2023 was a great reading year for me. I read roughly twice as much as my average and I found so many books I really loved. Quitting my job in Decemeber 2022 helped and then applying the Recurse Center principles of identifying what I truly enjoy vs what I think I should like made it easier to find books that worked for me and drop those that didn’t. I also found some more places on the internet people talk about books (RC included) that improved my book recommendation pipeline.

Here are my favorite books that I read in the last year (in the order I read them).

There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job, Kikuko Tsumura, Polly Barton (Translator) - This was great to read right after quitting my job. It’s about burnout told through a series of very strange, surreal jobs. It made me feel better about having so many feelings about work.

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? A Memoir, Séamas O’Reilly - So sad and so funny. Amazing writing about grief, family and about the weird, mundane realities of being a child at the end of the Troubles.

The Night Ship, Jess Kidd - Super atmospheric, spooky and engaging. Split perspective between a child on a historical Dutch trading ship in 1629 and a child on a tiny Pacific island in 1989.

Milk Fed, Melissa Broder - A deeply bizzare and cathartic book about eating disorders, queerness, and golems.

We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry - A field hockey team makes a Satanic bargain in the 1980s but it’s very sweet and nothing very bad happens.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - Following a family over hundreds of years into present day Georgia, exploring historical circumstance with complex, engaging characters.

Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler - A classic. Reading this after 2020 and while living in California made it feel more immediate that if I’d read it earlier.

The Sentence, Louise Erdrich - Probably the first book I’ve read about living through 2020. It’s about the Native community in Minneapolis, being haunted, and healing.

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh - I can’t remember where I heard this, but it’s like: what if Ender’s Game loved you back? Plus an impressively unlikeable protagonist.

The Five Wounds, Kirstin Valdez Quade - Hyper local setting (Espanola Valley, Northern New Mexico) near where I grew up. It plays with some really unique cultural elements. Also an impressively unlikeable protagonist!

Calling for a Blanket Dance, Oscar Hokeah - Fascinating structure - every chapter is from the perspective of someone in the protagonists life - we only see him through others’ eyes until the end. Also, beautiful writing about loving people by making art.