Here are my 10 favourite books that I read in 2023! It's been an eventful year from launching my own online bookclub to joining in the Booker Prize livestream to interviewing legends Joyce Carol Oates, Zadie Smith and Martin MacInness. My reading experience has been enormously enhanced by all the online discussion I've had with many readers so thank you for engaging with me about books. I've read a lot of wonderful stories this year but these ten titles stand out in my memory and personally impacted me in many ways.
There's an epic tale of one family hurtling toward crisis, a story of simmering desire and self-discovery at a girls boarding school, a deeply meaningful and charming meeting across generations of gay men, a slender novel about the enormous impact becoming parents has upon a relationship, a drama about a home invasion which builds to a gripping conclusion, a rediscovered Italian classic about an office worker and housewife's self exploration, a sprawling surreal notebook recording a man's search for meaning, a love story set within the horrors of WWI, an adolescent girl in mourning who aspires to win a regional sports competition and a quest to discover the origins of life which takes the reader to the bottom of the ocean and the furthest reaches of outer space.
I love hearing about everyone's personal favourite reading experiences from the past year because this isn't about creating a hierarchy of great literature - though much of it is great. It's about sharing the deep love we've felt for certain titles which have captivated and wholly absorbed us. That's what these ten books did to me. I'd be delighted to hear what you think of them or if you're keen to read any of them now. And let me know some of the best books you've read in the past year!
