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!