My Favorite Books from 2023
I read a lot of books last year, but I did not do as much writing as I wanted. So, this year, my goal is to read less and write more. If you read one of the books I recommend below, let me know! And if you want to recommend any books to me, I’m always open to them.
Here are my reading stats for 2023:
114 books read in total
41 print books completed
73 audiobooks listened to
Below are some of my favorites in each genre.
Fiction (24)
Salman Rushdie, Quichotte
This is a fantastic retelling of Don Quixote, set in modern America / England. There’s a story within a story, and the writer and his book begin to influence each other’s worlds. Estranged family members reconcile, but nothing goes to plan. The impossible happens, and the miraculous seems inevitable. One of my favorite moments is when the protagonist Ismail Smile and his imagination-made-flesh son Sancho are looking at a map of the whole United States. Where do they need to go? An osprey flies overhead and “sends them a communication”: it poops on New York City. “This is it … The sign!” cries Ismail Smile.
Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic
A novel told in the collective first person “we.”
Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing
George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
The audiobook is read by a full case, with celebrities such as Nick Offerman and Keegan Michael-Key playing some of the roles. It is fantastic. And the story is quite moving, too. A unique take on Abraham Lincoln’s grief following the death of his son. Some passages consist of found reportage and analysis of Lincoln’s life. It adds depth to the story, reminding us that Lincoln, being president, was a public figure at the time of his son’s death—and therefore his grief was public as well.
Mohsin Hamid, Exit West
Kim Fu, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
A time-travel-capable seat in a cafe links several characters’ stories together.
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
Ovid, The Metamorphoses (Allen Mandelbaum translation)
Non-Fiction & Memoir (31)
Clare Dederer, Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
A great exploration of the question, “How do we engage with an artist’s work if the artist is a terrible person?” She considers the many different aspects of this question and examines the work of several different artists, some monsters—some not (examples: Pablo Picasso, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Vladimir Nabokov). What I like about this book is that she does not give a definitive answer, but suggests the questions we ought to be asking (moving past knee-jerk “canceling”) and the possibilities these questions lead to. I think the book would pair well with Paisley Rekdal’s Appropriate: A Provocation, about whether writers can tell stories from cultural perspectives not their own.
Morgan Meis, The Fate of the Animals: On Horses, the Apocalypse, and Painting as Prophecy
If you are looking for art history like no other, Morgan Meis is your guy. This short book (with short chapters I might add) examines one painting: The Fate of the Animals by Franz Marc. It is the closest reading of a painting you can get. It is poetic, apocalyptic, tragic, comic. This book is part of The Three Paintings Trilogy, so if you like it, you could also try The Drunken Silenus, about a painting by Peter Paul Rubens. The third book is forthcoming, and will be about a painting by Joan Mitchell.
Nina Riggs, The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying
A memoir by a writer as she progresses through the stages of cancer, published after her death. Riggs draws the sacred from the mundane, the humorous from the terrifying, the poignant from the tedious. She gives language to pain and grief, hope and loss, wonder and beauty.
Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
A stupendous, recent update on the state of paleontology. If your knowledge of dinosaurs stopped in elementary school, this book will help you get caught up. And it’s an entertaining read as well.
Catherine Wolff, Beyond: How Humankind Thinks About Heaven
This is a helpful introductory survey of “afterlife” thinking from ancient times to modern, in a variety of traditions, religions, and cultures.
Richard Firth-Godbehere, A Human History of Emotion: How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know
Geoff Manaugh, A Burglar’s Guide to the City
This book will have you thinking differently about architecture!
Poetry (15)
Adam Zagajewski, Mysticism for Beginners
Lisel Mueller, Alive Together
Robert Cording, Without My Asking
Anne Sexton, Transformations
Retellings of fairy tales, paired with modern issues: relationships, psychology, social upheaval, and more.
Anne Sexton, The Book of Folly
Theology, Bible, Spirituality (9)
Yitzhak Berger, Jonah in the Shadows of Eden
An intertextual reading of the book of Jonah. So many interesting connections between Jonah and Genesis 2–3, as well as other OT texts. Best book on Jonah I’ve read. The author’s argument unfolds with what he calls a “cumulative approach.” Instead of laying out his methodology in 30 pages before getting to the actual text, he just dives right in. The first 10 pages alone are full of fascinating, stimulating connections and insights.
St. Isaac the Syrian, Daily Readings with St. Isaac of Syria
John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and Death's Duel
Jürgen Moltmann, In the End—The Beginning: The Life of Hope
Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark
Writing Craft, Criticism, and Essays (12)
Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing
This is my favorite book on writing craft. This book contains several short sentences (hence the name), each its own gem of writing wisdom. What I like about this book is that he doesn’t just focus on the product of writing, but the process—how it is that writers can create sentences with clarity and impact.
Jessica Handler, Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss
An important and helpful book on writing about grief. I will be returning to this resource as I continue to process my own grief through writing. This book provides exercises as well as insights about the craft of memoir.
Jane Alison, Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative
This book explores non-linear ways of organizing a story. You were likely taught the “exposition, rising action, climax, and denouement” model in high school. Jane Alison examines several different shapes a story can take, and analyzes stories that use these shapes well.
Star Wars Novels (23)
Timothy Zahn, Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy: (1) Chaos Rising, (2) Greater Good, (3) Lesser Evil
What was Thrawn doing before he joined the Empire? This is a great origin story for one of Star Wars’ most interesting villains.
E. K. Johnston, Queen’s Peril and Queen’s Shadow
Another great origin story: The rise of Padmé Amidala as queen of Naboo (Queen’s Peril), and the relationship she has with her handmaidens. Some of this novel overlaps with The Phantom Menace film. Queen’s Shadow follows Padmé’s entry into the Galactic Senate, and it is full of interesting connections with the Clone Wars animated show.
Beth Revis, Rebel Rising
This tells the story of Jyn Erso, and provides backstory for the Rogue One movie. This novel pairs well with James Luceno’s novels Tarkin and Catalyst.
Delilah S. Dawson, Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade
An excellent novel following a former Jedi padawan’s turn to the dark side.
Thanks for reading! Blessings on the start of your 2024!