Books, Books, Books (2023)

Here’s my third annual “I’m panicking” post. As you know, I go through books like honey butter and two years ago, when I posted that I was down to my last hopeful recommendation in my reading queue, you graciously filled that queue with an amazing list of over 50 favorites.

Note that your recommendations don’t have to be 2023 books. They just have to be reading experiences that you love!

In exchange for your gift (the recommendation— not the book-- please), below you’ll find the yumyum I nomnomnom’d this year.

Note also that I’m going multimedia this year (with two series that I loved binging) so feel free to follow suit with your recs.

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Book reviews– even short ones– tend to ruin the experience for me so I’ve added a one-word review to each (in parenthesis).

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Magic) – I read it… and then re-read it… this past weekend. Says something that almost every page is dog-eared.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (LOL) – This one was so good that I immediately read the book that made John famous– The Fault in Our Stars– even though I’d avoided it on some lame thoughtless principle, thinking that it was a cheesy teen romance. I was wrong. He is a gifted writer.

An Immense World by Ed Yong (Sciency).

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr (Edutainment).

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (Heavy).

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Pulpy) – Just get to chapter 10 of book 1… they’re short chapters… and you’ll then want to finish… and read the other books in the series.

Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark (Eerie).

The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard (Contrarian).

And on the multimedia streaming front:

The Bear (Hulu)

Mr. Inbetween (Hulu)

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As with previous years, I didn’t include a link to easy digital purchases as a way of encouraging you to visit your local bookstore. There’s really nothing in the world quite like the smell of a new book.

Buuuut…. this year– after having gone through the process of publishing a book– I’d recommend that you first visit the author’s websites. That– I now understand– is the best way to support the writers you love.