Thank you for sharing your book list. I’m curious to check them out further.
I’ve read a few novels among short story collections and memoirs for a course ‘From Women’s Points of View’. There were particularly two novels that stuck with me: Kindred by Octavia E Butler and The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Yes!! The Postcard was so inspiring! I sat there reading it, and given that I recently had the experience of helping to unravel a 90-year-old family secret of my own (also French, also Jewish, also somewhat Holocaust-related), I thought, "okay, I guess I should try to write a book about it..." (Here's a brief essay I wrote about it, in case you're interested :-) https://jwa.org/blog/czarna-reimagined )
Yes :-) . First finishing what I hope to be my second novel-in-stories...then will get to the family book, which may be some sort of combo fiction/non-fiction similar to The Postcard and Kantika...
I really liked Hello Beautiful and felt it was worth the hype. It was one of the books I read this year that really kept my attention. I really also liked:
Hmm.... I would've put My Last Innocent Year on my list (I loved it!), but I thought that I read it in 2022, but maybe not? I should really keep an actual list.
Oh the only reason I know is because I track on my website. I went right to it when I saw this post about books. I'd never remember otherwise. I'm putting the link here in case people want to see how I do it. Feel free to copy the format!
I really enjoyed Tom Lake as well! I keep a list of books I read in a year and rank them on a 1-10 scale. I have very few 10 pointers this year. I read a lot this year but not as many big standouts. I did like Ink Blood, Sister Scribe and The Ninth House for creepier reads of the year.
Okay, so first the caveat: My scale is based on the pleasure I took in reading the book, so a 10 point book might not represent "great American literature" (whatever that is) and can include everything from serious fiction to romance to fantasy... it is more about how well the book did the thing it was setting out to do and how much I loved reading it. That said, here are some 10 pointers from this year (and last, since this year was a thinner crop):
1. And Yet by Katie Baer (poetry)
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen (classic but my first time reading it!)
3. The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (novel/kind of mystery/kind of historical fiction)
4. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died by Séamas O'Reilly (memoir)
5. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (part of the Thursday Murder Club series, which are all 10/10 for me, I love them so much)
6. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (fiction)
7. Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel (fiction)
8. Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King (short stories)
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (romance/fantasy)
I write an end of the year reading recap for my own substack and this is getting me very excited to work on it!
I also track my reading my genre and by demographics of the writers... I am a data nerd who is actively trying to read fewer white men, so it is fun to see how I did at the end of each year!
I just got Tom Lake, on the recommendation of several of my students who loved it and have made me promise to discuss it with them when I see them again in January. :) Wow, I'm a little jealous of all you've read! One downside of academia is that I spent nearly all my time reading student work and so then have little time for other reading, and so have an endlessly growing "To Be Read" pile. My favorite book of the year was "The Crane Wife" by Kelly Barnhill, a beautiful short novel, a retelling of the Japanese fairy tale in which the mother of a young girl whose father has died one day brings home a giant crane that she has taken as a lover. It's so good! I also loved "The Hero of this Book" by Elizabeth McCracken, one of my favorite writers, a mix of fiction and memoir, and is both about her mother and about writing. So good! I look forward to getting many of the titles you've all listed.
Thanks for the reminder, Laurie. I listened to an interview with her about her latest one and I read "An exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination." I'm intrigued by the mix of fiction and memoir. Will add to my 2024 reading list.
I bought it and started it, and it's on my list to get back to. I think I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it when I did. I thought it was great writing, but something about it turned me off initially.
I had the same issue--it wasn't the right time for me and then I never picked it back up but heard so many great things about it. Maybe I'll try again this year...
I would love to give her a long hug. I related to I’m Glad My Mom Died so much. I think I read it on one day, and while our lives are completely different, the mom narcissism had similar impacts. It made me feel less alone.
Loads of great suggestions. Whenever I see lists of books, my brain goes blank--have I ever read anything ever? I've loved lots of books this year, I think. But in the quiet emptiness, I'll take this as an opportunity to add to the #TBR pile.
Even though I read a lot, whenever anyone asks me "out of the wild" (i.e. away from my computer or phone) what some of my favorites are, I can never come up with a single thing I read that I liked.
I did just finish Enchantment and read over a few pages, and then saw this so I have ONE book in my brain. It's by Katherine May and it's a lovely work. Full of beauty and grace.
Thanks for all the great winter reading ideas. I rarely read books the year they are published. I may buy them that year, but then I don't get to them until the next. For instance, I am thrilled to finally begin The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. My sister just passed it to me with rave reviews. A 2023 book I read and loved was a craft book by Alice McDermott: What About Baby? Some Thoughts on Fiction. I have been working on and off on a novel for 8 years and I wish I read it sooner. I mostly write nonfiction and the best memoir I read this year was Katie Arnold's Running Home. Its beautiful (2019). And finally, I often re-read books since I love to listen to the language, how bout best re-reads this year: House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexander Fuller. I'd love to hear favorite re-reads too:)
Thanks so much for the list. I never know how to describe books I like, since I don't read "genre" books. I'm always behind since I get books from the library, but a few I really enjoyed this year that might not be on other people's lists were:
I have two! One was so surprising, by Kim Fay, LOVE & SAFFRON, which is an epistolary novel, letters between two women, one just starting out on her career and the other in midlife. Both are food writers and the letters bring them to a lovely intimacy. The novel was so touching and smart and fun. It made me even more appreciative of my female friendships. The other, by Susie Boyt, LOVED AND MISSED,
I have three! FOSTER by Claire Keegan was spare and lovely about a girl that goes to stay with another family for a bit because her family is so overwhelmed and financially burdened. A surprise joy was by Kim Fay, LOVE & SAFFRON, which is an epistolary novel, letters between two women, one just starting out on her career and the other in midlife. Both are food writers and the letters bring them to a lovely intimacy. The novel was so touching and smart and fun. It made me even more appreciative of my female friendships. The other, by Susie Boyt, LOVED AND MISSED, was a book I wouldn't have picked up had I not read a review in The Atlantic. The plot is sad, sad, sad. A grandmother, a drug-addicted daughter, a new grand baby, which the grandma is able to raise. Truly the novel is so well written and a love story about raising young children. I relished it. The darkness was definitely there, but the light and joy that comes with a young child in the house was a pleasure.
Thank you for sharing your book list. I’m curious to check them out further.
I’ve read a few novels among short story collections and memoirs for a course ‘From Women’s Points of View’. There were particularly two novels that stuck with me: Kindred by Octavia E Butler and The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
I love both of those authors. That sounds like a fantastic course!
My top 7 (also not all published in 2023):
The Postcard by Anne Berest
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
Still Life by Sarah Winman
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen
The Island of the Missing Tree by Elif Shafak
Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain
Runners up: Hello Beautiful, Demon Copperhead, Tom Lake, The Vaster Wilds
I've heard great things about many of these. The Postcard was just fantastic, wasn't it? So unique and so profound.
Yes!! The Postcard was so inspiring! I sat there reading it, and given that I recently had the experience of helping to unravel a 90-year-old family secret of my own (also French, also Jewish, also somewhat Holocaust-related), I thought, "okay, I guess I should try to write a book about it..." (Here's a brief essay I wrote about it, in case you're interested :-) https://jwa.org/blog/czarna-reimagined )
I am definitely interested! Thank you for sharing! But wait... are you writing a book??!
Yes :-) . First finishing what I hope to be my second novel-in-stories...then will get to the family book, which may be some sort of combo fiction/non-fiction similar to The Postcard and Kantika...
LOVE this list!
2023 was a year of reading Happily Ever Afters for me. Not totally. Mostly.
1. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
2. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
3. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
4. White Holes by Carlo Rovelli
5. Catch Us When We Fall by Juliette Fay
6. The Idea of You by Robine Lee
7. Spare by Prince Harry
8. Lily Bennett’s Bucket List by Katherine Dyson
9. Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
10. The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
I've read a couple of those. My absolute favorite guilty pleasure of the year was The Idea of You. I had so much fun reading that.
I am copying this and keeping it--I need these kind of books to kick-start my 2024. THANK YOU! XOXO
I really liked Hello Beautiful and felt it was worth the hype. It was one of the books I read this year that really kept my attention. I really also liked:
-- My Last Innocent Year
-- The Unlikely Village of Eden
-- Congratulations, The Best is Over
-- Pineapple Street
Oh yes, I need to add My Last Innocent Year to my list too...
Hmm.... I would've put My Last Innocent Year on my list (I loved it!), but I thought that I read it in 2022, but maybe not? I should really keep an actual list.
Oh the only reason I know is because I track on my website. I went right to it when I saw this post about books. I'd never remember otherwise. I'm putting the link here in case people want to see how I do it. Feel free to copy the format!
https://ninabadzin.com/books-ive-read/
I am always on the edge of my seat for your book recs, Nina! 😍
Well that's the biggest compliment!
I really enjoyed Tom Lake as well! I keep a list of books I read in a year and rank them on a 1-10 scale. I have very few 10 pointers this year. I read a lot this year but not as many big standouts. I did like Ink Blood, Sister Scribe and The Ninth House for creepier reads of the year.
What were your 10 point reads? I love the idea of rating them!
Okay, so first the caveat: My scale is based on the pleasure I took in reading the book, so a 10 point book might not represent "great American literature" (whatever that is) and can include everything from serious fiction to romance to fantasy... it is more about how well the book did the thing it was setting out to do and how much I loved reading it. That said, here are some 10 pointers from this year (and last, since this year was a thinner crop):
1. And Yet by Katie Baer (poetry)
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen (classic but my first time reading it!)
3. The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (novel/kind of mystery/kind of historical fiction)
4. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died by Séamas O'Reilly (memoir)
5. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (part of the Thursday Murder Club series, which are all 10/10 for me, I love them so much)
6. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (fiction)
7. Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel (fiction)
8. Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King (short stories)
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (romance/fantasy)
I write an end of the year reading recap for my own substack and this is getting me very excited to work on it!
I also track my reading my genre and by demographics of the writers... I am a data nerd who is actively trying to read fewer white men, so it is fun to see how I did at the end of each year!
I love the idea of ranking books 1-10; why have I never thought of that?
I used to have a 5 point scale...but you're probably right, 10 is more accurate!
I just got Tom Lake, on the recommendation of several of my students who loved it and have made me promise to discuss it with them when I see them again in January. :) Wow, I'm a little jealous of all you've read! One downside of academia is that I spent nearly all my time reading student work and so then have little time for other reading, and so have an endlessly growing "To Be Read" pile. My favorite book of the year was "The Crane Wife" by Kelly Barnhill, a beautiful short novel, a retelling of the Japanese fairy tale in which the mother of a young girl whose father has died one day brings home a giant crane that she has taken as a lover. It's so good! I also loved "The Hero of this Book" by Elizabeth McCracken, one of my favorite writers, a mix of fiction and memoir, and is both about her mother and about writing. So good! I look forward to getting many of the titles you've all listed.
I'm going to add The Hero of this Book to my TBR. And The Crane Wife!
Thanks for the reminder, Laurie. I listened to an interview with her about her latest one and I read "An exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination." I'm intrigued by the mix of fiction and memoir. Will add to my 2024 reading list.
I've thought about reading both of these, and I may put them on my TBR pile. I am a fan of Elizabeth McCracken especially.
OK, it's time for me to get Tom Lake also--I have heard so much about it.
I did not read as much as I would’ve liked this year, but I read Jeanette McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died and blown away by it!
I bought it and started it, and it's on my list to get back to. I think I wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it when I did. I thought it was great writing, but something about it turned me off initially.
I had the same issue--it wasn't the right time for me and then I never picked it back up but heard so many great things about it. Maybe I'll try again this year...
Timing is so important to me when I read something with heavy themes that I can relate to
The writing was so good - I was totally impressed how she was able to write in first person as a young child!
I would love to give her a long hug. I related to I’m Glad My Mom Died so much. I think I read it on one day, and while our lives are completely different, the mom narcissism had similar impacts. It made me feel less alone.
Same!! My situation was different, too, but wow, did I get what she was talking about!!
Loads of great suggestions. Whenever I see lists of books, my brain goes blank--have I ever read anything ever? I've loved lots of books this year, I think. But in the quiet emptiness, I'll take this as an opportunity to add to the #TBR pile.
Even though I read a lot, whenever anyone asks me "out of the wild" (i.e. away from my computer or phone) what some of my favorites are, I can never come up with a single thing I read that I liked.
I have the same problem. I'm like...uh...books? What are those ;-))))
GOD, me too!
I hate that! I'm like, books? Do I read? UGH.
I did just finish Enchantment and read over a few pages, and then saw this so I have ONE book in my brain. It's by Katherine May and it's a lovely work. Full of beauty and grace.
Thanks for all the great winter reading ideas. I rarely read books the year they are published. I may buy them that year, but then I don't get to them until the next. For instance, I am thrilled to finally begin The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. My sister just passed it to me with rave reviews. A 2023 book I read and loved was a craft book by Alice McDermott: What About Baby? Some Thoughts on Fiction. I have been working on and off on a novel for 8 years and I wish I read it sooner. I mostly write nonfiction and the best memoir I read this year was Katie Arnold's Running Home. Its beautiful (2019). And finally, I often re-read books since I love to listen to the language, how bout best re-reads this year: House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexander Fuller. I'd love to hear favorite re-reads too:)
I've heard so many good things about The Covenant of Water. And I had never heard of Alice McDermott's craft book. I'll have to check it out!
You are both in for a big treat with The Covenant of Water. He's a beautiful writer...
The Prospectors by Ariel Djanikian
Thanks so much for the list. I never know how to describe books I like, since I don't read "genre" books. I'm always behind since I get books from the library, but a few I really enjoyed this year that might not be on other people's lists were:
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Sam by Allegra Goodman
I have two! One was so surprising, by Kim Fay, LOVE & SAFFRON, which is an epistolary novel, letters between two women, one just starting out on her career and the other in midlife. Both are food writers and the letters bring them to a lovely intimacy. The novel was so touching and smart and fun. It made me even more appreciative of my female friendships. The other, by Susie Boyt, LOVED AND MISSED,
I have three! FOSTER by Claire Keegan was spare and lovely about a girl that goes to stay with another family for a bit because her family is so overwhelmed and financially burdened. A surprise joy was by Kim Fay, LOVE & SAFFRON, which is an epistolary novel, letters between two women, one just starting out on her career and the other in midlife. Both are food writers and the letters bring them to a lovely intimacy. The novel was so touching and smart and fun. It made me even more appreciative of my female friendships. The other, by Susie Boyt, LOVED AND MISSED, was a book I wouldn't have picked up had I not read a review in The Atlantic. The plot is sad, sad, sad. A grandmother, a drug-addicted daughter, a new grand baby, which the grandma is able to raise. Truly the novel is so well written and a love story about raising young children. I relished it. The darkness was definitely there, but the light and joy that comes with a young child in the house was a pleasure.
I loved Foster and I’ll have to check out the other two!
Unforgettable novels this year:
THE SHAME by Makenna Goodman.
QUOTIDIAN by Mary Wilkinson
CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr
Love this list, thanks for sharing!