📚 2023 in Books: What I Read, Loved, and Found Lackluster

or, Why I Didn't Have Time to Exercise Last Year

“What I really like is reading. It’s like a holiday in your head.”

—Matilda, in Matilda the Musical

If you ever want to do something nice for me, know that I am easy to please. All I require is a deserted cave*, a stack of books, and weeks of solitude. (*To clarify, I’d expect this to be a “glamping” cave – think temperature control, pest prevention measures, rustic-chic furnishings, and a personal chef who drops thrice-daily feasts at my cave entrance without a word.)

If that’s too much to ask, well, at least pull up a virtual chair and chat books with me for the next few minutes, won’t you?

I do love books. Big books, little books, old books, new books, storybooks, how-to books – I adore them all. I even love the ones I hate because they help me refine my reading tastes.

Every year, I track what I read and then delight in creating a Reading Superlatives list at the end of December. Usually, I share my superlatives with no one except my mom, if she is unlucky enough to get caught on the phone with me soon after the list is produced.

This year, fresh off the launch of The Diving Board, I’m sharing my 2023 Reading Superlatives with my mom and you! You are welcome!  

Up until very recently, I tracked my books in a simple note on my phone, then made my Reading Superlatives list in my journal. This year, since I am now a Writer with a Fancy Newsletter, I’ve started tracking my books in a spreadsheet (inspired by this post) with metadata and charts and graphs so I can share my reading recap more professionally. You are in for a treat, my friends.

In 2023, I read 61 books.

This is probably the most I’ve ever read in a year: 43 Nonfiction, 15 Fiction, 3 Poetry. Here’s a more specific breakdown of genres:

And here’s how I read across formats. I prefer reading print books, but I’ve found that I read more if reading is convenient. My Kindle app and device make it easy to read anytime, anywhere. I also love a good audiobook, though it took some trial and error to learn what I do and don’t like in audiobook form (not fiction, not prescriptive nonfiction*; I love listening to memoirs.) I usually have at least one book in each format going at a time.

*Prescriptive nonfiction books are those that tell you how to do something or help you learn and grow. I put self-help and leadership development books in this category.

Can I just say, Thank you, Microsoft Excel, for making it so exceptionally easy to be nerdy?

A few other things I learned from tracking my reading data this year:

• I read more books by women (37) than by men (26). And I’ve decided I’m cool with that. No shade to my brothers.

• I read a disproportionate amount of books by white authors (53) vs. authors of color (8). And I’ve decided I’m not cool with that and will be more intentional about expanding my horizons in 2024.

• My reading choices skew towards the modern, as 2006 was the average year of publication for all books I read this year. The oldest book I read in 2023 was published in 1878 (Daisy Miller, by Henry James).

• I also learned that apparently “Summer Reading” is a real phenomenon. My reading counts were way higher in the summer months. I’d never noticed this trend!

2023 Reading Superlatives

Top 6 Books I Read in 2023

Why 6? I give everything I read a 1-5 star rating, but I give “exceptional” books 6 stars because it’s my spreadsheet and I make the rules over there. This year, 6 books got 6 stars.

1.    The Anthropocene Reviewed. John Green, Memoir, 2021. Holy of holies, this book is spectacular. I’m getting a lump in my throat just trying to describe it to you. Greene’s collection of essays on various phenomena of modern humanity fascinated me, moved me deeply, and made me giggle alone in my car as I listened to his narration via Audible. The beautiful weaving of personal stories (“Viral Meningitis”), mind-bending facts (“Humanity’s Temporal Range”), and random-ass bits of history (“Piggly Wiggly”) made for such a dynamic reading experience. And Greene gives a star rating to each essay’s subject, which was just such a delightfully unexpected touch. A book that can make me feel both profoundly moved and repeatedly humored is, to me, the peak of great writing. I grieved when I finished this one because I knew I might not read something so special again for a long time.

2.    The Art of Gathering. Priya Parker, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2018. I love prescriptive non-fiction because I love learning and growing, so I read a lot of this genre. However, while this genre usually teaches me something, it doesn’t always captivate me. Yet somehow, Parker’s writing manages to be both practical and inspiring. This book is for anyone who plans, hosts, or leads events of any kind – from dinner parties to corporate trainings. I’ve applied so many ideas from this book already.

3.    The Color of Water. James McBride, Memoir, 1995. This book is a WOW. McBride, a black American man, wrote this work as a tribute to his mother, a white Orthodox Jew who converted to Christianity as an adult. The collisions of cultures McBride grew up with were way ahead of their time, as his mother married his black father in 1942, when interracial marriage was nearly unheard of. This is simply a beautiful and sacred book, and see below for why I highly recommend you listen to this one on Audible. Also, I loved the moment in the book when the meaning of its title is revealed.

4.    The Hurting Kind. Ada Limón, Poetry, 2022. Limón is the current Poet Laureate of the United States. I saw her live at an event earlier this year. She is exquisite, and her poems meld the mundane and the transcendent in a way that shaped my own life and writing in 2023. If you’ve never read poetry and aren’t sure if you’d like it, grab this book and consider giving poetry a try in 2024. I read poetry slowly, just a few pages at a time, to let the words really work on me, then I move on to whatever else I’m reading and come back for more poems another day.

5.    Perennial Seller. Ryan Holiday, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2017. As a marketing executive-turned-mega-bestselling-author, Holiday has deeply studied and found a formula for “making and marketing work that lasts”. I read this book to inform my journey as an aspiring writer, but it’s relevant for anyone creating and selling anything in any context: products, services, art, you name it. This book will make you smarter and savvier as a creator.

6.    And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie, Fiction, 1939. I’d never read anything by Christie before, and I don’t typically gravitate to murder mysteries. So I was surprised by how thoroughly I enjoyed this classic! Sharp, intriguing, and entertaining, this book kept me turning the pages as fast as my eyes would let me. I’ll definitely be reading more Christie in the future. For fans of the movies Knives Out or Glass Onion – this one’ll be your jam.

Best Audiobook

The Color of Water. James McBride, Memoir, 1995. In addition to making my top 6 list, this one takes the cake as not only the best audiobook of the year, but the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to. In the written text, McBride alternates narrators, with some chapters narrated in his own voice and others narrated in his mother’s voice, from her perspective as told to him. The audiobook is read by two astoundingly talented narrators – a black man who reads the chapters told from McBride’s point of view, and a white woman with a fantastic Harlem accent who reads those chapters written in his mother’s voice. I’ve never listened to anything quite like this, and I’ll never forget how moved and entertained I was for those hours in the car. At times I felt like I was a guest in the McBride family living room, sipping tea, riveted as they told me their life stories.

Most Influential

This superlative is reserved for the books that translated into the most real action and change in my life in 2023.

The Highly Sensitive Parent. Elaine N. Aron, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2020. I’ve known for years that I am a “Highly Sensitive Person”. (This is different than being a “special snowflake”, though I am that, too.) I possess a genetic trait found in 20% of the population which makes us more easily overwhelmed by stimuli but also more deeply attuned, introspective, and empathetic. I appreciate the positive aspects of this trait, but the “easily overwhelmed” thing has made parenting challenging for me. This book has given me a deeper understanding of myself and a commitment to honoring my own limits and needs more intentionally, so that I can be the best mom I can be.

Find Yourself at Home. Emily Grosvener, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2023. This little gem came into my life at just the right time. We moved houses this summer, and I was torn between celebrating our new home and grieving our former one. Somehow, I stumbled across this book, which was published right when we moved. Filled with practical ideas with a mystical flair and lovely artwork on every page, this book ushered me into a place of deeper “bonding” with our new house and helped me arrange it in a way that I loved. Now this pretty little volume is sitting on an end table right by our front door.

Most Underwhelming

These books are the ones that I’d heard rave reviews of but found myself wondering “What’s all the hype about?” by the time I finished. I’m not sharing these books because I think they are poorly written – quite the contrary! I have massive respect for each of these authors. One of the great things about reading is that there is something for everyone. These books are excellent for their target audience. They just aren’t for me, and I’m sharing a divergent perspective here for those of you discerning what to read next.

You Are a Badass. Jen Sincero, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2013. I’ve seen this book everywhere the last several years, like it’s following me around or something. Since the book I’m currently writing has an “inner work” theme, I finally read this as field research, or comparative reading. I wanted to know what made this book such a mega-hit, and I think I know now. Sincero is not really saying anything new in this book, nor is she claiming to. What she’s doing is translating common self-help wisdom into funny, crass language to reach an untapped audience. I’m already a big inner work fan, and while I’m no prude (I will prove it: shitballs!), I simply didn’t need the salty sardonicism to lure me in. But I’m so glad Jen wrote this book, as it has introduced inner work to so many who previously thought “that fluffy stuff ain’t for me.”

The Mountain is You. Brianna Weist, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2020. This was a another “field research” read for me, as this title has been a major self-help bestseller. I just couldn’t grab onto anything in this book. It felt very floaty and high-level and I honestly can’t remember much about it. So color me clueless about why it’s so popular. Onward.

Think Again. Adam Grant, Prescriptive Nonfiction, 2023. I might ruffle some feathers with this one, as Grant is a darling of the business book world. Let me be clear: I think Grant is brilliant and compelling and I am cheering him on. But after reading several of his books, I just had to admit to myself after Think Again that his work doesn’t move me. He tickles my brain with lots of interesting data and examples, boiled down in a pithy, readable style that I admire. However, what’s missing for me is the engagement of my heart. I just don’t feel much when I read Grant’s work. That’s not a dealbreaker for all readers, but it is for me.

When Things Fall Apart. Pema Chodron, Spiritual Nonfiction, 1996. This is a modern spiritual classic by one of the great spiritual teachers of our era. I really, really wanted to like this book, especially because some things really were falling apart around me in 2023. It took me a while to get through this one. While I wholeheartedly agreed with the wisdom offered in the book, and I think it’s beautifully written, it just left me feeling flat for some reason that I can’t quite explain. People I deeply respect rave about this book, so please consider checking it out for yourself. If you do, let me know what you think!

Honorable Mentions:

Fiction: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Memoir: Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Geography of Bliss

Prescriptive Nonfiction: Quit Like a Woman

Spiritual Nonfiction: A New Earth, The Wisdom Way of Knowing

Other Nonfiction: The Woman They Could Not Silence, Killers of the Flower Moon, Spiral Dynamics Integral

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Well, if you’re still here after all that, maybe you should rent the glamping cave next to mine and we can be reading buddies in 2024.

Share your thoughts on this post in the comments! Agree with me, disagree and throw peanuts at me, add your own recommendations to the list - just let your voice be heard! What did you read, love, and find lackluster in 2023? Anything you’re excited to read in 2024?

Thanks so much for being here!