I’ve tried to be more considered in my reading this year, only buying new books when I know I’ll love and re-read them and borrowing from the library more often. I also started my substack, Muses on Pages, where I write exclusively about books by female authors and try to pull apart the themes within them which has meant my blog has become a space for reading round-ups and recommendations. These are some of the best books I read in 2023.
Small Worlds – Caleb Azumah Nelson
I loved Nelson’s debut novel, Open Water, and his second book didn’t disapoint. Written in beautiful, lyrical prose Small Worlds is at heart, a love story between Stephen and Del – fellow sixth former and musician – as they navigate their early adulthood, going to university and the pressures of being the children of immigrants. The story goes deeper and tackles Stephen’s difficult relationship with his father, themes of masculinity, home and, indeed, the small world that he occupies with his family and how to contend with that changing. There is repetition in Stephen’s return to music for comfort and connection throughout that hums like a bassline beneath the story.
“We give no goodbyes – we know death in its multitudes, and goodbye sounds like an end – instead, after our embrace, the soft pounding of fists accompanied by, in a bit, which is less a goodbye, more a promise to stay alive.”
Yellowface – Rebecca F Kuang
The book everyone is talking about this year, Yellowface is a thrilling pageturner about a woman unhinged. The premise is simple: Two young authors, rising star Athena Lui and struggling debut novelist Juniper Hayward are celebrating Athena’s latest success when she chokes to death in a freak accident. What follows is a spiral of chaos and lies. Juniper takes Athena’s latest unpublished manuscript and puts her name, or rather her racially ambiguous pseudonym, June Song, to it. The novel plays the lie out in excruciating detail. It’s funny, clever and just when you think the main character can’t get any worse, she does. I wrote a deep-dive into what makes the woman unhinged trope so absorbing over on my substack if you want to read more.
“The night I watch Athena Liu die, we’re celebrating her TV deal with Netflix. And this will become, in time, my story once again.”
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
I read this in the summer but it still holds it’s place as one of my favourite books this year (and probably all time). This genre-bending story about love, creativity and video games draws you into the world of Sadie and Sam as they rekindle a childhood friendship as young adults at college. Their deep and complex friendship sees them to work on their passion for creating video games, alongside Sam’s roommate Marx, and the three grow together as young adults. Sam and Sadie love each other deeply but not equally, not at the same time, and their relationship teeters between friendship and relationship and really speaks to the idea of enduring love.
“The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.”
Damnation Spring – Ash Davidson
Davidson’s debut novel has me excited for what’s to come from her in the future. This is an immersive, sprawling narrative taking you into the heart of a logging community in California’s redwood forests. Rich Gunderson comes from generations of loggers and only wants the best for his wife, Colleen, and son, Chub, so when he is given the opportunity to buy a plot of forest bordering Damnation Grove he can’t turn it down. The price he pays is beyond the debts he accumulates, as the family become the centre of a rift that threatens to tear the community apart. This is both a love story and a story about the kind of future we want to leave for our loved ones. I don’t think I’ve ever read an eco-drama before but I really loved this.
“More of his words came back to her. People think it’s just about trees, or it’s just about fish. By the time they realize it’s about them, it’s too late, you know?”
Black Butterflies – Priscilla Morris
A beautifully moving story about an artist, Zora, during the Siege of Sarajevo. The city is cut off from the outside world, with dwindling access to food, water and eventually communications are cut too. Zora and those around her lose everything and life in Sarajevo, as they knew and loved it, changes beyond recognition yet, somehow, they persist. The novel is based on real stories from the Morris’ own family and the details of life in a war-torn city are so vivid and devastating; zigzagging between streets to avoid snipers in the hills, neighbours banding together to cook on open flames, the ashes of burnt books filling the skies like black butterflies. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book after I finished it, it’s a real story of humanity and hope.
“His absence is like a dull ache in her bones. What she wants right now, more than anything, is to have a hot bath and a stiff whisky, while he rubs her shoulders, and then sits on the closed toilet lid, an ashtray on his lap, keeping her company as she soaks.”
I’d love to know which books you’ve read and loved this year?
