Authors share their favorite reads of 2023 and most anticipated books of 2024 (Pt. 2 of 4)
As I was putting together my Top 10 Reads of 2023, I wondered what the writers of those books–and other writers–enjoyed reading last year. And I thought the readers of this blog would probably be interested to learn that too. So I contacted a few dozen writers and asked them if they would share up to five favorite books from 2023 and five books they’re looking forward to reading this year (preferably those being published this year). I received so many responses that I’ve decided to share them in two posts, one today and another later this week.
Part 2 features a baker’s dozen of wonderful writers: Shannon Bowring, Amanda Churchill, Cristina Garcia, Lisa Gornick, Caitlin Hamilton-Summie, Karin Lin-Greenberg, Barbara Linn Probst, Kelly McMasters, Alex Poppe, Colette Sartor, Debra Thomas, Mary Vensel White, and Julie Zuckerman.
Part 3 will be posted on Tuesday, January 16.
You can read Part 1 here.
Shannon Bowring is the author of The Road to Dalton (2023). The sequel, Where the Forest Meets the River, is forthcoming from Europa Editions.
Favorite reads of 2023:
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
Hotel Cuba by Aaron Hamburger
Looking forward to reading:
Bear by Julia Phillips
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl
Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Amanda Churchill is the author of The Turtle House, which will be published by Harper Books on February 20.
Faves from 2023 (just a few… because there are so many!): A History of Burning by Janika Oza, The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, and Shark Heart by Emily Habeck.
And the ones I’m anticipating: Bear by Julia Phillips, The Astrology House by Carinn Jade, Real Americans by Rachel Khong, We Were the Universe by Kimberly King Parsons, and Memory Piece by Lisa Ko.
Cristina Garcia is the author of Dreaming in Cuban (1993), The Aguero Sisters (1997), King of Cuba (2013), and Vanishing Maps (2023), a follow-up to Dreaming in Cuban, among other books.
Here are my 2023 favorites:
Grand Tour by Elisa Gonzalez (debut poetry)
The Apartment by Ana Menéndez (fiction)
Monsters, A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer (non-fiction)
Lisa Gornick is the author of A Private Sorcery (2002), Tinderbox (2013), Louisa Meets Bear: Stories (2015), The Peacock Feast (2019), and Ana Turns (November 2023).
Some favorite books of 2023 (with some favorite quotes from each!)
After the Funeral, Tessa Hadley: “Madame Bovary was my inner life, stirred like rich jam into the blandness of my days.”
Absolution, Alice McDermott: “You said there’s very little good we can do…. But that very little good might be just the thing required to stand against that very little evil—that impulse to turn away.”
The Vulnerables, Sigrid Nunez: “I like the sliver of ice in the heart that Graham Greene thought every writer must have. I have it.”
Secrets of Happiness, Joan Silber: “Missed might not be the right word—I didn’t want his company but wanted his presence in the world.”
Looking forward to reading in 2024
The Cemetery of Untold Stories, Julia Alvarez
Parade, Rachel Cusk
On Giving Up, Adam Phillips
Leaving, Roxana Robinson
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, Helen Simonson
Caitlin Hamilton-Summie is the author of Geographies of the Heart (2022) and To Lay to Rest Our Ghosts: Stories (2017).
If I had to pick my favorite book that I read in 2023, it would be Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (2020). Why this novel? Because it is inventive, brave (imagining an alternative history for a public figure is brave), beautifully written, and smart. In re-imagining a Hillary Clinton who left Bill and forged her own path independently, it was also a reminder that we women don’t need coattails.
What I hope to read in 2024 follows, a mix of books I’ve heard about, friends have suggested, or which remain in my towering TBR pile:
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan, about a housewife in Malaysia who becomes a spy in WWII.
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, an historical novel about identifying the scribe of an ancient Jewish document.
Sisters in Law (nonfiction) by Linda Hirshman, about Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg serving on the Supreme Court.
The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan. In the 1960’s a thief and the man sent to find her end up on the same train, in the same compartment.
Over by the River and Other Stories by William Maxwell. I met him once at Bread Loaf. I love his work. I can’t wait to read this.
Karin Lin-Greenberg is the author of You Are Here (2023), Vanished: Stories (2022), which won the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, and Faulty Predictions: Stories (2014), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
Here are some favorites from 2023. I feel kind of bad that two of them are big-name books that everyone probably already knows about, but they were my favorite reads of the year!
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: I loved pretty much everything about this book, but I was especially drawn to the passages about creativity and making things. I put off reading this book for a while because I didn’t think I’d be interested in a novel about video games, but that was foolish of me; this book is about so much more than that (and I even found the parts about video games to be fascinating!).
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka: This book made me think a lot about point of view and how it can be used thoughtfully and effectively in novels. I admired Otsuka’s choice of first-person plural point of view in the first part of this book to depict a group of swimmers who regularly exercise at the same underground pool in New York City and then her shift to second-person in the latter half of the book to tell the story of Alice, one of the swimmers who is dealing with dementia.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: My favorite books are ones in which readers can inhabit multiple perspectives, which helps to paint a fuller picture of all the characters. I loved reading about the Padavano sisters in this book and the connections and disconnections between this family throughout the years.
Roaming by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki: The illustrations in this graphic novel are lovely, and I found myself stopping and just staring at many of the pages. This book does a fantastic job of capturing what it feels like to be young and to have the world feel like it’s full of opportunity, adventure, and mystery.
As for 2024 reading, I tend to not plan out what I’ll read but rather see what I encounter in bookstores and libraries and what’s recommended to me by other readers and writers.
Barbara Linn Probst is the author of Queen of the Owls (2020), The Sound Between the Notes (2021), and The Color of Ice (2022).
As I try to select some of my favorite reads of 2023, I can’t help noticing that they’re all quieter and more contemplative novels. I guess the official word is “literary.” By that I mean: gorgeously written, blending story and voice. As a reader, I need both.
Some (like A Little Hope and We Begin at the End) have multiple narrators—a structure I don’t always like, but ended up loving in these novels because that was exactly how the story needed to be told.
Some (like Tom Lake and Fresh Water for Flowers) span decades; others (like We All Want Impossible Things) have a tighter frame. Yet they are all, I think, about people yearning to be good. To be true to oneself while also doing right by others. To be a friend.
The characters in these novels are struggling with questions that matter: “How shall I live?” and “What kind of person do I want to be?” and “How can I be my best self?” There are no simple answers to these questions, so the endings of these books are a bit open, bittersweet, or both. They give space for the reader to ask herself those questions, too.
In no special order:
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (2023)
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (2023)
A Little Hope by Ethan Joella (2021)
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin (2021)
We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker (2022)
As I look to 2024, I’m sure I will discover many new want-to-read novels as the year progresses. For now, these three top my must-read list. Yup, the same kind of novels. Beautifully crafted, about characters I want to spend time with.
Mercury by Amy Jo Burns (2024)
Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024)
Go As a River by Shelley Read (2023)
Kelly McMasters is the author of Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from Atomic Town (2008) and The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays (2023), and co-editor with Margot Kahn of This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home (2017) and Wanting: Women Writing About Desire (2023).
I had so much fun looking back at some of my favorite reads of 2023. There are so many (what a banner year for books!), but here are a few I didn’t get to say enough about.
The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos by Jamie Green: One of my favorite reads of the year is Green’s gorgeous, zany, brilliant romp through space—and our human heart.
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyan Woo: A masterful biography/love story tracing one couple’s incredible escape from slavery. On everyone’s list, for a reason.
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush: One of our best nature journalists reporting real-time while on an icebreaker in Antarctica; themes of motherhood, isolation, community, and environmental crisis are latticed with hauntingly beautiful prose.
To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories by Sarah Viren: I would read anything Viren writes—her essays are consistently blisteringly brilliant, and this book asks questions about identity and truth that are so big my brain still hurts…in the best way.
When My Mother is Most Beautiful by Rebecca Suzuki: A slim, powerful collection of poetry, flash, essay, and translation that defies definition, yet blends together to tell a haunting story of familial ties, intergenerational loss, and the power of language. A gorgeous debut from a writer to watch.
It’s been a slow and boggy start to 2024, but building this list made me excited to get the year going!
This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended My Marriage and Started My Life by Lyz Lenz: I’ve been looking forward to this memoir/manifesto since I first found out about it; I’m a religious reader of this firebrand’s Substack Men Yell At Me, and I expect this book to be as reliably tough, brainy, and hilarious as her newsletter missives and previous books.
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib: Basketball and 1990’s Columbus? Yes, please. If I could only read one book in 2024, I might choose this one, simply because it is sure to be magic from first page to last and I can’t wait to see how this poet/essayist genius (no, really, they have a MacArthur) bends form and genre.
Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil: Anyone who has read her World of Wonders knows the care and beauty this writer brings to every line. I can’t wait to see what she does with food, one of my favorite subjects.
We Loved it All: A Memory of Life by Lydia Millet: I am a huge Millet fan—Oh Pure and Radiant Heart is one of my favorite books EVER—and her novels always feel urgent and weird and otherworldly. Millet’s ghostly essay “Elegy for an Altered Planet” for The New York Times (easily the best story they published all year, IMHO) was wrapped in her usual ethereal strangeness and play, and I can’t wait to see what she brings us with her first nonfiction book.
Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against the Apocalypse by Emily Raboteau: Working at the intersection of parenting, climate, race, and landscape, Raboteau’s writing is searching and imaginative, sharp and gentle, terrifying and full of awe. This will be one to savor.
Alex Poppe is the author of Girl, World: Stories (2017), Moxie (2019), Jinwar and Other Stories (2022), and Duende (2022).
Books I Loved in 2023
The Postcard by Anne Berest: I was drawn to the sense of mystery as the narrator worked to unravel family secrets. This book was so enthralling that I blew off going to a concert on the night a surprise tornado hit Tulsa. Since I would have been walking home or taking an Uber when it hit, I can say this book saved my life.
Stealing by Margaret Verble: I love Kit, the young girl narrator. The voice is authentic, focused, clear-eyed, and honest. I could see her being friends with Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Day by Michael Cunningham: Such gorgeous use of language. Every sentence is a masterpiece.
Books I Look Forward to Reading
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair: This book came out in Oct. 2023, but I have not had a chance to read it. I am drawn to memoirs, especially of different cultures. Plus, the author is a poet, so I know there will be a gorgeous use of language.
The Women by Kristin Hannah: I am drawn to coming-of-age stories, especially when they are backdropped by war or conflict. This novel focuses on young American women serving in Viet Nam.
Colette Sartor is the author of Once Removed: Stories (2019), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
Favorites of last year — These are the books I read this year that made me laugh, cry, think, grieve, and even rejoice, sometimes all at once. They’re all books I know I will revisit.
I, Caravaggio by Eugenio Volpe
Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
These are just a few of the slew of 2024 releases that I can’t wait to read:
Everything Nothing Someone by Alice Carrière
The Hunter by Tana French
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey
Debra Thomas is the author of Luz (2020) and Josie and Vic (2023).
Five Best Books in 2023
Books that made me think while reading—and kept me thinking long after.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt: A beautiful story that upholds my belief that we are all connected—and by “we” I don’t mean just humans. One of my all-time favorite characters this year, a most exceptional octopus named Marcellus.
Those People Behind Us by Mary Camarillo: I felt like I was reading an Elizabeth Strout novel, with characters so real that I wondered if she was writing about my neighbors. I particularly liked how her diverse characters managed to connect despite differences.
Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins: A sweeping novel about a rancher and his family during World War II, their central California ranch and the battle for water, and the building of Manzanar internment camp right next to their ranch. Fascinating characters who stayed with me long after I closed the book.
Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai: Multiple points of view that convey in a balanced and nuanced manner the tragic effect of war on all involved—traumatized Vietnam Vet returning decades later to find the woman and child he left behind; the Vietnamese sisters who became “bar girls” to survive; orphaned son of a Black American soldier and Vietnamese woman, rejected in his own country, searching for his father in hopes of a better life; a former South Vietnamese soldier now tour guide for Americans, suppressing his underlying anger and resentment.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: Liked it so much after reading, I listened to the audiobook a few months later (narrated by Meryl Streep) and enjoyed it even more. Knowing the secrets added layers of meaning the second time through.
Books I Plan to Read in 2024
How the Light Gets In by Joyce Maynard: This is a sequel to Count the Ways (2021), which I read recently and enjoyed. It follows the protagonist, Eleanor, from her fifties to age seventy, all against a backdrop of the cultural and political events in our country, right up to 2024. (Her novel The Bird House was also a 2023 favorite read of mine, as well as Count the Ways.)
The Women by Kristin Hannah: Since I was an ICU nurse long ago, I’m very interested in reading this novel about a nurse who joins the Army Nurse Corp and serves in Vietnam.
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl: A few months ago, I started reading this wondrous collection of essays and musings about the natural world (and so much more). But I decided to begin again in January 2024 as it’s written in 52 chapters, one for each week, over the four seasons beginning with winter. Renkl is a beloved and esteemed opinion writer for The New York Times.
Unsolaced by Gretel Ehrlich: A bookend to her earlier work that I loved, The Solace of Open Spaces (1985), about her years living in Wyoming herding sheep and cattle. Her connection to nature, her reflections and epiphanies were captivating. I discovered this newer work of hers (2021) and am now a few chapters in—once again enjoying her unique experiences and stunning writing. In Annie Dillard’s words, “Wyoming has found its Whitman.”
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry: I’ve always wanted to read more of his poetry. Since I am working on a novel about our iconic Wild Mustangs and volunteering at a local sanctuary with rescued Mustangs and donkeys, I was drawn to this poetry collection because of his famous (and my favorite) poem, which serves as the book’s title. I can’t wait to dive in and read more by this great American poet who has lived on a farm in Kentucky for decades.
Mary Vensel White is the author of Things to See in Arizona (2023), Starling (2022), Bellflower (2019), and The Qualities of Wood (2014).
My favorite reads of 2023:
The book I recommended the most this year was a classic that’s a classic for a reason: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. This layered, short novel about a woman nearing the end of her life and a summer spent with her six-year-old granddaughter on an island in the gulf of Finland is delightful and wise and heartwarming/breaking.
Two of my favorite books of the year came from the same indie publisher, Regal House Publishing. Which means I’ll be seeking out a book or two for my to-read pile from their new releases (no, I don’t work for them, but appreciate the efforts of small presses!).
Magdalena by Candi Sary is a wholly unique ghost story that manages to be a suspenseful and creepy read while doling out universal wisdom and exploring the depths of human longing. A read that will stay with you.
The characters in Lisa Cupolo’s collection, Have Mercy on Us, come from a diverse spectrum, live across the globe, and yet all become absolutely relatable due to the author’s ability to write characters that walk into her stories fully formed. And she’s a master of subtle and not-so-subtle plot twists, too.
For 2024, the books I’m most looking forward to reading are:
Splinters by Leslie Jamieson – a memoir about motherhood and in the author’s words, the “difference between the story of love and the texture of living it.”
Our Strangers by Lydia Davis – this new collection from Davis has been on my shelf since it came out, but I’ve been saving it for the right time.
Touch by Olaf Olafsson – a 2022 novel from another favorite writer. A book that “delves into the secrets of the past to explore the hidden lives we all possess.” Also waiting for the right time to read and savor!
I often bemoan the fact that we don’t read enough Katherine Anne Porter anymore. She’s a master of the short story, and it’s a crime that I’ve never read (or don’t remember reading) her novel, Ship of Fools. So that’s on my absolutely-must-read list.
Looking forward to the story collection by Nina Schuyler, In This Ravishing World. It’s an award-winner, including the Prism Prize for Climate Literature.
And I’d be remiss not to mention a book coming out in April from my own indie press, Type Eighteen Books: The Swan Harp by Elizabeth Creith. This fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy, was inspired by a 500+-year old ballad about two sisters in love with the same man. The author has framed her story to focus on the third, seldom-mentioned sister—in her novel, Kiar, middle daughter of the king of Valenia, a human kingdom, and Queen Tianis of the swanfolk. Elizabeth is publishing her first novel a little later in life, which should be an inspiration for all of us!
Julie Zuckerman is the author of The Book of Jeremiah: A Novel in Stories (2019), the runner-up for the 2018 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction.
The Postcard by Anne Berest: In 2003, the author’s mother received an anonymous postcard — on the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris, and on the back, someone had written the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents and two of their children, all killed at Auschwitz. I loved the hybrid nature of this book — interspersed with the author’s quest to uncover who’d sent the postcard, there are fictional elements, in that she imagines and breathes life into her long-deceased relatives, as well as an exploration of figuring out her own feelings towards her people.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: The new, wonderful, multi-generational epic is well worth your time. Set in Kerala, along the southwest coast of India, the 736-page novel follows several storylines eventually woven into one. The sweeping novel tackles wide-ranging subjects including the caste system; British imperialism; Indian history, geography, art, and politics; illness, disability, and compassion; and more.
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett: Patchett’s magnificent collection of essays should be required reading for all readers and writers, for all humans. She is a model of how to be gracious and live our lives.
Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain: The throughline in this debut short story collection is the bruised landscape of Appalachia in western Pennsylvania, with stories featuring fishermen, hunters, loggers, men who spend their time in dive bars and hunting camps, men who are “busy all the time with hammering and sawing, soldering and drilling, patching and painting.” What shined through these stories for me was the unexpected tenderness; even as the characters struggle to survive, they take care of one another, never forgetting their duties and sense of community. I immediately wanted to go out and buy this collection for all my friends who teach fiction, because each story is so well-crafted.
Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen: This novel caught my eye due to an algorithm, which obviously got it right, as I loved this book. The novel is more than a heartwarming story about a grieving young widower and a determined girl; it contains nature, trees, birds, gold, a library that is so run down it is literally falling to pieces, and a cast of colorful, quirky characters. P.S. Narrator Josh Bloomberg delivered a perfect performance for the audiobook, so if you’re an audiobook listener, definitely get the audio version of this one!
Still Life by Sarah Winman: The book begins in Tuscany at the end of World War II, with an encounter between two Brits: Ulysses Temper, a young soldier, and Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian trying to salvage paintings from the ruins. The novel follows both Ulysses and Evelyn and their chosen families over the decades, from Tuscany to London and back. If you like books with a large cast of very likeable characters (think Amor Towles) and with beautiful prose (think Maggie O’Farrell), this book is for you.