Review of 2023 Reading Year

A steady return of 33 books read in the year, not bad as the average length was 400 pages. This year only a narrow majority (17 to 16) were by ‘new to me’ authors. The gender balance evened this year to a 55:45 preference for male authors, and the males again dominated the best reads list by 6 to 3. The reading group picked a few ‘already reads’ so provided only 4 new titles (including 1 best read) while the ‘bookpacking’ reading journey became becalmed in eastern Europe with just two books completed.

My nine best books of the year are: (Month of full review in brackets.)

 

The High House – Jessie Greengrass: Dystopia in microcosm as three young adults narrate how they came to survive the coming environmental catastrophe of hugely rising sea levels. (Feb)

 

The Reindeer Hunters – Lars Mytting: The second in the Bell in the Lake trilogy maintains the high standard, as another generation carry the story of life in rural Norway into the early twentieth century; old secrets unfold, and new dangers threaten. (Mar)

 

Origins – Lewis Dartnell: Perceptive non-fiction that with clarity sets out how geography and geology shaped human development. (Mar)

 

Rubbernecker – Belinda Bauer: Fast paced and unusual thriller in which characterisation is equal to the clever plotting. (Mar)

 

The Siege of Krishnapur – J G Farrell: Set in 1857 as the British Raj is under pressure in India, the novel recounts (surprisingly amusingly) how the rigid structures of that society fare under existential threat. (Apr)

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr: Three narratives centuries apart, featuring five characters who begin as strangers, are weaved together to produce a fabulous, richly satisfying novel. (Jul)

 

The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave: Set in 1617, the novel builds on the true story of a storm that wrecked a fishing fleet and killed every man from a remote Norwegian village. The women who decide to make their own living find themselves subject to accusations of (and trials for) witchery. (Aug)

An Officer and a Spy – Robert Harris: A masterful take on the Dreyfus Affair – a miscarriage of justice that gripped France from 1895 to its conclusion a decade later. An interesting and engaging novel written with style and clarity. (Sep)

 

Eden – Jim Crace: This garden has walls, whether to keep people in or out is moot. Inside the Angels rule and men and women are immortal; outside the people are free but destined to age and die. When one person goes over the wall, the whole community – men, women, and angels - is at risk of disintegration. (Nov)