My 10 favorite novels of 2023
Plus my three favorite nonfiction reads and other hot literary takes.
If you follow my Instagram, you know I love to read. This year, I broke my own record and read 48 books, spanning various genres, lengths and topics. Some were juicy novels that took me TOO long to finish and others were short mysteries or queer character studies or books of poems. Many I chose myself, and a few my beloved book club selected.
But before I share my favorite reads of the year, I want to share some other data points that probably only I will find interesting.
My 2023 reading stats
Reading goal: 30 books
Total books read: 48
Fiction books: 31
Nonfiction books: 17
Books I did not finish: 4
Books written by women + nonbinary authors: 41
Books written by BIPOC authors: 12
Assessing the types of books I read helps me notice patterns: What do I enjoy? Which authors am I supporting? This kind of data helps me better predict what I’ll like in the future and also reveals blind spots. All good info to have! For someone who never took a statistics class, I sure do love data.
My favorite novels of 2023
10 - Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt (2022)
Sweet. Smart. Unexpected. I gobbled up this adorable book and fell in love with many characters along the way. This novel focuses on a 70-year-old widow named Tova who works as a cleaning woman at an aquarium in Washington state. The story is about aging, grief, loneliness, connections to animals, connections to other people (genetically and otherwise), and friendship.
9 - Maame, Jessica George (2023)
I really enjoyed Jessica George’s debut novel which follows Maddie Wright, a Ghanian Brit who is caught between the duty of caring for her father and her desire to grow up and experience life. I was captivated and enjoyed remembering the pain, agony, excitement, fear and pressure of being 25. The book is about resentment, family obligations, innocence, growing up too fast, traditions, racism, growing up, and the power of names. Beautifully done.
8 - Old Enough, Haley Jakobson (2023)
This premiere novel from Haley Jakobson started a bit clunky but once it revved up, I couldn’t put it down. Sort of a queer The Secret Life of College Girls, it’s about young adulthood, queerness, consent, friendship, and what it means to be a survivor. The dialogue zips and feels real. The characters are dynamic and charming. I loved it. Oh and a strong TW for sexual assault and transphobia.
7 - Olga Dies Dreaming, Xóchitl González (2022)
I absolutely adored Olga Dies Dreaming, written by Xóchitl González. The story follows Olga, a Puerto Rican New Yorker who works as a wedding planner but feels unfulfilled and depressed thanks to a family history of trauma, abandonment, and lots of secrets (especially with her brother). This book is political. It’s informative. It’s heart-wrenching. And it’s beefy! From themes of loyalty, manipulation, and what it means to be family, to how colonialism and gentrification affect power…it’s a lot. But I loved every word.
6 - Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus (2022)
Lessons in Chemistry is a charming, clever, insightful story about sexism, science, family, and grief. I so enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth Zott and her modge-podged family. The book's tone is a beautiful balance of irreverent humor and serious injustice, gracefully shifting between the two at just the right moments. Have you watched the show on Apple+? I thought it started out strong but then got kind of boring? Also didn’t love the casting (minus Brie Larson, of course).
5 - Yellowface, R.F. Kuang (2023)
This book had me fuming, raging, arguing with the narrator, and straight-up breaking out in hives. I don’t want to give anything away, but I REALLY enjoyed this book. It’s giving Aronofsky’s Black Swan in the literary world. It includes themes of appropriation, envy, art, publishing, performative activism, frenemies, craft/process, and capitalism. Chilling.
“Of course I have my detractors. The more popular a book becomes, the more popular it becomes to hate on said book, which is why revulsion for Rupi Kaur’s poetry has become a millennial personality trait.”
4 - Big Swiss, Jen Beagin (2023)
Unhinged. Hilarious. Bizarre. Unsettling. Sexy. Big Swiss is…I don’t even know what this book is - and yet, I have a soft spot for unreliable, messy-ass, complicated characters and narrators and oooof does this deliver. The story takes place in Hudson, New York and follows Greta, a 45-year-old transcriptionist for a sex therapist who becomes enamored and obsessed with a patient she nicknames Big Swiss. Bizarre, brash, unsettling, vivid…this book centers around the themes of abandonment, mental illness, class, sexuality, addiction, friendship, privacy, and loneliness. CW for suicide.
“She never claimed an identity for the same reason she’d never gotten tattoos: she couldn’t imagine settling on anything.”
3 - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin (2022)
What a gorgeous book. Great storytelling. A+ character development. Beautiful, yet unpretentious writing. Dynamic characters who you root for but who are also deeply flawed and often wrong. The book follows a pair of best friends as they co-create, co-struggle, co-argue and co-everything else. Art. Medical trauma. Video games. Romance. Betrayal. This story has it all. As my friend Kristyn Hodgdon said in her review, “I may have set the bar too high with book 1 of 2023. This was an 11 out of 10.”
2 - Shark Heart, Emily Halbeck (2023)
This beautiful, bizarre book cracked my heart in half. I should have seen it coming though. It has all the shared qualities of my favorite books: magic realism, romance and tragedy/trauma interspersed with humor/levity. Without giving too much away, this book is about caretaking, love, art, transformation/evolution and grief. It asks questions like: Is there such a thing as soulmates? What does it mean to be part human and part animal? And how can we possibly say goodbye to those we KNOW and who know us back? I loved it.
“Lewis realized he did not fear death but grief, the ache of being alone and mangled by change.”
1 - The Guest, Emma Cline (2023)
My first step into an Emma Cline world and I was crawling out of my skin with anxiety over what would happen to its protagonist, Alex. Not because she was so fabulous, but because she was delusional and disassociated which made the tension absolutely wild. Every interaction was impossible to predict. It was a trip to experience life through the eyes of a character so fundamentally different than myself. Themes of class and belonging and power and accountability and mental health. It was weird and brilliant and depressing and true and I loved it. Chills all the way through. Gotta warn you: the reviews are divisive. I’m an Emma Cline stan though. Respect.
My 3 favorite non-fiction reads of 2023
The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control, Katherine Morgan Schafler (2023)
My sister gifted me this book and - not gonna lie - I had some very defensive feelings about receiving it. But then I started actually reading it and holy reframe has this book been helpful. I had A-HA moments on every page. I recommend this for anyone who identifies as a perfectionist or feels compelled to preface statements with a phrase like, “As a recovering perfectionist...” Stop it now. Grab a highlighter. Get this book.
“We so effortlessly acknowledge perfection in children, nature, our best friends - but we deny perfection in ourselves as grown women because what would happen if we didn’t need to add anything to ourselves? What would happen if we understood deeply that we’re not broken, we’re whole? That we’ve always been whole.”
Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, Virginia Sole-Smith (2023)
This was a tough but important read (which I knew before I began because Aubrey Gordon and Emily Oster BOTH have blurbs on the back). Journalist Virginia Sole-Smith exposes the continuous onslaught of fatphobia and body shaming comments and opinions that kids face every day at school, at sports, online and at home.
I am constantly challenging myself to unlearn the lessons that society taught me: smaller is better, thinner is prettier, perfectionism is holy. But retraining my brain is challenging and Sole-Smith methodically shows us why. Because while the concept that being fat isn’t bad and that it’s ok to take up space and that every human is worthy of respect, dignity and safety regardless of their size or abilities, there are SO MANY messages we face every day that tell us otherwise.
My favorite part: she offers concrete strategies and scripts on how parents can change the conversation about weight, health and self-worth when talking to both thin children and fat children. HIGHLY recommend for parents and also for anyone with a body.
“Find ways to say ‘Your body is not your value’ as often as possible. Point out the lack of body diversity and weight discrimination when you see it. Keep saying clearly and out loud that her body isn’t a measure of her worth as a human.”
Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs and Claim Your Sovereignty, Mara Glatzel (2023)
As a Mara Glatzel superfan, I'd been anticipating the release of this book before it was even written. Mara's voice is kind, honest, compassionate and grounded. Somehow she is both idealistic and realistic all at once. She understands the societal and structural limitations we place on ourselves that make it borderline-impossible to meet our own needs - AND YET - this book and her words serve as a reminder of how we absolutely must prioritize this work if we wish to have strong relationships with ourselves and the people we love. My copy of this book is covered in highlights and notes to myself in the margins. It will sit by my bed and be a physical reminder of how we are all needy and that's what makes us human.
What were your favorite books of the year? I’m looking to update my TBR list!
i've never read emma cline. i need to. the sex therapist book sounds fantastic. these are all great blurbs.