Best books I've read in 2023, month by month, by Multcolib My Librarian DianaLike this list

13 items

• North Woods

  a Novel

  Mason, Daniel (Daniel Philippe),

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crook Manifesto

  a Novel

  Whitehead, Colson, 1969-

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tom Lake

  a Novel

  Patchett, Ann,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Romantic Comedy

  a Novel

  Sittenfeld, Curtis,

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  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.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Whalebone Theatre

  Quinn, Joanna, 1976-

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  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,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Vaster Wilds

  Groff, Lauren,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Our Wives Under the Sea

  Armfield, Julia,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• One Last Stop

  McQuiston, Casey,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Enchanted April

  Von Arnim, Elizabeth, 1866-1941

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lessons in Chemistry

  Garmus, Bonnie,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• North and South

  Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865,

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  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,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Ministry of Time

  Bradley, Kaliane,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Loot

  James, Tania,

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  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…Read moreRead more of this annotation