2023 In Books

At the start of 2023 I decided to watch "less" TV and read "more" books, and very deliberately didn't put any absolutes on the intention. Here's a roundup of the books I read over the year:

1. Witch Child by Celia Rees. Fiction.

A short YA story which I had given to my Goddaughter for Christmas and decided to read myself as well. I found it very enjoyable and it made me curious about the broader subject. An English girl moves to the New World and gradually becomes suspected of witchcraft.

2. Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Non-Fiction.

More biological than I expected but accessible for non-scientists and a beautifully thoughtful and informative book. I already liked moss, now I love it.

3. On Mending by Celia Pym. Non-Fiction.

Short enough to read in an afternoon, a collection of essays on mended clothing items. Cosy and reflective.

4. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Fiction.

Abundantly clear why it won the Pulitzer, highly recommended (but don't bother with the Netflix adaptation). A French girl and a German boy get caught up in WW2 and both end up in St Malo during the siege of the city.

5. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Fiction.

I wanted to enjoy this short story collection more than I did, didn't really get into any of them.

6. A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi. Fiction.

A (short) slow burner but worth it. Written so well you feel like you're there. Really made me miss North Africa. Does what it says on the tin (is about a bookshop in Algiers) but is more broadly about the importance and beauty of books and freedom.

7. Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan. Fiction.

Short and sparse, you almost don't know where it's going until it gets there, but it's lovely. Small-town Ireland and Magdalene Laundries.

8. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Fiction.

This came highly recommended and it was a page turner while in it, but the aftertaste hasn't been so good, I want the yellow dress on the cover more than I want to remember the story. It felt more like tragedy tourism than anything else.

9. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Fiction.

"Austen for people who don't like Austen", turns out Jane can be a bitch and is hilarious.

10. Treacle Walker by Alan Garner. Fiction.

I probably wouldn't have bothered getting to the end if it hadn't been so short. Too bizarre for me, I didn't enjoy it and didn't get what it was about.

11. Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout. Fiction.

Also quite weird but more readable, it wasn't bad but I was relieved to get to the end. A retired man and his ex-wife start looking into his family history.

12. Swamp Songs by Tom Blass. Non-Fiction.

Literally a book about swamps, bogs, and marshes around the world (some song snippets included in places). Highly informative, fascinating, and a very shrewd (and funny) commentator on people. Loved it.

13. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel. Fiction.

The storyline has largely faded from memory but I loved reading this and the impression it's left is a lovely one. Basically futuristic pandemic sci-fi.

14. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. Fiction.

Stealth commentary on the ridiculousness of polite society.

15. Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle. Fiction.

Almost (but not quite) a bodice ripper - an intriguing snapshot of a largely-overlooked historical character.

16. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman. Fiction.

Re-reading a childhood favourite, I had forgotten almost all of this but loved it. May complete the series. Victorian orphans, heiresses, and street urchins, solving international mysteries in the backstreets of London.

17. The Trees by Percival Everett. Fiction.

Heavy subject matter told through dark comedy. Brilliant. Race relations in the US via a farcical murder mystery in which the bodies keep escaping.

18. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatikala. Fiction.

Took a while to get in to it, was ultimately good but wouldn't have been my choice for winner of the Man Booker prize. Sri Lankan civil war and aftermath, through the eyes of a ghost.

19. Food Isn't Medicine by Dr Joshua Wolrich. Non-Fiction.

Very readable for non-scientists, and useful in the struggle against diet- and wellness-culture. Recommended to anyone who exists near food and/or other people.

20. Pod by Laline Paull. Fiction.

More about dolphin genitals than I ever thought I'd get in fiction, but a beautiful and sensitive imagining of life in the ocean in the era of climate change.

21. Why Don't I Have Anything To Wear by Andrea Cheong. Non-Fiction.

A useful guide to how to shop well, particularly for clothes and accessories, to avoid wardrobe overwhelm.

22. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo. Fiction.

Should have won the Man Booker. Go and read it. An imaginary country in Africa, all the characters are animals, and one despotic regime gives way to another. Strong 1984 vibes.

23. Manja by Anna Gmeyner. Fiction.

First published in 1953, a beautiful and heartbreaking story about 5 children growing up in Nazi Germany. Very human.

24. The Book of the Green Man by Ronald Johnson. Fiction.

A modern, epic-style longform poem about the changing seasons. I read each section at the start of the corresponding season and may well repeat the experience.

25. Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie. Fiction.

Working my way through all the Marples and Poirots. I like the way Poirot is more of an outsider than he tends to be portrayed as in TV adaptations.

26. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Fiction.

Never thought I'd enjoy a story about video game makers but I was hooked.

27. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. Fiction.

A sparse and dry (fictionalised) account of a (real) war crime in the newly-formed Israel again a young Palestinian girl, and a modern day Palestinian journalist researching it. Horrifying and expertly told.

28. Ness by Robert MacFarlane and Stanley Donwood. Fiction.

Very short, a poem, I'm not sure I could tell you quite what it was about but it was lovely and scary and evocative and I will return to it.

29. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Fiction.

Winner of both the Pulitzer and the Women's Prize for Fiction, also my (joint) winner for Rosy's Book of the Year. Follows the childhood of a disadvantaged young boy growing up in the US opioids crisis.

30. One Woman's Year by Stella Martin Currey. Non-Fiction.

A hilarious journal-style account, month by month, of a 1950s journalist / housewife / mother's life, with some truly revolting-sounding recipes. I read a chapter a month to correspond with the timeline and loved it.

31. How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Fiction.

(More) futuristic pandemic sci-fi, this became the (other joint) winner of Rosy's Book of the Year. Heartbreaking, hopeful, and beautifully told.

If you follow these things you'll have noticed I read the entire shortlist for the Man Booker Prize. And the experience led me to decide not to do that again.

The eagle-eyed may have noticed the cover for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the attached pictures - I needed it to avoid leaving a blank space. Also I am half way through it. I initially expected to finish it before the end of the year but got lured away by other things so it'll feature on next year's list instead. Forgive me.

Putting this list together has helped me to shape my reading intentions for 2024, including keeping better notes on my impressions of a book so that I'm not trying to remember several months later! I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these that you’ve read, and am always open to recommendations. I do try to keep my reading list quite broad in terms of topics and genre, but even so there are probably some identifiable themes and preferences in there already. Challenge me!