It’s time for my 2023 Reading Wrap-up—a month late, but better late than never!

Note: I discuss several sensitive topics in this post: sex, bigotry (specifically several types of queerphobia), suicide, substance misuse, and eating disorders. Read with caution. I will put asterisks by the books in which these topics are discussed.

Statistics

I read 59 books in 2023, over three-fourths of which were fiction. My top five most-read genres are no surprise: young adult, LGBTQIA+, fantasy, mystery, and contemporary. Well, mystery is a little bit surprising, but I attribute that to the Hardy Boys and Psych books I read. I read the most books in June (8 books) and August (10 books)—thanks for giving me energy, sunshine! The seasonal depression dies in summer, leaving room for more reading (as long as the anxiety doesn’t take over…). My average rating on The StoryGraph was 3.58 stars, which I think is pretty good! Not a lot of bad books this year, and the few bad ones were overwhelmed by the good and great ones.  

Speaking of the good and great, I’ve gathered together the titles of the best books I read in 2023. Read ahead to learn what each book is about and why I picked it!

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4.0)

Carrie Soto’s big tennis record is about to be overtaken by a new player, and despite being in her thirties and being disliked by many tennis players/fans/announcers, she’s determined to retain that record. Carrie Soto believes she is the best tennis player ever, and to prove this point, she returns to the court for the major tournaments with her father as her coach.

I hesitated to put this one on my list, partially because it’s the only four-star book on the list, and partially because I’ve heard tell of Taylor Jenkins Reid being a Zionist, amongst other authors. But the truth is, I really did enjoy this book. Carrie Soto is an unlikable person but an interesting character, and because my family and I went to the U.S. Open in NYC this year, I really enjoyed the tennis history and playing in the book. And although the ending was a little predictable, I still liked the story’s resolution.

I also enjoyed that Jenkins Reid explored the “celebrity” part of being a professional tennis player along with the sports part. It’s a kind of parasocial relationship I really haven’t read or thought about that much.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (4.5)

Viv is an orc used to being a roving warrior who is finally settling into one place to start the first café in the city of Thune, though she soon finds that she will need partners and friends and customers to make this a reality. Despite the citizens of Thune never having heard of coffee, Viv will make sure they never forget it—and for all the best reasons.   

This story is found family at its best, with the unforced diversity that fantasy often lends itself well to. This book meanders at the perfect pace, like going for a walk to and from the library—your feet might hurt a little, but there’s a purpose to the outing and an overall sense of calm. Sunny with a couple of clouds shading the world every now and then. Basically, insert any metaphor that conveys comfort here and you’ve got the vibe of Legends & Lattes.

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake (4.5)*

While her brother Sam is in treatment after a suicide attempt, Violet is sent to the town her family is from and used to visit every year: Lyric. Lyric is named for the lost shipwreck that supposedly brought one of Violet’s ancestors to the area who eventually founded the town. When she’s not working at the town museum or trying to forget previous bad decisions she’d made, Violet sets out to find this shipwreck and prove her family’s mythology no matter what.

This book was my “biggest surprise” choice for the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag, and it still stands as one of the biggest surprises of the year. Considering that I’d just bought it on a whim, for it to make my favorites list is pretty extraordinary. It’s a story of someone who has lost hope eventually finding that they can be hopeful for different things, a story of searching for proof of a family myth, and a story of mental health and difficult family dynamics. Again, the main character in this story is not entirely likable, but still interesting and ultimately proves that everyone has both good and bad in them. The story has stuck with me so long because this is the type of book I’d like to publish one day—a young adult novel that deals honestly with complicated topics without those things impeding the characters’ growth.

The Appendix by Liam Konemann (4.75)*

Liam Konemann started this book as a list of all the transphobia he came across in his life, but because this endeavor was negatively impacting his mood, he instead wrote a book about the beauty of transmasculinity and the possibility of a future full of trans joy.

As a transmasculine person who is becoming increasingly disheartened by the continued existence (and even increase) of transphobia and violence against trans people, a short little book like this is enough to give me hope. It reminded me to think about all of the wonderful things about being trans—the community I’m part of, the confidence to make my body my own, the ability to define what my gender means to me, and so much more.

A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey (4.75)

After a trio of horrible incidents, Lila Reyes’s family is worried about her mental health and sends her to stay with her family at their inn in England. All she wants is to take over her grandma’s bakery and sulk over losing her boyfriend and best friend, but when she meets Orion Maxwell and is able to help out in the inn’s bakery, the summer starts to look up. Lila brings the taste of Miami to small town England, and Orion brings the taste of English tea to this Miami girl. Suddenly, the future looks less certain and yet brighter.

I really loved this book. It’s wholesome in all the best ways, and the perfect YA story of how life often throws you a different future than the one you’d expected, and how it’s okay to take a chance on that future instead of sticking with the one you’ve been beholden to forever. It kind of reminded me of an updated Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins—American gets sent to Europe against her will and ends up enjoying herself, making friends, and maybe just maybe falling in love. Plus, I love a good baking/cooking element in a story (despite the fact that I myself dislike doing both things), and now I will be searching for more tea-related stories, because that part was delightful.  

Heartstopper, Volume 5 by Alice Oseman (5.0)*

The penultimate volume of the Heartstopper graphic novel series, this book explores a new chapter in Charlie and Nick’s relationship. With a few friends, Nick is embarking on the journey of looking at universities while worrying about leaving Charlie behind. Charlie is still tackling his eating disorder and other mental health issues while learning how to support Nick even if it means being physically apart. During this summer, the two boys also decide they’re ready to have sex and navigate this new type of intimacy together and with their friends’ advice.

Heartstopper is hard not to love, not only because it offers such warm vibes, but because Oseman has their characters openly discuss real and complicated issues that teenagers face. Many teen books (even specifically queer ones) don’t address non-heterosexual sex (or really any sex other than stereotypical penetration involving a penis and vagina), but the Heartstopper gang discuss these things openly with all the awkwardness and honesty and different levels of experience that teenagers have.

So much happens in late high school/secondary school, you have to make so many decisions that you are told will impact the entire rest of your life, and it can be overwhelming even with being queer and/or mentally ill. Without losing the overall hopefulness and wholesomeness, Oseman’s characters tackle these difficult issues. Healthy relationships like these—both friendships and romantic relationships—are so rare in mainstream media, and I’m glad that Heartstopper has become mainstream for those who need to see happy queer stories.

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata (5.0)*

In this manga, Kabi Nagata shares the journey she took exploring her sexuality, mental health, and other aspects of her coming of age. Kabi takes her sexuality into her own hands in this narrative and becomes more comfortable with herself in all aspects of life—with trial and error.

The art is undeniably unique in the best ways, recognizable as manga yet more fluid and soft than ones I’ve read before. But the story is what landed this as one of my favorites of 2023. Like Heartstopper, Kabi tackles the taboos and awkwardness and joys of navigating queer sex for the first time. She discusses many emotions and thoughts that I’ve had before about being a queer person and fearing the uncertainty of queer relationships. This is literally the only thing I could type up on The StoryGraph after I’d read it twice in a row: “Damn… this is the type of shit I needed to hear. And that I want to be able to say through my own storytelling one day.”

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (5.0)*

Sam Masur and Sadie Green met years ago in the hospital—Sam recovering from a tragic car crash that leaves him disabled, and Sadie visiting her sick sister. The two reconnect in college and decide to collaborate on a video game that becomes a runaway hit: Ichigo. Success and business, creativity and love, ability and money, and identity and loss all complicate the initially simple joy of creating an escape from reality that they can share with others. This story is ultimately about the human condition in all of its good and bad manifestations.

In my Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag, I chose this book as the best book I’d read so far, and no book managed to usurp it in the past six months. In fact, I mentioned it three or four times in that post, and I still can’t stop thinking about it! This book deals with so many incredibly complicated topics without seeming forced, and it made me care about video games (in the context of the story), which is something that is not usually on my radar.

One of the reasons I can’t stop thinking about this book is because I was able to picture quite a bit of it in my head. There are snapshots I could see almost as clear as day—Marx waiting for his partner at the end of the torii gates, Sam and his mother coming across a woman who’d committed suicide, the graphics of Sam and Sadie’s video game Ichigo, and parts of the scene in which two gunmen infiltrate their business headquarters. It’s a heavy book but not hopeless. It’s beautifully written but not inaccessible. It’s got characters that aren’t always likable but are always interesting. I feel like I will get something new out of every reread of this story, and I can’t wait to read it again and again.

Conclusion

I’m starting my 2024 reading year with only one goal in mind: to read when and what I want. Instead of setting a reading goal for the amount of books I’d like to read, I’m going to set my “official” goal at one book, so I can stop worrying about an arbitrary number past Ryn probably came up with on a whim. I want to focus a bit more on my writing this year, and I can’t do that if I’m preoccupied by meeting a random reading goal.

In 2024, I’m going to continue trying to do the things that matter to me rather than just finding activities to fill time. I’m always so worried about wasting time that I end up wasting more time than I would have had I just done the things I was worried about not having time for.

Well, that’s all, folks! Cheers to 2024!

-Ryn PB