effects that plague our present and our futures.
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear (non-fiction/self improvement) – I have read quite a few books on habits over the years.  In fact, Darren Hardy’s “The Compound Effect” has had a significant impact on my life. But Atomic Habits is by far the most comprehensive book on Habit Change I’ve ever read.  The idea of “identity” – not just changing a habit, but changing the way that you view yourself was really profound.  I had heard most of the other theories contained in this book at one point or another, but all of the thoughts and concepts were so well articulated and clearly organized.  It was a good cohesive read from cover to cover.
4. The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist (non-fiction) – Yes!  THIS book! When I was four years old my dad had a farm sale.  We sold nearly everything we owned and my dad went to seminary.  I grew up with parents who wanted to make an impact… but I saw that impact constantly limited by a lack of resources.  From an early age I determined in my heart to be a success… to make money… to never allow my impact to be limited.  For many years as a young adult and mother I sacrificed my health and my family in the pursuit of money… it wasn’t long before I achieved some success… and yet, I still felt empty.  In my gut I knew that accumulating money for the sake of accumulating money was not for me.  And then I found “The Soul of Money”.  My heart sang as I read this book.  I love it and I cannot recommend it highly enough. 
5. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (fiction) – Firefly Lane was beautiful and tragic (I think most of Kristin Hannah’s books are).  In spite of its length, I read it pretty much in one sitting.  When I finished it I was so excited to watch the Netflix series… I literally watched 10 minutes of the first episode before I became so disgusted I wanted to scream “YOU RUINED EVERY GOOD PART OF THIS STORY!!!”  I couldn’t take it, I shut it off and haven’t watched another minute of it.  So if you’ve seen the series, do not assume that you shouldn’t read the book…. I don’t even think the series should be able to call itself Firefly Lane :).  After I swore off the mini series, I decided to read the sequel  to Firefly Lane, “Fly Away”.  Fly Away is the only sequel Kristin Hannah has ever written… and with good reason… it was terrible.  My advice is read Firefly Lane… love it… and then just be satisfied with the story.  Don’t watch the mini series and don’t bother reading the sequel “Fly Away”.  
6. The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni (Business) – Having previously enjoyed The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, I was eager to read this book as soon as it was released.  Like The Five Dysfunctions, this book is written in a super easy to read fable format. The book details how different personalities like different parts of a project. You may be great at some parts, sufficient in others and become absolutely frustrated by others. The goal is to assemble a team that consists of people who like all the different parts of the process. It’s an interesting concept and I suspect that it will eventually be commonly integrated in businesses all over.  The specifics of the roles were a little hard for me to grasp… I even took the assessment and still had trouble understanding some of the differences between “wonder” and “invention” for instance.  But as I’ve had some time to “live with” the concepts they’ve become a lot clearer to me. I think the results of the assessment were accurate and super interesting.  I’m an IG if you’re wondering, and ET are my frustrations 🙂 
7. The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Dr. Bruce Perry (non-fiction) – “What Happened to You” by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry was an audiobook that I listen to on my Audible App.  It was the only book I’ve ever listened to where I stayed engaged through the entire “performance”.   It was so wildly interesting that I immediately wanted to read more from the author Dr. Bruce Perry.  That’s what lead me to “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog”.  This book recounts real case studies from Dr. Bruce Perry’s work as a child psychologist.  It is jarring and heartbreaking to hear of these cases of extreme abuse and neglect.  Yet at the same time I found this book full of hope… because there is hope when we become a “trauma aware” society. In this book Dr. Perry talks about how he used his trauma research to successfully help many children who were victims of severe trauma.  One of the last stories in this book was my favorite.  It’s the story of a little Russian boy named Peter who was adopted when he was three.  The chapter is called “The Kindness of Children” – grab your tissues!  
8. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (fiction) – If ever I hear someone say how much worse the world is today than it was in the past, I would point to a book like this.  The story is gut wrenching and heart breaking.  It is a novel, but it is based on horrifically true history.  There is so much packed into this beautifully written book.  I could have read it in one sitting.  Although it is definitely emotional, it didn’t make me cry so it should be safe to read on planes, in waiting rooms and other public places.  🙂 I highly recommend this book.  
9. Crazy Love by Francis Chan (Christian/Nonfiction)- I think it is impossible to read this book and be unchanged.  This book is an oldie, but I didn’t read it until last year. I reread it again this year.  It would be too difficult to identify a favorite chapter or concept but any time I am tempted to doubt whether God is interested in the details of my life I remember “there are 228 separate and distinct muscles in a caterpillars head.”  Speechless.  I have been known to stop reading a non-fiction book a few chapters before the end.  Sometimes it feels like authors just start saying the same things in different ways in an effort to make their book longer.  Not true of Crazy Love.  I know I said that it would be impossible to identify a favorite chapter, but I think the last chapter of the book is at least in my top 5 favorites :).
10. A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins – This book is the retelling of a horrific real-life assault that happened in Jeanine’s family.  Like Jeanine’s book “American Dirt” it really made me think about a lot of things I’d never thought of before and I realized that I am often quick to judge things that I am far removed from based on what I see in the media.  I am a big fan of true crime TV and this book is like the other side of what I’m used to watching.  I highly recommend it. 

There you have it! The best books I read in 2022.

Honorable mention goes to:
11. Delivering Massive Value by Matthew Jarvis
12. The Exodus You Almost Passed Over by Rabbi David Fohrman
13. Thank You, I’m Sorry, Tell Me More by Rod Wilson
14. Profit First by Michael Michalowicz
15. You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado