2023 in Review: Top Ten Reads

My top 10 of 2023 is actually a top 12, because I decided to add the entire Wayfarer’s trilogy. These books gave me many hours of happy reading in 2023.

1. Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning: This the second half of the Fortunes of War hexology, comprising books 4 through 6. Harriet and Guy Pringle have fled Greece, and most of the Levant trilogy (unsurprisingly) occurs in Egypt. I didn’t like it quite so well as the Balkan trilogy, but the entire cycle was incredibly good, and I’ve already considered embarking on a reread in 2024 or 2025.
2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte: I’ve previously read Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte but had never read Tenant of Wildfell Hall. My 27-year-old daughter and I have a very unstructured 2 person book club, in which we co-read classic novels, and she selected this one. It was a worthy choice, and we had some great discussions.
3. Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond: One of two pieces of non-fiction that made my top ten, this is a must read for anyone interested in social justice and/or poverty in the United States.
4. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree: This book was so adorable and just pure fun. Cozy fantasy was not a genre I knew I needed in my life, but reading this convinced me that I need more of it.
5. Middlemarch by George Eliot: This was a reread for me. Like all classics, I get something new out of it every time I read it.
6. The Wayfarer’s Trilogy by Becky Chambers: I had owned a copy of A Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet for several years without getting around to reading it. Once I finished it, I moved on to the next one, A Closed and Common Orbit, and then to the final book in the trilogy, Record of a Space Born Few. I can’t exactly explain what it was about these books that resonated for me so completely, but they were pure comfort reading.
7. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman: All of the Thursday Murder Club books have been wonderful, but this book completely broke me in the best possible way.
8. A Horse at Night by Amina Cain: This was my other piece of non-fiction. It was a mashup of essay and literary memoir and meditation. I just loved it.
9. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: Keegan writes tiny, polished gems of Irish literature. I read this one and Foster in November, and while I thought both were exceptional, this one comes out on top.
10. All Systems Red by Martha Wells: I’m not sure that two separate sci fi series have ever made my top books list, since sci fi is not my favorite genre. But my husband & I listened to this one – the first book in the Murderbot Diaries – on a road trip and we are hooked. We got through the second book as well, and I already put books 3 & 4 in my audible library, ready for the 2024 road trip season.