The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Amanda: American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
The author has crafted a perfect work of meta-fiction—a book within a book—but the line between the two slowly begins to disappear. English teacher Penelope Schleeman wrote a bestselling feminist about a young paraplegic girl who discovers she's a mermaid. Hollywood wants to make it a blockbuster, and Penelope moves to LA to write the screenplay. As the studio bros begin to warp her story into something decidedly not-feminist, Penelope fears the mermaid of her story is reaching through the page into reality to take revenge. This is a novel about teachers, misogyny, the patriarchy (including bad dads, in particular), writing, and preserving authenticity. It is so, so smart, toeing the line of the believably absurd. I can't wait to read what Julia writes next!
Ellyn: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Few books have ever moved me or caused me to more carefully examine injustice the way this book did. It's been several months since I read it, and I'm still thinking about it. It's a story that poses challenging questions about our obligations to one another, and it doesn't offer easy answers. Beautifully written. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Amy: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
I thoroughly enjoyed this moving historical fiction story that spans 77 years in south India. Author Verghese, a surgeon himself, weaves his knowledge of medicine/surgery into this beautiful story about family, tradition, love, and loss.
Chad: An Immense World by Ed Yong
It’s just so awe-inspiring in its exploration of the unique sensory worlds of animal experiences.
Jess: Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater
Mistakenly shelved in our fiction section (rather than thriller/horror) I wasn’t sure what I was getting in to. Set in a bookshop in London with behind the scenes dark humor and literary references (usually true crime) we get to know Roach and Laura who have dramatically different pasts as well as personal tastes (ie dark, murder, serial killers). I was sucked into this story from the beginning with the dark humor but it kept me intrigued with the “what’s gonna happen?!” creep factor. This is a debut author and they truly shine with poignant prose and thoughtful passages amid the macabre.
Katie: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
I first picked up this book with a large amount of trepidation. I mean, a book with this much buzz around it can’t possibly live up to what everyone is saying, right? It took me exactly three pages before I was completely immersed in Yarros’ world. Think Divergent meets Zodiac Academy, but ALL grown up with a grumpy, snarky dragon sidekick. I absolutely CAN NOT wait for book two to come out in November. In fact I have already pre-ordered my copy through the store.
Mariah: Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle, Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
After crashing their spaceship in the middle of nowhere, an alien uses their shape-shifting ability to hunt humans, going on dates and them eating them after sex. But what this story is about is what its like to be a person existing in a marginalized body—a queer body, a fat body, a disabled body, a body of color. Witty, surreal, and crass, this weird and delicate sci-fi/horror novella is ultimately a desperate bid for connection. I cannot stop thinking about this book and recommending it to everyone I know. There is something to be said for the experience of never feeling quite right in your skin and the constant way you surveil yourself and your body if you feel this way, and never have I read a book that gets that feeling so deeply. Not only is the prose itself miraculous and original (filled with typographical flourishes and somewhat disturbing illustrations) but the voice of our alien is so singular and yet universal. You will either get what this book is going for or it will simply be weird drivel to you—for me, the test is on page 52. If you read that and feel something, this is the book for you.
In the same vein as 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah takes our current carceral system of “justice” and pushes the edges to a not-so-distant conclusion. He challenges our ideas of morality and asks what we as a society are really trying to do when we punish people, what we’re asking of our prisons. Are we aiming for punishment? For rehabilitation? For justice? And what could that possibly look like anyway? This book tears open these questions, exposing the beating and morally gray heart of humanity while also drawing attention to the tenuous dance between futility and hope endemic to social justice movements.
There’s so much else I’d like to—and could—say, but I’ll leave it at this: this book is brilliant, brutal, deeply affecting, formally experimental (with factual footnotes about our actual justice system), and I know that experiencing this book has changed me forever. If you’ve never thought about prison abolition or gone beyond the surface with regards to the lives of current and formerly incarcerated people, take this book as the starting point in your journey. Awe-inspiring and important, every good review of this book is underselling it.
If you’ve ever talked YA lit with me, you know that Little Thieves by Margaret Owen is among, if not itself, my favorite titles ever. Of course, when you love a book, you’re always nervous to see whether or not any sequels will stand up to the first. I am gleeful to say that Painted Devils is, in my opinion, better than her predecessor. Our favorite little gremlin of a girl, Vanja, is back in this sequel that dazzles just as it draws on your heartstrings. After accidentally starting a cult, Vanja faces new challenges that put what she loves most at risk and guides her to a difficult confrontation with her past that she had no clue was on the horizon. Filled with adventure, heists, angry gods, and a deliciously slow-burn romance with great asexual/demisexual representation, this book has my WHOLE ENTIRE HEART. If you have a difficult relationship with your family/parents, it will speak to you too. Painted Devils pulled me along breathlessly and left me in cathartic tears. A must-read of any genre.
Nayeli: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and Reckless by Elsie Silver
An amazing fantasy romance that follows Violet as she struggles to survive her training at the Basgiath War College to become a rider. With an epic enemies to lovers romance that will have you swooning and epic dragons this book is a definite must read.
A small town romance that follows Winter, a woman who is perceived as being cold and mean. However after a one night stand with Theo she finds out she’s pregnant… this romance book is so wholesome, steamy and funny. I love the characters and it’s honestly such a good romance book, definitely a new fav. (Book four of the Chestnut Spring series—all of the book in this series are amazing).
Rachel: Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon
Thriller comedy, thrill-com if you will, might be Rachel's new favorite genre. In the same vein of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon is a delightful thriller-mystery with a solid dose of humor. Imagine being captured by a serial killer who paints their victims like Pokémon, being saved by a woman with an electric cattle prod, running from the FBI because well why not, then ending up having another serial killer trying to hunt you down. Why is Amber so appealing to serial killers?!? Then teaming up with the woman that saved her to hunt the serial killer hunting her! The cast of characters is too good, that I never thought a serial killer story could be so enjoyable.
Sarah: A Tiny Armageddon by BH Panhuyzen, The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw, and Walking Practice by Dolki Min, translated by Victoria Caudle
I love a good random gem and I came across this title by happenstance.
A group of soldiers emerge from a safe bunker to find everything (literally every. thing.) in the world organized and stacked into massive cubes. They have to figure out what is going on and move through this brand new world.
I always find it thrilling when I come across a brand new idea. I cannot get the image of singular items packed all together in a single space (think fake Christmas trees packed nine stories tall....) out of my head. Amazing, almost surrealist, imagery. This read came at quite a wild time in my life: I have been sifting through a dozen years of life and getting ready for a huge move overseas. I am a woman of a lot of paper (I have kept every single plane ticket from every flight I have ever taken...I have a collection of beer bottle labels...) and sorting through everything while reading this gave the exercise a whole new dimension. What does our stuff say about us? What does it say about all the stuff we treasure, keep, use, discard? Of course there are keepsakes and big things, but think about the quotidian stuff that we leave in our wake as we move through the world: band-aid wrappers, q-tips, coffee cups, napkins, daily contacts, twist ties, bobby pins, gum wrappers, and receipts. The read will leave you chewing on questions around consumption, identity, and the global impact of civilization as we have built it. Are we just the product of our stuff? Who are we with all this stuff? Who are we without it? Full of massive questions, gorgeous imagery, and sweeping emotion, this is a book that will permanently alter how you look at life.
In a land ravaged by destruction, The Mermaid and The Plague Doctor walk together into the woods, leaving behind the ashes of a kingdom. Then, the Children and the Saints are playing a terrifying game …or enacting a complex ritual? What is going on? And why does The Plague Doctor care so much?
It feels transgressive in its gore (read: it’s a lot), but it is not just for shock; it simply is part of this lush, blood-soaked velvet world. At once unique and archetypal, the characters will feel familiar. (Dead) Princes and (cannibal) Mermaids. Children and (demented) Doctors. Monsters and Saints. All the components of a fairy tale braised in horror.
Make sure to carefully follow the names. Note who is called what. Who is named. Who is not. It’s a clever thread to pull through narrative. (The change from ‘the’ to ‘my’ is so subtle and so perfect. 😭) It’s a quick read; I listened to the audiobook in less than two hours. Susan Dalian's sharp, rhythmic performance was the perfect companion for this book. And don't even get me started on the cover art. Astounding. This is a book you’ll want to frame (I listened to the ALC and now I quest for the hardback!). It's such a treat when it all—the prose, the packaging, the performance—all come together. Bravo! Visceral and vibrant, this is poetic splatterpunk* at its finest. I loved every single second of this book.
To all those who have ever felt foreign in their own body, betrayed by their own skin, trapped inside of themselves—this is the book for you.
An alien has crash landed on Earth and must eat. They quickly find a viable food source in people and take advantage of dating apps to prey on hearts and bodies. They spend their days trawling the online waters, baiting potential meals, and transforming their grotesque cumbersome (unlovable?) alien form into something palatable for hookups.
Let me tell you, I loved every single second of reading this. I devoured this one in a couple hours. The story practically shudders off the page; the language crackles and has such dynamic viscerality. A loneliness and hunger—for companionship, understanding, compassion, ease—saturates the entire book. I’ve never read anything like it. I deeeeepplllyyyy related to this one. My body is not my own. It is a carapace to contend with, claw, and crawl out of; a shell that squeezes, constricts, suffocates. I have never seen myself as my body. You don’t have to be an alien to feel like one.
No doubt Walking Practice will quickly ascend into the pantheon of the Queer Lit canon. Absolutely will be in my top reads of the year. It’s going to be deeply polarizing (it’ll either sing to you or all you’ll hear is noise). Overall, a beautiful heartbreak of a read. I've read it twice and already know I'll return to it again, if for no other reason than to feel seen. I cannot stop thinking about it.
Vince: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
Taylor’s latest novel follows the lives of young people in Iowa City struggling to discern their futures. Poets. Dancers. Meatpacking workers. This novel feels like a complicated love letter to Iowa City; a letter laden with heartache, intimacy, and perhaps a glimmer of hope, but it’s a love letter all the same. A wonderful read for anyone approaching a crossroads in their life.
