This year, I set my Goodreads reading goal at 60 books thinking I was lowballing it and would hit this goal by the end of the summer. But life intervened, and I felt myself not reading as much as...
This year, I set my Goodreads reading goal at 60 books thinking I was lowballing it and would hit this goal by the end of the summer. But life intervened, and I felt myself not reading as much as I have in the past. But I more than cleared my goal and got to read a lot of good books over the year. Below are my top 10 books that I read in 2023 in the order that I read them throughout the year.
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Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
Diana O’Toole’s vacation plans are thwarted when Covid strikes in New York City and her surgeon boyfriend can’t leave work. So, she heads to the Galapagos Islands on a solo trip away from the illness and city quarantine life.
Upon arrival, her luggage is lost, the island shuts down, and her hotel reservations fall through, and Diana falls dependent on a local family for basic necessities. As her two-week vacation turns to months, Diana begins to settle a new routine, and when she is suddenly ripped away from it and back to reality, she finds herself longing for her island life.
After our lives were all taken over by Covid for close to two years, the last thing I wanted to do was read a Covid story. But the idea of a travel story that only uses Covid as an inciting incident to put our main character in this situation seemed like a tolerable use of this recent historic event.
Diana is a very dependent person, which makes her conundrum entertaining to watch. Lucky for her, she seems to find someone to take care of her wherever she goes. You’d think having a neglectful mother and a high demand career as an art dealer would have made her more self-reliant, but you have to take Diana for who she is.
The tropical landscape and multifaceted characters make the story a page turner, and the twist in the middle of the book was one that I didn’t see coming. The twist does make Covid a much larger element in the overall plot, but it’s one that has something new to say about the Covid era in a unique and almost supernatural context.
You can read my full review of Wish You Were Here here: Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult Book Review.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
When a wealthy entrepreneur hires a team of geneticists to extract DNA from ancient fossils and bring dinosaurs back from extinction, he decides to showcase their achievements by opening a theme park for the public to interact with these prehistoric creatures. Before opening to the public, three scientists are invited to the island to weigh in on the park and its extensive safety features. But things don’t go according to plan, and soon, the dinosaurs are on the loose, and the humans have to fight for survival.
A lot of classes in my high school read Jurassic Park, but mine wasn’t one of them. However, you didn’t grow up in the 90’s and not become obsessed with dinosaurs after watching the Spielberg movie dozens of times. I also tend to shy away from sci-fi, but knowing the general plot of this story made me think I could get through all of the technical jargon.
I was surprised by how quickly I zipped through this novel, particularly given its length. It’s similar to the movie but different enough that you don’t know how it will all play out on paper.
Some of the heroes from the movie are villainous, and some of the movie’s villains are heroes. There is a wider variety of featured dinosaurs and action scenes that keep the acting flowing way longer than the runtime of the movie.
Most interestingly, there are a lot of complex scientific thoughts that are broken down into easily digestible explanations that get you thinking about human behavior in general and the traits that either make or break us as a species. If you want a fun action story with some deep philosophical ideas thrown in, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Jurassic Park.
Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade by E.M. Gales
When a household’s cat settles down for a nap, that mice who hide in the walls of the home come out in themed, numbered groups to have a parade around their sleeping enemy. The party doubles as an educational counting book that teaches young readers about numbers.
Energetic with a Looney Tunes sense of humor, Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade was my favorite picture book that I read this year. I loved the unique outfits that each group of mice wore as they made their way through the parade route. I also loved the detailed drawings that accompanied each page and how the book taught you something while still having fun.
You can read my full review of Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade here: Orange Kitty and the Mouse Parade Book Review and Author Interview.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Four individuals are invited to Hill House to investigate the home’s history of paranormal activity. One of the invitees, Eleanor, is an emotionally fragile young woman who has never been on her own before. She hits it off with the other attendees of this paranormal experiment, particularly Theodora, a young woman with presumed psychic abilities.
A good chunk of my reading for the year often includes audiobooks. However, I went through an audiobook slump this year. I would start a book and within a few minutes give up on it. This was especially true of fiction.
But The Haunting of Hill House is compellingly written. I love the dynamic between this found family who goes through this adventure together. Despite being unacquainted prior to their stay, they hit it off right away and create a comfortable, witty banter among themselves.
This book was just what I needed while doing my spring cleaning. It created that fall atmosphere months before the fall season arrived. And it was an encouraging step towards getting back into audiobooks.
The Clue in the Diary by Nancy Drew
After witnessing a mansion on fire, teen detective Nancy Drew rushes to the scene, hoping to save any individuals who may be trapped inside. While there, she observes an individual running away from the scene and then finds a diary in the bushes nearby. Believing the diary may be a clue to figuring out how the fire started, Nancy and her friends embark on one of her legendary investigations to solve the mystery.
I never got around to reading Nancy Drew as a kid. So, when I found two copies of her mysteries in my Little Free Library, I scarfed them up and decided to take advantage of this opportunity to read a few books in the series.
This book is the reason why I’m against updating books for a modern age. Part of what makes this book so entertaining is getting to see how the world operated before cell phones and other modern conveniences. I love hearing how much Nancy’s lunches cost in the little diners where she stops and how she and her friends plan their dates and dances. What was really surprising was seeing how much freedom Nancy’s attorney father grants her to go on these little adventures that really have nothing to do with her.
These investigations also get really intense, and Nancy is put in some very dangerous situations which she handles like a pro. I definitely recommend this classic series if you’re looking for straightforward, old-fashioned mysteries to read.
Miranda Nights by Gail Ward Olmsted
Miranda Quinn hosts a successful late night legal radio show from her home and is living comfortably with her husband, Eric, when she begins receiving mysterious phone calls from a caller who seems to have a vendetta against her. These threats escalate into vandalism and other unsettling pranks that escalate in severity as they go on.
At the same time, Quinn’s best friend, Tracey’s, teenage son is arrested on a technicality for child pornography as Tracey’s marriage is simultaneously falling apart. As Quinn tries to juggle her own crisis along with her friend’s and take care of her aging father in the process, the reader comes along for a ride as her stalker takes advantage of these distractions to inch closer to her and get his revenge.
Not necessarily a mystery, Miranda Nights is more of a legal thriller that balances our hero’s personal life with her professional one in a way that similar novels aren’t quite able to pull off. I like that this story is packed full of realistic side plots and fun little misadventures.
I was originally a little harsh in my rating, but after the story sunk in, I have since given it a full five stars. I highly recommend it as a fun women’s fiction read that expertly balances multiple tones, characters, and storylines.
Check out my full review of Miranda Nights here: Miranda Nights by Gail Ward Olmsted Book Review and Author Interview.
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
Musician Dave Grohl tells stories about the musical moments that defined his life. From learning to play the drums as a kid to playing at sold out stadiums with two of the most famous bands of all time, Grohl tells large stories in his very down to earth style.
Another of the few audiobooks that held my full attention earlier this year, this book will now always remind me of tearing up carpeting in my spare bedroom and the other home remodeling tasks that I completed while listening to Grohl ramble on about his life. What’s refreshing about this book is that it focuses on the positive. There’s no badmouthing of other artists, no whining about his hardships, only exhibiting enthusiasm for this craft and gratitude for his success.
Rock music is a dying breed, and the way things are going, artists like Grohl are the ones who are going to close the door behind them when their touring days are over. It’s nice to have a record of their heyday and a reminder of what music does for both artists and fans.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
A 12-year-old girl receives a diary as a gift and first uses it to record her life and feelings as a preteen growing up in Amsterdam in the 1940’s. But her entries pivot from schoolyard gossip to tales of survival as she and her family go into hiding when war breaks out, and life turns upside down for the teen’s final three years of her life.
Another book that I didn’t get around to in my youth, I’d like to have read this as a kid and related more to Anne and those universal teenage issues. The edition I read is narrated by Selma Blair who gives a very earnest reading that is faithful to Anne’s voice.
Everyone talks about the maturity of Anne’s writing, and she does have that. But even in isolation, Anne is a typical teen, boy crazy, fighting with the others in the attic, particularly her mother, and dreaming of her future as a writer.
The sad thing about this book is that the closer it gets to the ending, the closer it gets to absolute tragedy. You want nothing more than for history to change and for them all to be saved in the end. Instead, her diary ends with a typical entry, unaware that they are about to be caught and that almost everyone in the attic is doomed to a long and painful death.
Given some of the unflattering entries in this diary, I as Otto Frank would likely have been hesitant to submit it for publication. But the importance of honoring his daughter’s legacy and sharing their family’s story with the world in its rawest storm trumped any of his reservations. And as a result, you get a gut wrenching, personalized account of history that many readers can barely fathom let alone have experienced.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
After a six-month probation as a personal caregiver, Kit McDeere reluctantly takes a position caring for her town’s own Lizzie Borden, Lenora Hope. As a teen, Lenora was suspected of murdering her entire family. Now an elderly invalid, Hope appears harmless, though staying at her eerie, crumbling mansion at the top of a cliff is unsettling to McDeere. However, determined to get her life back on track, she resolves to stick it out for as long as she can.
Then, one night, Kit realizes that Lenora can communicate via typewriter. And she begins to type out a full account of the events that led up to the infamous murders, Kit begins to suspect that she’s not safe in this mansion.
A historic mystery set in the 80’s, The Only One Left was the perfect read to kick off the Halloween season. I loved the detailed flashback accounts of the dysfunctional Hope family dynamic paired with the “modern” events that play out throughout the course of the story. I also rooted for Kit and her sad history, having also been accused of an unspeakable crime prior to taking this new job.
I picked up this book on a whim at Walmart, who named it as their recent book club pick. And while the ending is very unrealistic and twisty, it’s also one that you just have to take with a grain of salt so that you don’t miss out on the full rollercoaster ride of a plot.
You can read my full review of The Only One Left here: The Only One Left by Riley Sager Book Review.
Dying of Politeness: A Memoir by Geena Davis
Actress Geena Davis chronicles her life growing up in New England before moving to New York to pursue her dream of becoming an actress by way of a modeling career. Success comes easy for her, and she eventually finds herself as the leading lady of several classic films.
Davis’ memoir reminds us that you don’t need to have a tragic story in order to have a good one worth telling. She talks about feeling like an outcast between her tall figure and her outspoken nature. She’s self-aware of her quirks but used them to her advantage and had a supportive family to back her up and encourage her dreams.
There’s no one straight path to success in any field. And it was refreshing to read a book about Hollywood that isn’t littered with complaints or terrible stories. Instead, her overarching theme is about learning to speak up for herself and undo her upbringing which taught her to keep her mouth shut and put politeness first, even if it kills her.
What were your favorite books that you read this year? Leave your answers in the comments below!
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