by Another year has passed and another top-ten list must come to be. As of writing this (it’s December 15th), I’ve read 144 books, which is a record for me. I feel like this year I hit my stride – I was DNFing books left and right with absolutely no shame.
I always feel bad ranking books – especially in numerical order. It feels icky and wrong, and I’ve decided I’m not doing it anymore! So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here are my top ten reads from this year!
The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (Trenton Lee Stewart)
I’ve been a huge fan of the Mysterious Benedict Society for years, and this is the perfect accompaniment to the series! With an orphanage/boarding school/depressing Anne of Green Gables sort of setting, this is an excellent middle-grade dark academia story with a narcoleptic main character.
Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? An incredible queer fantasy with deep lore that doesn’t try to throw you out of your depth with its cleverness, and a twist that left me reeling! I can’t wait to dig into the other books in this series in 2023.
Big Magic – Creative Living Beyond Fear (Elizabeth Gilbert)
You may recognize this author from her smash hit Eat, Pray, Love, but this book stands on its own as a guide to making art in a way that both sustains and fulfils you. Reading this revolutionized the way that I think about writing, and it was the restart that I sorely needed.
I’m an avid collector of quotes from novels. They encapsulate the whole book in a beautiful and smart little package, so I hoard them like a dragon and have ever since I was a child. I wrote this quote down and pinned it to my wall, and I’ve kept it ever since.
“I’ve always felt like this is so cruel to your work. To demand a regular paycheck from it, as if creativity were a government job or a trust fund.”
Elizabeth Gilbert
Babel – Or the Necessity of Violence (R.F Kuang)
From the author of the Poppy Wars, this was THE smash hit for me this year. I’ve been looking forward to this book for ages! I remember seeing the character art on Twitter in like 2019 and I’ve had it on my TBR ever since. I read the whole thing in one go overnight – it’s one of those books you pick up and then can’t put down. The Secret History of this millennium, this book read to me as the author’s way of reconciling herself with being a part of a toxic system.
The Vampire Knitting Club Series (Nancy Warren)
I have been shouting the praises for this cozy mystery series since what feels like the dawn of time, and I’ll keep doing it forever. I did a full relisten this summer while knitting nonstop, and I can attest that it’s the perfect comforting background noise to any sort of arts and craft activity. A fourteenth book just came out in November (Mosaics and Magic: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) that I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, and I’m salivating at the prospect.
The Appeal (Janice Hallett)
A fantastic thriller told in an epistolary style that kept me hooked from the very first page. I can’t put my finger on why I felt like this story had such an Agatha Christie vibe to it – maybe the way that it felt like every single character was a suspect. I can’t believe that this was Hallett’s debut novel! This is one of those books that is made for the big screen, and I hope to be seeing a film adaptation in the next few years.
Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon (Charles Casillo)
A honest portrayal of Monroe as a complex human rather than just any one facet of her being, like a temptress or an actress or a flirt. I only knew the legend of Marilyn. Now I feel like I have at least a small grasp on her as a person, rather than a piece of iconography.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Patrick Süskind)
One of the most skin crawling creepy books I’ve read in a long time. Potentially ever. I don’t want to give anything away, because going in totally blind made the whole thing just so much weirder (and therefore better). If you have a strong stomach and aren’t vulnerable to nightmares, this is definitely a strong recommend from me.
All About Love: New Visions (bell hooks)
bell hooks really does hit every time. This is such an amazing discussion of what a relationship is / what it should be, especially relationships with men. If you’re in a weird place (or any place) with relationships in general, a must read.
On Skein of Death (Allie Pleiter)
I was really on a cozy mystery kick after my reread of the The Vampire Knitting Club series, and the Riverbank Knitting Mystery Series scratched the itch perfectly. This is just a good old fashioned cozy book, set in a knitting shop, and so far the murder set ups have been ingenious! The third book came out recently, It Came Upon a Midnight Shear and I can’t wait to read it. I expect a glowing review will be up withing the next few weeks.
