What To Read

This is the 2022 Most Talked About Nonfiction list. To view the 2022 Most Talked About Fiction list, click here.

Inspired by the informal salons (“tertulias”) of Spanish cafes, Tertulia is home to the lively and enriching conversations that books inspire. All year long, we gathered the best in book chat, from celebrity interviews on podcasts to historians' book reviews to the journalists you follow on Twitter.

We present here our annual Most Talked About list, a ranked index of all the book talk we captured throughout the year. This list includes the top 20 nonfiction books with the most buzz.

#1. Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman 

This Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel came into the spotlight when it was banned by a Tennessee school board earlier this year. The ban was condemned by many as antisemitic, because the story is an allegory of the author's parents' survival of the Holocaust through a tale of cats, mice and pigs. Spiegelman was honored this year for his lifetime achievement by the National Book Awards.

#2. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey  

Chatter about this Academy-Award winner's take on life's greatest lessons is still going strong since its publication in 2020.

#3. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

While this book is an intimate memoir, it stands up as one of the most influential self-help books of the past few years.

#4. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The mainstream popularity of this book indicates that this Nobel laureate has changed the way that many, many people think about thinking.

#5. Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

This honest account of the horrors of post-war mental health is served up with unbelievable praise on Tertulia with endorsements by Stacey Abrams, Scott Kelly, Jimmy Kimmel, Al Franken, Stevie Van Zandt and many more.

#6. All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

When feminist icon bell hooks passed away last winter, tributes poured out on the Internet for her works, especially this classic published in 1999.

#7. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Much like habits themselves, the influence and popularity of this book (2018) is hard to break.

#8. The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris

New this year, this heart-wrenching origin story of plastic surgery fascinated and inspired readers.

#9. Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History by Lea Ypi

This is a debut memoir of growing up under Communism from an Albanian political scientist. The book brought forth reflections on political theory and the ideological divisions in Europe that are so relevant to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

#10. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

This year has been full of reflections and tributes to the iconic writer who passed away last December.

#11. Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton

In this memoir, a writer traces her genealogy and mulls over her family's dark past of racist violence, accused witches, and history of mental illness.

#12. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

In a year that saw more than 1,500 different books banned across the country, Gender Queer had the distinct honor of being the most banned book in America in 2021, according to PEN America.

#13. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

This expose on the role of Big Pharma and the Sackler Family in the opioid crisis has been called a masterpiece of narrative reporting. This one will likely hold up as a historical record of a national tragedy.

#14. The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

This memoir, a finalist for the National Book Award and a Time must-read of 2022, was a darling of critics. The Los Angeles Times called it: "A blazing memoir...A lyrically rich excavation of memory, mythology and history."

#15. Scenes from My Life: A Memoir by Michael K. Williams

The late actor's unfinished memoir about the remarkable work he did off-camera has intrigued his fans and touched fellow artists who were reeling from his death last year.

#16. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

This best-selling memoir by a musician is about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. 

#17. Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgerald

This highly confessional memoir about male misbehavior found warm reception in the world of authors and critics and has made its way onto some best-of-2022 lists.

#18. Beautiful Country: A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood by Qian Julie Wang

This crushing personal memoir on growing up invisible as an immigrant in America became a best-seller and was picked up as a book club pick on the Today Show's #ReadwithJenna.

#19. Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis

In this intimate memoir, readers uncover details of the star's impoverished past and struggles with racism in Hollywood.

#20. Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith

This tribute to Black women in music and their significant contributions to American culture is a mash-up of memoir, history and criticism.

Tertulia’s “most-talked-about” list was arrived at based on our proprietary technology that captures high-quality book mentions from across the web, including social posts, reviews, features, broadcast mentions, and podcasts using both machine learning (AI) and editorial (human) curation. Tertulia’s database of 1.7 million book mentions (and growing every day) covers the long tail of books and includes both frontlist and backlist titles.

See The Most Talked About Books of 2022 Fiction list.