2023 Book Highlights

In my 2023 music retrospective, I wrote about how this year was a time of great personal change. However, it was also a year of great books. I read widely and across genres; I began new series, and finished others. I joined a book club. I revisited old favorites, and discovered new classics.

This list of my favorite books of 2023 is incomplete, if only because I have placed a false limitation on myself to only talk about twelve books. Out of the 45 that I read this year, this sampling represents ones that I found to representative of broader trends in my reading habits, or pieces that I found particularly resonant during a year of transition.

1. How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

   This book was marketed to me as a story about fish, and on that front, it did deliver. However, it became immediately clear that this collection of short stories by Sabrina Imbler was so much more than that. Drawing parallels between sea creatures and their life as a queer, mixed-race science journalist in a largely white, predominately male field, Imbler examines alternative models of family, parenthood , and community while using the natural world to shed light on their own ideas of belonging. If you’re looking for a book that will make you learn and reflect in equal parts, look no further.
   

2. How to Get Big Things Done by Brent Flybberg

   As an aerospace engineer, I’m familiar with large projects that are often carried over over decades, to the tune of millions — if not billions — of dollars. That is exactly the type of project this book aims to address. As a Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Flybberg began collecting economic data on what he deemed ‘megaprojects’ in the early 2000s. These undertakings are complex, expensive, and often involve multipled stakeholders with competing interests, and can range from high-speed rail projects to dams to interplanetary missions. From his research in this area, Flybberg was able to distill out what it is that makes these projects fail, or in the rare case, succeed. I would absolutely recommend this work to anyone interested in engineering or civil projects — or anyone who has ever wondered, ‘why is there no high-speed rail in the US?’
   

3. Jade City by Fonda Lee
   I spent the first few months of this year wondering how long it had been since I had read a work of fantasy that wholly and truly immersed me in its world. And then along came Janloon: the capital of Kekon, with its seedy underbelly full of warring clans and tremendous supply of jade, which in the world of the Greenbone Saga presents those able to wear it with superhuman abilities.

   I describe this book to friends as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Godfather, and I would dare to say that it holds its own when compared to the great mafia and kung-fu stories of the big screen. Jade City is the first book in what amounts to an epic trilogy that primarily follows the youngest generation of the No Peak clan during their struggle for power over the city with their rival clan, the Mountain. The characters are complex, often morally grey, and though my main critique of the story is that it starts to move too fast over time across the trilogy, it is absolutely worth the ride.

4. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
   This book was a recommendation from an old friend, and it did not disappoint. In this work, McGhee examines the concept of the ‘zero-sum game’ as it pertains to social justice and economic initiatives in housing, employment, and healthcare, interrogating the idea that progress for one group must inherently come at the cost of another. This is illustrated by the historical example of the drained swimming pool: in the early 20th century, public swimming pools were common fixtures across America, especially in predominantly white suburban neighborhoods. Once they were told to integrate, however, white suburbanites decided they would rather drain and close the pools — in many cases cementing them over — rather than allow others to access them. This metaphor is poignant, and showcases how many Americans have been influenced by the idea that any minority group’s social progress must come at white people’s expense.

   McGhee presents a beautiful counter to a common argument that I’ve heard over the years in America on why we shouldn’t enact certain policies or support particular DEI initiatives, especially in education. Though she is primarily concerned (and rightfully so) with the plight of Black Americans, McGhee demonstrates how this mindset is harmful for us all, and how in many cases, these proposed societal changes and programs would help poor and working-class white people. If you’re looking to understand intersectional social issues, this book is for you!

5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

   Perhaps to its detriment, this book’s standing in my mind is aided by the meta-narrative around it. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is rooted in Gaiman’s own childhood, in which a handful of key memories of his youth have been twisted and warped, refashioned into a modern fairy story brimming with magic realism and nostalgia. The story is told through the lens of a grown-up narrator revisiting his former home, where he remembers a young girl named Lettie Hempstock, who used to call the say that the pond behind her house was actually the ocean. He begins to recount the events of one strange summer in which a series of surreal circumstances befall his family, after which he must work together with Lettie (as well as with her mother and grandmother) to banish a cursed spirit from their lives.

   I read this book when it first came out, and while I enjoyed it, I think I liked it even better the second time around. Now that I am older, and thus farther away from my own childhood, I understand the layers of nostalgia and recollection that are painted over this work. This story makes me think a lot: about my own childhood, about identity, about growing up, and most importantly, about the stories we tell ourselves.

6. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

   I was recently at a work event where I was chatting with a VP at a large aerospace company, and we got on the subject of books. I usually dread these sorts of encounters, because in my industry, I end up talking about The Martian or The Expanse for the thousandth time, or I have to smile and nod as someone rails about how they don’t read fiction, thank you very much, they only read sci-comm, what’s the point of fantasy anyway, it’s just like Marvel, isn’t it, etc. This conversation, however, was a pleasant surprise. The VP asked me about the kind of books I usually read, and I admitted that I have an eclectic taste, but she pressed me for recent favorites in genre fiction, so I told her about Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts.

   This story is centered around the generation ship Matilda (a nod to the last-known slave ship from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Clotilda), which has has been stratified across racial lines such that those with darker skin are relegated to the lower decks of the ship, often subjected to the abuse of law enforcement and with little hope of social advancement. Specifically, the novel follows Aster, a young healer from the lower decks who must solve the mystery of her mother’s death with the help of Theo, the Surgeon General of the Matilda, who himself has a complex relationship to his upper-deck status due to his rejection of societal norms and traditional masculinity.

   If you’re looking for hard science fiction or straight dystopia, this will not be for you. However, if you’re interested in a well-crafted story with elements of Afrofuturism centered around a queer, neuro-divergent protagonist, this is absolutely for you. And as for the VP — she was delighted by the recommendation, as she later told me, because it sounded like the perfect complex read for her nonbinary kid. As always, representation matters!

7. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

   After years of being told to read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, this was the year I finally took the leap. Though I’ve heard conflicting opinions on where to start in Pratchett’s 41-book series, The Color of Magic served as an excellent introduction to Discworld. As someone who grew up on Monty Python and Mel Brooks, I felt right at home in the zany adventures of the second-rate wizard Rincewind, who finds himself employed as a guide to the tourist Twoflowers, an insurance clerk from the Agatean Empire who is visiting Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city on the Discworld. The story follows the two as they leap from one adventure to the next, meeting everything from thieves to dragons to sentient Luggage. Pratchett’s writing always packs the right combination of humor and hard-hitting truth, and I can’t wait to dive into the rest of his world.

8. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

   My first real book club read! Although I joined my friend Pete’s book club as soon as I moved back to Cambridge in June 2023, I couldn’t actually attend any of their meetings until my fifth or sixth month of membership. S although I missed the chance to discuss the merits of this book with my group, I can finally do so here.

   Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for a good reason. Cut from a similar cloth as Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCan, this work is one of those contemporary books that you read in AP Lit and actually enjoy. The work weaves through a collection of thirteen stories, all centered around different protagonists, many of whom are connected through the music industry. It is a vibrant tapestry of short stories woven together with a masterful attention to character, voice, and perspective, dealing with themes of aging, modern culture, and fame. If you’re looking for a modern novel that reads with the ease of short fiction and packs the thematic punch of a classic, this is the one.
   

9. Just As You Are by Camille Kellogg
   ”Why do all those romance novels have the same cover?” I wonder. “Who is reading all these hockey romance books?” I think, in the depths of my local bookstore. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for contemporary romance,” I tell myself, after a lukewarm response to Writers and Lovers by Lily King. And then came Camille Kellogg with the literary equivalent of the steel chair: a queer retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in New York City. The book follows Liz Baker and her group of friends/roommates as they receive word that their queer magazine, Nether Fields, is on the verge of being shut down, before it is saved by two wealthy lesbians, one of which is Daria Fitzgerald: stoic, self-important, and critical of Liz’s listicle-style journalism. However, as they begin to spend more time together, Liz begins to see the softer side of Daria — her compassion and complexity, and complicated past.

   Outside of the romance, this book interrogates questions of gender presentation, with Liz agonizing over days when she feels more butch or femme, and the hilarious dating situations that are common in sapphic circles. If you don’t like romance at all, this won’t be for you. If you don’t like Pride and Prejudice, this definitely won’t be for you. But if you have a secret soft spot for rom-coms, and enjoy a good retold classic, I would highly recommend Just As You Are.

10. The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler by Thomas Hager
    My sister-in-law, who is possibly the smartest person I have ever met, recommended this book while we were driving together through the south island of New Zealand. I usually take her non-fiction recommendations with a giant asterisk, because they are often dense and sometimes literally just textbooks. The Alchemy of Air, however, was shockingly accessible. It follows the stories of Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, inventors of the well-known Haber-Bosch process for creating ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen at industrial scales, which enables most of the world’s agriculture but can also be used to make gunpowder, and ended up fueling munitions manufacturing during the second World War. If you like history (and especially science history), as well as learning about complicated historical figures, then this is the book for you!

11. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

    I treat Joe Abercrombie books much like the good chocolate I haul back from Canada and Europe whenever I am lucky enough to travel abroad: stuffed away into a corner, and rationed to myself only in my deepest hour of need. Abercrombie is, in my opinion, a master of grimdark and a truly hilarious author to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed the First Law trilogy when I first picked it up back in 2020, along with everything I have read from him since, and Best Served Cold is no exception.

    Generally, I support women’s rights as well as women’s wrongs, and boy, does this book have a lot of women’s wrongs. Best Served Cold follows the revenge arc of Monza Mercatto as she sets out to enact revenge on all those involved with her brother’s death and a betrayal that left her broken and disfigured. Equal parts engaging and hilarious, this work follows a riotous cast of characters against the backdrop of a nation on the verge of civil war, and is part heist, part siege, and all disfunction. It was the perfect standalone fantasy book for me this year.

12. Do Hard Things by Steve Magness

    I often approach self-help books with a healthy dose of skepticism. Even the best of the genre can read like a listicle, or leave me wondering months later, ‘did I even read that book?’

    It’s usually hard to say if those books have offered me anything in the way of a lasting impression, but I can’t say the same for Do Hard Things. Though the primary argument is straightforward and clear (build resilience, acknowledge setbacks, and rely on community when you are able), Magness actually dissects a lot of common myths about toughness in a way that was particularly resonant with me as both an athlete and a late-stage graduate student. He argues against the David Goggins-style ideas that portray toughness as some sort of puritanical struggle with our own internal demons, instead arguing for a flexible, science-backed approach to understanding our own emotions and setting ourselves up for success. If you’re a fan of Atomic Habits, I would recommend this book even more.
    

That’s it for 2023! If you’re considering purchasing any of the books I mentioned here, here’s a friendly reminder that you can support small bookstores through sites like IndieBound, buy used books through sites like Thrift Books, and get free digital copies and audiobooks from your local libraries using apps like Libby. Thanks for reading!