Relative to most people I know, I read a hefty amount of books in a typical year.
Relative to myself, I read an absolutely insane amount of books in 2023.
Like, it’s so many books I’m not even going to say how many because it will no doubt lead to a probably well-deserved amount of snarky judgement from people who have less free time than I do. In my defense, there are a few things that led to the fact that I may or may not have doubled my normal book intake this calendar year.
One reason is that writing a book myself has made me eager to read more in order to pay closer attention to the intricacies of the published written word. How prologues and epilogues play into storylines; how romantic tension is best built; how various endings fit with their respective genres. Things like that.
The bigger reason can be credited to my long overdue discovery of The Libby App (seriously, if you aren’t on the Libby train, hop on immediately) combined with my lifelong relationship with my best pal, Insomnia. This, as I have discovered, is an absolutely lethal combo and one that has helped make those mind-numbing, eye-blinky, total wastes of darkness a more productive use of my time.
So while you may be thinking, “Gee, I wish I had the luxury of lounging around all day reading ’til my heart’s content instead of working hard to keep a roof over my head,” I say, mock not! For the low price of little-to-no-sleep, you too can make an embarrassingly impressive dent in that to-be-read pile amassing on your proverbial nightstand.
ALL THAT TO SAY…
I read a lot this year. A few of the books were bad; a lot were meh. But some of them permanently rearranged the neural pathways in my brain and I wanted to tell you about them. So without further ado, and in no particular order…
This one was recommended to me by Joelle, the lovely owner of The Bookshop in East Nashville (my neighborhood haunt), and devastating is about the best word I could use to describe it. It’s about a woman who becomes stranded inside an invisible barrier in the Austrian countryside, cut off from the outside world, and totally alone but for the land and her furry companions. It’s a tale of survival in more ways than one and I found it utterly captivating and sad — in the very best way.
A Bright Ray of Darkness, Ethan Hawke
Don’t @ me on this one, bro. If you’re a fan of Ethan Hawke (don’t even get me started on the Before movies) then this novel is for you. Is the story a thinly veiled attempt to tell his side of/make amends for/spin his absolutely inexcusable behavior back when he was married to Uma Thurman? Yes. Does that make for a good novel? Also, yes. As Ron Charles so deftly put it in his worth-reading Washington Post Review: “
Finally, a novel about the travails of a successful White guy! What could pull the heartstrings of our afflicted nation tighter than a story of brief, emotional setback suffered by a handsome movie star?
Ethan Hawke has got a lot of nerve.
But he’s also got a lot of talent.
Charles isn’t wrong. Sure, it might be a tad annoying that A Bright Ray is actually good. But thems the facts. So sue us.
I must thank the sweet gal (whose name I don’t know! gah!) at Novelette Booksellers in East Nashville (my other neighborhood haunt) for slickly handing this one to me when I was in the shop searching for a different type of book entirely. She must have recognized something in my eyes to have done so because this isn’t the type of book you just casually recommend to any bloke off the street. But boy did she nail it. Vladimir has got a certain…je ne sais quoi, to put it mildly, and had me laughing out loud (literally) within the first 2 pages. It’s about being a middle-aged woman, coveting desirability again, and going to the extremes to pursue whatever the hell it is that might mean. And don’t even try to predict the ending. Just let it happen to you.
The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles
Amor Towles is, in my opinion, one of the most masterful storytellers of his time. I’ve read all three of his books, each one wildly different from the last, and every sentence is like drinking a glass of cool water when you’ve spent way too long feeling parched. The Lincoln Highway is my least favorite of his so far and is still one of the best books I read all year. It’s about road trips and hijinks and family and making a way through when there’s nowhere to go and nothing left to cling to. Don’t sleep on Amor Towles!
Hell Followed With Us, Andrew Joseph White
While on a cross country road trip this summer in our camper, Gracie Bell, I got to visit so many incredible indie bookstores. Possibly my favorite was this wonderful little queer + trans owned spot in Madison, Wisconsin called A Room of One’s Own. I picked up several great titles while there, amongst them was an impulse purchase of Hell Followed With Us (I mean, just look at that cover art! How could I not?) In this post-apocalyptic hellscape of Biblical proportions by trans author Andrew Joseph White, religious fanatics have taken the book of Revelation a little too literally, wielding horrific biochemical scientific experimentations to their ends of genocide, all in the name of — you guessed it, folks! — salvation. Woven within the greater plot is a heartwarming-yet-eye-opening story of a stalwart crew of queer misfits who must band together to face the oncoming storm that actively threatens their very right to exist. Which is a really underwhelming description of what this book actually does, which is to so colorfully tell the tale of religious trauma and underline the harm to the queer community done by so many in the name of righteousness, among other things. One of the most unique and pointed books I’ve read in ages.
Speaking of covers that are so amazing you just *have* to buy the book, this next portion of my blog will cover a bunch of books that are in the opposite category. This category is for all of these incredible stories that so many people will never read because the cover art is so…womp womp. It’s a crying shame, really. I do want to apologize in advance, because I know there are real people involved in the making/design of these books, but the covers on some of these things are so honest to god awful it’s hard to even believe. And before you slip into my DMs, yes I know art is subjective, and there are definitely some genre trends at work here — I GET IT, OK? But when the storytelling is so heart-squenchingly good, and the characters are so get-under-your-skin-worthy, it bums me out how many of these are getting such unimaginative cover art treatment that will relegate them to weird abandoned smutty romance shelves rather than bring them the spotlight of recognition they truly deserve. Because let’s be honest…people really do judge books by their covers! And these books ought to be getting so much more recognition than they currently are.
The Billionaire Trilogy, Alexis Hall
[I mean, who is this guy on the cover? He’s like a…sad version of Alex from Grey’s Anatomy. He’s doing Caspian Hart no favors whatsoever. Since many of Hall’s older books have gotten recent cover upgrades, I’m holding out hope for these to get the royal treatment soon too!]
Alexis Hall is the author-lover of my soul. And nowhere does that soul find a home better than with Arden St. Ives in the Billionaire series. Obviously, this is a blatant queer take on another very popular normie-meets-billionaire trilogy that shall remain nameless. But where that trilogy lacks (in interesting plot, in characters with depth, in humor, in…you know, everything) Alexis Hall more than makes up for it with cheekiness and a singular dexterity with words that’ll knock your socks off — in more ways than one. Disclaimer: these books (like many of Hall’s) are SPICY. If you do not like open-door romances, these are not the books for you (try Boyfriend Material instead). But for me, they are so much more than that. With these characters and in the compelling settings of Oxford and London, I get all the pop culture references of my chakra; the telepathic partner of my inner monologue; my soul’s literary love linguist. Alexis Hall’s writing is an education. Consider me smitten.
The Green Creek Series, TJ Klune
TJ Klune has gotten a lot of deserved buzz lately with his book House in the Cerulean Sea (11/10 stars, would *absolutely* recommend reading it twice) and the recent announcement of its sequel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, to be released some time in 2024. But what many people don’t realize, thanks in part to these incredibly underwhelming book covers, is that Klune has been writing — furiously and for ages — and has a whole back catalogue of incredible stories just waiting to be devoured. Some that should not be missed are the 4 books in the Green Creek Series which — thank the literary gods above — are getting brand new covers/rereleases that give them the new Klune book vibe treatment that so many of us have already come to absolutely adore. Check these puppies (no pun intended) out!
Holy crap, is that not a bajillion, trazillion times better?? These absolutely killer fantasy books about a fiercely powerful wolf pack in the throes of love and family and betrayal and death and what it means to find home are going to sell A MILLION COPIES — and boy do they deserve it. [Disclaimer again: SPICE level in this series is high but done sparingly!] If Alexis Hall is the lover of my literary soul, TJ Klune writes the stories of my heart. He just plucks every single little heart string with each of these wonderfully flawed, beautiful, loving, messy people and I cannot get enough. Just flip through a catalogue of Klune books with your eyes closed, point to one, then buy it (or Libby App it!) and I can pretty much promise you won’t be disappointed.
The Penalty Box Series, Ari Baran
Let me start by saying these covers are not actually bad. Compared to pretty much every other title in the genre they are masterpieces. I’m a big fan of the gradient color scheme, the b+w images, and the fact that these dudes haven’t been photoshopped to look all shiny and extra ripply like Fabio. It’s just, in general, I’ve never much been a fan of people on the covers of books (photos or illustrated…which is basically the entire romance genre. oops). Thankfully, Ari Baran is taking the genre to new heights and showing everyone that romance covers don’t have to be super cringe or cheesy. In these queer hockey romances (the 3rd in the series is set to be released summer 2024 — woo!) you get enemies-to-lovers, you get best friends who didn’t know they were lovers, you get tenderness and you get fist fights (sometimes both in the same scene), and you get a lot of reckoning with real life issues — injuries, addiction, and honest wrestling with sexual identity. [Disclaimer: SPICE level high!] I’ve read a lot of romance this year, which is new for me. It’s not a genre I’ve traditionally wanted to get anywhere near. And there’s a good reason for that — because so much of it is T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. Like, cannot roll my eyes back into my head far enough for how predictable, lazy, and inane so many stories in the romance genre can be. But Ari Baran breaks the mold with these, telling sincere stories about people whose personalities and struggles feel so viscerally real. I think I read both Game Misconduct and Delay of Game in like…less than 2 days? I couldn’t put them down. And I can’t wait to read them again. Unfortunately for now, these are only in e-book format. But I can’t wait to someday have them (along with books 3 & 4) all lined up in a neat little paperback row on my living room bookshelf. Until then, in the profound words of my 3 year old nephew, yay hockey ballgames!
Honorable mentions
I want to highlight two books here whose covers were so good I couldn’t not buy them and that I ended up enjoying immensely.
My Roommate is a Vampire, Jenna Levine
As I mentioned, I normally just don’t like people on the covers of books. Like…photos or illustrated (but that’s romance novels! Yes, I know. It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me). But I immediately fell in love with this noir comic cover feel and just had to have it. Compared to its romance-genre counterparts, this cover feels more elevated, less kitschy, less juvenile. It’s stylish, it’s throwback, and I just happen to love the color scheme as well. Also, the book was really fun to read! Was it the predictable storybook happily ever after that this genre demands? Yes. Which is fine! The journey to get there was sweet and entertaining and y’all know I’m never EVER going to skip a good vampire tale. And this author had the extra appeal of also being from Nashville so maybe I’ll get to meet her someday and gush about all things books.
Starter Villain, John Scalzi
Hands down, best book cover of the year goes to Starter Villain. I’ll go to the mat on that. I would never have bought or read this book otherwise which, to wrap up a nearly-blog-long diatribe on good-vs-bad book covers, proves the point I’ve been trying to make. Of course, not everyone has the clout and the resources Scalzi has to get this level of design genius, but I digress. The point is, I bought tickets to go see John Scalzi at Parnassus when he was in town for the Southern Festival of Books this year and I did that purely because I was enamored with this cover. Well, that and the story premise was intriguing. It did not disappoint! This was a very cheeky book, so obviously right up my alley. In the vein of Good Omens/Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett, if you like that sort of thing (and I very much do). I don’t want to give too much about Starter Villain away, but when I say come for the cat cover, stay for the unionized group of foul-mouthed dolphins, I mean it. Like…if calling someone a “suppurating bourgeois fistula of oppression” isn’t the most dexterous insult you’ve ever read, I don’t know what is. So trust me on this one: you won’t be disappointed.
That’s a wrap on my great reads of 2023! Can’t wait to see what books next year has in store…
*Where possible, I have linked each book’s buying options back to the indie bookstore where I myself purchased it. Just to spread the love around a little. Leave Amaz*n out of this for crying out loud!!!
WESTPHALL 