One of my favorite things about studying English is that I get to engage with a lot of interesting books, many of which I may never have discovered on my own. 2023 was a fantastic year for that — I was able to read a huge variety of novels that have really stuck with me into the new year. Some are from course lists, while others are my own findings. Here are some books I read in 2023 that I think could be great additions to your reading list in 2024!
- Braiding sweetgrass
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I read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beautiful memoir over the summer. Each chapter functions like a short personal essay, which makes it ideal for reading at work on my half-hour breaks outside. I would sit on a bench and enjoy the vibrant greens and soft, cool breeze of the season. I especially enjoyed reading it in that setting because Kimmerer’s book has a lot to say about nature, the environment, and our place in relation to it. Her background as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a botanist allows her to bring these two forms of knowledge together, and she does so with such profoundly beautiful prose. So much so that sometimes I just had to close my eyes, sit back, and absorb her words before I could continue. This book changed my perspective on nature and how I relate to it in its different forms. From maple trees to squash, strawberries to sweetgrass — this book’s creative weaving of Western science and traditional Indigenous knowledge makes it an incredibly valuable source of learning to carry with us into 2024.
Original photo by Caeleigh MacInnis - All’s Well
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Mona Awad’s All’s Well follows Miranda Fitch, a college professor trying to put on a Shakespeare play while dealing with a mutinous cast, the aftermath of a failed marriage, and chronic pain from an accident that grips her every step — pain that even the people closest to her treat with suspicion since it’s not a visible ailment. One day, she meets three mysterious benefactors who offer her a much brighter future. With their help, she has the chance to get everything she wants, and the pain that everyone around her doubts may be brought to light at last.
This book had some of the most poignant, thoughtful, and visceral descriptions of living with chronic pain that I’ve ever encountered. Knowing people in my own life who live with chronic pain, I recognized some of their experiences in these pages — dismissive doctors, skeptical peers, the infuriating carousel of appointments and tests that go nowhere. Awad’s prose speaks to her personal experience, which she recounts to CBC Radio. A hip injury and a difficult recovery left her struggling with chronic pain that was invisible to an outside eye for years. As a result, she’s well-versed in the ins and outs of daily life with this condition. Her novel explores how chronic pain can impact a person’s routines, friendships, jobs, and more. I appreciated her insights and descriptions. Sometimes putting words to an experience can be a powerful way to process it.
- Fierce femmes and notorious liars: a dangerous trans girl’s confabulous memoir
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I love a good genre bender! Part fantasy, part memoir, Kai Cheng Thom blends a young Asian trans girl’s coming-of-age with myth and magic into a fabulous, glittering tornado of the hyperreal. Encountering such characters as beached mermaids, the Lipstick Lacerators, Dr. Crocodile, and Alzena the Witch, the protagonist runs, dances, and fights her way through a world that’s often hostile towards her and her friends. When a member of their found family is murdered, they decide to fight back against the corrupt cops and transphobes that encroach on their home.
This book is much like the bees that appear frequently in the protagonist’s journey — it can be sweet as honey, but always with a quick, sharp sting. I absolutely loved reading this in 2023 and would encourage anyone to pick it up. You can also check out the full text on Trans Reads, a fantastic resource that makes texts by, for, and about trans and gender-nonconforming folks available for free!
- Are You my mother? a comic drama
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Alison Bechdel’s book is actually a graphic novel, so if you’re interested in something a little more visual, this is the book for you! I had never encountered a graphic novel like this before. Bechdel uses the visual medium to craft a memoir of her relationship with her mother, a relationship that’s complicated partly, but not entirely, by her late father’s life as a closeted gay man and Alison’s own lesbian identity. She delves fiercely into her childhood memories, using pieces of theory from Winnicott and Freud, preserved letters, journal entries, and much more — all in an effort to understand the complex, sometimes painful, mother-daughter relationship she finds herself in as an adult.Â
This is a book about intensely reflecting on a childhood that keeps bubbling up in the present and sifting through it for clues about the people and patterns of one’s current reality. Alison walks on a question mark like it’s her only path forward: How did she and her mother get here? And where do they go from here?
2023 was filled with plenty of interesting books, but these are some of the standouts. They’re the ones I’ll continue to reflect on in 2024, and beyond. If you find something on this list that grabs your interest, definitely go check it out — these books deserve some love!
