My Top 10 Books of 2023
Hi, Happy New Year, and welcome to my first post on my new site! If you're seeing this, it means you're one of the lovely humans who subscribed in support of my writing. Thank you!
This newsletter's content will vary, with personal writing, book talk, recipe sharing and food discussions, travel topics, helpful links, and more, so I hope you'll find something that piques your interest.
Today we're talking books. Specifically, the best books I read this year. I read 52 books in total and out of those, these 10 stood out.
1. Sugar by Bernice McFadden
In my review, I described Sugar as "a novel about what happens when a 20-something sex worker with a rough past decides to move to a small, conservative Arkansas town to start over." It's a story of an unlikely friendship between two women, a small town forced to confront its secrets, and a woman searching for healing and redemption from her past. Sugar is set in the 1950s and held my attention from the first page to the last.
2. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
I usually read a lot of backlist books, but Yellowface is one of a few 2023 releases I read this year. If you hang out in the book world at all, you've probably seen this book—the hype was real. And to me, it was well-deserved. Yellowface is a brilliant satirical novel from the perspective of June Hayward, a white author who steals her Asian friend, Athena's, manuscript after she dies and presents Athena's book as her own. There's a subtle commentary on cultural appropriation, social media and cancel culture, and the dynamics of race. Truly a page-turner, Yellowface is a WILD ride that is so smart and so well done.
3. I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist
Shauna Niequist is a Christian author who writes beautifully about change, curiosity, and the nuances of faith. In I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet, Niequist writes a series of essays about her journey with grief, big life changes, the beauty of hospitality and friendship, disappointment, heartbreak, and more.
Honestly, I think this book was so monumental for me because it validated what I was starting to realize around the time I read it; it put words to my new embrace of evaluating old beliefs and the notion that a life of faith often comes with more questions than answers. I admire Shauna's honesty, writing skills, character, and the high value she places on both friendship and family—all of which shined through in this book.
4. Luster by Raven Leilani
Luster is another wild ride, and this book is definitely not for everyone. When I first read the description, I didn't think it was for me. It's a messy story and a great example of what I mean when I talk about millennial girl literary fiction. Here's a little bit of how I described Luster in my review:
"Luster was a raw look at a flailing early twenties life. The main character, Edie, is a young Black woman whose circumstances, desires, needs, and bad decisions lead her into the complicated life of a much older white man. But the book isn't all about their relationship—it also addresses 20-something career and money struggles, unconventional marriage dynamics, race, and class."
If that sounds crazy, that's because it is. I was hooked on this book and couldn't put it down. Luster was such an engrossing book for me, and I loved (and cringed at times) "witnessing" Edie trying to figure out life through the pages.
5. Black Ink by Stephanie Stokes Oliver
If you're a writer, reader, or both like I am, you'd probably love Black Ink as much as I did. Black Ink is an anthology that includes writings from legendary Black writers like W.E.B. Du Bois, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, and many more. It's organized by the time periods the writers lived in and spans over 250 years of history. In each piece included in the anthology, the authors write about the impact reading and writing had on their individual lives and the lives of Black people throughout history. The selections were perfect and incredibly inspiring for me.
6. Old Enough by Haley Jakobson
I always refuse to pick a #1 favorite book, but I have to be honest: Whenever someone has the nerve to ask me what my favorite book I read this year is, Old Enough is the first one that comes to mind.
Old Enough is a campus novel (and I freaking love campus novels) with coming-of-age elements. Savannah, the main character, has recently come out as bisexual and is grappling with her new-found community and dating life at college, a traumatic past, and a very old friendship she fears she has outgrown. This book has much to say about the concept of found family, the complexities of friendship, and living as a sexual assault survivor.
I've tried and tried, but my words really can't accurately describe how much of an accomplishment I found this book—by a debut author!—to be. I closed it after the last page and instantly thought, "Wow. That was a perfect novel."
7. The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser
I read CJ Hauser's incredible essay called The Crane Wife in The Paris Review in 2019. Since then, it has been my shining example of the type of sharp and vulnerable personal writing I aspire to do. When I heard Hauser was releasing an essay collection, also called The Crane Wife, I had to have it.
The collection covers many topics, and the writing is stunning. Hauser writes of all the angles from which we can view happiness, all the ways we lose ourselves in relationships, what it's like to build a new life, the very human process of discovering a new way to be, and more. I read a lot of essays and essay collections, and The Crane Wife is easily one of the best.
8. You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
For a memoir that is primarily about the disintegration of the author's marriage, You Could Make This Place Beautiful is surprisingly hopeful and yes, beautiful. I'm really proud of my review of this book and I don't think I can describe my love for it any better than I did there. So, if this "memoir-in-vignettes," as it's been described in the press, sounds interesting to you, please check out my review!
9. The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
Apparently, The Making of Biblical Womanhood is a controversial book in the Christian community, but if you know me, you know I eat controversy for breakfast and fully support the asking of questions and the shaking of tables.
The book's subtitle describes its purpose perfectly: "How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth." The author, Dr. Barr, specializes in medieval history, women's history, and church history and puts her deep knowledge to work in The Making of Biblical Womanhood. She presents evidence for the argument that what some Western Christians call "biblical womanhood" isn't biblical at all but was developed from a few definable moments in history and copied cultural customs of the time.
What Dr. Barr uncovers in this book are important insights into where ideas about women—from women's roles in the church to contemporary teaching about submission, etc.—came from. I wish every Christian on every side of the argument about women's roles would read this book; it's an excellent resource that pushes the conversation forward in a really meaningful, logical, and compassionate way.
10. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis
I decided I wasn't going to look away from what's happening in Gaza and instead participate in learning more about what freedom for Palestine looks like. This is when I knew it was time to pull Freedom Is a Constant Struggle off of my Kindle shelf and finally read it.
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle is an absolutely iconic collection of Angela Y. Davis's essays, interviews, and speeches. She is a world-renowned activist and scholar who has been a freedom fighter for civil rights inside and outside of the U.S. for decades. Her wisdom on global solidarity, state violence, apartheid, feminist thought, human liberation, and intersectionality is valuable and enlightening. The book isn't solely about the Israel/Palestine situation (in fact, it's only mentioned a few times), but it offers an eye-opening look at the connections between various freedom movements and inspiring (though challenging) calls to action for global human liberation.
I never posted them on my blog, but here are my favorite books of 2022.
If you're on TikTok, I do a lot of book talking on there and plan to do even more this year. Here's my profile!
The best places to see what I'm reading in real-time are my Bookstagram account, where I share my reading updates and commentary in my Stories and book reviews on my feed, and my StoryGraph profile, where I obsessively track my reading (it's like Goodreads, but better-looking, with more features, and not owned by Amazon).
Thank you for reading! As a subscriber, you have the ability to comment on these posts, so I'd love to hear if you've read or plan to read any of my favorites AND what some of your favorite books were this year.