TRIGGER WARNING: mention of depression and suicide
In 2023, I got back into reading, and I did so at a pace that I only ever used to reach on a sunbed on a family holiday. I read from genres that were completely new to me and ones that I have been dipping in and out of for years. I read entire series, listened to audiobooks, and finally got to some of those books that have been sitting on my shelf for years. I learned that, whilst it’s great to read as many books as possible, there isn’t much point if you’re not enjoying what you read. I read some excellent books, and some not-so-excellent ones. Of those 56 books, here are the four most-excellent books that I think about pretty much every day.
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
“Nearly everything I know about love, I’ve learned from my long-term friendships with women.”
This memoir, written by a journalist for The Sunday Times, details her life experiences from the age of 16 to her 30s. I listened to this as an audiobook and, as it is self-narrated, there was an added level of personability to the book that made it so touching. It follows Dolly’s life as she leaves school and goes to university, moves to London and lives with her friends in her 20s. Throughout, she falls in and out of love, changes careers, deals with loss and breakups, among so much more. It includes everything from details about her therapy sessions, to recipes for curing hangovers and how to grapple with the emotional turmoil of being a woman in your 20s. It’s a love letter to female friendships, girlhood and womanhood. This book made me feel so seen, and it is reassuring to feel less alone when going through tough times. It’s a book that I will revisit again and again, and one that I believe everyone should read at least once in their lifetime.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
“You have acted on a feeling. You are in a memory of the present. You are tumbling through a fever dream, surfacing only to plunge once more.”
Even though this book is only 146 pages, it holds such a gripping and heartbreaking story. In the simplest sense, it is a love story about two people who meet in a pub in South London. In every other sense, it is a story about brotherhood, modern masculinity, grief, family, and friendship. It’s told in the second person, and this gives the story a completely different dimension: it is like becoming the main character. The writing is so vivid that I could see the colours of the lights in the bar, hear the background noise of London, and feel the painful and heart-breaking emotions. There is a lyrical element to it as well, enhanced by the constant reference to songs and artists that provide a soundtrack for the book and the characters’ experiences. It is also a declaration of love to blackness, discussing what it means to be a black person in the UK today; a celebration of culture intertwined with the haunting reality of racism in society.
Penance by Eliza Clark
“They talked about the barrier between worlds, between life and death. Good and evil. Hell and earth. Hell on earth.”
I read Eliza Clark’s debut novel, Boy Parts, in 2022, and patiently waited for the release of Penance until August 2023. The story takes the form of a true-crime-style book set in the fictional northeastern town of Crow-on-Sea. It follows the journalist Alec Carelli as he endeavours to uncover the truth behind the murder of 16-year-old Joan Wilson, in an attempt to re-launch his career as a true-crime writer. Over a series of interviews with the family and friends of the victim, the perpetrators themselves, and those caught in the crossfire of the case, Carelli delves further into the dark history of Crow-on-Sea – a town filled with poverty, class division, tragedy, and even witchcraft. Penance carries heavy critiques of the growth of the true-crime craze that has arisen with the popularity of podcasts, documentaries, and social media. Eliza Clark writes the unreliable narrator incredibly well, achieving a perfect balance between dark humour, horror, and contemporary critical literature. I cannot wait to see what else she publishes in the future.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
“When the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.”
This was pitched to me as ‘For Fans of Normal People’, and, as a fan of Normal People, I devoured this. Cleopatra and Frankenstein follows the story of Cleo, an English art intern in her 20s, and Frank, the owner of an advertising company in his 40s, who meet at a party in New York. They quickly fall for each other and, in a matter of months, get married just before Cleo’s visa runs out. It’s a ‘slice of life’ novel observing the next year of their lives and the tumultuous, harrowing breakdown of their marriage, as well as the people around them. It deals with some very heavy topics like depression, suicide, and a toxic relationship. But the thing that propels this book into my favourites list for the year is the writing. There are not enough sticky tabs in the world to annotate all the beautifully written sentences in this book, and I think about some of these quotes daily. Each character has a unique voice, and the lyrically simplistic writing style carries throughout the whole story. This book has become one of my favourites of all time, let alone 2023. I have already preordered her next book, Blue Sisters, coming out later this year.
I love these books with all my heart, and I can’t wait to discover some new favourite books in 2024 as well. It’s important to remember that it’s not about how many books you read, just that you’re reading things that you enjoy, and, hopefully, you’ll enjoy some of my top picks from last year!