Best of 2023!

 

Already time for the yearly roundup of some of my best reads this year. I always wait until the very last possible moment to post my list; you never know what you'll come across around Christmas! I like to give every book I've read this year a chance to appear on my favourites list, no matter if I read it in the first week of January or the last few days of December. 

I also create a statistical summary each year, for my own geekish pleasure. As I've said before, I don't think of reading as a competition -- I keep track of numbers and various stats for my own interest, not to prove anything or compare myself to anyone. 

Here are my reading stats for 2023:

Total Reading: 158

Authors

Female: 147
Male: 7
Both/Neither: 4

Genre 

Fiction: 112

Non Fiction: 46

Poetry: 0

In Translation: 41

Japanese: 10

Ukrainian: 8

French: 4

Spanish: 3

Korean: 3

Quebecois French: 2

Norwegian: 2

German: 2

Montenegrin: 1

Afrikaans: 1

Danish: 1

Icelandic: 1

Catalan: 1

Italian: 1

Romanian: 1

My Own Books: 33
Library Books: 121

Review Copies: 4

Rereads: 5
E-reads: 40

Author who I read the most from: 

Elizabeth Pewsey - 5 (plus 1 reread of this series of 5)

(also one book each by her, under varied pseudonyms, Elizabeth Edmonston & Gally Marchmont)

2023's Weird Random Stat: 

Books with Personal Names in the title: 15

I seem to have picked up my reading slightly over last year, although not in the areas of poetry or audiobooks.

Like always, I read a big majority of women authors, and quite a few more library books than my own this year. But I am happy with all the great books I am able to find through the library!

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And now for the Best of 2023!

These are titles that were memorable, unusual, or caught me with their great storytelling or rich characters. Just books that hit the right note with me when I picked them up! I read a lot of good books this year -- it was hard to pick out the great ones. 

1. Best Book of the Year! 

The Museum of Abandoned Secrets by Oksana Zabuzhko was the most absorbing, memorable book of the year for me. The writing style was fresh and engaging, and the content was timely. Ranging between WWII era Ukraine and today -- well, it was originally published in 2009, so just before the Russians invaded again. But it covers so much history, and family drama, with energy and pathos and vitality. Loved this one. 

2 & 3. Two more Ukrainian books made it to my top ten reads this year. Episodic Memory by Liubov Holota was a slower paced read, with history, family, and politics all wrapped up in a more lyrical prose style and philosophy. Lots to it, although the ending still puzzles me. Ivan & Phoebe by Oksana Lutsyshyna was a new translation this year, and it's full of energy and historical truths. Through this story, not only do we encounter families and relationships but also the larger story of history and politics, and how they are all enmeshed. Very timely and compelling reading. 

4. I just finished this one a few weeks ago but it jumped to the top of my favourite reading of the year. Cross Stitch by Jazmina Barrera is a translation of a novel by a Mexican writer, which explores the role of female friendship, interspersed with the history of embroidery, to create a resonant feminist narrative. Three girls develop a strong school friendship, and the book looks back from their adult viewpoint at their past together, when one of them dies.

5. Another book with sewing content, The Seamstress of Sardinia by Bianca Pitzorno was also a really engaging historical novel starting in Sardinia in 1900 and following the century alongside a young sartina (household seamstress). It was dramatic, a bit soapy, and enjoyable both for the historical/feminist content, and for the great descriptions of sewing and the main character's occupation. 

6. I really enjoyed the random discovery of Elizabeth Pewsey's Mountjoy series this summer. I found Unaccustomed Spirits at a thrift store, and loved it, so much that I searched out the rest of the series online (though couldn't find #1) This one is my favourite of the series, and I reread it over the holidays, as it is set during the Christmas season and it seemed suitable!

7. Father by Elizabeth von Arnim was a book that I ordered for myself as soon as I saw it was being issued by the British Library Women Writers series. I have nearly all of her books that are in print, and will read anything she wrote. So this was a welcome addition, and it was as arch and amusing and trenchant about the plight of women and marriage as ever. 

8. Business as Usual by Jane Oliver & Ann Stafford was a lucky find, a store novel, in epistolary format, from 1933 -- all things I love! Hilary is determined to make her way in the world and spends a year working in the book/lending library area of a large department store in London. Her eyes are opened to a world beyond her middle class upbringing. It was charming but not twee.

9. These last two were just enjoyable stories. I liked the characters and the concepts and found them easy but memorable. What You Can See From Here by Mariana Leky is set in a small German town where the residents are closely enmeshed, and the main character has to eventually make her way into the wider world. Some dark bits, but overall a read that isn't too challenging. 

10. Last pick is a recent read, Connie Willis' The Road to Roswell. I find Willis hugely entertaining, and this one has aliens, casinos, Men in Black and unexpected romance. Very fun & imaginative. 

Besides these 10 novels, I also read two non-fiction books in particular that are worth mentioning as outstanding reads. These were both fashion/textile related. Worn by Sofi Thanhauser is a history of clothing from around the world - it covers a lot more than European history, and was fascinating. The other one is Willi Smith: Street Couture, an exhibition catalogue for a show highlighting Willi Smith, fabulous designer from the 70s & 80s. It's a series of essays by various academics and people who worked with him, and it's a social history of his times as well as the story of his career. Plus so many fantastic images!

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So there's another yearly roundup of my reading. There were more books that were great reads that just missed this list of top tens, and lots of authors that I'd like to read more of. Wishing us all a new year of fabulous finds in 2024! 

Challenges Past & Challenges Ahead

Last year I participated in a few yearlong reading projects, many of which are long term ongoing ones. I'm still going on with most of them for 2024. I tried to rejoin the TBR pile challenge in 2023 but didn't get too far with that one! I'm not joining any new challenges in the new year, but will just try to keep up with the current ones. 

Canadian Book Challenge 

It's the 17th year of the challenge & of my reading along. The goal is to read and review 13 Canadian books from July 1 - July 1. I've only reviewed 2 so far! 

Century of Books

This challenge was first begun by Simon at Stuck in a Book; as I finish it every few years I just start it up again on my own. I began a new Century in 2023 & hope to finish it in 2024! 

Women in Translation 

This is more a readalong/celebration than a challenge, but I love to focus on #WIT during August especially, and will continue to join to fun in 2024. 

TBR Challenge update

I signed up to the 10th year of the TBR Challenge hosted by Adam of Roof Beam Reader -- but didn't get very far. Of the 12 books on the list, I only read and reviewed 2! I did finish another one but haven't reviewed it yet. Sheesh! New books seem to move to the top of the pile...

Literary Sewing Circle

And finally there's my own challenge, of sorts, the Literary Sewing Circle. This is a readalong I host on my sewing blog, Following the Thread, twice a year. We read a book together and then sew something inspired by our reading. We read a couple of fabulous Canadian books together in 2023, and have two more to explore in 2024. All welcome to join in!

I hope that 2024 brings you both new reading adventures and all the literary challenges you could wish for!

A Year in Review: 2023 in First Lines

 

My annual Christmas treat

As usual at this time of year, I review and share my reading/blogging year with First Lines.

Simply put, we share the first line of the first post of each month and see what that overview tells us about our year. Often it can be an uncannily accurate summary.

If you haven't tried this before, give it a go this year; it's a fun exercise, and often summarizes the year quite efficiently. If you do, please share a link in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Here is my 2023 Year in First Lines: 

January: 
The beginning of 2023 has been speeding by, but I finally have a chance to sit down and talk about the book that I finished out 2022 with! [from Enchanted April at 100 Years]

February: 
This recent novel is co-written by two friends, aiming to give a different perspective on the American Civil War. [from The Thread Collectors]

March:
This is a wordless picture book by an internally displaced Ukrainian artist, created in the first few months of the Russian invasion. [from Yellow Butterfly]

April:
I recently discovered that there were a few of Margery Sharp's classic works in audiobook format via my library.  [from The Nutmeg Tree]

May:
I've been reading a rash of recent books lately! [from Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone] 

June:
My husband picked up this delightful Pym at the thrift store to complete my Pym collection. [from Civil to Strangers]

July: 
July is flying and I still haven't posted my Canadian Reading Challenge yet! [from 17th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge]

August:
August brings one of my favourite reading celebrations of the year -- Women in Translation Month. [from Women in Translation Month 2023]

September:
I just discovered this readerly link-up, Spell the Month in Books. [from Spell the Month in Books: September] 

October:
As some of my readers know, I also love to sew, and as part of my sewing, I keep another blog, Following the Thread.  [from The Blue Castle & The Literary Sewing Circle]

November:
This is the first volume in a projected series of cozy crafter mysteries, by well-known Canadian sewist Barbara Emodi. [from Crafting for Murder]

December: 
When I first heard about this book during Women in Translation month, I knew it would be one I would have to read. [from Jazmina Barrera's Cross-Stitch]

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So that shows the shape of my reading year a bit -- from looking back to older books and to 2022 at the beginning of the year, to some classics alongside current reads, and then a bunch of challenges and readalongs for the middle of the year. I read a lot of translated fiction this year, and some lighter mysteries & romances along the way, some of which show up in these first lines. 

A bit more scattered this year than some in the past, but I'm still reading, and still sharing. Hope you are all managing to fit some reading in as well. 

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a happy & relaxing day

 to rest and read.

A Lot Like Christmas

 

A Lot Like Christmas / Connie Willis 
NY: Random House, c2017.
544 p.

I enjoy Connie Willis' books, and so decided on her 2017 collection of seasonal short stories for my holiday reading this year. A Lot Like Christmas is an expanded version of an earlier collection, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (which I read in 2013). There are 5 new stories in this book, but it's been such a long time since I read the first one that I enjoyed rereading all the stories which I vaguely recalled, as well. 

The five new stories are all a delight. There are more aliens in these ones, foreshadowing her recent book Road to Roswell, perhaps! I think my favourite one was the longish story All Seated on the Ground (which won a Hugo). It has aliens, Christmas carols, and entertaining characters. There's one about a world in which the main character works for a company that creates huge themed Christmas displays, to impress others; another tips the hat to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The new stories were uniformly appealing. The only story I felt was a dud, and I felt this way the first time I read it, was In Coppelius' Toyshop. Too 80s & mean feeling, and I still don't like it! 

Another element to enjoy in this book is Willis' intro, talking about why she writes Christmas stories and what makes a good one. Plus the list of Christmas movies to watch and books to read in the back has been expanded since the first edition, and there are even more great suggestions to keep you busy with holiday entertainment. Highly recommended if you're looking for some unusual and thought-provoking Christmas reading that is also a lot of fun. 

12 Days of Christmas Book Cover Scavenger Hunt

 

I've been loving the #bookscavengerhunt posts over on Instagram this year -- I think I found them all thanks to @barbaras.book.obsession ! This is a festive themed one to round out the year, started by @wendyreadwhat I shared it over there this week but thought I would also share it here, as it is a fun challenge to look through your shelves and see what you have to meet the prompts -- and I know bookish readers here might enjoy. 

It's the 12 Days of Christmas & the prompts are:

12 Drummers drumming, 11 Pipers piping
📚 A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
A cello on Elizabeth Pewsey's Unaccustomed Spirits (set around Christmastime)

10 Lords A Leaping, 9 Ladies Dancing
📚 SPORT OR DANCING
Ice skating on the cover of Jenny Diski's Skating to Antarctica

8 Maids a Milking
📚 A DRINK
Martini on Beggar's Choice by Patricia Wentworth

7 Swans a swimming, 6 Geese a laying, 4 Calling birds, 3 french hens
📚 A BIRD
Book of Wings by Tawhida Tanya Evanson

5 Golden rings
📚 GOLD FOIL DECORATION
The Fairy Doll by Rumer Godden (7 stories, some of them Christmas stories)

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!
📚 A TREE
Not a pear but a flowering tree on Elizabeth Jane Howard's Mr. Wrong

Have fun if you want to try this yourself! Merry Christmas!

Myrtle, Means & Opportunity

 

Myrtle, Means and Opportunity / Elizabeth Bunce
New York : Algonquin Young Readers, c2023.
360 p.

This was both a highly anticipated read for me, and a sad one in a way -- because it's the last in the wonderful Myrtle Hardcastle series. This time we find Myrtle and her intrepid governess Miss Judson heading up to Scotland, to investigate the surprise inheritance of a Whole Scottish Estate which Miss Judson has just received. 

Myrtle is a tad worried; will this Whole Scottish Estate turn Miss Judson's head and make the Object in her father's drawer at home unnecessary? (spoiler: it does not). 

The mystery revolves around a few things: Why was the estate left to a distant relative like Miss Judson? What about all the staff currently working and living there? And is there a dastardly plan for a developer to take over her whole island for a power plant? There are murders, ghosts, traitors, secret partnerships, and hidden motives. But in the end Myrtle's brainpower, along with Miss Judson's heart, lead them in the right direction to uncover everything and still come out happy in the end. 

This story ties up the series neatly and with great satisfaction for all of the characters we've come to know throughout the five books. There is some Scottish humour and some new characters for readers to love -- and some to despise! It's a fun read with the trademark footnotes and jokes found in all of the stories, but also has a heart. Myrtle's fears that she might not be the most important thing in the world for Miss Judson anymore make the reader feel for her; we are also fans of Miss Judson and don't want this duo to come apart. 

The mystery has some twists and turns, and a riddle, and a young boy whom Myrtle befriends and helps to solve the riddle -- bringing clarity to the inheritance and a way forward. 

I felt it was a solid conclusion to a series that I've really enjoyed. I'd recommend this series to any adventurous reader in the middle grades, but also to adults who enjoy an entertaining historical mystery that has jokes we can appreciate. Such a fun set of characters! 

Time Capsule

 

Time Capsule / Lauren Redniss
NY: Random House, c2022.

Time Capsule is a picture book that raises big questions about time, memory, and the future. Readers follow a young girl as she puts some treasured belongings into a jar, and buries it for people in the future to discover. As she does, she wonders who will find it, and what will they think of her world by looking at the items she's included. The story leaves you with the question: what would you put into yours?   

With few words, evocative illustrations, and a deep concept, this is a book for families to enjoy together. There are dreamy images to explore and engaging ideas to discuss. With only a brief text, the story relies on the spare, original artwork by writer and artist Lauren Redniss, who has a distinctive visual style. 

In the back pages the author shares extra information on the history of time capsules which will be suitable for older readers or adults. There is also a set of questions to help you develop your own ideas for a time capsule. This was a great find at my local library, a really thoughtful picture book with lovely imagery to explore. I think it's a good one for this time of year, as you're thinking about what happened in your life over the last year and what you'd like to see ahead -- maybe a good time to gather up a time capsule of sorts. It's quite a dreamy read, just right for these reflective days at the turn of the year. 

A Trio by Susan Scarlett

Today's it's three by Susan Scarlett! I discovered this author fairly recently, thanks to the Dean Street Press reprint series. It's the pseudonym used by Noel Streatfeild when writing light romance in the war years, and some of the 12 books by Scarlett are pretty light indeed. 

I read and enjoyed Clothes-Pegs first, and it's still my favourite of the bunch. But I've finished three more in the set -- they are relaxing choices for evening reading, for sure! I'll share a brief review of each here. 

Starting with Peter & Paul (1940). This is a story of 17 yr old twins - not identical - no indeed. Petronella is ravishingly beautiful but also vain and self-absorbed, with dreams of being an actress. Pauline is plain but hard-working and good. Peter and Paul, as they're known, are the daughters of a vague country vicar, but now that they are 17, their mother wants them to have the chance to meet young men. So she finds them a job in London, at a dress shop run by a country neighbour's nephew. Just like in every good fairy tale, the sweet, hardworking girl triumphs while the beautiful lazy one doesn't. In this case, they are sisters and Peter's not all bad so she gets her own triumph in the end. Best parts of this one are the descriptions of working in the shop and all the many clothes they carry and model and wear. 

Next up, Summer Pudding (1943). This one was interesting for the plotline; secretary Janet Brain is bombed out so goes to live with her ill mother and selfish younger sister in the country where they've evacuated to. Janet ends up getting a job as a governess while her lazy sister does nothing but scheme with the housekeeper at Janet's place of employment. Nasty girl - she says straight out she doesn't care about Janet and has no sisterly feelings. The romance in this one is perfunctory and the 'hero' was unpleasant to my tastes, so I wasn't a huge fan of this one. The war elements were the most interesting part of it. 

Sally Ann (1939) was the lightest and most enjoyable of the three. Ann is an assistant cosmetician at Maison Pertinax; her boss gets flu on the day of a society wedding, so Ann is sent to make up the bride, a girl her age. One of the bridesmaids doesn't appear, so Ann is pressed into service as "Sally", she impresses the best man and annoys the woman intending to snag him, and everything unspools from there. The class lines of society are really clear in this one, in many ways. Ann's job at Maison Pertinax is beautifully drawn, both the actual work and the characters of her coworkers and the requisite catty manageress.

I really do love reading about actual workplaces in fiction, and these books by Susan Scarlett usually have a working girl as the lead, which is so fascinating. While I like the light fluffiness of them, they are also of great interest when you look at them as documents of social norms of the 30s and 40s. The class divide is so strong in them, it's a plot point in most of the stories so far. The descriptions of beauty culture, fashion, family life, and so on are really interesting to compare between books and between their era and our own. I'll keep reading this series until I have gotten through all 12, even though I find some better than others. All interesting enough! 

Jazmina Barrera's Cross-Stitch

 

Cross Stitch / Jazmina Barrera
trans. from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
San Francisco: Two Lines Press, 2023, c2021.
224 p.

When I first heard about this book during Women in Translation month, I knew it would be one I would have to read. It's a translation of a novel by a Mexican writer, which explores the role of female friendship, interspersed with the history of embroidery, to create a resonant feminist narrative. I really loved it. 

Our narrator, Mila, is now a young mother and a writer whose book on needlework was recently published. But as the story opens, she hears about the drowning death of her old friend Citlali, who along with another friend Dalia, made up a high school triangle of best girlfriends. 

Mila's narrative spools back in time, to go back to the beginnings of their friendship, to illuminate how the balance of power shifted between them, and how there were experiences that they kept private from one another even with their strong bonds. Like the author noted in an interview, there is always something that we won't know about another person, no matter how close. 

The friendship covers many tumultuous years of adolescence and young adulthood. They face sexual harrasment, abuses, everyday misogyny, as well as the trials and disillusionments of growing into adulthood. At one point, the three plan to meet in Europe (where Citlali is already living) to have a Big Trip together. But it doesn't go quite as planned - Citlali doesn't meet them in England, only making it to Paris later on; Dalia and Mila have different ways of travelling and sightseeing and have to negotiate daily routines. This felt so realistic, how you have to manage these close relationships and can be utterly annoyed with one another even while remaining the same depth of friend. 

And through their years of friendship, they all embroidered together. From samplers and unique projects in high school (like Citlali's ambitious goal to embroider an Arachniary of all known spider species) to more complex art based embroideries as they grow up - like Mila's monochrome black on black embroidery meant to emphasize texture - they've always stitched together, despite it being a bit of an outlier hobby. 

Barrera includes small sections interspersed with the fictional narrative which detail and reflect on the history of stitching, mainly as it applies to women's lives and whatever is going on in the story. There are mentions of embroidery around the world, and how it appeared both as a language and means of expression whether personally or politically. And what the role of art is, and the relation to stitching. These are facts drawn from embroidery history texts, which the author also shares in a bibliography. 

Eventually Mila and Dalia resolve their memories and come together to create a memorial for Citlali in their own neighbourhood, even including Citlali's mostly awful father. The final scene is memorable, and involves Citlali's stitching. 

I found this book thoughtful and stylistically engaging. The tone is clear and nostalgic in one sense, though never sentimental. The writing style is natural but also has a poetry to it, with imagery, resonance and the inclusion of other women's words; I appreciated the style of this novel. The way that fiction and fact are interwoven throughout the story was smoothly accomplished, and I felt that it added an extra layer of interest both in subject matter and in style. 

The characters are also fascinating. The three girls are different in many ways, but the development of their friendship felt so true to high school dynamics, as did the way they grew apart as they became adults. I think if you read for writing and characters, you will appreciate this book. And, if on top of that you are also a stitcher and appreciate the role of embroidery in women's history, I think you will love this book. 

Highly recommend. 

You can read more about it, including author interviews and a reader's guide, at the publisher's website if you are interested.

(first published at FollowingTheThread)