2023 Reads in Review
I’ve been lagging behind in my book reviews this year, so I decided to highlight some of my favorite reads of 2023. I had a very exhausting, busy year, but I made my Goodreads goal of reading 20 books!
Because I struggled with chronic migraines this year, I stuck with some tried and true authors for me. I also relied upon Libby and Audible for audiobooks, as reading on my Kindle sometimes triggered my migraines. I’m on a new injection that has nearly eliminated my migraines, so I am hopeful I will return to Kindle/hard copy reading in 2024.
One of my favorite science fiction authors is Blake Crouch. I decided to read his Wayward Pines trilogy. I listened to it on audiobook, and I could not stop listening. I made it through the entire trilogy in lightning speed – I was listening to it every chance I had – walking, driving, hiking…everywhere. The audiobook’s narrator truly brought the story to life, so much so that I am planning to read other books narrated by him. What I love about this trilogy is precisely what I enjoy about all of Crouch’s books: scientists gone mad, dystopian worlds, time travel, and characters struggling with mortality.
I also nearly finished some book series that I started in 2022. I finished Suzanne Collins‘ prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I rated that book a 4/5 simply primarily it is hard to match the excitement and thrill of the original trilogy. I also felt like this book really could have been two books, which was my reaction to the film as well. It really went on too long and should have been two films. The book focuses on President Snow’s rise as a promising academy student serving as a mentor to one of the Hunger Games’ earliest tributes. What made the book interesting was the depiction of the post-war Capital and its discussion of the origins of the Hunger Games. However, Snow’s turn from an eager, semi-compassionate Capital student to a power-hungry sociopath seemed abrupt in both the book and the film. I think this transition could have been drawn out and explained in more detail if there had been two books/films. I also wanted to know more about Lucy Gray’s (the tribute) backstory.
Some of the best psychological thrillers of the year also came from authors I’ve read in the past. Robyn Harding’s The Drowning Woman, Jennifer Hillier’s Things We Do in the Dark, J.T. Ellison’s It’s One of Us, Shari Lapena’s Everyone Here is Lying, and Rachel Hawkin’s The Villa made my favorite books of 2023 list. All of these books came in at a 4/5 or 5/5 rating for me. A couple of these reads really, really stood out. Riley Sager’s The Only One Left was one of my top 3 favorite books of 2023. It had a great twist at the end, and I loved the spooky Victorian mansion backdrop. Another favorite was Janelle Brown’s I’ll Be You. I’ve read all of Janelle Brown’s books. Brown’s books feature unreliable narrators (such as Gillian Flynn’s books) who are struggling with what it means to be mothers, daughters, and just plain human beings in a misogynistic world. They have aspirations beyond domesticity, and these desires often come in conflict with what the world and their families want them to become. I rated I’ll Be You 5/5 stars.
I also tried out a few new authors this year. I just happened upon Jayne Cowie’s Curfew while perusing Amazon, and I was immediately hooked from the first page. In a world where men are predominantly responsible for violent crimes, the UK government has decided to impose a curfew on them. Women are finally free to enjoy nights without fear of assault. A murder after dark, however, calls into question the curfew’s effectiveness. After sailing through Curfew and rating it 5/5, I purchased Cowie’s One of the Boys. This book feels as though it could be set in the same era or world as Curfew. In this book, boys are genetically profiled at birth to determine if they have a gene that predisposes them to violence. Boys who refuse testing are essentially exiled from society, and boys who have the gene are treated as criminals. This book reminded me of the film Gattaca and both Curfew and One of the Boys are perfect reads for dystopian literature fans. This book has a 4/5 rating on Goodreads (which is excellent because readers are hard to please) and I rated it 5/5.
My other favorite new author is Eve Smith. Her books look at the human consequences of medical interventions, some of which involve biotechnology. I read her book Off Target in 2022 and rated it 5/5 stars. This book also reminded me of the film Gattaca, as it explores an underground world where people genetically engineer their infants in the womb. This year I read Smith’s The Waiting Rooms, which examines the very real threat of a world where antibiotics no longer work. This book might be of interest to people who enjoyed the film/book Children of Men, as it wrestles with the difficult choice of who gets to live in a world of limited resources. What happens when childbirth and pregnancy suddenly become life-threatening conditions, for instance? Who gets medication, and who does not? I am currently reading Smith’s latest book, One. All of these books are rated 4.0 or higher on Goodreads (One has a very high rating of 4.31!), so clearly I am not alone in enjoying Smith’s books.
That’s it for my best reads of 2023. I appreciate any book recommendations in the comments!
