It’s tempting to look only forward as spring approaches, but the best new books arriving in March invite readers to revisit the past. In the memoir Pintura Roja, indigenous writer Sasha Lapointe makes peace with generational trauma so she can more fully embrace the future. In the fall, sarah moss takes us back to those early days of pandemic life, when we had to balance our need for personal freedom with mutual responsibility. and in reading dangerously, azar nafisi examines the role that literature has played in turbulent times throughout history.
here, the top 10 new books to read in March.
You are reading: Best books march 2022
gardening, lee cole (March 1)
In the months leading up to the 2016 election, Owen, a down-on-his-luck former park ranger, returns to rural Kentucky to live with his Donald Trump supporter uncle and grandfather. In exchange for tending the grounds at a local college, Owen enrolls in a writing class. there, he becomes romantically involved with alma, a visiting professor and successful novelist. She is the daughter of well-educated, liberal Bosnian immigrants, an environment so different from Owen’s that it inevitably complicates their relationship. groundskeeping is a poignant coming-of-age novel that explores American love, class, and family in the age of Trump.
shop now: gardening in bookstore | Amazon
Running Toward Danger: Clashes with a Body of Memory, Sarah Polley (March 1)
In this collection of essays, sarah polley, actress, screenwriter, and director, examines the role memory has played in her most defining moments. She recalls that, after suffering a concussion, a doctor told her to retrain her brain by delving into the activities that triggered her headaches and nausea, advice that she carried over to other aspects of her life. runs to danger reviews some of polley’s most personal formative experiences, including childbirth and the incident that caused her concussion.
buy now: run to danger in bookstore | Amazon
the wasteland, sarah moss (March 1)
If you’ve got an appetite for a novel about the pandemic, sarah moss has it for you. the fall is about a woman, kate, who runs away from her home under strict stay-at-home orders in November 2020. She never returns, so a search and rescue team fan out through the spectacular landscape of northern england. It turns out that Kate has fallen and is injured, but the friends and family looking for her are unaware. They have to juggle the realities of the pandemic with their desire to find Kate: should the worried neighbor hug the worried son, or keep a six-foot distance? Will the seekers stay focused on their mission or will they get distracted arguing about skins? Moss’s eighth novel, at just 192 pages, is thought-provoking and timely.
See Also: 60 Best Middle-Grade Mysteries (Middle Grade Mystery Books) of 2022
buy now: bookstore fellon | Amazon
Run Rose Run Dolly Parton & James Patterson (March 7)
The first novel from superstar Dolly Parton has arrived, and it’s a thriller co-written with the prolific James Patterson. run, rose, run is, appropriately enough, set in nashville, where an aspiring singer is on the run from her past. if she wants to succeed, she will have to figure out what to do with all the secrets and lies she hoped to bury in her old life. A 12-song album by Parton will be released along with the book, and the singer will help narrate the audiobook (along with an impressive line-up that includes country musician Kelsea Ballerini).
buy now: run, pink, run in bookstore | Amazon
reading dangerously: the subversive power of literature in troubled times, azar nafisi (March 8)
in reading dangerously, azar nafisi presents a series of letters he wrote to his late father around the idea of literature as resistance. she makes a compelling case that books can help address social challenges and implores her audience to select her reading material carefully. The book focuses on titles by authors such as Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, and Margaret Atwood. Perhaps most significantly, Nafisi, author of reading lolita in tehran, reminds us of the power of reading to help us get through tough times.
buy now: read dangerously in bookstore | Amazon
red paint: the ancestral autobiography of a coastal salish punk, sasha lapointe (March 8)
In this absorbing memoir, sasha lapointe describes growing up in the pacific northwest punk scene while trying to honor her ancestral roots. Lapointe’s grandmother was a linguist who helped preserve the language of her tribe, Lushootseed, and Lapointe is determined to make her proud. in red paint, she recalls various traumas, losses, and incidents of violence, and ponders how to build the best possible future for herself and her people. It is a worthy tribute to the women of the coast salish.
buy now: red paint in bookstore | Amazon
glory, novioleta bulawayo (March 8)
Noviolet Bulawayo, whose debut, We Need New Names, was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize, returns with an ambitious allegorical novel inspired by the fall from power of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. glory is set in a fictional African nation that is occupied exclusively by animals. the voices of those animals are used to explore and expose social upheaval and political dictatorship in an unexpected way. is an absurd but captivating examination of topics like toxic masculinity, hero worship, and performative change.
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buy now: glory in bookstore | Amazon
when we were birds, ayanna lloyd banwo (March 15)
This novel is set in a magical version of Trinidad and Tobago, where Yejide and Darwin come together as they try to figure out what the family members owe each other. Yejide’s neglectful mother is dying and plans to pass on the power to guide souls to the afterlife, a responsibility Yejide doesn’t want. Meanwhile, Darwin has gotten a job at a cemetery, even though his family has forbidden him to interact with death. the two bond after meeting in the graveyard. When We Were Birds is an ode to the idea that broken traditions can lead to beautiful new beginnings.
buy now: when we were birds in bookstore | Amazon
disorientation, elaine hsieh chou (March 22)
ingrid yang is a doctoral student who is quite disillusioned with her dissertation, until she makes a shocking discovery about her subject, the late fictional poet xiao-wen chou. As Ella Ingrid digs deeper into her findings, her life changes for her, leading to book burnings and campus protests as she confronts racism and anti-Asian stereotypes. Elaine Hsieh Chou’s debut novel is a provocative and satirical take on academia, full of surprising twists.
buy now: disorientation in bookstore | Amazon
french braid, anne tyler (March 22)
Multigenerational family relationships are at the center of this charming novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler. french braid features the garretts, a fictional baltimore family that experiences many ups and downs over several decades. Tyler examines the ways family members influence each other, sometimes only becoming apparent generations later. The hopes and struggles of the characters are relatable, and the novel shines with Tyler’s trademark compassion and comfort.
shop now: french braid in bookstore | Amazon
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