Favorite books of 2023 Archives

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

by Helene Hanff

Nancy Mitford meets Nora Ephron in the pages of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff’s delightful travelogue about her “bucket list” trip to London.

The Frozen River

by Ariel Lawhon

This historical mystery is based on the life and diary of Martha Ballard, an actual 18th century midwife who delivered over a thousand babies in her career and never once lost a mother in childbirth. As midwife, Martha keeps careful written records of every birth she attends, as well as many of the community’s happenings. When she cares for a woman following a sexual assault, she records the details in her diary and resolves to do what she can to see justice served. Four months later, a body is found in the frozen river, and there’s reason to believe the two crimes are connected. The existence of Martha’s diary makes her a key witness in the upcoming trial, placing her at the center of the biggest scandal the small community has ever seen. This book is a MOOD: tender, violent, and utterly gripping.

All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir

by Beth Moore

From the publisher: "An incredibly thoughtful, disarmingly funny, and intensely vulnerable glimpse into the life and ministry of a woman familiar to many but known by few. All My Knotted-Up Life is told with surprising candor about some of the personal heartbreaks and behind-the-scenes challenges that have marked Beth’s life. But beyond that, it’s a beautifully crafted portrait of resilience and survival, a poignant reminder of God’s enduring faithfulness, and proof positive that if we ever truly took the time to hear people’s full stories . . . we’d all walk around slack-jawed."

The Postcard

by Anne Berest

The premise of this 2023 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide selection is irresistible. In 2003, Anne Berest’s mother Lelia received a postcard, an old postcard, addressed to Berest’s grandmother, who is dead. The card is blank except for four names—Ephraim, Emma, Noemie, and Jaques. These were the names of her grandparents, aunt and uncle, all killed at Auschwitz. Anne was about to give birth so the postcard was forgotten, put away. But when Anne remembers the card nearly two decades later, she is determined to find out who sent it and why. This sweeping French novel—an award winner and bestseller in France—deals with history and memory, hope, grief, and, reader take note, trauma. Translated from the French by Tina Kover.

The Road to Roswell

by Connie Willis

Snappy dialogue, a zany cast of characters, and a plot that will warm your heart make this the perfect escape. Francie lands in Roswell, home of the original UFO crash, steeling herself to talk her best friend out of marrying a UFO true believer. But before she can make any progress she's—you guessed it—abducted by a tumbleweed-shaped alien and forced to drive like the blazes across the New Mexico desert. Along the way the duo acquire a merry band of misfits including a charming con man, a little old lady with a secret, a Western-loving retiree, and a UFO-chaser. This was pure delight, but with a backbone.

Above Ground

by Clint Smith

In this superb collection, How the Word Is Passed author Smith turns his attention to family, fatherhood, and community care. The first entry “All at Once” establishes the tone for poems that capture the fullness of fatherhood, setting quotidian moments of joy alongside the existential fear and dread that are part of parenting—especially parenting Black children in our world. (“There is a funeral procession/in the morning and a wedding/in the afternoon. The river that/gives us water to drink is the/same one that might wash us away.”) Smith addresses gun violence, climate change, and raising Black sons—and also the detritus at the bottom of his double stroller, the sand on his baby’s feet, and (gulp) Zoom school. A standout, and not just for parents. For fans of Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry and Maggie Smith’s Good Bones.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

by James McBride

I’ve read James McBride differently since I heard him say writing is like music for him; this story is nothing if not a dance. Here he paints a rich portrait of Pottstown, PA’s Chicken Hill neighborhood in the early 1930s, populated mostly by Jewish immigrants and Black people who comfortably coexist, despite the ominous proximity of the Klan. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is the neighborhood’s beating heart: residents gather to shop and gossip, welcomed by its beloved Jewish owner Chona, who treats all with kindness and freely extends credit to anyone in need. When a government inspector brings trouble to their community, the residents band together to protect their own. An exuberant, intricately-plotted tale with a wide cast of beguiling characters.

Tom Lake

by Ann Patchett

This is the novel I didn't know I was longing to read, with its tender familial relationships, Michigan cherry orchard setting, and insider look at summer stock theater. When Lara is nearing sixty and the pandemic is just beginning, her three adult daughters return home for the summer. The girls have long romanticized their mother’s once-upon-a-time romance with a megastar actor, and now, all together again, the girls direct Lara to tell them the whole story from the beginning. She unspools her story slowly, over three long weeks harvesting cherries on the family property. I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending, but this story? Absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to read it again. For fans of Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer and Anne Enright’s Actress.

The True Love Experiment

by Christina Lauren

Romance novelist Fizzy Chen gets her own story in this delectable standalone follow-up to The Soulmate Equation. After another relationship ends badly, Fizzy realizes she’s in a terrible slump, in love and in writing. Meanwhile, Connor gets unwelcome news from his overbearing boss: he won’t get funding for his next nature documentary until he films a big money-maker… like a reality show. The two (reluctantly) unite to create a one-of-a-kind dating show that relies heavily on romance tropes, and also requires them to work closely together. This is one of the seasoned writing duo’s best efforts, with palpable chemistry, serious tension, winning humor, and a satisfying resolution. Open door. For fans of The Soulmate Equation and Julia Whelan’s similarly meta Thank You for Listening.

Happiness Falls

by Angie Kim

From the publisher: "'We didn’t call the police right away.' Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing. Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don't return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance."

The Vaster Wilds

by Lauren Groff

From the publisher: "A taut and electrifying novel from celebrated bestselling author Lauren Groff, about one spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive. A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her. Lauren Groff's new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism."

Wellness: A Novel

by Nathan Hill

Lovers of complicated marriage and family stories, this one’s for you. Jack and Elizabeth fell in love during college, part of 1990s Chicago’s thriving art scene. Twenty years later, they’re far from the idealistic dreamers they used to be. Jack and Elizabeth are looking to buy their first home in an expensive part of the city in the face of disappointing careers and the difficulties of parenting. Hill explores modern marriage in the age of diet culture, Facebook, therapy, and cults and the result is both moving and humorous.

Favorite books of 2023