My Favourite Books of 2023

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My year as a reader

Some reading years are better than others. Sometimes the problem is you, something it’s the books. I think in 2023 in my case it was a bit of both of us. I was desperate to find books to love and I absolutely did but nowhere near as many as I usually would. There were also so few short story collections published I won’t have a category for them this year which makes me sad, especially after the bumper year last year. How can things change so dramatically in 12 short months? I think I read a total of five short story collections this year and I had to actively hunt for Australian collections.

I’m breaking my favourites into three categories, starting with Australian fiction. International fiction follows then non-fiction.

The stats

So far in 2023 I have read 130 books. That’s about 50 fewer than at the same time in past years. I am good with that – I am actively trying to read less. The vast majority of those books were fiction with Australian and American writers most represented.

Australian Fiction

I love reading Australian fiction. I love finding books to champion and shout about at every opportunity. Last year that book was Hydra, this year it was Search History – such a funny and smart book. I love well observed novels and another brilliant one that falls into that category is Paradise Estate. Anam and But the Girl both have academic conceits but are executed in ways a general readership can appreciate. Allee Richards’s writing always feels so intimate and personal and I relished her second novel A Light in the Dark (and I pray that we get a short story collection from her someday). On paper, I should have hated Stephanie Bishop’s The Anniversary as it utilised two tropes I’m very tired of – a writer protagonist (quite a few Auslit novels to my chagrin went down this path this year) and an older professor in a relationship with a younger student. It’s a testament to Bishop’s skills as a writer that neither bothered me and I was completely taken by the narrative. She’s such a fine writer. As with Bishop, West Girls is Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s fourth book and her most personal. She is so strong in both short- and long-form narratives that here she utilises a kind of hybrid. Woollett’s fiction is always fierce and grounded in the ways women and girls move through this messed up world of ours navigating the many obstacles our culture puts in their way, including themselves and each other. Katherine Brabon’s prose is always something to marvel at and in Body Friend she has written her strongest book yet (and that’s saying something). Steph Vizard wrote the rom-com I most delighted in this year (and I read a lot of rom-coms). And finally Fiona McFarlane took on the colonial imagination with the story of a missing white child which she cleverly played with and sought to subvert. I’m currently reading and loving Christos Tsiolkas’s The In-Between and will read Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie next, two books which probably belong on this list. I have been saving Eleanor Elliott Thomas’s The Opposite of Success for summer holiday reading and am also looking forward to Angela O’Keefe’s The Sitter. These lists are incomplete always as I cannot read every book published and the anguish this fills me with is real. Chances are I may well read a novel in a year or two published this year and it will turn out to be the one I deem my favourite.

International Fiction

Some truly excellent books did not make this list. Wild. If you forced me to choose just one book from this list it would be the Auster. Damn he’s good. Big Swiss is the book I have hand-sold most this year. Weird books depicting women unravelling are my catnip. Broder is back in form with Death Valley thank the literary gods and while this might be too weird for some readers it totally hit the spot for me. Paul Murray deserves the Booker for The Bee Sting and I’ll flip a table if he doesn’t win. The Rachel Incident was the surprise read for me as I really disliked O’Donoghue’s previous book but this was flawless and not the book I thought it would be. It also proves that just because you don’t like a book by a writer doesn’t mean you don’t like their work. Everything’s Fine was that dream combo of delicious prose and a meaty concept, executed to perfection with just the right kind of satire. I’m still stressed out for the protagonist in Cline’s The Guest. What a writer she has proven herself to be. Speaking of stress, the ending of Catton’s Birnam Wood will never leave me. Chain-Gang All-Stars was the novel Adjei-Brenyah was born to write. We saw his talent with the stories in Friday Black a few years ago and here he comes into his full power as a writer. What an incredible thing to behold. I’m saving the new Anne Michaels novel for last – this is just her third novel (she is a poet and essayist) and yet her fiction defines me as a reader. So many books I am yet to read but I do feel like this list really represents my reading highlights this year. I feel so very lucky to be a reader at the same time these writers are working. Honourable mentions to Emily Perkins’s Lioness, Deborah Levy’s August Blue and Michael Cunningham’s Day.

Non-Fiction

I thought about not doing non-fiction this year as I felt like I had read so little. But as I put the list together I realised I had read more non-fiction than I thought. The absolute stand-out highlight of them all was Robert Skinner’s I’d Rather Not. I have been recommending this book wildly – it’s a gift to a reader. I hope to read even more non-fiction, especially essays, before the year is out. I have Gemma Nisbet’s The Things We Live With up next and I’m currently reading Richard Flanagan’s Question 7. David Marr’s Killing For Country has been set aside for after the Christmas retail madness so I can give it my full attention. I have so missed Marr’s writing.

No Spon Con

I always want to make it clear that I do not receive payment for my reviews or for inclusion on my favourites list. I do receive free copies of many books as a bookseller and I am a heavy library user (libraries change lives). I also buy books from indie bookshops (and encourage you to do the same). I have attended four bookseller dinners in 2023 with authors present.

Bookish Community

I plan on using my newsletter to write more about books and bookish things. I love the bookish community and connections I have cultivated on social media but want a space where I can write longer form about things I see in the industry and bees in my bonnet. There might even be the occasional rant (I have one ready to go about affiliate links for warehouse-only online retailers). It’s all about interaction and engagement for me though so although I have no idea what I’m doing or even if this newsletter will actually arrive in anyone’s inbox please leave comments, send messages or emails or texts or come visit me at the bookshop. Thanks so much for being part of my reading life, I cannot wait to do it all again in 2024.

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