The Books I Read in 2023

Every year, I challenge myself to read a certain number of books. I used to set my goal around thirty, but I read over fifty books in both 2021 and 2022, so this year, I set my goal at forty.

Once again, I read over fifty. Fifty-six, to be exact.

While used to provide a short summary and review of each book, no one wants to read (and I don’t want to write) fifty-six book reports. So this year, I’ll give you the Top 10 Books I Read in 2023 before posting the whole list.

10. Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir

An astronaut wakes up next to two dead bodies on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or what he’s supposed to do.

9. The End of the World Running Club

Adrian J. Walker

A meteor shower has destroyed most of the northern hemisphere. Separated from his wife and children, a reluctant father has to traverse the ravaged landscape of the British Isles on foot if he’s to make it to the last escape boat and find his family again.

8. Fates & Furies

Lauren Groff

A profound exploration of the complexities of marriage told over a span of twenty-four years. The narrative is split into two parts, with the first half presenting the husband’s perspective as a privileged actor-turned-playwright, and the second half revealing the wife’s side of the story, gradually uncovering the hidden layers and secrets of their lives

7. A Market of Dreams & Destiny

Trip Galey

The story takes place in the Untermarket, a magical bazaar beneath 19th-century London where fate and fortunes are traded. The protagonist is a human apprentice sold to a powerful merchant of the Untermarket. His life takes a dramatic turn when he crosses paths with a runaway princess desperate to sell her destiny and with an indentured servant whose handsomeness and lack of guile are too much for him to ignore.

6. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Shannon Chakraborty

Set against the backdrop of the medieval Islamic world, this rollicking story follows Amina al-Sirafi, a formidable former pirate and ship’s captain. After retiring to a peaceful life of piety and motherhood, Amina is drawn back into adventure when she is hired to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a late friend.

5. The Light Pirate

Lilly Brooks-Dalton

Set in a future that is deeply affected by climate change, the narrative unfolds in four parts, each reflecting the rhythms of the elements and the disintegration of the known world. The story centers around Wanda, a young girl born in a Florida hurricane. As the sea levels rise, the storms surge, and the infrastructure collapses, the U.S. government decides to abandon the state, and Wanda’s story evolves into a sweeping tale of survival, resilience, and the challenges of navigating a rapidly changing and often brutal world.

4. When Women Were Dragons

Kelly Barnhill

A speculative fiction novel set in an alternative history of the U.S. during the 1950s, the story revolves around a unique phenomenon known as the “Mass Dragoning of 1955,” where hundreds of thousands of women, burdened by grievances and persecution, spontaneously transform into dragons and fly away, leaving physical and emotional destruction in their wake.

3. A Thousand Ships

Natalie Haynes

A reimagining of the Trojan War, A Thousand Ships retells the ancient tale from the perspectives of 25 mortal and immortal women. The book gives voice to various women, including goddesses, nymphs, princesses, queens, and slaves, whose lives, loves, and rivalries were deeply affected by the long and tragic war.

2. M: Son of the Century

Antonio Scurati

The first book in a planned quartet of novels about Benito Mussolini, this epic historical novel delves into the birth and rise of fascism in Italy. The narrative is rich in historical details and interweaves period documents and sources with the author’s creative interpretation of Mussolini’s mind, exploring the seductive power of nationalism and the development of authoritarianism in Italy.

1. Barkskins

Annie Proulx

A historical fiction novel that begins in the late 17th century, following the lives of two young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, who arrive in New France (Canada). They become woodcutters, known as ‘barkskins’, in exchange for land from a feudal lord. The novel spans over 300 years, tracing the family lineages of Duquet and Sel and exploring their descendants’ lives as they navigate the complexities of survival and identity in a changing world. The story also encompasses the broader theme of deforestation, from the era of European colonization to the contemporary concerns of global warming.

The Complete List

Here are the rest of the books I read (or listened to) this year. They are listed in the order I read them, and I’ve bolded the ones I recommend.

  1. Drunk On All Your Strange New Words, by Eddie Robson
  2. The Fires, by Sigríður Hagelín Björnsdóttir
  3. Death Wins A Goldfish: Reflections from a Grim Reaper’s Yearlong Sabbatical, by Brian Rea
  4. Future Home of a Living God, by Louise Erdich
  5. The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard
  6. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, by Roshani Chokshi
  7. Hypercapitalism, by Larry Gonick
  8. Meru, by S.B. Sivya
  9. Ducks: Two Years in The Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton
  10. Your Black Friend and Other Strangers, by Ben Passmore
  11. A Gift for a Ghost, by Borja Gonzalez
  12. Good Morning, Midnight, by Lilly Brooks-Dalton
  13. Sing, Nightingale, by Marie Hélène Poitras
  14. Walk the Vanished Earth, by Erin Swan
  15. The Dreams of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977, by Adrienne Rich
  16. Stone Blind, by Natalie Haynes
  17. The Uninhabitable Earth, by David Wallace-Wells
  18. Rose/House, by Arkady Martine
  19. Dragon’s Egg, by Robert L. Forward
  20. The Celts: A Very Short Introduction, by Barry Cunliffe
  21. The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli
  22. Flight of the Puffin, by Ann Braden
  23. Meet Us By The Roaring Sea, by Akil Kumarasamy
  24. The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, & The Refounding of America, by Noah Feldman
  25. Skinny Legs & All, by Tom Robbins
  26. God’s Bankers: A History of Money & Power at the Vatican, by Gerald Posner
  27. What Never Happened, by Rachel Howzell Hall
  28. The Afterlives, by Thomas Pierce
  29. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas: An American Slave, by Frederick Douglas
  30. Slow Time Between the Stars, by John Scalzi
  31. Forty Signs of Rain, by Kim Stanley Robinson
  32. Fifty Degrees Below, by Kim Stanley Robinson
  33. Sixty Days and Counting, by Kim Stanley Robinson
  34. Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark
  35. Hall of Small Mammals, by Thomas Pierce
  36. Deadlands, by Victoria Miluch
  37. How To Stop Time, by Matt Haig
  38. The Free People’s Village, by Sim Kern
  39. The Village Healer’s Book of Cures, by Jennifer Sherman Roberts
  40. Don’t Say A Thing: A Predator, A Pursuit, and the Women Who Persevered, by Tamara Leitner
  41. The Hanging City, by Charlie N. Holmberg
  42. World Within A Song, by Jeff Tweedy
  43. Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis, by Cynthia Nicoletti
  44. Scorpio, by Marko Kloos
  45. Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldtree
  46. The Nix, by Nathan Hill

And that’s it: 56 books and 15,181 pages read in 2023.

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