I had another very fun year of reading (I always do). I think this might be the highest fiction : non fiction ratio of books I’ve read since starting to keep track in 2017! Numerically I read a lot of books, but I actually didn’t spend as much time reading this year, because I was busy with work / personal things and had less time / energy / focus to read. I also got a library card, so I’ve been hitting up the LAPL for children’s books and YA a lot (shoutout Libby and the LAPL Silver Lake branch). I ended up reading a lot of comforting and easy books, especially series I read when I was younger, because I felt like the distraction / consistent enjoyment was something I needed.

I still read a lot of fantastic new stuff though! A testament to that is I have 32 favorites this year to recommend. I got through some excellent non fiction (the fashion books were especially good, and I was able to get through my whole list), and a lot of really really stellar fiction. I find I need a few years to enjoy rereading books, so this year I also got to enjoy rereading some of my old favorites, like The Woman Destroyed, The Master of Go, and Convenience Store Woman. I also bought a bunch of physical books, which I haven’t done since 2019, so I was able to update my bookshelf and reflect my new favorites :-)

In my last two annual book reviews I talked about wanting to read more great fiction. Partially because I’m regularly visiting a bookstore again, and partially because I have more friends to get recommendations from, I’ve been reading a lot of great fiction. Next year I would like to keep it up, and also return to more intellectually demanding and expanding non fiction, so I can continue to educate myself and grow my political and societal consciousness. This means I think rather than reading for comfort, or maybe in addition to reading for comfort, I want to devote more focused time and energy to reading. Anyways, either way I’m sure in December 2024 I will be talking about how I had another fun year of reading, so I look forward to whatever comes my way!

Next year I will also be starting some form of a book social media account, where I can more regularly and casually share book reviews, and I will hopefully be sharing that sometime in January. As always, if you recommended me any books, read anything I recommended, or talked with me about books, I am grateful for your time and attention and respect, and I am excited to continue to bond over books!

2023 in books:

Before I get into the rest of my list:

My favorite nonfiction book was Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam by Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, runner ups were Fashioning Identity: Status Ambivalence in Contemporary Fashion by Maria Mackinney-Valentin and 飲食文化：中國八大菜系漫談 by 周鳳翠.
My favorite fiction book was The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, runner ups were 生死疲勞 by 莫言, Trick by Domenico Starnone, Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro, and The Door by Magda Szabo.
My favorite stretch of reading was when I got into Helen Dewitt’s books in February. As an aside, my recommended reading order (which I was lucky to stumble upon) is: The English Understand Wool -> The Last Samurai -> The Last Samurai Reread -> Lightning Rods -> The English Understand Wool, and finally I think The Last Samurai again but I haven’t done it yet (will do in 2024) and can’t vouch for it personally.

Favorites:

Here are my 32 favorite books from this year:

If you like this quote from the book “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” then read Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Very different stylistically from his other books though!
If you enjoy finding deep meaning in seemingly mundane topics by exploring them as seriously and rigorously as possible, and believe that there is always something to be found, then read Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace.
If you will enjoy a well written, fun, snappy story with a clever protagonist, if you are a devout Helen Dewitt truther, or if you are following my Helen DeWitt reading order recommendation, then read The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt.
If you believe that great, challenging art is for everyone and everyone’s potential as readers and thinkers and artists are underdeveloped and undersupported (or if you’re intrigued by the idea), and if you want to feel an author deploy those exacting but loving demands on you as a Reader, then read The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. My favorite fiction this year.
If you are a Helen DeWitt / The Last Samurai truther, or if you just really enjoy literary analysis, then read The Last Samurai Reread by Lee Konstantinou. I am thirsty for more of this type of book, please send any recommendations my way.
I hate to repeat myself, but if you are a Helen DeWitt truther or if you are following my Helen DeWitt reading order recommendation, then read Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt.
If you are interested in how skin can be a site through which we can understand war, disease, race, and beauty, or if you are interested in how different treatments, attitudes, and philosophies towards skin can reflect the differences between science & knowledge & domination vs protection & acceptance & collective care, then read Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam by Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu. My favorite non fiction this year.
If you are interested in fashion history, enjoy fashion journalism, or just want to look at a bunch of cool looks then read Fashion Evolution: The 250 Looks That Shaped Modern Fashion by Paula Reed.
If you are curious about what fashion is, why fashion changes, and how fashion “fashions” social identity, then read Fashioning Identity: Status Ambivalence in Contemporary Fashion by Maria Mackinney-Valentin.
If you are interested in a Chinese epic, or if you are interested in that period of Chinese history (latter half of 20th century China), or if you are intrigued by the concept (a landowner is killed and reincarnates as various animals and witnesses how China changes), then read 生死疲勞 by 莫言 (Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out). Can’t say if the English translation is any good.
If you liked Convenience Store Woman, or if you enjoy a good weird Japanese short story collection that makes you reflect on the weirdness of normalcy, then read Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. My favorite stories were: “A First Rate Material,” “Life Ceremony,” “Body Magic,” “Eating the City,” and “Hatchling.”
If you are interested in how the mind and the body are one and how stress can manifest physical symptoms, or if you have back pain, or if you are interested in how Amazon reviews of a book can heal back pain, then read Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by John E. Sarno.
If you are interested in Chinese food and learning more about the depth and variety of Chinese cuisine, or if you enjoy reading about culinary philosophy and history, then read 飲食文化：中國八大菜系漫談 by 周鳳翠. Sorry no translation.
If you are interested in a masterful example of how good short stories build tension, then read Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
If you are interested in learning more about how gentrification kills cities and how gentrification is an intentional outcome of public and economic policy, then read How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood by Peter Moskowitz
If you are interested in morality, purpose, health, and success, or if you are just interested in a Tolstoy masterpiece, then read The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. To be honest I think your interest in these topics isn’t even important, because regardless of your interest they will be interested in you.
If you are interested in a very practical set of suggestions on how to tackle climate change from the socialist perspective (and why that is the only realistic way), then read Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet by Matthew T. Huber.
If you are interested in the joys and sorrows of girlhood then read Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki.
If you are interested in a fun and well written short story collection about the games and rituals we play and engage in with each other, and how those small practices are emblematic of our larger lives, then read Games and Rituals: Stories by Katherine Heiny.
If you are in the mood for something dark and clever, or if you are interested in art, ambition, and inheritance, or if you enjoy a good translator’s note, then read Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri.
If you are interested in improving your ability to deliver critical feedback or if you’d like a better framework to understand feedback either in your personal or your professional life then read Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott.
If you are interested in a very stylish and fun take on a very basic sci-fi story, then read Flux by Jinwoo Chong.
If you are in the mood for something funny (in the British way) or if you enjoy modern day mythology then read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett
If you are interested in learning more about trees and how we can connect with them in cities, then read Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree: Getting to Know Trees Through the Language of Scent by David George Haskell
If you are interested in one of the greatest collection of short stories I have ever read, then read Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro. I have more to say about this collection, hopefully after I reread it again, but her sensitivity to ordinary life and her ability to help us see the universal in the specific is extraordinary.
If you are interested in Go (sort of unlikely I think if you are reading this review, don’t know how many friends I have that play Go), or if you are interested in a clash between classic and modern values told through a Go match (much likelier), then read The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker
If you enjoy seeing separate plotlines and characters converge in very wholesome stories, then read The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Hoshino.
If you are in the mood for a wholesome story about friendship, bravery, and bullying then read Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura. Very nice twist also.
If you are interested in an atmospheric and tense murder story, or if you would enjoy a better understanding of Tanizaki’s beliefs about fiction and cinema, then read Devils in Daylight by Junichiro Tanizaki. Translator’s note is very good here as well!
If you are interested in the ways society crushes women so that madness is the only option, then read The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir. Three very good short stories, the titular short story is especially devastating.
If you are in the mood for a fun & funny fantasy series about magic with very endearing characters, creative & engaging stories, and very complete worldbuilding then read the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage. 7 books, all pretty good!
If you are interested in devotion, authenticity in art and relationships, superb characterization (Emerence is a titan, one of the best characters I’ve ever read), an unbelievably tense story about a Hungarian cleaning woman, or writing that goes incredibly hard, then read The Door by Magda Szabo. One of my favorite novels this year, narrowly beat out by The Last Samurai.