Keeping my end-of-year tradition, I’m sharing my favorite books and most popular posts!
It wasn’t my most prolific year of reading or posting – I got tied up reading the epic Shantaran for several months (which I do recommend) – and I got out of the habit of posting on my blog, but I am going to try to do better next year.
Keep reading for my favorite five books published during 2023. These would be great gifts or for when you are able to relax during the holidays (does that actually happen?).
My favorite new books from 2023
I am including links to Amazon for convenience and reference, but I encourage you to purchase from your local bookseller.
North Woods by Daniel Mason
This is the story of a cabin in New England and its inhabitants over the years. From the Puritan lovers who abscond there to so many others who are hiding from something or finding something there – good people and bad people – and how they all leave their mark, and how it all works together. This is an epic read because it spans so much time, incorporates nature into the story, uses a variety of ways to tell the story – most of it is narrative but there are also poems, advertisements, and other mediums sprinkled in. I loved this!!
“…the only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change.”
daniel mason in north woods
The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly
I don’t go looking for WWII fiction anymore because I’ve read so much, but sometimes it finds me. This is the typical dual character, dual timeline with one set within the Paris Resistance and the second in post-WWII which was enlightening. The characters are likeable and it was a quick read!
Hotel Cuba by Aaron Hamburger
Historical fiction about two Jewish sisters who are fleeing Russia after WWI. Because they can’t get into the United States legally, they go to Cuba instead and wait for the right opportunity. I wrote a full blog post on this book earlier this year.
The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton
Yes, Cuba is a theme on my blog, and Cleeton is a recurring author! Here’s the full post I wrote earlier in the year.
Tom Lake by Ann Pachett
But luckily I got desperate for a book one weekend and started to read it. On the first page there are references to the play Our Town…
“Citizens of New Hampshire could not get enough of Our Town. We felt about the play the way other Americans felt about the Constitution or the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
from page 1 of tom lake
I so I settled in…I saw this play once years ago and consider it life changing. To my delight, this whole book is an intertextual homage to Our Town. The primary plot is a woman (who once played Emily and was in love with a to-be famous actor) telling the story of this part of her life to her daughters during the pandemic when they are all stuck on their Michigan cherry farm. It’s a story in a story in a story. You may need to have seen Our Town to fully appreciate. I just re-read the play after finishing this new book, and it’s not that great to read, except for those couple pages in Act 3 that make it all worth it.
Popular Posts and Memories from my 2023
My all-time most popular post also got the most hits this year: This is Us (tv show) and Poem Counterpoem
My post on my favorite children’s books – Sweet Pickles
Books inspired by Hemingway and his wives