What I read in 2023 (on my Libby app)

Monday reading #24

Monday Reading is my weekly recommendation of something I’ve found thought-provoking or fascinating. Sometimes it is about something I have read. Sometimes it is about television or food or music or projects I care about supporting. Sometimes I do not send it on Monday. Please share with anyone who might like the vibes!!

This is a list of everything I read (as library ebooks) in 2023, plus some other stuff (ebooks) I am excited about reading. Here’s a list of all of them on bookshop.org. (I will get a small affiliate payment if you purchase them through any of these links.) I decided to just write notes about the ones I really loved, and I didn’t get too detailed here, but … something about the perfect being the enemy of the good, idk!

FICTION

BROTHERLESS NIGHT, V.V. Ganeshananthan. Found this propulsive and absorbing, morally complex and character-driven. Great descriptions of food, too!

MAGGIE TERRY, Sarah Schulman

AFTER DELORES, Sarah Schulman. I read these to prepare for a public Q&A with Sarah Schulman at the Gerber/Hart Library & Archive, where I’m a member of the Board of Directors. The remit was that Sarah specifically wanted to talk about her fiction; because of my own interests in representations of crime and policing and detective literature, I chose two of her noir novels, one very early and one more recent. Really enjoyed both and we had a great conversation.

CHAIN GANG ALL-STARS, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I really liked this, though it’s a violent story.

ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY, Ruth Madievsky. Had been looking forward to this—Ruth’s column “Eldest Immigrant Daughter” about her experience growing up in a Russian Jewish immigrant family is so charming and funny—and was not disappointed.

TERRACE STORY, Hilary Leichter. I loved this.

BIRNAM WOOD, Eleanor Catton. This is also propulsive and absorbing and really takes the fuck off in the last 50 pages. Extremely satisfying payoff.

SKIPPY DIES, Paul Murray

SEA OF TRANQUILITY, Emily St. John Mandel

YELLOWFACE, RF Kuang

THE NETANYAHUS, Joshua Cohen

THE GLASS HOTEL, Emily St. John Mandel

NONFICTION

PULLING THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN, Shane McCrae. Incredible. I’m reviewing it for Parapraxis, so I will save my commentary for that!

CREEP, Myriam Gurba. I read her first nonfiction book, Mean, some years ago, and really enjoyed this one, too.

WOMEN WE BURIED, WOMEN WE BURNED, Rachel Louise Snyder

CORRECTIONS IN INK, Keri Blakinger

THE VALEDICTORIAN OF BEING DEAD, Heather B. Armstrong

LOOKING FORWARD TO (i.e., I have them on hold at the library)

WE COULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDS, MY FATHER AND I, Raja Shehadeh

I SAW DEATH COMING, Kidada E. Williams

TOUCHING THE ART, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

HOW TO SAY BABYLON, Safiya Sinclair

FAMILY MEAL, Bryan Washington

MINOR DETAIL, Adania Shibli

Merry hexmas!!!