2023 Books

It's been a while since I've posted my reading list, but I decided I like remembering what I've read when, so I'm gonna try starting it up again now.

As I'm typing up this list, I'm noticing that there are quite a few re-reads this year, mostly because I felt a need at the time for something that was uplifting or hopeful.  Sigh. As in the previous few years, a lot of fantasy, primarily by women authors.

Here's what I've read in 2023.  As always, * for recommended, X for avoid.

• Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
• Normal People - Sally Rooney; enjoyed it, but it felt a little...normal
  
• The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco; I enjoyed it a lot.  Really interesting to read about the minutiae of Christian doctrine that can lead to wildly different expectations of human behavior, depending on interpretation.  But it may not be for everybody.
  
• The Chosen and the Beautiful - Nghi Vo; I really enjoyed this re-imagining of The Great Gatsby.  It's got the mildest touch of fantasy or possibly magical realism to it.  Told from the point of view of Jordan Baker, who turns out, in this rendition, to be Asian, adopted as a small child by a wealthy family.  I'll let you imagine where this could go in the context of upper class Roaring 20's society.
  
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald; Had to re-read this to compare with the Chosen and the Beautiful.
  
• Beowulf; I still don't get it.
• *Uprooted and Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik; Greatly enjoyed these YA fantasy stories, subversion of Fairy Tale genre.  I'd read Spinning Silver a few years ago, enjoyed it a lot and felt like I needed some upliftment, so re-read it.  So glad I did.
  
• Dune - Frank Herbert;  Finally got around to reading it for the first time.  By rights I ought to have loved it, but I really didn't.  I think I found it a little too militaristic or monarchistic or something.  Maybe trying too hard for the Lawrence of Arabia vibe?  I guess I'm not big on the whole Rightful Lord or Prophesied Savior themes.
  
• A Long Petal of the Sea - Isabel Allende; Interesting historical read about the relationship between the Spanish Civil War and migration to Chile, but I didn't love the writing, compared with other of her works
• Trust - Hernan Diaz
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow
• Agent Running in the Field - John le Carre; His last novel published during his lifetime.  Enjoyed it a lot, though it's pretty standard le Carre fare.
• Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado; I didn't actually get through the whole thing, but I think it deserves a mention - it is epically weird and dark...I didn't have the attention span to finish it at the time I was reading it - it requires a bit of thought.
• Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo; I dunno...it was OK...somehow didn't grab me - I'm not big on murder mysteries, and this was more murder mystery than fantasy for my taste. 
  
• Light From Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki; Read it on the recommendation of Donna Minkowitz - enjoyed it a lot.  Very off-beat sci fi featuring a donut-shaped donut stand run by refugee aliens and an AI, as well as a pact with...well...it's never explicitly stated who...to provide virtuoso violin students, with a trans girl autodidact virtuoso violinist whose soul hangs in the balance...
  
• * How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran; I read this a number of years ago - It still holds up.  Absolutely filthy, but such a hilarious, poignant, cringey coming of age story about a nerdy, socially awkward, working class girl.  Let's just say...it's the ultimate in feel good.
• X The Witches - Stacy Schiff; I've always had a bit of a fascination for the Salem witch trials.  This is not the book to read about it - seriously hard to follow.
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare; Needed to read this to cleanse my palate from The Witches
• The Crucible - Arthur Miller; Same
• * Counterfeit - Kirsten Chen; I loved this one - very clever novelized reflection on status, status symbols and imposter syndrome, revolving around the knockoff industry
• Fairest - Gail Carson Levine; She is always good for a feel good experience
• A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah Maas; It was OK...I wasn't super excited about it...not interested enough to pick up the next in the series.  Normally I like the subversion of fairy tales genre (this is essentially the Beauty and the Beast), but it didn't do it for me.
  
• The Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie
• Searching for Sylvie Lee - Jean Kwok (a Hunterite, which I didn't know at the time.)  I enjoyed this one a lot
• * The Book Thief - Markus Zusak;  Loved this one so much.
  
• * Lord of the Flies - William Golding; Felt so relevant
• * Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar; Such a wonderful, humorous, thought provoking call for tolerance.
  
• A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan; This one keeps coming up on lists of books recommended for me, but somehow I didn't love it that much - it was ok, but not fabulous
• The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson; I enjoyed it
• 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith; also a reliably feel-good author 
• Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon; what can I say?  I'm an Outlander groupie.
  
• The Mind's Eye - Oliver Sacks - I think I didn't get through all of it. At some point it felt a little too close to home for my aging body :-)
• X She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker Chan; it was an interesting premise that just didn't end up working for me - sort of an east Asian Yentl with an Ayn Rand vibe. I think you could safely skip this.
  
• Precious - Sapphire - liked it a lot
• * The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker; I'd read it a number of years ago and loved it.  Needed some feel good, so read it again.  It still works magic.
• * The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar; This one was a bit of a surprise for me but I really enjoyed it
• The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins; I'd read The Hunger Games a number of years ago, but never read the others.  Sooooo dark.  Enjoyed them a lot, though I feel like they are intended, among other things as a critique of "coastal elites." 
• * Hench - Natalie Zina Walschots; loved, loved. loved this one.  So snarky.  Such a great parody of corporate life, and the personality-driven culture of our modern tech companies.
  
• The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls (who apparently overlapped with me at Barnard) - I enjoyed it.  Some things felt very familiar - growing up with parents who really didn't get the concept of parenting.
  
• Down the River unto the Sea - Walter Mosely (who I checked out on the recommendation of Joanne Sutera) - I enjoyed it a lot - very thought provoking
• The Comedians - Graham Greene; Very thought provoking novel on life in Haiti under Papa Doc Duvalier
• * Olga Dies Dreaming - Xochitl Gonzalez; This one felt sooo familiar in many ways - life as a child of parents with a Cause
• * Afterlife - Julia Alvarez - a very moving novelized reflection on grief and also living with family drama
• Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad; I found it interesting
• Enchantress of Numbers - Jennifer Chiaverini; I don't love the writing, but the story of Ada Lovelace is necessarily interesting
• Siddhartha - Herman Hesse; Yes, I finally got around to reading it.  I'm sorry, but it feels like it was written by a guy who is very proud of his Big Thoughts.
• The Good Earth - Pearl Buck; Enjoyed it.  I was required to read it the summer before 7th grade - can't imagine what was going on in the teachers' heads.
• Sister Carrie - Theodore Dreiser; This is another one that I was required to read in 8th grade - can't imagine what was going on in the teachers' heads.  What a downer.
• Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata;  enjoyed it... so cringey...neurodivergent woman's reflections on neurotypical people's ways of trying to "fix" her...with a little help from an incel
• Voyage of the Beagle - Charles Darwin; Just started this at the end of the year.  Jury's still out on whether I'm going to finish it - it's so...shopping listy.  I'm not seeing any structure or organization to it.  It's like a stream of consciousness. Many of the things that wash up in Darwin's stream of consciousness are necessarily going to be interesting, but really, the format doesn't help me understand much.