Best books I've read in 2023, month by month, by Multcolib My Librarian Diana | Multnomah County Library

North Woods

A Novel

Book - 2023

I read this in November, and it's the best thing I read this year. This novel about a very specific house in the mountains of western Massachusetts, is da...Show more I read this in November, and it's the best thing I read this year. This novel about a very specific house in the mountains of western Massachusetts, is dazzling. It has it all, gorgeous writing, the best apples you've ever tasted , secrets, a tragic romance, a creepy twin sister, ghosts, a forest that is so vividly described in these pages that you can it inside your head as you read the book. It's inventive and lovely, it takes you on a journey, and it's also really fun to read. Show less

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Crook Manifesto

A Novel

by Whitehead, Colson

Book - 2023

January. This is the sequel to Harlem Shuffle, a heist novel set in the 1960s. I liked it as much as the first. They don’t gloss over the realities of bei...Show more January. This is the sequel to Harlem Shuffle, a heist novel set in the 1960s. I liked it as much as the first. They don’t gloss over the realities of being Black in a country built on racism, but the darkness makes the humor even better, and there’s so much pleasure in the fine writing and the extremely rich characters. These books put a spell on me. I felt like I was time traveling. Whitehead might be the best living American writer. Show less

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Tom Lake

A Novel

by Patchett, Ann

Book - 2023

February. This is being released in August of 2023, which is perfect, as this novel is a tale of two summers, the first about when the main character was ...Show more February. This is being released in August of 2023, which is perfect, as this novel is a tale of two summers, the first about when the main character was an actress at a summer stock theater, falling in love with a now extremely famous actor (and with the theater itself), and the second in a cherry orchard, where the narrator, now a farmer's wife, is telling her three adult daughters about that first summer. Show less

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Romantic Comedy

A Novel

by Sittenfeld, Curtis

Book - 2023

Also February. (I couldn't leave this one out.) I've read better books this year, but I don't think I've read anything more fun. A writer for a show very ...Show more Also February. (I couldn't leave this one out.) I've read better books this year, but I don't think I've read anything more fun. A writer for a show very much like Saturday Night Live and a famous and gorgeous rock star are attracted to each other. It's such a pleasure, watching them move closer in spite of all the things, in themselves and in the world, keeping them apart. Yeah, it's a romance, but this is a smart and feminist romance. Show less

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The Whalebone Theatre

by Quinn, Joanna

Book - 2022

March. This is a kind of book I really like, a long novel about the gentry in the English countryside between the world wars. There are artists, children ...Show more March. This is a kind of book I really like, a long novel about the gentry in the English countryside between the world wars. There are artists, children running a little wild, love affairs. Then the kids grow up, and two of them wind up in France, fighting with the resistance. There's also a theater made out of the bones of a dead whale that washed up on a nearby beach. Great storytelling, and very good writing. Show less

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The Vaster Wilds

by Groff, Lauren

Book - 2023

April. At the center of this novel is a maidservant, a person so without power that she doesn't even have a proper name. She has escaped from the Jamestow...Show more April. At the center of this novel is a maidservant, a person so without power that she doesn't even have a proper name. She has escaped from the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. You see flashbacks of her former life, but most of the book is about her flight through the cold. Groff is an extraordinary writer, and this book is full of gorgeous writing about the natural world, with descriptions of bees and bears and tree trunks, and also with the ways the girl finds to survive, the ways she keeps herself warm, takes care of her hatchet, boots, coverlets. I liked the insights she came up with as she walked- about God, nature, how settlers would wreck this new world. Honestly, I was never bored. And by the end, I was rooting for her so hard. Show less

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Our Wives Under the Sea

by Armfield, Julia

Book - 2022

May. A deep sea researcher and her wife deal with the consequences of a submarine mission that lasted 6 months instead of the planned 3 weeks. Now she’s b...Show more May. A deep sea researcher and her wife deal with the consequences of a submarine mission that lasted 6 months instead of the planned 3 weeks. Now she’s back, and she’s not the same, emotionally or physically. This is a moving literary novel, a tale of horror, a love story, and perhaps an allegory for aging? The author did an exquisite job at building tension. Show less

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One Last Stop

by McQuiston, Casey

Book - 2021

June. This romance was light, charming, witty, full of all kinds of queer people, and pretty hot, too. I'm straight, but the slow-burn romance between Aug...Show more June. This romance was light, charming, witty, full of all kinds of queer people, and pretty hot, too. I'm straight, but the slow-burn romance between August and the cool, mysterious, kind of butch woman she meets on the subway, definitely affected me. There's a paranormal element, too, which was fun. I read this as an audiobook, and the reader was great, too. Show less

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The Enchanted April

by Von Arnim, Elizabeth

Unknown - 2007

July was a sad month for me. I'm glad I'd saved this compassionate and gently funny novel about four women who go on holiday to a beautiful Italian castle...Show more July was a sad month for me. I'm glad I'd saved this compassionate and gently funny novel about four women who go on holiday to a beautiful Italian castle, become friends, and change all their lives for the better. Keep this one in your back pocket for when you need an escape! Show less

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Lessons in Chemistry

by Garmus, Bonnie

Book - 2022

August. I read this in the same month that the movie Barbie came out, which seems appropriate. The whole world is realizing how terrible the patriarchy is...Show more August. I read this in the same month that the movie Barbie came out, which seems appropriate. The whole world is realizing how terrible the patriarchy is, and I'm here for it. I will not soon forget Elizabeth Zott, a character who has little sense of humor, but is still very funny, and who has a serious thirst for research in chemistry, although her venue for sharing her knowledge of chemistry is a 1960s cooking show. This book is also notable for creating an excellent dog character. Show less

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North and South

by Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn

Book - 2003

September. How did I wait so long to read Mrs. Gaskell? Someone on Goodreads called this novel "Pride and Prejudice for Socialists", which would...Show more September. How did I wait so long to read Mrs. Gaskell? Someone on Goodreads called this novel "Pride and Prejudice for Socialists", which would make it just my cup of tea, and this is a great assessment. It's very delicious, watching Mr. Darcy, er, Mr. Thornton, the cruel industrialist, fall madly in love with Margaret, who doesn't really care for him (at first) and is mostly on the side of the workers. Will he become a better man? Will Margaret change her mind about him? So much pleasurable drama! Show less

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The Ministry of Time

by Bradley, Kaliane

Book - 2024

October. This is one of the most fun books I've read this year. A desperately handsome naval officer is whisked via time machine from a doomed Arctic expe...Show more October. This is one of the most fun books I've read this year. A desperately handsome naval officer is whisked via time machine from a doomed Arctic expedition to modern London, and the narrator is the government staffer assigned to help him acclimate to the 21st century- and to report on everything about him to the government. This turns into both a romance and a thriller, and I could not put it down. It doesn't come out until May of 2024, but put it on your to-read list! Show less

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Loot

by James, Tania

Book - 2023

December. This novel is about how white people steal absolutely everything. It's also a great coming of age story about a young man in southern India in t...Show more December. This novel is about how white people steal absolutely everything. It's also a great coming of age story about a young man in southern India in the late 18th Century who loves to fashion toys out of wood. He gets drawn into a project, a commission by the sultan, to help a celebrated French clockmaker create an automaton of a mighty tiger attacking a British soldier. When his homeland falls to the marauding British, his experience with this tiger draws him across the sea and into many adventures. It tells about a period of history I knew little about, and it drew me right in. Show less

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