The best books of 2022 with Kate De Goldi and Laura Kroetsch

Writers Kate De Goldi and Laura Kroetsch join Kim Hill to share their favourite books of the year.

From a tour of sea creatures to a novel with four versions of the same story, and a history of bodily freedoms, their picks offer eclectic and electric reading options for the summer.

Kate's picks:

Everybody; A book about Freedom by Olivia Laing (non-fiction, UK)

Wayward by Dana Spiotta (novel, USA)

Trust by Hernan Diaz (novel, USA)

Peninsula by Sharron Came (stories/novel, NZ)

Dinosaur by Lydia Millet (novel, USA)

Bird Collector by Alison Glenny (poetry, NZ)

16 Words by Rogers & Groenink (picture book, non-fiction, all ages, USA)

A Vertical Art by Simon Armitage (essays, UK)

We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole (non-fiction, Ireland)

The Trees by Percival Everett (novel, USA)

Death by Landscape by Elvia Wilk (essays, USA)

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (novel, UK)

Simon the Fiddle by Paulette Jiles (novel, Canada)

The Stupefying by Nick Ascroft (poetry, NZ)

Kate De Goldi is one of New Zealand's most celebrated authors and an Arts Foundation Laureate. Her most recent novel Eddy Eddy was released earlier this year.

Laura's picks:

Fiction

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley (USA)

Dinosaur by Lydia Millet (USA)

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (USA)

Portrait of the Thief by Grace D Li (USA) CRIME

Non-fiction

Everybody; A book about Freedom by Olivia Laing

How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

Strangers to Ourselves: Stories of Unsettled Minds by Rachel Aviv

Worn: A People's History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser

South to American: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford

Laura Kroetsch is a reviewer, writer and curator of literary events. She has directed sessions at Adelaide Writers’ Week, Hobart's Dark Mofo arts festival and most recently, Adelaide’s Jaipur Literature Festival.