My 2023 in Books

I can say with authority that my favorite place on earth is my living room couch, on a cold, gray New England day, with blanket and dog in my lap, a cup of coffee on the side table.

I read 60 or 70 books this year, and there were more than a handful I did not get through. My list was about 80% fiction, as the world is on fire and I am clearly trying to escape from something. Most of what I read was published in 2023, and none of it was published before 2022. Among my general observations are the following.

1) I have a newfound fondness for Irish writers. This is despite the fact that I have never been able to get through any James Joyce.

2) COVID is a throughline or a subtext in most (maybe all) contemporary fiction now, just as I imagine other cataclysmic historical events (e.g. civil wars, world wars, JFK/MLK assassinations, Trump’s election, the Sox trading Mookie) have been.

3) Most of the books I read are pretty well-known — bestsellers even. I wish I had more patience to seek out the unexpected, but there’s this data point that hangs over my head. The average American female reader finishes 735 books in her lifetime. That is not a lot. I don’t want to waste time, and I have learned to put down a book if it doesn’t engage me. I have no doubt that I am missing out on some great work because of this — especially that which might give me insight into people, places and concepts to whom/which I have never been exposed. It’s a tension for sure.

4) I have not been a short story reader in general, but this year there were a few collections I truly loved. I may have to rethink my position.

5) I’ve traveled all over the world, so I can say with authority that my favorite place on earth is my living room couch, on a cold, gray New England day, with blanket and dog in my lap, a cup of coffee on the side table, reading a book.

I am a library super user. I read e-books almost exclusively now. This does pose a few challenges, but these are outweighed by the ease of borrowing and the fact that I can make the words bigger on the tablet, look up words in an instant, and make notes that are easy to find. There is also an issue with access to e-books being debated in the halls of policy in this moment, which can result in long waiting times for in-demand books. My local library, the august Boston Public Library has a limit (10) on the number of books you can have in your queue on Libby, and a two-week borrowing window, after which they just zap the book and remove it from your device. I was finding that the queue wasn’t keeping up with me. Hoopla is another option, but that selection is pretty limited. So I did a little research, and signed up for a library card with the Fairfax County (Virginia) Libary system, where, for $24 per year, I can borrow e-books from them. They have a 15-book queue limit, and they lend for three weeks. So now my queue is 25 books. Well worth the money! I have also recently learned to love audio books. I only listen while driving, and only non-fiction. It annoys me that I can’t take notes, but at least in the car there is a 15-second reverse button so I can re-listen to a sentence if I need to. It’s definitely a good use of driving time. (I still can’t really do podcasts though. I just don’t get it. And you’d think I would be the target audience.)

Here are my favorite-of-2023 (note I didn’t say “best,” because hubris) lists. I am linking to Bookshop.org because I love the service they provide.

Fiction

I almost didn’t pick up Felicia Berliner’s Shmutz, because it is described as a story about a Hasidic woman struggling with a porn addicition —not my jam. But a recommendation from one of my favorite writers, Jennifer Haigh, convinced me to take a chance. I have no regrets. It’s profane, provocative and absolutely hilarious. And the cover might be the best of the year. Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X might have been the most surprising delight in this batch, and even if it wasn’t a really great story (it was), I would have been completely chuffed by the Connie Converse reference (see my non-fiction list), given my obsession with her this year! These are just two of my ten, and you will find the complete list here.

Non-fiction

There are most definitely a lot of good non-fiction books I missed this year. Here’s my question though: does ANYONE actually read all of them? Or do people just align with the ones that share their world view, read the coverage, watch the television appearances, and become conversant? I don’t understand how anyone has time to read all the must-read books. Regardless, I did read (or listen to) some from which I learned a lot (or affirmed a lot, depending on how indoctrinated you assume me to be). Jill Lepore might be our greatest living essayist, and in The Deadline, I especially enjoyed her chapter on RBG, which forced me to think about the cartoonification of prominent women, as well as the fact that everyone’s favorite liberal superwoman had an abysmal record on diversity. Sobering. Kerry Howley’s Bottoms Up is a terrifying and side splittingly funny take on the very sad case of Reality Winner. And Warren Zanes’ deep dive into Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska is nothing short of a revelation. I learned so much, and I say this as a world-class know-it-all. This year, I spent copious amounts of time telling anyone who would listen (and even some who wouldn’t) about Connie Converse. It was like a part-time job (without pay.) Finally, when I grow up, I want to be a philosopher, just like these women. Here’s my complete list.

Short stories

See #4 above. I don’t know what it is, but books are things I want to invest in, and short stories don’t always feel like an investment. That said, Claire Keegan’s So Late in the Day was sublime, and (other) Irish writer Louise Kennedy’s brilliant debut collection The End of the World is a Cul de Sac finally came out in the states this year, following the success of her truly wonderful debut novel, Trespasses, which came out in 2022. Sidik Fofana, who grew up in Roxbury and graduated from the Boston Public Schools published his debut collection, and it’s a doozy. I heard him speak, and he mentioned that Lorrie Moore was a mentor, which makes more sense than it might appear to make. I can’t wait to read what he writes next. Tessa Hadley rounds out my very short shorts list, which is here.

It was hard to keep to a small list, and the fact that new books by Paul Harding, Bonnie Garman, Jen Beagin, Donal Ryan, Victor LaValle, Ann Patchett and others aren’t here is testament to the fact that it was a good year for contemporary literature. There are also several books I think I will love that I just didn’t get to yet: Michael Cunningham, Lauren Groff, Ed Park, Alice McDermott, Paul Lynch, Sigrid Nunez and Lexi Freiman are all at the top of my pile.

I wish you the happiest of new years, with plenty of time for reading. As I said to a friend about my age yesterday, “There’s not going to be enough time to read all the books, is there?” He replied, “Sadly, no. Or to listen to all the music either.” Indeed. And my Mercy isn’t always helpful, as you can see below.

If you have any book recommendations for me based on my lists, drop a note in the comments. I am always looking for something great to read.

Joyce

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Postscript: some of my other book-related activity in 2023.

I was thrilled this year to be appointed by Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I promise to be a fierce advocate for public libraries, always. Below is a photo of the LG and me after I was sworn in by her. People often ask about the empty frame.

I was also delighted to work with Paul English, Bookshop.org and Electric Literature to found BannedBooksUSA. org, which ships challenged books to Florida for free.

Note: Some of the links here are affiliate links, from which I might earn a few pennies from Bookshop.org if books are sold. Any such pennies will be donated to the MaxCourage, a Boston-based youth writing program. Sidik Fofana is an alum, and I joined their advisory council this year.

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(I have two substacks. There’s this one, where I am going to try to write about anything other than music more often. The other one focuses on music, and has a paid and a free version. The paid version includes all emails, and gives access to the three-year archive. The free version includes emails, but gives access to a few days of the archive.)