Our Favourite Reads in 2022
Once again we spent our last Starling Bureau meeting of the year talking about our favourite reads of 2022, shared below as well as on our Bookshop page.
Blue by Emmelie Prophete, tr. Tina Kover.
In a dreamlike stream of consciousness, the narrator contemplates what it is to be a Haitian woman… in an airport. A slim volume that manages to question identity, place, home, consciousness and reality, all in beautiful poetic prose. RC
Humanos exemplares [Exemplary Humans] by Juliana Leite.
As she awaits a call from a daughter who lives abroad, an elderly woman looks back on her life from the confines of her Rio apartment. Leite’s lyrical style reveals stories of friendship, marriage, death and dictatorship with wonder and even humour. ZP
Ash-Shaheed [The Witness] by Jamal Bendahman.
A wild ride through the streets of Copenhagen and the mountains of Morocco. Throw in escapism, space travel and Sufism for good measure. Outstanding! PRG
Translating Shakespeare: That is the Question by Niels Brunse.
Denmark’s foremost Shakespeare translator shares his thoughts on reimagining Shakespeare for a modern audience, including Hamlet’s most famous line. Inspiring and thought-provoking. PRG
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.
The touching story of a Belfast schoolteacher during the Troubles, subtly showing how politics can become devastatingly engrained in every aspect of daily life and relationships. RC
The third installment in Levy’s Living Autobiography series. A sharp, witty, insightful meditation on finding a home of one’s own, in every sense of the word. ZP
About A Son by David Whitehouse
A tragic take on memoir. Heartbreakingly real accounts of grief, bravery and determination, compassionately stitched together. A book that really leaves its mark. RC
A gripping, and unsettlingly prescient, post-apocalyptic novel that tackles capitalism and migration with a millennial voice. ZP
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
The original true crime novel. Simultaneously brilliant and spine-chilling. PRG