For my annual book post this year, I’ve changed my title. No longer focused on “the best” but rather on the most interesting or engaging. Most of the time, interesting books are the “best” but sometimes a story comes along that I don’t particularly love or even like, but it’s sticky. It’s sticks in my brain. It’s interesting. It’s engaging.

I’ve also decided to stop copying the Good Reads reviews over and only share my reactions (“review” feels like too generous a word for what I write). I don’t need to recreate the wheel, when the wheel is easily accessible to others on the internet.

As with all my other annual posts, here’s the deal:

• I read all of these in 2023, but very few actually came out in 2023. This isn’t about the best books written this year, this is just what I read during the year.
• I include graphic novel volumes but not individual issues.
• I include audio books and books I read out loud with my children (chapter books) as “read.” I will fight to the death anyone who says these don’t count as “reading.”
• I read 95 books this year. I read a lot of paperbacks and I fly through them – but I’ve also come to understand and accept that I read exceptionally fast. My family even teases me about it. Maybe it is something I perfected in law school? Regardless, when I tell people how many books I read in a year and their eyes widen I feel a certain amount of embarrassment. Like I’m a real weirdo – but I am a real weirdo – and apparently reading is my superpower. Handy it’s also one of my favorite things to do.

In no specific order, here are the most interesting things I read this year. I’ve added a picture of the cover with my reactions immediately following. Finally, at the end are the covers of all 95 books I read this year.

Persephone Station
Definite Cowboy Beebop vibes, but more modern and certainly more queer. While probably classified appropriately as a “space opera,” they really only very briefly go off planet – but that aside – I enjoyed this! I appreciated the character diversity. The bond between the Angel, Lou, Sukyi, and Enid was so damn charming. I would have enjoyed more relationship building with the Emissaries. The final showdown on the station felt… a little too predictable? Easy? That said the several chapters of on-planet fighting were extremely well done. Writing combat effectively is really hard, and she did it well. Also the cover? I mean, give me this book as a comic, please!!

Lore Olympus (Volume One shown here, but there is much more and its so good)
Good lord, the illustrations. THE ILLUSTRATIONS. So lovely, irreverent, playful, and in moments, surprisingly sophisticated. There is a spread in this volume between Psyche and Eros and the way she uses color to show light and create an intimate conversation between two people in bed was just so well done. I love comic art that doesn’t take its self too seriously and it still excellent. The color is a character here. The story line is also adult and complex enough to keep me engaged in yet another greek god retelling. I love these. Smythe is fantastic.

Paris Appartment
This is a fun and dark read. I love a good mystery – it’s definitely one of my favorite genres. All the clues are there, but there were some twists that surprised me! It was well done. Some pretty dark themes here, but they’re added in service to a convincing narrative and plot.

Divergent
I picked this up from the “teen zone” at the library after thinking, “wait? I haven’t read these?” I had not. I consumed it like air – I read the whole thing in a few days. Scratches all the dystopian YA itches. Not shocking they were hugely popular! I then got my son hooked, and we read through all three and consumed our conversations each morning on the drive to school. It was so cool to share with him.

The Birthday of the World
In all my years as a feminist scifi fan I had some how never read any of Le Guin’s work. This short story collection was my first – which is an admittedly odd place to start. It was primarily dictated by what was available at the library. Many of the stories were more about culture than space travel but then that’s always been the draw of really good science fiction. I was startled by how often she has a significant focus on sex and sexual acts, but again, that’s a key part of culture.

The the final story, Paradises Lost, is almost a quarter of the whole book and was my favorite. It’s the most space focused, but really I loved it as a fascinating exploration of generational space travel. The other story that most stuck with me was Solitude. Not so much in its plot, but in her exploration of the idea that our understanding of other cultures is so deeply narrowed by our own personal histories and understanding. That the practices of other species can’t always be made analogous to our own just to make them easier to understand – we may be entirely unable to conceptualize them.

Witch of Tin Mountain
This is one of those books where I’m not sure I even thought it was good – but I thought about it endlessly. We have two timelines, unfolding throughout the book, representing two different women. It becomes obvious pretty quickly that there is a connection, but I won’t spoil that. I think it helped that I was listening to it as an audiobook because the two voice actors helped me keep the two story lines separate, as in many spots they were quite similar. The author was definitely playing with feminism, racism, homophobia, etc, and at times it felt heavy handed. At other moments it seemed like she had rose colored glasses on given the time periods – could there really be a happily ever after for some of these characters in this time period, in those places? Thankfully, the “mystery” was well crafted and made sense, which can be an issue with fantasy material.

I’ll Stop The World
Definitely feels like a young adult novel, but that’s actually part of it’s charm. Yes, there’s lots of teen angst, but the angst guides their decision making and leads the plot forward. The mystery is well crafted, although one of the big reveals I thought was obvious pretty immediately. Overall though, I couldn’t stop listening. I do love audiobooks for novels that are written in a lot of different perspectives because the actors bring so much life to the individual characters and also help keep it clear what character you’re with.

Daisy Jones and the Six
It was a legit struggle to not stay up till 3AM to finish this the first night. This book is written as a oral history of all of the band members and their team. It’s like watching an old VH1 “behind the music” in print. This is to say I loved it. Clearly doesn’t hurt but I’m a big Fleetwood Mac fan, but even if you’ve never listened to anything from the 70s this is charming. Billy and Daisy are equal parts annoying and frustrating and magical and perfect. I found myself so invested in Karen and Graham too, and I appreciate how the author dealt with their story.

Scattered Showers
I’ve said it 100s of times. I am a Rainbow fangirl. What a beautiful collection of love stories that included establish couples from her former novels, as well as fun new people. Can we get an Anna and James’s novel please? And, of course, Beth, Jennifer and Lincoln, and the whole plot of Attachments, continues to be a favorite.

The Girl in The Tower
This series hits the combination of action, fairytale, adventure, history, and tension just right. The second in the trilogy, this was was plot heavy than the Bear and the Nightingale – we were endlessly in action! I’m not sure I fully understand the ramifications of the ending on our Winter King, but look forward to the third installment!

Shrill
Her show by the same name moved me beyond words and the book did not disappoint. Given everything that’s happened culturally since 2016 some of it feels dated but only because the world turned on its head since she wrote this. That said so much of the changes she talks about are still in place. I do think the world is somehow kinder or at least more open..?

This book is full of beautiful, righteous anger. I was so active on Jezebel in the mid-2000s. Lindy’s work was a pivotal part of my young womanhood. She was born just three years before me, and our lives were so far apart, but so similar, as she wrote. I have also spent a lifetime feeling too big too much too … everything. So, while much of the writing style of that time was often aggressive or snarky, it made me stop giving a fuck quite so intensely. I’m grateful for the courage of her words and for her too-muchness. If I’m too much, go find less.

Six of Crows
I wasn’t sold on this book at first, then I stayed up too late finishing this. Six perspectives, in a heist/caper story, is a lot and she crafts it so clearly. This was just fun and a nice return to the Grisha universe from Shadow and Bone (though unrelated plot wise).

Murder in Mesopotamia
If you know me, you know, I read at least a few Agatha Christie novels per year. I have a loose goal of reading every novel she ever wrote. She’s my comfort food. With there being so many (relatively short) novels from her, they’re not all masterpieces. This one was great though! The setting plus the use of the nurse’s perspective was just so charming. It takes you straight back to 1936 – for better or worse!

Covers of everything I read in 2023: