I read 410 books this year. Here are 20 of my favorites.
Disclaimer: Don't compare yourself to me. I'm nuts. Just take the recs and run.
Hello! I read a lot of books last year, and I want to share my favorites. Let’s start with a disclaimer because it’s impossible to be proud of yourself online without inciting discourse:
I read 410 books in 2023. I do not think you are inferior for reading less, I really don’t!!!! In 2022, I read 390 books. In 2021, I read 12. If you read anything at all, I’m proud of you. I am not normal. This is not something I’d recommend. But it’s what makes me happy, and I like sharing the things I love, so I’m going to. I’ve written about how I read so much here, and I shared some of my favorite reads from 2022 here.
You can follow me on Goodreads and Storygraph where I log everything I read and want to read. You can also follow me on Instagram where I review and share my favorite moments from each book.
Anyway, I gave some 70ish books a five-star rating this year. I picked my ten favorites based on nothing scientific at all, just vibes. I gave them hyperspecific superlatives, too, rather than summaries/reviews, because that’s fun to me! They are not ranked. If you’re reading this via email, you’re gonna want to click “view entire message.” OK here’s what you came for:
Objectively my favorite book of the year but I’m not recommending it DO NOT SAY I RECOMMENDED IT but if you read it please DM me:
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Best sci-fi series that I had to watch at least five video essays about to fully understand and then like five more just because it was so fun:
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Best short book that launched an obsession with an author:
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Most emotional book that ruined me as a 29-year-old and would have slaughtered me as a teenager:
Most annoying but relatable narrator // Best recommendation from a NYT trend piece:
Most heart-wrending non-fiction that changed the way I see the world:
We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian
Best use of multi-media // Most engaging thriller:
Highest rated on Goodreads // Most likely to make you say “I wish I read this years ago but I’m still so glad I picked it up now”:
Best horror // Best vampire cult:
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
Best sci-fi/fantasy that has been accused of being “heavy-handed” but if it’s so heavy-handed why are some of y’all still not getting it??:
WE HAVE A TIE!!!!!!
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adeiji-Brenyah
Most likely to remind me of how much I love writing and always will:
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
Best book to go viral online this year:
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar
Best classic that I know for a fact George Santos hasn’t read:
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Best audiobook that I started listening to only to stop and run to the bookstore and buy a copy so I could highlight the heck out of it:
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Best book I should have read in high school that astounded me as an adult for its sheer force of empathetic journalism:
Best depiction of depression // Best new entry in the sad girl canon:
Most comforting // Most sticky tabs used while annotating:
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Best book I read in the setting in which it took place (New Orleans!!) and thus got into my brain where it will stay forever:
Most unexpected because I usually don’t like YA or historical fantasy or when people try to write about what it’s like to be a journalist but here it is on my favorites list:
If you care, I’ve linked out to all of these on my Bookshop storefront. If you buy from these links, I’ll get a little comish, as will your local bookstore!! And Jeff Bezos WON’T.
I also made a list of every book I gave five stars in 2023 and just… took a screenshot of the google doc because why not! Here it is.
OK love you (platonically) bye. <3
Love this list and the heavy disclaimer. Keep on reading like a freak!
Slayyy thank you for this