Top Ten Books of 2023: Fiction
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 сер 2024
- Time Stamps:
00:00 Intro
01:01 Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
01:33 Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila
02:31 Women Talking by Mariam Toews
03:49 Mrs S by K. Patrick
04:59 Trespassing by Louise Kennedy
06:27 The Death of the Author in Triplicate by Marc Nash
08:51 Human Acts by Han Kang
10:25 Fire Rush by Jaqueiline Crooks
12:19 Blood Red by Gabriella Ponce
13:48 Telephone by Percival Everett
15:20 Study for Obedience by Susan Bernstein
17:49 Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren
20:21 Foster by Claire Keegan
21:49 Boulder by Eva Baltasar
Thank you so much Brian, had your video on when the Mrs came into the room (it's her birthday today) and we were chatting, when I suddenly realised you were talking about my book! "Fire Rush" makes my list too. All the best for 2024
Happy birthday to your wife.
Happy Birthday to your Mrs! Thank you Marc. Looking forward to your next.
Good day. While listening to you I thought who has time to watch anything on t.v. or devices with so many interesting contemporary books being published today.? Interesting list. Happy New Year.
Thank you. I have been having a great reading month enjoying a few of the recently published books and ignoring the TV as much as possible.
Wonderful list!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for making me aware of two of the books I talked about in this video.
Loved hearing about your faves Brian.
I added Collected Works to my TBR earlier this year - I hope I can get to it in 2024 😊
I hope you can too. I’m obviously a fan.
The only one I have read is Foster and it was lovely. I just wanted to give her a hug. Thank you for sharing your favorites! 🎉
Exactly! Thanks Sandy
Great reviews! Definitely have Foster on my trb and will add Boulder. Happy New Year!
Thanks Kristin. The good news about both those books is that they are really short so they won’t take you long to read.
I am bad at piccking favorites and making my own best of list, but so love watching all of them.
Despite my general level of disorganization I do like to make book lists almost as much as I like seeing other people’s.
Definitely going to get to Study for Obedience this next month. I'd say you had a great year. Here's to another.
It is such an unusual read. I hope you like it. Happy New Year!
Sorry late watching this.
Mrs S just missed out on my faves too as I just adored it. Loved Study for Obedience too.
Also obv Trepasses will be on my faves I just adored it so so much.
Great faves Brian ❤
Thanks Charlie. No apology is ever necessary.
Thanks for this! Foster and Study for Obedience made my longer list of bests but didn’t make the top ten. I loved Permafrost and so have been wanting to read Boulder for a long time. I will make it a priority in 2024.
Thank you Lindy. I will have to check out Permafrost.
I'm always happy to see Trespasses getting recognized. I got a copy of Telephone this year and look forward to finally catching up on Everett's writing in 2024. And of course, I am a big fan of both Foster and Boulder. Great list! Happy new year!
I'm hoping to dive into Everett's back list in a big way this year. The good news is that I think there are quite a few books to dive into. Thanks Greg.
Brian, the best UA-cam channels I discovered in 2023 were your channel and Rebecca Watson, and I've enjoyed following along with your content this year. Wishing you all the best for 2024!
Thank you Josh it has been great interacting with you here and on your channel.
A tremendous list. I have had a tricky end to the year so I haven't thought through mine yet but I think we may have a couple of overlaps. But you have reminded me of some others I want to read.
Thank you Roz. I hope you are past the tricky things. I will look forward to your list.
Fantastic list. I have read 3 of them and put another 3 on my out of control tbr. I don't buy books and couldn't get death of the Author but it very much intrigues me. I had a go at an earlier book by the same writer on the Libby app and found it very strange and dnf'd it quickly. In no particular order my top 10 are
Black Jacabins - CLR James
Foster - Claire Keegan
Time Regained - Proust
Giovanni's Room - Baldwin
Washington Black - Esi Edugyan
Fictions - Borges
The Dubliners - Joyce
The Hour of the Star - Lispector
Freshwater - Emezi
Collected Works - Carol Ann Duffy. Out of about 100 books I had 20 5 stars, 60 4 stars and the rest were 3 stars. Only 2 were 2 and a half stars. This high standard is mainly due to the fantastic quality of suggestions from booktubers like youself. So, thank you for all your content over the last year and a happy new year Brian.
That’s a great list. Freshwater was so good, but I liked the death of Vivek Oji even better. I’ve never Janes or Borges. I’m not sure Marc’s book is going to be one that shows up in libraries. Thank you for all your comments and support Angela.
@@BookishTexan Vivek is on my list. I've read a lot wider this year I hope to read all of Emezi's work eventually.
Women Talking sounds Great, I will read it.
Merry Christmas to you 🎄
It is a very good, very powerful book. Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.
I loved several of these: Collected Works and Study for Obedience were in my Top 15 list. I also loved Boulder, Foster, Telephone, Women Talking, and Fire Rush. I own a copy of Human Acts; need to prioritize it.
We seem to have read a few of the same books. Human Acts was good. It grew on me over time and I found myself thinking about it often.
Excellent list! Several are also in my top ten.
Thank you!
I really want to get to Marc Nash's book. It's taken me forever to get to anything at all this year. But that is number one. Fire Rush also is on the list somewhere. Great stuff as always.
Marc’s book was very good. I hope you do get to read it soon.
I hope to get to Trespasses and Women Talking in 2024. Yes, Foster was so well done. I also read Small Things Like These and am hard pressed to say which one was better--they're both so good. Happy to hear you loved Collected Works because I'm starting January with that one.
The hope you like Collected Works. For what it’s worth I think Foster was a little bit better.
From your list I've read Trespasses, Telephone, Boulder and Foster. Those were all so good! I still have Women Talking and Collected Works on my TBR. The best books always seem like they are the perfect length, whether that is 80 pages or 600. Great list!
I hope you like both. I think I lean towards shorter books. Though I do have one or two longer books on my list this year. Particularly on my upcoming non-fiction list.
Human Acts is so beautifully told.
It is. Thanks Doris
Fascinating and intriguing that Marc's book made your list! Maybe that's as good a place as any to satisfy my curiosity about his writing. I'm in awe of all you voracious readers as it is.
Thanks for your list.
Thank you. I thing Death of the Author in triplicate would be a great intro to Marc’s work. It is stylish and funny and full of ideas.
Great list of favorites! Collected Works and Foster are in my top 3 this year 😊
Nice to hear from someone else who read and loved Collected Works.
yes! I was happy to see it here too @@BookishTexan :) It's my number 1 of 2023.
I was so excited to see this pop up! I think Telephone sounds good and Boulder is a MUST now due to the number of lists it showed up on. It's like last year's Elena Knows.
Thanks Karen. Boulder is so good!
I almost picked up Telephone at a thrift store today but decided against it. Great to hear your positive review
Thank you Kier.
“Foster” is also one of my favorite 2023 reads. 👍🏻👍🏻
It’s just so beautifully evocative and well written.
I am more of a nonfiction reader, but I am picking a couple of things for this year. Thank you.
Hey Patrice! I have a nonfiction best of list that you might find more interesting.
My 3 top reads of 2023:
Gormenghast by Mervin Peake
Home by Marilynne Robinson
The Neapoletan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
Some books on your list interest me as well, I hope my library has them or is willing to aquire them😊
I’ve only read one Robinson and neither Peake if Ferrante though I have been meaning to try the latter for some time. Hope you are able to get the books you are interested in through your library.
Foster got an honorable mention in my favorites! Completely agree that it is truly beautiful writing.
Thanks Deea
BTW I am also listening. I added Human Acts to my wishlist. And Study for Obedience
Human Acts is a bit graphic but it is also haunting and beautiful in its way. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It really grew in my mind after I had finished.
Great list! Here are the top ten books I've read in 2023:
1. East of Eden (Steinbeck)
2. The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
3. The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)
4. How to Say Babylon (Sinclair)
5. The Bee Sting (Murray)
6. King: A Life (Eig)
7. Weep Not, Child (wa Thiong'o)
8. Poverty, by America (Desmond)
9. Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider (Person)
10. Pageboy: A Memoir (Page)
Thank you! There are several books on your list that I want to get to and some new to me ones that I want to look into.
Like you, most of my favorite reads of the year were not published this year. I have 12 books that I rated 5 stars on Goodreads this year, out of 83. Some of those are individual short stories. We overlap only with Boulder and Trespasses. Most of your others I haven't read. I start Study for Obedience but gave up after 30-40 pages. It felt like that I am not smart enough to deal with it. Maybe I'll give it another go.
I do have a tendency to focus on backlist books. You are definitely smart enough for Study for Obedience. It just may not be a book that fits your tastes.
I haven't worked my top ten out yet but Collected Works will be in it, I thought it was great and I'm surprised more people haven't spoken about it. I heard of it from Shawn.
I heard about it from Shawn as well. It does seem to have missed most booktubers somehow. Maybe it will make a prize list next year (if it’s eligible for any). It’s a shame that more people haven’t read it.
I just love Percival Everett’s work. I just read Erasure this year. Not quite as good as The Trees for me, but still very good. I want to watch the film adaptation, but am also scared. 😬 Looking forward to James being released in 2024. Claire Keegan is a master of the emotional gut punch in a short page count.
I’ve only read two of Everett’s books, but I plan on, and am looking forward to, reading his backlist. Keegan is amazing
Ive read Human Acts and Women Talking from this list. I think the Jesmyn Ward book sounds the most interesting to me.
It is very good, but I thought very different from her other books in terms of setting and story.
Good morning. It has been suggested that I ask you this question. I have a copy of the Jesmyn Ward book Salvage the Bones. For reasons I am not going into I cannot take people's pets dieing in a novel. Do pets die in this novel?
I understand completely. Yes. Pets die in the book.
Have you read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent yet? Her writing is musical just beautifully written.
I have not, but thank you for the recommendation.
I didn’t much like _Boulder_ (though it was memorable, which counts for something with me) so I’m glad to hear again your thoughts on the book - to remind me of an angle to the book which I suppose I discounted. (I get my best reads from your channel and that includes books I’m not 100% behind.) I didn’t relate to it.
Thanks David. Sometimes a book fits you just right and sometimes a book doesn’t. Boulder was a fit for me, but I can see why it would t be for everyone.
I haven't read much fiction this year. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison was my favorite.
I had not heard of that one. I’ll try to remember to look into it. Thank you Melissa
Trespasses and Foster are on my top 5 list as well.
Both are so beautifully written and emotionally powerful.
I still need to read Claire Keegan. Shame on me. Very excellent list here!
The good news is that it won’t take you long to read her books because they’re so short.
You probably know my best books of the year already, as I’ve sung one books praise since I finished it in February
Deluge by Stephen Markley
☘️👋🍀📕☕️📖🇮🇪📚
I have to admit that I have been Intimidated by the length of deluge. But I do mean to read it. Thanks Jacqueline
Zelda arrived! 🥰
The diva has to have her cameo.🤓
Balthazar>Baltasar
I missed the first word in my 4th grade spelling bee (frontier) and pretty much gave up after that.
@@BookishTexan Haha, it was perfect English spelling, she just happens to be Catalan.
Women Talking >>>>> Male narrator interjects his opinions, his masculinity, his comments about exposed ankles, uncovered hair, fashionably rolled socks, his, his, his >>>>>
This was my complaint about the book when I read it and reviewed it. But for me the relationships and descriptions of the pain and determination of most of the women still made this a top read for me.