My Top Books Read 2023

In 2023 I read 93 books. Most of them were good, and some were exceptional. There were quite a few that I considered including in my top three favorites for the year. It was a tough choice, but these three books stood out to me this year. 

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

This continues to hold the top spot on my list of all-time favorite books. It has been five years since I last read it. During those five years, there have been many times I wanted to read it again. This year I picked it up and I wasn't disappointed - I loved it more than the last time I read it. It is the quintessential American novel telling the story of two aging cowboys watching the world they knew disappear as they try to hang onto the last vestiges of the Wild West.  Augustus McCrae is still my favorite literary character. He is simultaneously down to earth, larger than life, and has wit and wisdom to spare. After rereading Lonesome Dove I decided to read the other three Lonesome Dove novels McMurtry wrote. None of them hold a candle to Lonesome Dove, but I still enjoyed a few more stories with Call, McCrea, and all the other characters. 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Anyone who knows me knows I love mythology, especially of the Greek and Roman varieties. Most years on my book list there are at least a few books focused on mythology. This was the first book I read this year and I knew as soon as I finished it would be one of my favorite books in 2023. This book is a retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of Patroclus. The story is both familiar and fresh at the same time. This book is beautifully written with poetic prose that evokes the Greek Epic Miller drew from. She deftly tells the story in a way that humanizes the greatest of Greek warriors - Achilles. 

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I am a very curious person and this book greatly indulged my curiosity. This book all about animal perception, is more complicated, more mysterious, more wondrously strange. Ed Yong challenges readers to step outside of preconceived notions of how the creatures who inhabit this world sense it and try to understand the varied ways they interact with the world. Whether it is a scallop with hundreds of eyes that don't really see the way we think of sight or the way seabirds "sniff" the topography of underwater features in the ocean the way we understand animal perception helps to illuminate the reasons our world is built the way it is. This book is fascinating and delves into complex subjects in a digestible way without oversimplification. I can't recommend it highly enough. 

Here is a list of all the books I read in 2023:

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

2. The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende

3. The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager

4. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King

5. South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

6. Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII by Chester Nez; Judith Shiess Avila

7. Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work by Deborah Liu

8. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

9. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott

10. Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders

11. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

12. Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

13. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

14. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

15. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

16. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida

17. The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport

18. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham

19. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

20. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

21. The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski

22. Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher by David Cone; Jack Curry

23. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

24. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

25. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

26. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown

27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

28. Honor by Thrity Umrigar

29. Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion by Gabrielle Stanley Blair

30. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

31. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede

32. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

33. Nordic Tales by Chronicle Books

34. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

35. True Biz by Sara Novic

36. Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

37. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever by Jack Curry

38. The Therapist by B.A. Paris

39. Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make--and Keep--Friends by Marisa G. Franco, PhD

40. Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown

41. Bad Mormon: A Memoir by Heather Gay

42. The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

43. Triggers: How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing by David Richo

44. SBF: How The FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto's Very Bad Good Guy by Brady Dale

45. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

46. The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr

47. Trust: America's Best Chance by Pete Buttigieg

48. Trust by Hernan Diaz

49. Why Politics Fail: The Five Traps of the Modern World and How to Escape Them by Ben Ansell

50. Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young

51. A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

52. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

53. The Maid by Nita Prose

54. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

55. The Lagoon: Encounters with the Whales of San Ignacio by James Michael Dorsey

56. Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of The Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny

57. Is This Normal: Judgement-Free Straight Talk About Your Body by Dr. Jolene Brighten

58. Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

59. Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart; Rachel Abrams

60. Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis

61. The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent  Listening by Ari Shapiro

62. Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

63. Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry 

64. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

65. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

66. Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry 

67. What Now? by Ann Patchett

68. The Shop Dogs of Parnassus by Ann Patchett

69. The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party by Daniel James Brown

70. Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

71. Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry 

72. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

73. What Napolean Could Not Do by DK Nnuro

74. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann

75. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

76. The Odyssey by Homer; Translated by Emily Wilson

77. Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel

78. The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos, RN

79. All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Crosby

80. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

81. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

82. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

83. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry

84. Summer of '85 by Chris Morrow, Kevin Hart

85. Spare by Prince Harry, JR Moehringer

86. What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry MD. PhD; Oprah Winfrey

87. The Office BFFs: Tales of the Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer; Angela Kinsey

88. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

89. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, and the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne

90. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

91. How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes

92. Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II by Alex Kershaw

93. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight.