my favorite excuse for why i don’t read as much as i’d like to is: “well i just have to read so much for my job…” which is true enough but sounds much better than: “my brain is so completely rotted from my phone that it’s hard for me to get into anything for pleasure longer than 180 characters.”
but this year, i really tried to be better! and i read some good things. so here’s part 2 of best things! the best books i read in 2023. once again, not in order except for number 1.
1. cloud cuckoo land — anthony doerr
absolutely adored this book. it toggles between three different time periods and casts of characters — 15th century constantinople, present day idaho, and an interstellar ship in the future. it’s a book about preserving memories and stories, how vital imagination is to survival, and what it means to hope. the plot is gripping throughout and you feel like you’re reaching through time with the author. this book totally opened my mind up and i was bereft when i finished it because i didn’t want it to end.
2. the great believers — rebecca makkai
if you’re looking for an incredible piece of historical fiction, this is it. the story starts in 1980s chicago at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, and ends in 2010s paris. it follows a vanishing friend group/chosen family, and the two people trying to hold it together: yale and fiona. makkai’s writing is brilliant and vivid. just when you think you know how someone’s story is going to end, she twists it. prepare for an ugly cry. devastating but worth it!!!
“If he'd lived, we'd have parted ways soon enough. He'd have had a life out here in the world, outside my mind. But when someone's gone and you're the primary keeper of his memory— letting go would be a kind of murder, wouldn't it? I had so much love for him, even if it was a complicated love, and where is all that love supposed to go? He was gone, so it couldn't change, it couldn't turn to indifference. I was stuck with all that love.” —The Great Believers
3. tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow — gabrielle zevin
if you had told me that a book about video games would be one of my absolute favorite things i’ve ever read, i would not have believed you. but holy shit!!! this book!!!!! it’s a masterpiece. i’m not going to tell you anything more about it because i went in blind and i think that’s the correct way to approach it. 1000/10
“It occurred to Sadie: She had thought after Ichigo that she would never fail again. She thought she had arrived. But life was always arriving. There was always another gate to pass through. (Until, of course, there wasn’t.)” —Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
4. sea of tranquility — emily st. john mandel
i’m obsessed with time travel stories, and the latest from emily st. john mandel is an interesting take. it’s kind of like cloud cuckoo land in that there’s an echo of one story through time, but sea of tranquility leaves a lot more to be desired. three main characters in three different time periods are all seeing an apparition of sorts — and you’re tearing through the pages trying to figure out what’s going on. it’s very mysterious and gripping, but as my friend ben pointed out, it kinda feels like st. john mandel put the book down in the middle of writing it and decided to publish. still worth a read though!
5. all the light we cannot see — anthony doerr
after being so enamored with cloud cuckoo land, i decided it was finally time to read doerr’s magnum opus. it deserves all the hype! set in france during the german occupation, the book follows a young blind girl named marie-laure in her fight to survive. sooo beautiful and moving. DO NOT watch the netflix series they just made it into though.
6. this time tomorrow — emma straub
another fun time travel story! i would describe the book this way: 13 going on 30 meets back to the future. it’s very new york which i loved, and there’s a nice mix of sentimentality and humor. i did predict what was going to happen, which i feel adequately smug about. good beach read.
7. such a fun age — kiley reid
this book is so MESSY and i loved it. emira tucker is a young black woman trying to navigate her early twenties. she starts nannying for girlboss white woman alix chamberlain’s daughter while figuring out her next move. a whole bunch of drama ensues. it’s a slicing social commentary on the ways the ‘well-meaning’ white folks can actually be the worst of all.
8. the heart’s invisible furies — john boyne
set mainly in ireland from the 1940s-2016, boyne exposes the darker aspects of irish culture in this novel. it follows the life of a gay irishman named cyril avery from start to finish. his mother was banished from her town after becoming pregnant at 16, and she gives cyril up for adoption upon giving birth to him in dublin. from the outset of the book, you know they eventually find their way back to each other, but the journey is littered with tragedy and hardship. through strong characters and plot moves, boyne highlights what a ridiculous, hypocritical, homophobic, patriarchal, theocratic place the country can be. it’s definitely a black comedy — i was wondering whether anything good would ever happen. but it does! and it ends so beautifully. the wit, humor, and masterful storytelling that is so essential to irish literature shines through.
‘“You’re praying,” I said a few minutes later as I entered the church… “I’m not praying,” she said. “I’m remembering. Sometimes the two things look alike, that’s all.” —The Heart’s Invisible Furies
9. love & other words — christina lauren
smooth brain content here! a very straightforward romcom book. it’s one of my favorite tropes: childhood lovers are reconnected as adults. macy and elliot are destined to be together… until they aren’t. it’s a race to figure out why. the twist in this is so patently insane i remember letting out a scream and being kind of mad. read it in the bath on your holiday break.
10. everything i know about love — dolly alderton
i’m going to start off with a bratty comment and that is: i don’t think the writing in this memoir is very strong. but the sentiment is there and alderton is great at illustrating why it feels so hard to be a single woman in your twenties. and who am i to judge writing ability? here i am doing the exact same nonsense, driving middle-aged men (and some 27-year-old women) insane with my lowercase paragraphs.
anyways! you should read this if you went to marquette university and are a woman in your twenties, or you were once a woman in your twenties, or you are wondering what it’s like to be a certain kind of woman in her twenties. alderton is the voice of drunk disaster 25-year-olds everywhere!
“When you’re looking for love and it seems like you might not ever find it, remember you probably have access to an abundance of it already, just not the romantic kind. This kind of love might not kiss you in the rain or propose marriage. But it will listen to you, inspire and restore you. It will hold you when you cry, celebrate when you’re happy, and sing All Saints with you when you’re drunk. You have so much to gain and learn from this kind of love. You can carry it with you forever. Keep it as close to you as you can.” —Everything I Know About Love
^dedicated to my besties — i love you guys so much!!!!!
11. small things like these — claire keegan
shoutout to my roommate molly for recommending this gorgeous book! it’s super short — about 115 pages of large type, and you can read it in one sitting. i took pictures of probably half of them because i was so struck by the writing. it takes place in the weeks leading up to christmas (so it’s the perfect time to read it), and it’s about the ordinary life of an irish family in a small village in the 1980s. bill furlong is a coal merchant with a wife and five daughters, and he’s trying to understand what makes a life. it’s a simple tale but extremely affecting — one of my top 10 fav things i’ve ever read. spoiler alert if you are related to me: i’m going to buy you this for christmas.
“Before long, he caught a hold of himself and concluded that nothing ever did happen again; to each was given days and chances which wouldn’t come back around. And wasn’t it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come.” —Small Things Like These
the end! thanks as always for reading <3 next up in my queue: the bee sting by paul murray and our share of the night by mariana enriquez.
ROTW: how do i add the libby app to my kindle???? for the life of me, i cannot figure it out. please advise.
p.s. check out that new logo! do you like my chicken scratch handwriting??? huge thanks to artist/graphic designer erika sacks <3
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New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023 who?????? Love love love!!! 😍