Favorite Books of 2023
a curation
Welcome to another installment of Linkpso, where I take a piece of content (article, essay, book, video… anything I can link to) and use it as a prompt for writing. I might be in conversation with the piece or use it as a springboard to go in a completely different direction. I also included a few more interesting links to inspire some Linkspo of your own.
Hello Friends,
The cutest, chubby-faced, snot-ridden baby has a cold, and because she sticks her fingers in her mouth and nose and rubs her snot on her cheeks and in her hair and because she likes to stick those fingers in my mouth and I like to kiss her cheeks and smell her hair I have a cold too.
So, since my brain is mush, I thought it would be a good time to offer up some of my favorite reads of 2023.
I love a look back because it highlights patterns I might not notice from day to day.
I love a good sentence.
I can forgive a slow plot or an underdeveloped character if the writing is good.
Make me think, make me think, make me think
Books
Fiction
The Invisible Life of Addie LeRue by V.E. Schwab The last time I cried, I was listening to Julia Whelan read the final chapters of this book. I was folding laundry or making dinner or doing some other mindless task, and all of a sudden, I thought, "Oh, how lovely that I'm going to cry." It wasn't a good, exhausting cry that felt like ringing out a wet rag, but the few tears I shed imprinted the story on my heart forever.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo This book is an experience. A YA novel in verse that was a beautiful challenge on audio. I look forward to returning to these characters on the page.
Olympus Texas by Stacey Swann: A quiet epic family saga… My favorite kind of book. None of the characters are particularly likable, but their terrible decisions make sense. The connection to mythology was over my head, but I didn’t care.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai A fast-paced mystery/thriller set in dark academia. It is a fun and easy read with interesting takes on contemporary. “true crime” obsessions. Julia Whalen was, of course, fantastic on audio.
The Storied Life of A.J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin A quiet literary novel with beautiful sentences. “Every word the right one and exactly where it should be.” I mean, come on!
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson Powerful and thought-provoking prose/poetry. I really liked how Woodson worked in historical events, such as The Tulsa Massacre, The Vietnam War, and 9/11. It made the story both broad and very specific.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin My favorite book of all time. I don’t play video games. I don’t know the tech world, and I could care less about VC culture, but this book wasn’t about any of that. At its heart, the book is about friendship.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett I love a story that exposes the shock that mothers existed before their children. I liked the theater, but I loved the cherry farm.
The Low Desert by Todd Goldberg I’m a big fan of Los Angeles Noir done well, and these short stories do not disappoint.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Super fast and readable. The cultural critique made me uncomfortable in a good way, and I liked the meta/ satire of the publishing industry, but it also had me thinking, "thank god I'm not on Twitter, and are all literary types this snobby??" It’s basically a mash-up of all the recent literary scandals of the last 5-ish years.
Non-fiction
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher Oh, how I wish Carrie Fisher were still here! I loved this one-woman show turned memoir. It's funny, well-written, and an easy, fast read.
Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie A perfect illustration of the early days of grief. Confusion, disbelief, anger, and uncomfortable feelings as you go from writing/talking/experiencing a person or relationship in the present to the past. "He is..." to "He was.."
Congratulations, The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas These essays were funny, weird, tender, and so endearing. I was especially drawn to the idea of home: What does home mean? Can you go home again? What makes a home feel safe? It also has the best epigraph ever!
The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro I’ve been listening to All Things Considered on NPR for years, so I was super excited to hear Ari Shapiro on The Stacks Podcast. I'm fascinated by journalism, especially in today's landscape, where your interpretation of the world seems to depend more on where you get your news than on actual facts. Also, I'm a total NPR nerd, so this was right up my alley.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer The book is part science/academia and part memoir which can be tricky to pull off. Sometimes, the memoir parts feel tacked on, and the book feels confused, but Kimmerer is able to balance both in a way that makes the personal and natural worlds feel inextricably linked. She asks her students, Do you love the earth? and they, of course, say they do. Then she asks, Do you think it loves you back? She invites the reader to wonder, does the earth need me as much as I need her?
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker I love hosting, and this book had me thinking hard about how I will change my approach to gatherings in the future. Since we are in this liminal space between rental and forever home I can imagine I will return to this book in the future.
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears Early 2000s Emily is a little bit healed after reading this.
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl This beautiful food memoir checked all my boxes: food, restaurant industry, celebrity chefs, publishing/magazines, and writing. It was exactly what I wanted to listen to in the final weeks of my pregnancy. It was somehow both luxurious and accessible.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennett McCurdy This book is hard. It is narrated in real-time rather than as an adult looking back, so the reader is dragged through the abuse and abhorrent behavior of the adults in the room along with the McCurdy. It's expertly written. I was so uncomfortable and angry and sad, but I didn't pity her, and I think this might have been the point. As McCurdy grows and begins to heal from her abuse, we, as the reader, heal too.
Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson Imagine a cool darkened room, a mother nursing her four-month-old child to sleep, but the baby is bouncing up and down on the nursing pillow because the mother can't stop laughing... yeah, it was kind of like that. I aspire to write a memoir as engaging and true as this one.
This is where I am today. Thank you for listening.
Emily
What are your favorite reads of 2023? Share with us in the comments below.
Wishful Drinking is one of my favorite reads of all time!!! You have to watch the HBO that she did of the same name. What an absolute genius and talent!!
Thanks for this list, Emily ❤️
I love this! And you beat me to a fav books list! Love, I'm Glad My Mom Died, and Wishful Drinking (I never LOLed so much from a book). I was wondering about the Britney Spears book and actually read through the reviews (a mixed bag of folks who said it was poorly written and not enough info about her and JT, and of course, many said it was fantastic).
Some of my favs include Take My Hand (not a memoir but historical fiction) by Dolen Perkins Valdez), What the Dead Know (by Barbara Butcher), and Walking with Sam (by Andrew McCarthy --> yes, '80s brat pack Andrew McCarthy!).