My Fave Books of the Year

It’s the time of year when lists of favourites are compiled. So here’s my summary of the books I’ve loved reading in 2023.

If you read last week’s magazine, you’ll know I’m in Europe - sitting in Barcelona airport while I write this post, in fact. I’m having a fabulous time and I promise to write more about the trip in a future post. Highlights so far have included watching the art of manual velvet weaving in Venice, making my own signature perfume in Florence and gorging on castles and art.

Not being at home means I can’t tell you exactly how many books I read this year, but a quick glance at Goodreads tells me it was around thirty-two, not including research books. That feels about right - I’d estimate that I read two to three books per month. From those thirty-two, the standouts this year really stood out. I didn’t have to go over my Goodreads list to make sure I hadn’t forgotten any - I don’t think I’ll ever forget any of these books.

A quick note about how I do my list of faves. I make my choices based on books I’ve read this year, rather than books that have been published this year, so some may have been published in years previous. And to be one of my favourites, a book doesn’t have to be perfect. It needs to captivate me, to make me want to be a better writer, to make me want to prise the book apart to see how the author was able to create a character or a plot or a passage of prose that was unique and remarkable and, most of all, memorable. A character can frustrate me and the book can still be a favourite. A plot point might be a little weak, but the main character so fascinating that I don’t care about a momentary structural wobble. How a book makes me feel is the best measure I have and it’s what I’ve used here to come up with my list.

Book of the Year - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

This book!

I know I’ve already raved about this book in past posts but, as far as I’m concerned, I can’t rave about it enough. Not only was it my favourite book of the year, it’s also entered a very selective list of my favourite books of all time.

Kingsolver is masterful in weaving this story about Demon’s life, from childhood to young manhood. He’s a character so entirely removed from my own life and yet I cared about him in a way I haven’t cared about a fictional character for a very long time. To say the book is about America’s opioid epidemic is to reduce it to being an issues-book and it’s so much more than that.

And the ending! Without giving any spoilers, I’ll just say that it was perfect. Just read it.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I debated about whether to put this book on my list. It frustrated me so much - well, the two main characters did. I wanted to pull them out of the story and shake them and show them what was right in front of them that they were refusing to see. But isn’t that the sign of a great book - that you think about the characters as if they’re real people? Also, I couldn’t let this book go. I’d put it down and be unable to stop thinking about it. When I finished reading it, I couldn’t decide if I loved it or hated it. So it’s on my list because it provoked the most visceral response in me of any book I read this year.

Yes, it’s about gaming, a subject I know almost nothing about. But there’s such a strong narrative component to games that I actually found those aspects interesting. And I enjoy reading about subjects I’m unfamiliar with. But above all, this book is about three people whose lives intertwine, for better and very much for worse.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt

This one is delightful and warm and the complete opposite of Zevin’s. And it has an octopus as one of the main characters, an octopus who never feels like either a narrative trick or something so unbelievable that you’re pulled out of the story. I think this book would be a crowd pleaser - one you could buy for a range of different people for Christmas and they would all love it. It’s about family and grief and growing old - and about always listening to the octopus!

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

Saunders is a Booker prize winning novelist and creator of one of my favourite Substacks. In this book, he analyses several short stories by the Russian masters to talk about his approach to writing and his philosophy of what makes a story work. That probably makes it sound dry. It’s anything but. It’s a masterclass in writing. I learned a lot from it and if you’re a writer, you should definitely add this one to your list.

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

An ambitious, driven woman is rarely given a place as the main character of a novel. It’s my feeling that, generally, ambitious women are seen in a negative light and a writer has to compromise their way through a juggling act of trying to portray ambition while at the same time not making their character unlikeable, because that’s the stereotype we sometimes have in our minds as readers.

I love that Jenkins Reid hasn’t given a shit about any of that. She’s put Carrie front and centre in the book with all of her flaws and all of her fears and made us face up to our own ideas of what it means to be a woman focussed solely on one goal in a society that wants women to “have it all”, to be multi-faceted, rather than single minded. She shows unequivocally what Carrie both gains and loses because of this, without ever judging (or making us judge) Carrie’s choices. Another great book by a fabulous writer.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

I’d never heard of Martha Ballard, and I’m guessing that many people coming to this story won’t have heard of her either. She was an eighteenth century midwife, another incredible woman from history who didn’t know that what she was doing was incredible, a woman whose story was fascinating, but was never included in the history books. I had no idea that a midwife’s role at this time was so much larger than helping women birth babies, but that they had an important part to play in the judicial system too.

I adored Lawhon’s Code Name Hélène and this is just as gripping. I also love that she never rushes the story for fear of losing the reader, but gives all the small but fascinating details of Martha’s life their rightful place in the story.

So that’s my list for this year! I’d love to hear what your favourite books have been and what you thought of the books I’ve included here. Let’s build our bookish Christmas lists from everyone’s recommendations! And happy holiday season everyone! I’ll be back in January.