One of my goals with this year’s book list was to embrace escapism more. The previous year, I was nose-deep in heavy nonfiction and fiction topics, which really brought my mood down. It started to make reading feel like a chore. Not good for an avid reader. So this year, I decided to lighten up.
Before stacking up a pile of to-be-reads, I took a moment to think about what I most enjoyed reading. The books I was drawn to as a child, the genres I chose for leisure, the stories I myself would want to write. And then it hit me: Fantasy was—and still is—that girl for me. After years of not reading fantasy (because I wanted to expand my horizons), I was ready to return.
And you know what? It was incredibly refreshing. I want to go back and punch past me in the face for ignoring my love of fantasy because blah blah blah some stupid nonsense about not being a child and needing to read more serious books or whatever. Though I didn’t get to as many of the fantasy books that I wanted to this year, I’m absolutely going to continue this trend into 2024.
Let’s get into my favorites!
Favorites
Here are the books I read in 2023 that had a big impact on me.
ACOTAR Series (Fiction) by Sarah J. Maas
“Bailey, you can’t be serious.” I am, and here’s why: I struggled to get through my 2022 list, and it’s because I was trying to force myself to read books that I thought would make me feel intellectually superior—and it almost made me hate reading. Enter ACOTAR. It’s cheesy and poorly-written at times, sure, but it’s fun as hell. I devoured the entire series in a month, which felt good after the previous year’s slog. I have no regrets. Thank you, BookTok!
The series (so far) includes:
- A Court of Thorns & Roses
- A Court of Mist & Fury
- A Court of Wings & Ruin
- A Court of Frost & Starlight
- A Court of Silver Flames
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Nonfiction) by Robert K. Massie
I’m a sucker for a good biography, and this one was excellent. Before reading this book and watching the heavily fictionalized Hulu series The Great, my knowledge of Catherine the Great was severely lacking. (I played as her and against her in Civilization IV, but that doesn’t count as a history lesson.) This book is a fascinating recounting of the events and relationships that shaped Catherine, who eventually overthrew her husband, Peter III, and introduced the Russian empire to the modern world. And if that’s not enough to sell you, Catherine’s whole history is layered in gossip, so if that’s your kind of dish, the eating’s good.
Celestial Kingdom Duology (Fiction) by Sue Lynn Tan
Out of all the books I read this year, this fantasy duology was my absolute favorite! Rooted in Chinese mythology, the story follows Xingyin, daughter of moon goddess Chang’e, who must keep her identity hidden as she works to free her mother from the Celestial Emperor. The story—which takes place over two books—will sweep you across a vast kingdom, have you rooting for two completely different love interests at the same time, and make you wish you could be friends with legendary dragons.
The duology includes:
- Daughter of the Moon Goddess
- Heart of the Sun Warrior
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror (Nonfiction) edited by Joe Vallese
Whether you’re looking for a good Pride Month read or a good Halloween read, this will do the trick. It Came from the Closet is a collection of essays from LGBTQ+ writers who discuss their favorite horror films and how those films impacted the way they saw themselves— both through the lens of heterosexual-dominant pop culture and the queer-coded characters, imagery, and messaging within the horror genre. My favorites from the bunch? Carmen Maria Machado’s “Both Ways” about Jennifer’s Body and Tucker Lieberman’s “The Trail of His Flames” about A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The Woman in Me (Nonfiction) by Britney Spears
Of course, this memoir would be among my favorites of the year. I’m a Millennial who loves Britney, bitch! And after reading her memoir, let me just say…I will personally throw hands with the entire Spears family, Justin Timberlake, and the California legal system perpetrators who allowed that scam of a conservatorship to go on as long as it did. Britney went through it from the moment she was born, y’all. She deserves respect, revenge, but most of all…REST.
Also Recommend
Outside of my favorites, these were other books I read and enjoyed in 2023.
- A Desolation Called Peace (Fiction), Arkady Martine
- Hades x Persephone Saga (Fiction), Scarlett St. Clair
- A Touch of Darkness
- A Game of Fate
- A Touch of Ruin
- A Game of Retribution
- A Touch of Malice
- A Game of Gods
- In My Dreams I Hold a Knife (Fiction), Ashley Winstead
- Is It Hot in Here? (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth) (Nonfiction), Zach Zimmerman
- Kaikeyi (Fiction), Vaishnavi Patel
- The Night Circus (Fiction), Erin Morgenstern*
- Night of the Mannequins (Fiction), Stephen Graham Jones
- Pageboy: A Memoir (Nonfiction), Elliot Page
- Spare (Nonfiction), Prince Harry
- Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere (Nonfiction), Maria Bamford
- Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, & Imposter Syndrome (Nonfiction), Aparna Nancherla
- You Just Need to Lose Weight (Nonfiction), Aubrey Gordon
- Where the Deer and The Antelope Play (Nonfiction), Nick Offerman
*This was actually a re-read while I was waiting for one of my book orders to arrive. I have to say, it still holds up. I was just as enthralled reading this a second time as I was the first.
Not My Bag
As always, I want to clarify that these books aren’t bad. In fact, I enjoyed reading ALL of these. But the moods of these stories just weren’t jibing with the way I was personally feeling this year.
- Delilah Green Doesn’t Care (Fiction), Ashley Herring Blake
- Dial A for Aunties (Fiction), Jesse Q. Sutanto
- Manhunt (Fiction), Gretchen Felker-Martin
- Quietly Hostile (Nonfiction), Samantha Irby
Time to dive into my 2024 reading list now!
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