2022 find a lovely book club books

2022 Find A Lovely Book Club Books

2022 Find A Lovely Book Club Books

Have we even processed 2020 yet? How is it the end of 2022? At least we have books. This is the third year doing the official book club for Find A Lovely Life and I tried something different this year. Instead of the usual video book clubs, we went inward. A lot of 2022 was internal work and journaling through therapy and instead of the usual conversation, I created some journaling prompt discussion questions for these books to help us process and find new ways to love these gems.

As usual, we started the year with some self-love. Ironically, when I tried to buy myself the f*cking lilies, I found out I was actually allergic to them. Which goes to show that not all self-help books are for everyone! We ended the year with a cozy royal romance and read a lot of lovely books in-between.

If you stumbled upon this, hello lovely! Our book club books are mostly contemporary but we spread our wings into different genres, even poetry! If you only read one book this year, pat yourself on the back. Getting back into reading can be a slow journey. If you read every single one of our books this year, I want to bake you bread (try to?). It’s been a lovely year for reading and I’m so glad you’re part of the Find A Lovely Book Club!

Here are the twelve book club books we read in 2022:

January: Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies is the story of Tara’s path to re-parenting herself and becoming a “ninja of self-love.” Through simple, daily rituals, Tara transformed her mind, body, and relationships, and shows how to- fake gratitude until you actually feel gratitude and excavate your emotional wounds and heal them with kindness. Identify your self-limiting beliefs, kick them to the curb, and start living a life you choose. Silence your inner frenemy and shield yourself from self-criticism and create a life you truly, totally f*cking LOVE.

Check out these book club journaling questions for Part 1:

February: XOXO by Axie Oh

Jenny’s never had much time for boys, K-pop, or really anything besides her dream of being a professional cellist. But when she finds herself falling for a K-pop idolshe has to decide whether their love is worth the risk. A modern forbidden romance wrapped in the glamorous and exclusive world of K-pop, XOXO is perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Maurene Goo.

Check out these favorite moments for XOXO:

March: Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 

It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers. Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Xochitl Gonzalez’s Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream–all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.

Check out these book quotes for Olga Dies Dreaming:

April: A History of Kindness by Linda Hogan

Throughout this clear-eyed collection, Hogan tenderly excavates how history instructs the present, and envisions a future alive with hope for a healthy and sustainable world that now wavers between loss and survival. A major American writer and the recipient of the 2007 Mountains and Plains Booksellers Spirit of the West Literary Achievement Award, LINDA HOGAN is a Chickasaw poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, teacher, and activist who has spent most of her life in Oklahoma and Colorado.

Check out our book club journaling questions for A History of Kindness:

May: Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang

From the chef behind Momofuku and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious–an intimate account of the making of a chef, the story of the modern restaurant world that he helped shape, and how he discovered that success can be much harder to understand than failure.

Check out our favorite lovely lessons from Eat A Peach:

June: A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria

After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. So what if her love life is nonexistent? Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at eighteen to escape his parents’ demanding expectations, but it also meant saying goodbye to Michelle, his best friend and longtime crush. Michelle is torn between holding Gabe at arm’s length or picking up right where they left off–in her bed. As they work on the campaign, old feelings resurface, and their reunion takes a sexy turn. Facing mounting pressure from their families–who think they’re dating–and growing uncertainty about their futures, can they resolve their past mistakes, or is it only a matter of time before Gabe says adiós again?

Check out some of our favorite things from A Lot Like Adiós:

July: Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester

In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body. Verónica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. She decides it’s time to seize control of her life, but her plans come crashing down when she learns her parents have been hiding the truth from her–the truth about her own body.

Check out our favorite things from Breathe Back and Count Back From Ten:

August: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches…During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

Watch our book club journaling questions for The Hacienda:

September: The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, this unforgettable coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots. Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer. Everything changes one afternoon when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?

Watch our book club journaling questions for The Black Kids:

October: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him. When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

Check out our favorite quotes from Cemetery Bots:

November: Portrait of a Thief Grace D. Li 

Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity.History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back.

Watch our book club journaling questions for Portrait of A Thief:

December: Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour–until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling. Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day…or are they?

Head to our instagram @findalovelybook for the journaling questions!

Book description copy source: bookshop.org

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