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Best Books of 2023
9th Jan 2024 in Uncategorised
My goal for 2023 was actually to read fewer books, because I wanted to read slowly and also tackle longer books. In 2022 I read 135 books, and in 2023 I read… 146. So I actually read more. What can I say? I really like reading.
In 2024 my goal is to read fewer books, read more slowly and tackle longer books. See you in 2025, when I will have done the opposite again.
In my best books of the year, I’m not including some friends’ books, for no particular reason other than I’ve already gushed about them and also it’s a given that I’ll love them. These include new books by Heather Parry, Camilla Grudova, Rachelle Atalla, Josie Long, Anbara Salam, Anna Bogutskaya and Alice Slater – all of whom also have a next book in 2024/5, which I can’t wait to read.
Here are the best 20 books I read:
Books out in 2023:
Best impossible-to-classify and somehow both intellectually and emotionally satisfying book: Blackouts, Justin Torres
Best haunted house story that spoke directly to my fears as a parent: A Good House for Children, Kate Collins
Best body horror about language: The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Best love interest for a spiky, taciturn older woman: Music in the Dark, Sally Magnusson
Best intense, luscious, claustrophobic girl vibes: Strega, Johanne Lykke Holm (translated by Saskia Vogel)
Best disturbing and beautifully-written thriller: The Quiet Tenant, Clémence Michallon
Best short stories that creeped me right the fuck out: Seven Empty Houses, Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell)
Best queer horror: Eyes Guts Throat Bones, Moïra Fowley
Best blending of classical ghosts and Black Mirror-esque modern ghosts: Night Side of the River, Jeanette Winterson
Best poetry anthology that made me lurk in a cafe long after I’d finished so I could read more: Blood & Cord: Writers on Early Parenthood, Abi Curtis (ed.)
Best essays that were exactly what I needed to read: It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, Joe Vallese
Best non-fiction book that fully blew my mind: Matrescence, Lucy Jones
Books Out Before 2023:
Best disturbingly horny literary thriller: The Book of the Most Precious Substance, Sara Gran
Best literary horror that made me immediately go out and get the author’s other books: Palace of the Drowned, Christine Mangan
Best poetry collection that made me cry in public: Breaking Silence, Jacob Sam-La Rose
Best ghost poems: Dearly, Margaret Atwood
Best book about books: Well-Read Black Girl, Glory Edim
Best book I read as research for my own book: Fangirls, Hannah Ewens
Best book that made me think ‘I can’t believe this book didn’t exist before’: Our Red Book: Intimate Conversations About Periods, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff
Best essays that I immediately recommended to everyone I know: Poor Little Sick Girls, Ione Gamble