Staff Year-End Reading Wrap-Up - Part Two
Sar
This year, I mostly read older books, ones that have been sitting on my shelf for too long that I finally picked up. My favorites in that group were Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He. I highly recommend each of these books to anyone interested in sci-fi/dystopian novels!
This year, along with catching up on reading most of the books on my shelf, I wanted to explore more titles in the horror genre, specifically including body horror as commentary on queerness, and I think I was able to find some really special books to get me started. I also wanted to ensure that I was reading authors who share my values, outlook on the world, and politics since I believe it is very important to ensure we monetarily support authors whose stories and real life action center liberation and amplification of marginalized identities. My favorite books published in 2023 were The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw and Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. They are very different books—one a beautifully grotesque horror love story, and the other a thrilling Indigenous YA mystery. Warrior Girl Unearthed in particular pulled me in just like Firekeeper’s Daughter did, and taught me so much I was unaware of about Anishinaabe communities and the fight for repatriation of Indigenous items and remains. It is a brilliantly written mystery and provides important education throughout the novel! I hope to read more Indigenous authors—both of Turtle Island and globally—this year and beyond.
Cate
2023 was a year of expanding my reading genres.
The year started off in my usual favorite genres—thrillers and mysteries. I've never met a locked-door mystery or psychological thriller that I didn't immediately feel drawn to. Does the cover feature neon words on a dark creepy background? Is the title about a wife/mother/sister beside/above/near/behind me? Say no more, I'm in!
Then I started working at Old Town Books and quickly realized I had very few recommendations for books outside the thriller world or my favorite children’s books, that are now "classics." I ditched my podcasts, got back into audiobooks, and started to branch out.
I jumped off the deep end into a cozy high fantasy romance, Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. Despite being a huge departure from my usual world, I loved this book. Once I wrapped my brain around the fantasy worldbuilding and vocabulary, I was hooked, and now I can't wait to read Legends & Lattes.
The next stop was non-fiction. As a lifelong golfer, I was immediately drawn to the new release LIV and Let Die by Alan Shipnuck, a book following the history and ongoing battles between the PGA tour and LIV golf. I had no clue how far back this went and learned so much about the history of the PGA. This is my new go-to recommendation for anyone who has ever enjoyed playing or watching golf, definitely my top "dad gift" of the season.
To really switch things up I moved on to romance, and have since found myself on a massive romance kick. Sophie Kinsella's latest book, The Burnout, is a perfectly cozy and low-key romance that would be an ideal post-holiday read. I also found myself totally enamored with Check & Mate, the new YA romance from Ali Hazelwood, despite knowing literally nothing about chess. Another favorite find was Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese, a modern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, set perfectly in the kickoff of the holiday season.
Of course, I still managed to sprinkle in some of my beloved thrillers and mysteries. Among my usual favorites were three standouts: the surprisingly casual horror story, Carissa Orlando’s The September House; a fictional retelling of Ted Bundy's FSU sorority murders, Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll; and a Peter Swanson Christmas murder novella, The Christmas Guest (murder and Christmas; who could ask for more??).
I'll keep working through all my new beloved genres while I desperately await new releases in 2024 from my thriller favorites Sarah Pearse and Ellery Lloyd.
Lane
It really has been a year of change–I left my “big girl” job, went back to school for an MPH, and most importantly I grew as a reader. I was a huge book kid but somewhere along the road lost the passion, only to rediscover it with the rise of BookTok in 2020. While I have enjoyed a lot of the books that I read because of influencer hype and I’ve had fun participating in the community created around them, I worry about my reading becoming too limited by the narrow field of what goes viral. This year, I’ve made an effort to broaden horizons and have gotten better at researching books related to my own interests and finding the stories I would have otherwise missed. In particular, one thing I wanted to read more of was literature showing LGBTQIA+ stories, and boy, did 2023 deliver.
I have always loved fantasy, and a standout this year was The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai. This debut novel is one of those special stories that can simultaneously feel like escapist fantasy and make you think more critically about the real world. Set in a world inspired by 1800s Egypt, the book centers around the intersectionality between a womens’ rights movement, the stigmatized ability to wield elemental magic, wealth, and sexual identity. I’m excited for the conclusion of this duology to release in March and to watch Elsbai’s career as an author grow. An honorable mention for my favorite fantasy of the year is Babel by R.F. Kuang.
A happy surprise this year was discovering that I love memoirs. I was sucked into the genre by T Kira Madden’s beautiful and poetic Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. Her style of writing was striking to me and I clung to the tiny, unremarkable, and largely unpleasant truths that she chose to include. Since then I have been devouring them and some that I can’t get out of my head are Crying in the Bathroom by author Erika L. Sanchez and In the Form of a Question by Jeopardy! champion Amy Schnieder.
Of course, with change comes a need for stability, and what better way to find that than through your comfort books? I’ll never get tired of re-reading Jane Austen and have found a soft spot for Emma lately—well intentioned but chaotic, I feel that way often stumbling through my 20s trying my best!
Kai
This year has seen me widening my range on the literary front. My absolute favorites this year have been:
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr