Books I Read in 2023

This is awkward. My reading has stopped! I am proud to have accumulated a decent amount of books in 2023, but pretty much in July, when the moving became very real, I simply stopped reading. I now live with my beloved Pedro, and there is very, very limited alone time. Time when I used to read. Now I have to talk. It is hard. I am trying to adjust. Trying to find a way to be alone and read again. Pray for me. Ha!!

1. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. I reviewed it in 2020, but reading it again because I read the first ones. At over 55 hours (1,248 pages), this one, this time around, seemed to go on forever. I started the book in 2022. I love Sanderson, but this particular book seemed like too much. What I have to add to my 2020 review is that sentiment: this damned thing went on for freaking ever. Were all those extra side stories really necessary, Mr. Sanderson? I can’t decide if it would have been better to make this into two books, or just cut 1/2 the words out of it.
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabriel Zevin. I liked this book about troubled gamers, Sam and Sadie. Just FYI, I am not a gamer and barely know anything about games but I followed just fine, occasionally not getting a reference. They become friends as kids, and because their love for each other is so profound, their fights and misunderstandings are big and real. When they are in college, they love each other too much to date, and so Sadie makes some terrible relationship choices, which I can relate to. Sam and Sadie and Sam’s perfect roommate, Marx, create a company called Unfair Games, and they build video games. Since Sam and Sadie are brilliant, they create hit after hit and make money and then leverage all of it to make the next game. Sam struggles with his failing physical body that gives him gargantuan insecurity, and Sadie struggles with a victim complex that keeps her from growing. They both make so many mistakes that make their own lives worse and they both desperately rely on steadfast Marx who is always there for them, unquestioning and nonjudgmental. I love Sadie’s observation that Marx may have decided it was his favourite fruit *because* it was growing in his back yard. This is so important. In fact the whole book was about how life and pain are there for everyone, and we can all let it destroy us, or use it to become the best version of ourselves. Sam & Sadie have moments of being perfect friends and moments of being really shitty, and…don’t we all.
3. Spare by Prince Harry. Coincidentally, one of my main sources of news is BBC. Honestly, they do a better job at world reporting than anything from the US. So when I heard about the upcoming memoirs, I only got it from BBC World Service, and I got their impression that Prince Harry is a spoiled rotten privileged asshole. But then, I happened to catch an interview with Steven Colbert, since I watch a lot of The Late Show. Harry, to my surprise, was genuine from start to end. He was direct, honest, and humble. I have PTSD and I know when people are being real. He was being real. He was talking like a real vet, a real person, an actual victim. You know, with my job at the Department of Veterans Affairs, I’ve talked to hundreds of vets, I’ve read thousands of statements, and I can see bullshit pretty easily. This man was not bullshitting, and I got the impression that he had no reason to. So I bought the book and yeah, he’s for real. Somehow, the legacy of Diana (and her genuineness) showed up in just this one son, but thank god it at least showed up. Yes, I’m a forever fan of Princess Diana – even had my mom wake me up at 2am when I was 16 so I could watch her wedding on live TV. I skipped work and stayed home and bawled all day long the day of her funeral. But ok, yeah, Harry had a lot to say about his life, his mom, his childhood, his family, his brother, his dad, and his gorgeous bride and kids. This book is unbelievably honest. People who said it’s just him whining to get more attention by saying, ‘oh poor me,’ have a poor sense of character judgement. Everything rang true. It was ghost written, but there must have been some tight collaboration. I am surprised to find myself a brand new lifelong fan of Harry and Meghan. Harry is direct and brutal about his assessment of how malicious the Britsh Press can be. I always reserve judgement about condemnation of a person or group or organization until I get some data of my own. But yeah, I soon got it. Just the other day I heard a story on the plans for coronation of King Charles. Prince Harry will be present, they say, but not the rest of his family. “Meghan apparently prefers to stay home than attend this momentous event,” said BBC. WTF?! For real? And just like that, I saw that what he was saying was brutally true. And bless them for holding together under so many years of that kind of BS attack.
4. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King. This one came to me as a recommendation from a friend. What a great story! I have read a couple of collected Sherlock Holmes stories, and I also greatly enjoyed the Enola Holmes shows. This one fits right in as a powerful and whip-smart woman steps into Holmes’ inner life. I see that there are currently twenty novels in the series about Mary Russell. I can’t imagine that any of them are this delightful. I may read another again at some point, but this one stands alone as a very fun book. I think I liked it more because I already knew Sherlock Holmes. Mary Russell is a self-confident teenager who stumbles across an elderly Holmes in a field. She is positively brilliant, and seems to have no idea. Holmes muses to himself, “Ten years ago, maybe, twenty years ago. But now?” and I knew EXACTLY what he meant. Good on ya, Ms. King. This was a smart, engaging and entertaining story about Holmes’ protege and the adventures they got themselves into in their first years of knowing each other.
5. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. Read in the audio version by the author, this was actually my introduction to Jeannette McCurdy. I had never seen iCarly, the television show in which she became famous as Sam. So my introduction to the star is that she hated Sam, and hated acting. She basically lived her entire life into her twenties for her manipulative, narcissistic mother. The woman was very abusive, and though my own childhood experiences were much different, I could completely relate to the powerful Mom figure that dominated her life. Ms. McCurdy suffered so much. I’m really really glad she found a therapist, and I hope she has light and love in her life now. I saw an interview of McCurdy with Drew Barrymore in which Drew keeps mentioning how the book is comedy. I am sure that for another child actor, the book is comedy. For someone unfamiliar with film/TV, the book was sad and painful. I ached for her the entire time. There is a YouTube video entitled, “I’m glad Jeannette McCurdy’s Mom Died, Too.” That’s how I feel. The book is extremely open and personal about the hell of having an eating disorder. I was educated.
6. Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson. It was so lovely to read a short, fun chapter in the saga of the Stormlight Archive after the grueling punishment of Oathbringer. All the secondary characters are here, and briefly, so is Kaladin and Navani, but no Shallan, or Dalinar, and the first two only get a moment. We get an intense quest involving a sea voyage and learning about some new life forms in the Horde and to learn about the Dawnshard. It’s good to have a main character who has lost the use of her lower body and must use her arms and a chair and creativity and also nearby helper people to navigate the world. I appreciate the perspective. Navani is pretty sure something weird is up on the island of Aimia and puts out a call for volunteer adventurers to go information gathering. At that same time, Rysn needs to take her familiar back to its homeland to hopefully find a cure for its sickness. It’s serendipitous because she eventually does figure out what’s wrong with Chiri Chiri and she also learns very much about how to take control of her own life as the owner of the ship but not the Captain. The Lopen plays a key role as a helpful Radiant on board, and its great to have him so frequently improving the scene. Rysn is a masterful trader in the end, and does her babsk proud.
7. Maame by Jessica George. This is the kind of book I especially love. It’s about one person’s, one chapter of life. A portrait of what’s going on in her world. Maame’s life experience is all new for me, but oh, so personally resonant. A young Ghanaian British woman growing up goes through all the same stupid bad decisions that I went through, apparently, to come out wise and much stronger on the other side. It’s a beautiful story, and so personal it feels as though you have been reading the journal of an actual person. The main character Maddie has a hard time with her domineering while absent mother, her absent brother, her terrible job. While living at home in order to care for her dying father, she makes the brave decision to embrace being let go (unfairly) at her job and she finds a new, better one. Then she must be brave and “manage up” in order to fight for the right to be considered a peer at her new job. Her dad continues to ail with dementia, and her mother – mostly absent in Ghana – plans a return while her brother – fully capable of helping but not capable of being accountable – makes excuses. While struggling with the inevitable death of her father, Maddie actually forges her own path and does it well, incurring some regret and heartache. Love you, sister.
8. Bewilderment by Richard Powers. It’s my first book by Richard Powers and if I read more I’ll have to take them in careful doses. Powers has an agenda. He wants me to care, and because I’m a sensitive empathetic person, I do care and it disrupts what I was doing. Bewilderment never seems to focus on that specific word, but it is almost always a good word for whatever scene unfolds. A man does his best to raise his exceptional, special needs boy in a hard world alone, after his wife – and the boy’s mother – dies. It’s Earth in the future, but not too far in the future. Everything is pretty much the same except that global warming and out of control viruses and wildfires and climate change are wreaking total havoc. American conservative extremists are in charge and are cancelling any people or programs that remind the public of actual reality. Robin is an extraordinary nine-year-old and it seems like his father, Theo, is the only person on the planet who wants to take the time to try and understand him, and work with his out-of-control empathy. Theo finds a miracle in his dead wife’s friend (and later he discovers her former lover) who is completing study of a way to telekinetically manage emotions by tapping into other people’s emotions. He gets Robin into a study for free, as a favor. This part of the book is described so well, I kept forgetting that it’s not a technology we actually have access to. I wish we did. It’s incredible. The book is constantly scientific, talking about the potential for life on other planets that is nothing like what we could ever imagine, talking about the destruction of Earth, talking about endangered species of all kinds, all amplified by the power and intensity of an idealistic child. It’s mostly a hopeful book, which covers up all the drastic background catastrophic events. It left me very, very sad at the end.
9. The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg. I’ve been wanting to read this one for a couple of years, because of the name Truluv. I wish it were spelled like mine. I wonder where the author came up with this name; if she knew there are Truloves, or maybe Truluvs, and what her connection is and what I can learn about my probable relatives. {Later} Ok, now I’ve read it and I have the same questions. In the story, Arthur is actually Arthur Moses, and he befriends a girl, Maddy, at the cemetery. Both of them are sad and need each other. He is old and has recently lost his wife. She is a teenager and lost her mom years ago, but things are not any better. They both find solace in the cemetery. Arthur realizes his only friend in life can’t be a 17-year-old, and has been trying to make friends with his neighbor Lucille, and Lucille is mildly encouraging, until one day when she shows no interest at all. It turns out that Lucille’s long lost high school sweetheart has looked her up and they are falling in love again. But all too fast, both Maddy and Lucille desperately need Arthur, and he is kind and generous and makes his home available to them both, and then all three of them become happier than they have ever been. It’s a sweet story. Maddy knows Arthur’s last name is Moses, but she teases him for having such an abiding love for his late wife, and calls him “Truluv.” He doesn’t mind the nickname.
10. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I enjoyed this novel based on the Illiad but written in a personal tone and in novel format. It was consistently engaging and interesting and even educational, helping me to imagine the traditions and social mores leading up to the time of the war over Helen of Troy. A believable love story.
11. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I ran out of audible credits, so I re-read a few oldies, beginning with this one. This time through, having tried much harder to focus on the reality of threats to people of colour in the US, I was in fear for the women who told their stories more than the first time I read it.
12. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. I preordered this one, as I was convinced it would be a valuable book before I had the chance to consider reviews. It was very good. Eig did a commendable job of reporting a list of facts and circumstances from history, but keeping the narrative intact, keeping the drive of the main character intact. King was revealed to me as a regular flawed human being, and Coretta Scott King was revealed in more detail than I have ever seen. She’s a powerhouse. King appears in this book to be more motivated by his faith than anything else, which is a concept that always mystifies me – an atheist. It’s a great book that fills in blanks and tells a complete story.
13. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I have run out of credits on audible, so I re-read a couple that I had read already. Neverwhere blew my mind when I first read it. This was my first ever Neil Gaiman and I became an instant fan. It’s been enough years since my last reading that I was delighted again with London’s underworld and the remarkable Door and the characters she interacts with.
14. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. I recall being wholly mesmerized by this book when I first read it, and perhaps that was because I only knew Rowling via Harry Potter. It was an unexpected pleasure to read this book in which the muck of humanity is exposed simultaneously with its light. On my second reading, it is not as good of a story, but the character development is some of the best I’ve ever read. I still recommend this book, but yes, I do tend to prefer those with unflinching flaying of humanity for public consumption. This is one of those that I describe as tough, and beautiful.
15. We Are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. This is a fun one recommended to me by a friend. Taylor has a sense of humor easy to get along with. He’s nerdy but not unapproachable, and his storytelling is intelligent. It’s also interesting and engaging. Bob, the main character, is fabulously wealthy and decides to purchase immortality in the form of cryopreservation. Then blam, he gets hit by a car. When he “wakes up” it is 100 years later, he’s not so much re-animated as his brain function has been preserved as a form of computer Intelligence. So he thinks he’s still Bob, but he’s just a fancy computer. The new Bob is given an ultimatum that he needs to do some space exploration to find a new planet for humans because we have pretty much destroyed ours. If he doesn’t agree to it, he will be taken off line again. Bob likes the idea of being a digital astronaut and agrees. This book is the beginning of his adventures.
16. Truth Like the Sun by Jim Lynch. Sometimes I discover books in my wish list and I have no idea why they are there. This is one of those. I read the summary and saw that the plot involved the Seattle Space Needle, and that’s all I needed to commit. The book started off slowly. The first chapter or two put me to sleep. I considered quitting, but I must have been out in the back forty, too busy and too far away from Internet to stop and download another book, because I kept listening long enough to begin to care. The narrator in the audio book did a great job. However, this is one of those books where not visually seeing the chapter changes made it hard for me to keep track of what point in time I was in. It constantly travels back and forth between the Roger Morgan creating the Seattle World’s Fair of 1962 and Helen Gulanos, a young female news reporter in 2001. Lynch keeps describing her history prior to coming to Seattle as a soulless cutthroat reporter, but the current woman he describes is hesitant, thoughtful, and a little defensive single mom – the two personalities didn’t mesh at all. Morgan came off ok as a charismatic mover and shaker who convincingly pulled off the World’s Fair. His anxiety and seat-of-the-pants solutions were all so believable. But when he is 70, and running for Mayor, and Gulanos is trying to tell his story, the long drawn out hints at a shady past never clearly revealed or illuminated, was frustrating. There was all this foreshadowing of Gulanos exposing the story of a lifetime, and it fizzled at the end. Probably true to life, but so unsatisfying in a novel. Fun to hear about the Space Needle so much – if only Morgan could see it now with the glass walls and glass floors!
17. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. The book has a marvelous premise: Sister Mary Joseph Praise is a lovely Indian woman absolutely dedicated to serving her god in the capacity of assistant to a world-class surgeon, the Englishman Dr. Thomas Stone. They work in a small hospital in Ethiopia and serve the community there. One day, to everyone’s shock, she goes into labor and people guess it is Stone’s child. He is also apparently as surprised as everyone else. The sister dies when the twins are born and Stone flees the scene for most of the book. The story is told from the perspective of one of the twins. It’s confusing, with the main characters from different lands, so my already flimsy grasp of other cultures was taxed when they all mixed up! The main characters are doctors (the twins grow up to be doctors and learn from their adoptive doctor parents) and the book is set in a hospital, so the reader is immersed in medical procedures, but I didn’t find any of it unpleasant or difficult to understand. The main twin, Marion, is well-written in that he is a stereotypical young person with little insight or wisdom and lofty ideals, which is accurate but tiresome. I got through 32 chapters. Thirty-two! And I just don’t want to be here anymore…what’s up next?
18. For We Are Many by Dennis E. Tayor. Click link for a sample chapter of book two of the Bobiverse trilogy.
19. All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor. Click link for a sample chapter of book three of the Bobiverse trilogy.
20. Black Girl Unlimited. The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown. {in progress} Moving this year put a hiccup in my ability to read. Too terribly busy with other things. I left off in the middle of this fanciful take on a girl finding magic amidst a tough life. It makes perfect sense to me; the way she reads situations. I look forward to finding out what happens to Echo (same name as the author). Here’s a pretty informative review from someone else’s blog.