Now that my family is back for Christmas, I don’t think I’ll have as much time for reading, so I might as well continue my Best of 2023 lists.
I’m starting to be less and less enamoured of much-hyped new releases and usually wait at least a couple of years before I read them – by which point, very often, the buzz has died down and people wonder what all the fuss was about. So I haven’t actually read all that many books released this year, but will also include those published a few years ago which I finally got around to reading.
Some of those hyped books were ok while in the act of reading, but did not linger in my mind afterwards, although I appreciated they were cleverly written and tied together some themes that would appeal to a broad audience: gaming, friendships and business rivalry in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow or cookery, feminism and quirky families in Lessons in Chemistry. Meanwhile, Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss actively irritated me.
However, 2023 was also the year in which certain favourite authors of mine released new books, so I eagerly read those… and was somewhat nonplussed by them. They were OK, but not as good as some of the previous books I’d enjoyed by those authors. I’m talking here about Paul Auster’s Baumgartner (moving but slight) and Deborah Levy’s August Blue, a bit dull and repetitive, if I’m honest.
When you read over 170 books a year, you can get a bit curmudgeonly about it, and only a few will really raise their dolphin heads out of the waves. The following books have stayed with me even after I finished the last page, and I really appreciate what the author is trying to do in each case. They were worthy and thoughtful, with appealing passages that I marked with post-its, but they didn’t quite get my heart singing or pounding in excitement. It’s almost as if I contain multitudes and these books only touched certain strands within me! In this category, I would include Helon Habila: The Travellers, Ling Ma’s Severance, Miranda France’s The Writing School, Joanna Biggs’ A Life of One’s Own and Polly Atkin’s Some of Us Just Fall. I relished the Gothic set-up of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia (but was slightly disappointed by the ending) and Florentina Leow’s How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart was poignant and charming, would like to read more by this author.
I would also like to give a shout-out to books I either re-read or that are reissues, so cannot fall under recent releases. These felt much more substantial and memorable than many of the new releases (I suppose that’s why they have withstood the test of time): Frank Baker’s Miss Hargreaves, Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home, Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Something in Disguise, Beryl Bainbridge’s Sweet William and Hilary Mantel’s Giving Up the Ghost.
So, after all that pre-amble of excuses and also-rans, which are the books that did make it on my Best of 2023 list? Just six of them and they are a very motley assortment, most of them quite experimental.
- Sean Hewitt: All Down Darkness Wide
- Owen Sheers: The Gospel of Us
- Audrey Magee: The Colony
- Sara Gran: The Book of the Most Precious Substance
- R. F. Kuang: Babel
- Jen Calleja: Vehicle – am still reading this, but the style is so interesting, the themes so provocative, that I’m sure it will make be one of my favourites
findingtimetowrite 
I am with you when it comes to much-hyped new releases. Unless a few select people I trust love them, I wait until the dust settles, Marina Sofia. I’m almost always spared reading a book that got overhyped that way. Your list of the best is really intriguing. Several authors there who are new to me – I should start exploring them.
Some interesting choices in faves and almosts there. I have some great reading to look forward to having Babel, The Colony and the Gran in my TBR piles already.
Love your summation of your reading year Marina, and a few I need to discover. I have Babel on my TBR so will be liberating that, and I also loved the Sara Gran. A very Happy Christmas to you and the boys…
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Lovely to see the Hewitt make your list. I thought it a fantastic memoir.
Such a shame the big publishers put so much money and effort into promoting so few titles but it was ever thus. Glad to see the Magee made the grade. Such an original take on colonialism.
I too was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed by some of the new fiction I read this year. August Blue, which we’ve already discussed, was probably my biggest disappointment, particularly as I love Deborah Levy’s non-fiction so much. That said, I’m delighted to see The Colony in your list of highlights. Such a fascinating novel, and the shifts in POV felt seamless!
By far the best selection of books this year have been translated ones (this list will be in my blog post for next week). I wonder if this is because they have to jump through so many extra hoops to make it to our shores.
I really enjoyed The Book of the Most Precious Substance too. I also had the pleasure of meeting Owen Sheers this year when he came to read at HomePlace so it’s lovely to see him on your list.
The Owen Sheers book was such a surprise for me – I was looking for something to read for Read Wales challenge and a couple of people recommended his work, and hey presto!
I really need to read Babel next year!
I loved Tomorrow x 3 and it will make my top x (I still don’t know if I’m allowing myself 20 as I’ve read over 180 books this year!), I do read a fair few new books through NetGalley but a lot are light novels that won’t make the top x. An interesting set from you – thank you for sharing!
Wonderful books, Marina! I need to read R.F.Kuang’s Babel. Everyone is raving about it. Glad to see it on your favourites list. I loved what you said about most new books not staying in the mind after you finish reading them. I rarely read new books these days, but sometimes I miss being part of the wave and reading a just released new-book with everyone. There is joy in that. Thanks for sharing your favourites 😊
I know exactly what you mean about joining in the discussion fun with a new release – I certainly miss out on that with new films or TV series. But then, a few months later, everybody wonders what all the fuss was about, so sometimes it’s worth waiting for things to settle a little bit.
Yes, very true what you’ve said about new films and TV series. The hype goes down after a while and there is a new star in the horizon at that point.
Giving Up the Ghost was important for me as well, as Mantel is easily one of my favourite authors of all time. I liked Swimming Home very much. I’m curious about the Jen Calleja and of course the Audrey Magee you mention. The Colony was cited by other reviewer friends of yours as something special, although the reviews themselves have got muddled in my mind by now!
Oh, I think you’d love The Colony, Jen, it’s the kind of book that talks about family, creativity, colonialism, the difference in outlook between generations and so much more.
Sounds like one of the few new ones I ought to invest in this year! x