Favorite Reads, 2023

 You can see that we are already well into 2024, but I wanted to share my favorite reads of 2023. Some are independently published books and we all know those can use all the word-of-mouth possible! My reading numbers have gone down in recent years, as I do so much reading for editing, teaching, and now, publishing! I'm not complaining! I love each of these aspects of my book life. In 2023, I read a total of 32 books for "leisure" - whatever that is. I read twenty-one novels, two novellas, one story collection, four graphic novels, two memoirs, and two collections of essays.

Here are my top five reads of the year...and three honorable mention choices. Each of these books, in my opinion, is well worthy of your time. If they could capture my attention and heart in this tumultuous and busy year, that should be worth something! And in no particular order, they are:

Here's the publisher's description: 

"This gripping novel—inspired by true events—tells the interwoven stories of a deformed German infantryman; a lonely British film director; a young, blind museum curator; two Jewish American newlyweds separated by war; and a caretaker at a retirement home for actors in Santa Monica. They move through the same world but fail to perceive their connections until, through seemingly random acts of selflessness, a veil is lifted to reveal the vital parts they have played in one another's lives, and the illusion of their separateness."

I love everything I've ever read by Simon Van Booy, and this was no exception. His style reminds me of some of my very favorite authors - Kent Haruf, Per Petterson - and the way he cuts through to the heart of his characters. 

A classic, for good reason, and probably the book I recommended most this year. A six-year-old girl and her grandmother spend a summer on an island in the gulf of Finland. This slim moment is full of small, tangible moments and big truths, of longing and love, of the complicated tangle of relationships and life itself. If you only listen to me about one book on this list, make it this one (and check out the author's other writing as well).

A reviewer said “Beautifully written and satisfyingly creepy, this is one of the most poignant and original ghost stories I've ever read.”

I agree! This book will surprise you, enthrall you, and keep you thinking long after you set it down. It's about family and time and memory, and the relationships that define us. 

I'm thrilled that I'll have a chance to hear the author talk about the story in person this year.

Full disclosure: this author has a young adult fantasy book coming out with Type Eighteen Books this April, and she kindly sent me this copy of her earlier book. Elizabeth has done and continues to do many amazing things, but at some point, she was a shepherd, and the local "Ask a Shepherd" on a CBC radio show. This is a collection of her letters for the show, and I found it compulsively readable, endlessly fascinating, and representative of her particular charming and intelligent writing - which is why we took on her new book in the first place. I loved this unique read.

This book was the last in my Summer of Summer reading project...and now I'm realizing I never wrote a post about it. I loved it! An eerie and immersive read about a relationship that begins over the course of a summer and goes through a series of changes and transformations, as relationships do. I loved the POV of this novel, an unreliable character who is simultaneously exasperating and completely relatable. Once in, I had a hard time putting this book down.

And now the honorable mentions:

Another slow cooker book. This one takes place in the late 1960s, in the English countryside where an awkward single woman eavesdrops on the interesting couple residing below her. The publisher calls it "a seductive psychological portrait, a keyhole into the dangers of longing and how far a woman might go to escape her past."

Like a couple of my other choices this year, this book surprised me with its approach and twists. Recommend!

A story collection from the same publisher as Magdalena - they're doing something right! The writing in this collection is gorgeous, and the settings and range of characters are fresh and surprising (I guess I wanted to be surprised this year?!?). And like most writing I like, the characters are relatable and leave me with emotional or intellectual takeaways. I must read more short stories in 2024!

I loved this story written by a daughter about her mother's life. From the publisher: 

"The story of a woman whose life spanned a century of tumult and change. In many ways Nance’s story echoes that of many mothers and grandmothers, for whom the spectacular shifts of the twentieth century offered a path to new freedoms and choices. In other ways Nance was exceptional. In an era when women were expected to have no ambitions beyond the domestic, she ran successful businesses as a registered pharmacist, laid the bricks for the family home, and discovered her husband’s secret life as a revolutionary."

This is a brief, perhaps not formatted expertly post, but I did want to share my favorite books of 2023. And I do pay attention to your Best Of posts, too, and usually add many of your choices to my list. Happy reading in the new year, everyone!