best books of 2023

a banner reading year

Reminder: according to my wheel of the year, all of winter is for reflecting, so if you haven’t finished up your 2023 reflecting yet, you’re right on time - or even early! - as far as I’m concerned.

I read 101 books in 2023. I’m really proud to have finally exceeded three digits. For the past several years, 100 books has been my yearly goal, but I missed it by 10-15 books. So in 2023, I set my goal as 85 and finally made it over 100. There is a lesson there about lowering expectations and shoulding ourselves with arbitrary metrics, but I really just want to get to my favorite books of the year so I’ll skip the pontificating for now!

Most Likely to Send You Down 27 Rabbit Holes

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut 

This book was so weird. I kept seeing people I respect recommend it, but I didn’t really read much about it going in, which was probably a good thing. It traces some of the greatest physics discoveries over the past two centuries, and, in so doing, demonstrates humankind’s ability to (often unconsciously) wreak havoc on ourselves and our environment. The author describes it as “a work of fiction based on real events,” but what sent me down so many rabbit holes was trying to figure out what was fact versus what was fiction. It was fascinating and terrifying, and I loved it.

The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine by Sophie Strand

I love Sophie Strand, as evidenced by how many times I’ve quoted her in this newsletter. In The Flowering Wand, she sets out to demonstrate how patriarchy harms men as much as it harms women and tries to offer a different vision for masculinity. Each chapter in this book delves into a different aspect - whether mythological, symbolical, or historical - of sacred masculinity that we could use as a model to move forward toward wholeness. I could probably spend all of 2024 chasing the rabbit holes she starts in this book.

Will Make You Want to Go Back to College

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen

In science this year, Jasper learned about the evolutionary tree, but because I had read The Tangled Tree earlier this year, I kept arguing with the conclusions that he was trying to study. Quammen spins a great story, so you’ll quickly get sucked in despite the scientific jargon and seemingly dry description. What I found most intriguing about this book is how many of the scientific discoveries The Tangled Tree recounts took place in the 1990s and early 2000s, but are still not being taught (as evidenced by Jasper’s science textbook). It had me thinking about how long it takes science to trickle down to the masses, how the idea that education stops when we’re eighteen harms us societally, and how much more there is to learn.

Most Yapped About (By Me)

Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser. 

I read this earlier in the year and was honestly a bit disappointed after my first reading, but I found that I kept referencing in it conversations throughout the year. So I’m thinking maybe it’s worth a reread.

Waking Up To The Dark by Clark Strand. 

I wrote about some of my thoughts about this book in the newsletter, but I found myself recommending and referencing it throughout the year. I’m not the only one who thinks we’re in a dark age of the world, and I think part of what got us here is our refusal to sit with our shadow and so-called darker emotions, both collectively and individually. Strand’s ideas are a gentle guide map to the gifts of the darkness. 

My Name Is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning

This book was written in 1994 and could have been written in 2024. Glendinning’s thesis is that Western Civilization causes addiction-like behaviors and consequences in those under its spell. We know far more about addiction now than we did in 1994, and her argument seems even more prescient reading it now.

Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine by Joseph Campbell and Safron Rossi (Editor)

I resisted this book despite it being often recommended on divine feminine reading lists because I get a little annoyed with Campbell’s rendering of the hero’s journey that is 1) everywhere and 2) very masculine. But it seems like he came around in his elder years, and Rossi as the editor here does an excellent job of collecting his talks on the topic in one volume. Maybe it is because I came into this with low expectations, but I’ve found that I still can’t stop talking about it.

A Walking Life: Reclaiming Our Health and Our Freedom One Step at a Time by Antonia Malchik

I write and think a lot about how systems impact individual behavior and attitudes, but I hadn’t realized how our auto-centric American culture itself acts like a system that has all sorts of consequences to our individual and communal well-being. Malchik’s book made me so much more appreciative of my daily walks and has me thinking about ways I could advocate for more walking infrastructure in our city. 

Best Comfort Reads

Instead of titles, I’ll offer you two authors whose backlist kept me sucked in all year: Katherine Center and Kate Claybourne. 

Best Reads of the Year (in no particular order)

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

I love Ross Gay and will read everything he writes, but I think this is my favorite yet. He is especially great on audio. I love any art that helps us to be better “joymongers.”¹

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

I’m a Kingsolver completist so maybe I’m biased, but this is the best novel I’ve read in years. It should be required reading, especially as we go into another election year.

The River You Touch by Chris Dombrowski

I just adored this book. He writes so poetically about his place, his family, and his immense love for both. Also going fly fishing with Dombrowski is now on my bucket list, and I don’t even really have a bucket list!

The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler

I wish this book had a different title because I think people avoid it thinking that it doesn’t apply to them, but my hypothesis is that modern American culture has an undercurrent of perfectionism throughout that affects all of us whether we realize it or not. I gave a few copies as gifts and told the recipients that reading the book was worth at least ten hours of therapy.

On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen

One thing I love (and am envious of!) about Loehnen is how well she brings together so many seemingly disparate threads in her writing, so this book seems like it’s about the seven deadly sins (eww), but really it’s about so much more than that thanks to Loehnen’s ability to name and connect so many different cultural phenomena. 

Check out my Goodreads for what else I read last year. Even though I’m proud of myself for prioritizing reading this year and hitting some number, I also think the whole gamification of reading is a little icky². I’m planning something different for my reading goals in 2024, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. I’d love to hear about your favorite books from 2023 and what you’re thinking for the year ahead in reading.

Here’s to more wintering in the weeks ahead,

Sara

1. Like a fishmonger but for joy instead of fish. Credit to Rob Bell for that one.

2. If it isn’t icky for you, go for it. It just wears me out a bit, and I have to be careful not to get too hung up on tracking every damn thing.