Of all the self-criticisms I have, one consistent thing I like about myself is my love for reading. I tell my parents all the time that the smartest thing they ever did was bring me to a library when I was really young. I was the kid in grade school who would get in trouble for reading under my desk during class. My Spotify is full of playlists for those books that just won’t leave my head when I finish, and I almost always have whatever I’m currently reading on me, just in case. My Goodreads goal for this year was 50 books (one I’ve been struggling to meet the last couple years). This year, I made it a little over halfway with 33, and I’m hoping to add a couple more on before the new year. Of those 33, here are my favorite books I read this year.
5. Spilled Milk: Kelly Randis
I followed the author of this book on Tiktok (@klrandis) a couple of years back when I saw her sharing her story of abuse at the hands of her father as a child. She’s an advocate for sexual assault and abuse prevention and healing, and is an inspiration to me, and the admiration I have for her only grew after reading Spilled Milk, her memoir reflecting on her childhood. It’s a heavy read, but an incredibly important one of a story that deserves to be known, and is full of information that expanded my awareness of recognizing child abuse and how to support victims of what Kelly endured. Her writing is bold and honest, and all the more commendable considering her abuser is alive and no longer in prison, yet she is not dissuaded from telling her story.
Favorite quote: “After my insight somebody in that room would undoubtedly become someone else’s glass of spilled milk at a dinner table, their only hope, and their one fighting chance”.
(I’m placing Spilled Milk first not as an indication of how much I liked it as compared to the other books, but because I don’t feel it appropriate to compare it in terms of enjoyment among four fictional books. Still, it deserves to be read and deserves recognition as one of my top reads of the year.)
4. Where the Crawdads Sing: Delia Owens
This coming-of-age story was a bit outside of my typical romance novel comfort zone (although the love story in Crawdads is incredibly unique and beautiful) but I couldn’t put it down. I bought it initially because Taylor Swift wrote a song for the movie that came out last summer (stream Carolina!) and I’m so happy I did. The story is grounded in nature, and how it raises, protects and satisfies a girl, and the life she makes through those connections. The story of the swamp girl will give you chills and make you cry, and have you rooting for the underdog like it’s the 2018 Super Bowl. (Go Eagles!)
Favorite quote: “Touching someone meant giving a part of herself away, a piece she never got back”
3. Book Lovers: Emily Henry
There is no shortage of reasons why this book deserved to be #1 Goodreads romance of the year. I’m an avid lover of rom-coms, romance novels, etc.; love in any form, I’ll take it. Book Lovers both embraces and pokes fun at classic romantic tropes (small town, a struggling family business, your old work colleague who you’ve always found attractive), and instead of being overly sweet or corny, or too focused on physical attraction, it is a story of two realists who find a romance novel love with each other, despite not believing it exists.Â
Favorite quote: “That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one”.
2. The Charm Offensive: Alison Cochrun
This book was recommended to me by my senior year AP Lit teacher who I often recapped The Bachelor with after class—making me the perfect person to suggest a book that takes a reality TV romance show, adds in the queer representation that we never seem to get, mental health discussions that are not part of a perfectly packaged backstory to make you root for a contestant (seeing a character with OCD in a love story will never be old for me), and without a ribbon on the end of the season. The Charm Offensive was full of characters that I fell in love with, and was invested to watch fall in love. It was everything I loved in one book: a guilty pleasure of a format with discussions about important topics, a fairytale concept with characters who don’t fit the molds they need, and a happily ever after more satisfying than any Disney movie I’ve ever seen. I’m also pretty sure the pop star constantly referenced by the protagonist is a thinly veiled Taylor Swift, so that’s a bonus.
Favorite quote: “I don’t think happily ever after is something that happens to you. I think it’s something you choose for yourself”.
1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: Taylor Jenkins Reid
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving break was spending it with Evelyn Hugo. So addictive was this book that I brought it with me to have lunch with one of my friends, and finished it in my car when she pulled out of the parking lot. It’s a story of one true love and all of the passions, mistakes, complexities, and beauties that accompany it; surrounded by seven other stories of taking what you want, abuse, ingenuity, teamwork, friendship, lust, and family. All of this is compounded with characters that have incredible strength and heartbreaking flaws, a story full of mistakes that ruin and decisions that lead to fulfillment, and content about being a woman and a queer person in multiple generations of America and the challenges that presents. The story is written in the most gorgeous way, with twists that leave you open-mouthed and a love story that brings tears to your eyes. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s refreshing and it is quite possibly not just my favorite book of the year, but my favorite I’ve ever read.
Favorite quote: “When you dig just the tiniest bit beneath the surface, everyone’s love life is original and interesting and nuanced and defies any easy definition”.
All of these books are stories that touched me in different ways. Spilled Milk, being nonfiction, opened my eyes to a world I realized I didn’t know nearly enough about, and quite honestly, am responsible to know about. Where the Crawdads Sing made me think about how things are never simply as easy as right and wrong, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo made me seriously commit to making sure whatever I do, it’s at the benefit of myself and those I love. The Charm Offensive and Book Lovers were my hopeful reads of the year, where I got to read about four completely different people falling in two completely different kinds of love: and it being beautiful anyway. These are the kind of books that make me remember why I fell in love and have stayed in love with reading, and I can’t wait to read what my 2023 TBR brings me!