favorite books of 2023
past annual favorite book lists:
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Sharing my favorite books read during the past year is one of my favorite annual traditions. I had a goal to read 30 books in 2023, and ended up reading 36 total during the year. Of my favorites pictured, I read three on my kindle and listened to two on audio (and read print copies of the rest) so I borrowed those five from the library to include in my stack. Also this might be the first year in which I didn't finish reading any poetry collections—usually I read at least a few during the year, but I have gotten held up with one I started and still haven't finished, so I hope to rectify this in the coming year since poetry remains one of my favorite genres.
Usually I don't rank my favorites, but I will note my standout favorites here: T&T&T, Ghosts, Station Eleven, and the Emma M. Lion series (of which I read vol. 2-7 this year; volume 1 was included on last year's favorites list). But, per usual, and in no particular order below—the complete list!
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow // Gabrielle Zevin
Wowowow. This novel was incredibly beautiful and moving. The story follows two friends (and some of the people in their close circle) who meet as children, bonding over playing video games in the children's wing of the hospital, and who grow up to form a creative partnership designing video games. On its face, this is not the usual subject matter that would interest me, but I have my friend Allison to thank for introducing me to the artistic aspect of many games a few years back (notably via the game Firewatch, which Allison correct surmised I might enjoy for its storytelling and gorgeous graphics, as well as subject matter). This novel really taps into those aspects of video games, giving you firsthand insight into the minds of several fictional designers who innovate within the industry in notable ways and create games that reflect their unique vision of the world. The relationships within the story are complex and layered, with many years passing over the course of the book. The title is indeed a reference to the famous Macbeth soliloquy and the way this phrase was woven into the story thematically was so deftly done and gave a gorgeous literary and lyrical bent to the prose and story throughout. The way Zevin also used the imaginative world of games to create scenarios that illuminated the inner lives of the characters was truly incredible, and several parts made me cry because they were so beautifully written (you may know I have long loved William Morris as a craftsman and designer; the strawberry thief chapter made me weep). A secondary theme in the novel was chronic health issues/disability which I found very compelling as well. I don't feel I can say much more without introducing spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. I almost didn't get to this book this year but I am so glad I did.
Ghosts // Dolly Alderton
This was another of my favorite novels of the year. Dolly Alderton is best known for her widely loved "Everything I Know About Love" (which I am absolutely finally going to read this year!!) and Ghosts is her first novel. I loved it a lot and found it to be one of the most apt and accurate depictions of the milieu of dating in your 30s I have ever read. I found myself underlining and marking so many passages that felt like they were pulled straight from my own consciousness and life experiences. Alderton hones in on the too-oft-unspoken reality that women in their 30s face—the pressures of our biological clocks (of preserving a future of possibility and choice that we may not now be ready for but still have to consider and grapple with) and how this complicates ones love life. One of the other major themes of the novel is navigating the reality of aging parents/parental health issues as a young adult, and this secondary theme added dimension and depth to a novel about app dating that I had not expected and which I related a lot to as well.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volumes 2-7 // Beth Brower
I would not be able to choose a favorite volume if I tried—this year I finally caught up on reading the (so-far-released) rest of the series of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. They recount the hilarious and delightful exploits of one Emma M. Lion, newly minted 21-year-old by the end of volume 7, our British heroine ensconced in a garret-attic of her rightful-inheritance-residence in a quirky neighborhood in 1880s London. If I could pick one book/series in the world in which I would like to set foot, it is with no hesitation these ones. Beth Brower has created characters who feel so real and wonderful, and this series feels so real with its blend of humorous mishap, melancholy, heartbreak, joy, and at-times mundane reality. The diary format also recalls something of a literary tradition I loved from a young age (Dear America books, anyone?) and I enjoyed every single installment so thoroughly and fully expect that I will reread them in 2024 (and continue to foist them upon anyone who will listen).
Station Eleven // Emily St. John Mandel
I would categorize this among my favorite novels I read this year, but it is typically catalogued as sci-fi which is a fair assessment. I have not read much sci-fi, but I am fully on board the Emily St. John Mandel train and will read anything that she writes (Sea of Tranquility is patiently waiting on my bookshelves). I read this early in the year and at the time was grateful I had not read it sooner, its eerie resonance with our recent CoVID-19 pandemic looming large during my reading. There is a line in it about the protagonist adding a bouquet of daffodils to a grocery store run at the onset of the pandemic in the story, and I remembered doing the same thing when I made a grocery store visit in mid-March 2020, unsure of what was to come but seeking consolation through small acts of beauty. This imagery (and how it has stuck with me months later) feels like the best in-brief summation of a novel that was about the staying power of art and creativity, and how these are essential parts of what makes us human and what connects us to each other. Also maybe 2024 will be the year I finally read King Lear (my friend Sam's favorite Shakespeare play so it has been on my list for that reason and it's about three sisters so it feels like a personal prerequisite [although I realize that the inter-sister politics of King Lear may not be totally accurate to my own sisters-three])? Also Emily St. John Mandel's run-on sentences are masterful.
Under the Tuscan Sun // Frances Mayes
This is a book that transports you, and I read it during the winter months at the beginning of the year and found the escape to sunny Toscana the perfect antidote to a long, snowy Utah winter. I adore the film (it has so many good one-liners and a wry humor that feels slightly different than the rest of the 90s romcoms I love but resonates just as much) and the book was just as delightful.
"In my next life, when I am an architect, I always will design houses with kitchens that open to the outdoors. I love stepping out to head and tail my beans while sitting on the stone wall. I set dirty pots out to soak, dry my dishcloths on the wall, empty excess clean water on the arugula, thyme, and rosemary right outside the door. Since the double door is open day and night in summer, the kitchen fills with light and air. A wasp—is it the same one?—flies in every day and drinks from the faucet, then flies right out.""The first morning train takes me through fields of red poppies in bloom, olive groves, and by now familiar stony villages. Haystacks, nuns in white four abreast, bed linens flung out the window, sheepfold, oleander, Italy! I stare out the window the whole way."
How to Keep House While Drowning // KC Davis
This book came highly recommended by several friends and it resonated with me so much. Davis reframes the banal, tedious, repetitive chores of daily life as “care tasks,” removing the moral value we/our society has ascribed to them and instead thinking of them as kindnesses we perform for our future selves or our loved ones (if you are a parent or caretaker or partner). The book is for everyone but especially geared toward anyone who is going through a challenging period, deals with any debilitating effects of mental health, or is neurodivergent, with the recognition that any of these things can create barriers or obstacles to handling care tasks without becoming overwhelmed. The layout of the book lends itself to quick bouts of reading or skimming and makes it easy to quickly identify the key points without a huge time investment.
Davis outlines a clear and simple path with a low barrier to entry of navigating care tasks during a state of overwhelm and how to make your space function for you (rather than the other way around). I also think she does this in a very thoughtful way so you can take what serves you and leave what doesn’t; it’s a bunch of ideas along a continuum, not an all-or-nothing approach. Davis’ mindset has been so helpful to me as I have been a bit overwhelmed by life since starting grad school a few months ago. She also reframes rest in ways that were really eye-opening to me and helpful as I continue trying to practice self-kindness around rest and recovery from stress and school and life. She also discusses the gender politics of labor in ways that I could see being very helpful for many of my friends who shoulder the majority of the unpaid caretaking labor in their domestic partnerships—there are several chapters dealing with the quantifying of unpaid or emotional labor and how even those not performing paid work outside the home are as deserving and in need of rest as the wage-earners in a family. Anyway, it’s a quick read and I highly recommend it!
Emma // Alexander McCall Smith
I found this book a few years ago at DI and bought it because I love Jane Austen. This was my first introduction to Alexander McCall Smith's writing—he is best known for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which I hope to read eventually. This was a clever little novel that was an easy read and low time commitment, so all said I enjoyed it immensely. There were so many understated humorous moments that had me laughing. This retelling is set in 1990s England, essentially just a couple centuries removed from its original inspiration, situated in the same locales. Emma is a university student studying interior decorating and she is trying to find an eligible guy to fund Harriet Smith's gap year [of Emma's projected dreams]. My only complaint is that I felt the friendship/relationship between Emma and Knightley to be a bit underdeveloped. But I thought Smith's cultural positioning to be very aptly rendered, with the Woodhouses occupying the upper class social echelon in their country town with its 90s equivalents of the usual Austenian foibles.
Book Lovers // Emily Henry
This year I joined the ranks of the Emily Henry fangirls. I rarely read from the romance genre, but enough of my friends and trusted readers raved about Henry's work that I delved into the genre a little more this year. I think Book Lovers was a great introduction to Henry's work for me—she taps into a topic I (and most readers I daresay) love—books—and uses this in a great way to connect the two protagonists, Nora and Charlie, who both work in the book biz. Henry also takes some of the most common romance tropes and turns them on end, using them to explore a new side of the genre in a way I really enjoyed (again, not having read much in the genre, but knowing at least a little from past exposure, movies, etc.). I also just really enjoyed her writing and characters.
Tokyo Ever After // Emiko Jean
This YA novel was delightful and a fun, quick read (along with the sequel Tokyo Dreaming). I think the best description of it is "Princess Diaries" meets "Crazy Rich Asians" with a dose of Japanese imperial history and dreamy security detail. I also think the book explored some interesting themes relating to the Japanese diaspora and race, as through the course of the story the main character Izumi has very different experiences in her Washington-state hometown versus those she has in Tokyo, Japan.
The Peregrine // J.A. Baker
This book by British author J.A. Baker first came on my radar through the memoir H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (one of my favorite reads in 2017) and the writings of Robert Macfarlane. The Peregrine is considered a classic of British nature writing, and I completely understand why. I listened to an audio production during my cross-country drive this summer and was delighted to find that it was narrated by David Attenborough. His narration was excellent and I felt it added a lot to my enjoyment and experience of the book, which is Baker's account of trailing and observing a pair of peregrine falcons near his home in the Essex countryside.
Baker's descriptions of the British countryside through its different seasons are striking and lovely. Most of my favorite moments of these books described these encounters with weather and landscape during his romps and excursions watching and tracking the falcons. One particularly gorgeous section describes Baker's encounter with an owl. I also loved the delightful quirks of British prose and Attenborough's delivery—"anti clockwise" instead of counter-clockwise, Attenborough's pronunciation of the word "turquoise." The peregrine falcons are also rendered in incredible detail—my favorite part about the falcons was Baker's painstaking description of their eyes, of their incredible power of vision and sight, the impressive size of their ocular system in proportion to their slight feathered bodies.
"December 3rd. All day the low clouds lay above the marshes and thin rain drifted in from the sea. Mud was deep in the lanes and along the sea-wall; thick ochre mud, like paint; oozing glutinous mud that seemed to sprout on the marsh, like fungus; octopus mud that clutched and clung and squelched and sucked; slippery mud, smooth and treacherous as oil; mud stagnant; mud evil; mud in the clothes, in the hair, in the eyes; mud to the bone. On the east coast in winter, above or below the tide-line, man walks in water or in mud; there is no dry land. Mud is another element. One comes to love it, to be like a wading bird, happy only at the edges of the world where land and water meet, where there is no shade and nowhere for fear to hide."
Anywhere you open the book, open to any page, and it is rife with this prose, never repetitive or dull for a moment in its many intimations of earth, heaven, ground underfoot, birds trailing through the sky. I highly recommend the audio, but I intend to find a secondhand (or kindle) copy so I can reread and further savor the prose.
Spare // Prince Harry
I listened to the audio version of this highly anticipated memoir by Prince Harry. Lots has already been said on the book but I included it on my favorites list as I thought it was very well done and I enjoyed the audio version narrated by Prince Harry himself. Monarchy and its trappings have their own problematic history and present, still I am sympathetic to the Sussexes' plight and think they deserve safety and security just as much as anyone else. In his memoir, Harry really delves into his experiences with the British media and his grief following his mother's tragic death, among other things, and I found these parts of the book especially poignant and heartbreaking.
Beach Read // Emily Henry
This was my second Emily Henry read of the year, and while I didn't love it quite as much as Book Lovers, I would still consider it a favorite from the year and I did really enjoy it. I will say I think the title is a little misleading, as the beach in question is actually more of a lakeshore (rather than the ocean, which is always 100% what I conjure in my mind at the word "beach" as an ocean-loving coastal/Jersey girl), but I will forgive Henry the word choice as I think it is a cute title and I believe the name is meant to conjure another common trope and turn it on its head—"beach reads" is often used as a synonym for "chick lit," another phrase too often used to malign women's interests and the things women like. The protagonist in Beach Read is a writer of the romance genre and I think Henry explored some interesting themes in the book as through the story she explores the things we ascribe with literary merit and as good writing versus those that we don't. Again, not having read much in the romance genre, I appreciate the between-the-lines argument Henry makes to legitimize and normalize the things many women love and enjoy and to give us permission to do the same. Again, as with Book Lovers, I enjoyed Henry's writing and characters a lot. I'm looking forward to her new release to come out this year, and to get caught up on her other books in the meantime.
Trick Mirror: reflections on self-delusion // Jia Tolentino
favorite essays (top favorites*)
The I in Internet*
Always Be Optimizing
Pure Heroines*
The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams*
The Cult of the Difficult Woman*
I Thee Dread
Trick Mirror was the last book I finished reading in 2023 and another that has been on my list for several years at the recommendation of several friends (notably Ynna). Tolentino describes the collection: "These essays are about the spheres of public imagination that have shaped my understanding of myself, of this country, and of this era." Her musings are erudite, personal, and meticulously researched, ranging on topics from the internet and reality TV to the Greek system at her alma mater and the pomp and circumstance of modern weddings. Her writing is incredible and she has such a strong voice and perspective; I look forward to reading more by her.
What are your reading goals for 2024? I am hoping to make a dent in reading more of the books I already own and want to read 25 books this year (a goal moderated by the realities of grad school life). Happy reading!
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