My Top 10 Books of 2023 - Plus Happy 2024!
It was, if nothing else, an excellent year of reading.
Welcome to 2024
Hi. Hello. Welcome back. First, let me apologise for falling off the wagon in terms of writing this newsletter. I was really enjoying it for a while and then the Internet and World gave my brain the big sads once more. Like, let’s be honest, globally last year was not… great.
I had a lovely year, for the most part, but global events overwhelmed to the point where, by the end of 2023, I just couldn’t muster up the heart to do much creatively and just hermited instead and doom-scrolled way too much. This is my attempt to re-enter the world. And what’s the best way to do this?
With books of course!
I decided that this newsletter would focus on my top 10 books of 2023, out of the 72(ish) that I read. So without further ado, let’s take a look.
1. Best Fiction: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
When John Green, that utterly delightful man, recommends a book as one of his favourite reads ever? I read that book. I’m so glad I did.
This book made me ugly cry and that is the highest possible compliment I can give a novel. In fact, I cried so much that I had to call David upstairs so I could cry at him about it and then dig out parts of the book to show him that probably made very little sense because he hadn’t read it.
Ostensibly this book is about two lifelong friends who become game designers. But it is so, so much more than that. It touches beautifully on themes of friendship, evolving definitions of love, play and changing relationships – all things I’m interested in and all explored beautifully.
The chapter entitled “NPC” broke me. Please read it so you can talk to me about it, because it was one of the most beautiful things I read this year.
“To allow yourself to play with another person is no small risk. It means allowing yourself to be open, to be exposed, to be hurt. It is the human equivalent of the dog rolling on its back---I know you won't hurt me, even though you can. It is the dog putting its mouth around your hand and never biting down. To play requires trust and love. Many years later, as Sam would controversially say in an interview with the gaming website Kotaku, "There is no more intimate act than play, even sex." The internet responded: no one who had had good sex would ever say that, and there must be something seriously wrong with Sam.”
2. Best Thriller/Mystery: Revelation by CJ Sansom
I’m a massive Tudor history nerd and the Matthew Shardlake series by CJ Sansom, which is about a fictional lawyer who inhabits the world in an around the court of Henry VIII, first in service to Thomas Cromwell and then the Archbishop Cranmer. The attention to detail here is staggering and it’s so immersive – you can absolutely tell that author CJ Sansom is both a lawyer and a doctor of Tudor history. But he’s also a great writer, capable of creating richly-drawn characters and a page-turning mystery.
I’ve read four of these books so far and they are my favourite mystery series of the moment. I will be thrilled to read the next one this year and so disappointed when I reach the end.
If you love history, this one is for you.
“In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing. We of alien looks or words must stick together. Have you ever thought what a God would be like who actually ordained and executed the cruelty that is in [the biblical Book of Revelation]? A holocaust of mankind.”
3. Best Historical Fiction: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
I LOVE historical fiction. It is by far my favourite genre. Add on a rich family saga? Or even better, a rich family saga from a part of the world that I know a lot less about historically? Oh, baby, you better believe I’m in.
I’ve made an effort in the past couple of years to read more books by African or African-American diaspora writers – and I’m so thankful I did. Yaa Gyasi is Ghanaian-born and was raised in Alabama and her book covers the journeys of two sisters in a colonial-era Ghanaian village, one of whom rises to a life of relative privilege by marrying a slave trader and the other of whom is taken to America as a slave. The novel follows the unfolding fates of their families across the generations which, as you might imagine, turn out very differently.
This was everything I wanted in a historical novel. Richly-imagined, beautifully written and impossible to put down. Highly recommend.
“We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.”
4. Best Fantasy: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
I started the Winternight series last year and the second instalment was just as delightful as the first. Borrowing heavily from Russian folktales, it tells the story of a peasant girl named Vasilia who can commune with the many Russian folk-spirits, including the formidable winter demon Morozko.
This second book in the trilogy delves deeper into Russian mythology and features some gorgeous world-building, while also having a lot to say about the power of women and their historical suppression by organised religion – in this case the beginnings of the Russian Orthodox Church.
This reads like a beautiful fable for grown-ups and I adored it. Very keen to read the final book this year.
“Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name.”
5. Best Sci-Fi: Dark Age by Pierce Brown
Whenever I’m asked to describe this series to anyone, here’s my go-to: “It’s like Game of Thrones meets Battle Royale or the Hunger Games, meets Ancient Rome, in space.” How can you not love that?
These books are SO MUCH FUN (also so, so gruesome!) and the world Brown has created is incredibly intricate – so intricate that after four door-blocked-sized instalments (this is the fifth), it can actually be hard to keep track of all of the wild character arcs in this sprawling space opera. Luckily, he includes a pretty in-depth character chart so that you can keep up, but even so I always have to do a Wiki deep-dive of the previous book before I start a new one.
This is by far the darkest book in the series so far, and it was at times so violent that I’d have to put it down for a while. But it was also a rip-roaring roller-coaster ride of political intrigue, jaw-dropping world-building and characters you’ll come to care about immensely over five books. This doesn’t stop Brown killing them off though, fair warning.
Everyone to whom I have given the first book, Red Rising, has gone on to absolutely inhale this series, so if you haven’t read it yet and you love sci-fi, now’s a good time to start. I’ve already started on Book 6 of a rumoured 7 total. I will be sad to see this series end and thrilled to hopefully see it adapted sometime in the future.
“You asked, what do I fear? I fear a man who believes in good. For he can excuse any evil.”
6. Best Horror: The Troop by Nick Cutter
My favourite review of this book from Goodreads is highly upvoted, five stars and three words: “Fuck this book.” I completely get it.
Full disclosure: This book is disgusting. I got it because Stephen King recommended it as a book that “scared the hell out of” him and… Yeah. It’s incredibly graphic, horrifically disturbing, and so, unbelievably gross. As in I had to put it down, while gagging, multiple times in order to do a full-body shudder.
Top notch horror then. I haven’t been this horrified by a horror book since reading King’s own work.
The story follows a group of Boy Scouts who are spending a camping trip at an isolated island off of Canada’s East Coast. In the middle of the night, a stranger makes his way to their isolated shores and he is desperately, insatiably hungry. The story of why, and of what happens next, will scare and/or gross the shit out of you.
If you’re a seasoned horror fan, dive in and enjoy the ride. If you gross out easily, stay far away.
“His fear was whetted to such a fine edge that he could actually feel it now: a disembodied ball of baby fingers inside his stomach, tickling him from the inside. That's what mortal terror felt like, he realized. Tiny fingers tickling you from the inside.”
7: Best Memoir: Tiny, Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
I read some really beautiful memoirs this year – and to be honest, I’m not even sure that I’d technically quantify this as one, although it is sub-categorised that way. It’s more of an advice-column format with letters sent to an anonymous columnist called Dear Sugar, who wrote for The Rumpus.
The advice contained within is more poignant, raw, hard-won and heartfelt than an agony-aunt column has any right to be – and it made so many members of my book club cry. There are so many perfect jewels of life advice contained within, alongside some genuinely funny stories and warts-and-all tales from Dear Sugar (later revealed to be Cheryl Strayed of Wild fame) that I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite. But I also can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s like having a warm, witty friend who’s climbed her way up from rock bottom with her soul intact and her heart bigger than ever, to pick you up, gently dust you off and give you a forehead kiss.
A genuine comfort book. Don’t miss it. You will probably cry.
Side note: The miniseries adaptation of the same name with the incomparable Kathryn Hahn is also a tear-jerking wonder.
“We are all, in the private kingdom of our hearts, desperate for the company of a wise, true friend. Someone who isn’t embarrassed by our emotions, or her own, who recognizes that life is short and that all we have to offer, in the end, is love.”
8. Best History: Leonardo da Vinci by Water Isaacson
Walter Isaacson is probably the best biographer working today – and he’s handled some of the biggest names in contemporary society, including Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.
I read his Steve Jobs biography a few years ago and really enjoyed it – particularly his fair-and-balanced depiction of someone who was often a genius and a complete asshole all at the same time. I’ve always loved the da Vinci exhibits I’ve been lucky enough to see and I wanted to learn more.
This book was exceptional. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Alfred Molina (utter perfection). Alongside the audiobook, you are able to download a companion index that has all of the artworks referenced in the book (there are a huge amount of them.) I loved hearing more detail about all of them, and also about da Vinci’s life – mainly the fact that he was a snarky, flamboyant, ADHD gay with a car-crash of a young, hot boyfriend he nicknamed “Salai” or “little devil.”
Love that for him.
“Above all, Leonardo’s relentless curiosity and experimentation should remind us of the importance of instilling, in both ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it—to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.”
9. Best Non-Fiction: Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
This book has forever changed the way I think about addiction. The author, journalist Johann Hari, who had a family history of addiction, set out to find the answer to the question of why so many people are able to use drugs responsibly while a relatively small number will succumb to addiction.
He traces the roots of the concept of addiction all the way to its source and travels the globe exploring the origins of the “war on drugs” far before the Nixon administration popularised the term. In so doing he illustrates the horrifying ways in which addiction has been treated and addicts have been abused throughout history – and how this treatment has exacerbated and deepened the addiction crisis by further removing addicts from society and from accessing the most potent war we have in the war against addiction – meaningful connection with other human beings.
Cannot recommend this book highly enough.
“The core of addiction doesn’t lie in what you swallow or inject—it’s in the pain you feel in your head. Yet we have built a system that thinks we will stop addicts by increasing their pain. “If I had to design a system that was intended to keep people addicted, I’d design exactly the system that we have right now.”
10. Best Humour: The Daily Show, an Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, Correspondents and Guests by Chris Smith
Like most Millennials, I adore The Daily Show. I grew up watching Jon Stewart (and later Stephen Colbert) while still a teenager in high school and still watch John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight – no disrespect to Trevor Noah for me, but Oliver is my BAE now. Watching The Daily Show was the first time someone had talked about politics in a way that was interesting or engaging to me. It was the first time I understood why I had to care.
Since then, Jon Stewart has been a hero of mine for constantly speaking truth to power, even when he doesn’t think it will do much good. Which is why it’s been so hard to watch him clearly struggle to maintain much optimism in the years since the show ended. However, watching him leave it all behind to start an animal rescue sanctuary with his wife makes me think he’s probably doing okay.
This book was an absolute delight for fans of the show. It’s told straight from the horse’s mouth and covers all the biggest moments and all the breakout stars, as well as underscoring just how important The Daily Show was in our shared media history. It gave a whole generation their political voice – and showed them how to use it.
It was also wonderful to discover that Stewart is as good of a dude as I always hoped he was and how much his staff truly loved him. The coverage of the last episode is an absolute tear jerker. Highly recommend this one if you are a fan of Stewart or the show.
“Stephen Colbert: Here’s the thing: You said to me and to many other people here years ago never to thank you, because we owe you nothing.
Jon Stewart: [quietly] That’s right.
Stephen Colbert: It’s one of the few times I’ve known you to be dead wrong… We owe you because we learned from you, by example, how to do a show with intention, with clarity. How to treat people with respect. You are infuriatingly good at your job, okay?”
What a beautiful year’s worth of reading it’s been! I’ve already started on next year. But for now, let’s leave it with…
Hyperfixations of the Moment:
Reading: I just finished Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. I haven’t read much Agatha Christie and now I’m wondering why the hell not. This was great fun.
Watching: Yellowjackets. This show has everything a girl could want: cannibalism, 90s indie rock music of the angry girl persuasion, morbid humour, murder and Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress and Melanie Lynskey absolutely knocking it out of the park. And ELIJAH WOOD. Absolutely inhaling.
Listening to: A podcast called “A Very British Cult” about a life coaching business in the UK that turned out to be a surprisingly powerful and well-connected cult. I just kind of assumed that all life coaching was a cult of some kind anyway. Interesting though.
Thanks for reading! It’s nice to be back and I’m happy to be news lettering once again. I will try to make them more regular in the future but they may be bi-weekly instead. We’ll see how we go!