Books I read in 2023

It’s the last day of the year and my favorite post to create. I love looking back on a year of reading. This year, I read 141 books, with a good mix of fiction and nonfiction, as well as more poetry and plays. My top 15 in the fiction and nonfiction categories are below, followed by the full list of everything I read. As always, please share recommendations. I’d love to hear your favorites from the past year. Here’s to a new year of reading and discovery.

Fiction:
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
A Little Hope by Ethan Joella
The Perishing by Natashia Deón
Imposter by Bradeigh Godfrey
Brood by Jackie Polzin
We Spread by Iain Reid
The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
The Maid by Nita Prose
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Old Babes in the Woods: Stories by Margaret Atwood
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken
Speak for the Dead by Amy Tector
A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness: Stories by Jai Chakrabarti
Maame by Jessica George
Tell Me One Thing by Kerri Schlottman
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
At Sea by Emma Fedor
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin
Mother in the Dark by Kayla Maiuri
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
I Could Live Here Forever by Hanna Halperin
The Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin
The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland
The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins
Home is a Made Up Place: Stories by Ronit Plank
Take What You Need by Idra Novey
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard
Day by Michael Cunningham
While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
California Golden by Melanie Benjamin
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls
The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker
The Change by Kirsten Miller
The New Mother by Nora Murphy
A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
After Annie by Anna Quindlen
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Wellness by Nathan Hill
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
Honor the Dead by Amy Tector
What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Real Americans by Rachel Khong
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
After the Lights Go Out by John Vercher
Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins

Nonfiction:
The Heart and Other Monsters: A Memoir by Rose Andersen
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life by Ayelet Waldman
Essential Labor: Mothering As Social Change by Angela Garbes
When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection by Gabor Maté
Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion by Gabrielle Blair
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté
Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) by Reshma Saujani
Choosing to Run: A Memoir by Des Linden
Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood by Jessica Grose
At Home in the World: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be by Becky Kennedy
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith
Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change by Maggie Smith
What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love by Laurel Braitman
Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World by Lauren Fleshman
You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For: Applying Internal Family Systems to Intimate Relationships by Richard Schwartz
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher with Mary Pilon
Everything All At Once: A Memoir by Steph Catudal
On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Once Upon a Time We Ate Animals: The Future of Food by Roanne Van Voorst
Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage by Rachael Lennon
Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero by Amanda Kloots
Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World by Jenn Granneman and Andre Solo
Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale
The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments by Handley Vlahos R.N.
All the Colors Came Out: A Father, A Daughter, and a Lifetime of Lessons by Kate Fagan
The Chronology of Water: A Memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch
Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory by Deena Kastor
All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive by Rainesford Stauffer
The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America by Monica Potts
A Living Remedy: A Memoir by Nicole Chung
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin
One Hundred Names for Love: A Memoir by Diane Ackerman
We Are Too Many: A Memoir [Kind of] by Hannah Pittard
Contradiction Days: An Artist on the Verge of Motherhood by Joanna Novak
Blood Orange Night: My Journey to the Edge of Madness by Melissa Bond
Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture by Sara Petersen
The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes
How We Love: Notes on a Life by Clementine Ford
Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control by Amanda Montei
Why Fathers Cry At Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander
Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us about the Good Life by Kristen Ghodsee
What About Men? A Feminist Answers the Question by Caitlin Moran
Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales: A Memoir by Doreen Cunningham
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush
Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood by Minna Dubin
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence by Kristen Ghodsee
Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children by Emily Edlynn

Poetry, plays, and other stuff:
A Lit Wick by Christopher Charlton
The Art of Disappearing by Stephanie Alison Walker
Friends with Guns: A Play by Stephanie Alison Walker
Good Bones: Poems by Maggie Smith
Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith
A Thousand Flamingos: Poems by Sanober Khan
My Wicked Wicked Ways: Poems by Sandra Cisneros
Woman Without Shame: Poems by Sandra Cisneros
Ledger: Poems by Jane Hirshfield
The Hurting Kind: Poems by Ada Limón
The Wild Iris: Poems by Louise Glück
How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope by James Crews, editor
The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay