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.

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