I know we’re all swimming in end of year book lists, but I’m afraid I couldn’t resist. As with last year, I’m not going to even attempt to list my top 10/20/100 because it would make me cry. Instead I’m going to do some Recommending Books For Mood Readers.
Are you a mood reader? I am. I will browse books, all of which I want to read, searching for the one that matches my brain in that moment. I’ll go through fads of reading everything in a very narrow subgenre I can get my hands on, then move on to another wildly different genre because the wind changed. So if you’re like me, or are buying for someone like me, grab a cup of tea, your present list and/or pocket money, and join me. Maybe this post will add to your tbr…
Looking at the books I’ve loved this year, 2023 has apparently been all about darker fiction and fantasy, but of my gazillion favs of the year, I’ve narrowed it down to a measly 20-something. There are a solid 30+ more books I loved enough to shout about this year, but there’s only so much time I can justify spending making canva graphics, so, are you ready? Let’s begin…
Feeling some fury at (*waves hands desperately*) the world but also maybe wanting a little hope?
River Spirit - Leila Aboulela. Sudanese history, female agency & colonialism all come together in this entrancing story of a young orphan and the people who intersect with her life.
Thirsty Animals - Rachelle Atalla. Bleak, beautiful, potent dystopia set on a Scottish border closed to stem the flow of English migrants fleeing the droughts. A captivating mother-daughter relationship and a quietly hopeful ending.
The Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler. This was a re-read and worth every moment. One of the defining voices in dystopia, laying the foundations of the entire genre of climate fiction. Ironically, the book is set in 2024 and elements of it are definitely no longer fictional.
These Lifeless Things - Premee Mohamed. More fantastical than the other three, but this novella contains a moving message about witnessing events happen, and the shape of truth in the aftermath. With dual timelines and beautiful storytelling, and a scholar digging through the ruins, what’s not to love.
Wanting to dive into the past & be swept away?
Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu. An epic exploration of Japan’s invasion of China and the ripples of that violence through the generations. Quietly and absolutely devastating.
Dark Tides - Philippa Gregory. This is the last in the Tidelands trilogy & I highly recommend all three. An author hypnotises you with her world building, I loved returning to these characters and following them through the quays of London and America. Profoundly feminist and thoughtful, and full of beauty.
The Vanished Days - Susanna Kearsley. I adore Kearsley’s skill at making the past tangible, bringing to brilliant life all tumultuous politics of Scotland in the aftermath of the Darian Expedition failure and the signing of the Union. This story is a captivating mystery, a beautiful romance and has the perfect plot reveal that made me go straight back to the start to search out all the clues I’d half-missed.
Inanna - Emily H. Wilson. Going waaaay back now to the first Sumerian myth retelling I’ve read (are there others? If so I doubt they could beat Wilson’s sheer expertise). I loved the way Wilson both made her gods deeply human, and retained a storytelling voice that felt incredibly true to the original myths.
How about some WEIRD and BEAUTIFUL, idc-just-amaze-me-please books?
Venomous Lumpsucker - Ned Beauman. I don’t usually love satire that much but this book does it so cleverly I couldn’t resist! It’s a twist on the all-round disaster that is carbon credits, but applying it to species instead of emission. Extinction credits. Yup. Too painfully believable to be comforting, but the story following a researcher, a corporate stooge and a strange and ugly fish is a rush!
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr. Another book spanning centuries and leaping far into the future, this is a story about the power of stories, so how could anyone not love it? Searingly hopeful and haunting, I just love this man’s brain.
The Ten Percent Thief - Lavanya Lakshmirayan. Set in a future Bangalore where societies are divided into percentiles by performance, this glittering, multi-faceted story is a captivating, fiercely original take on social dystopias and brewing rebellion.
Poster Girl - Veronica Roth. Not as experimental as the other three, but I truly admire how Roth repeatedly looks at familiar narratives and asks ‘But what then?’. In this one she explores what happens to the face of a revolution when that revolution becomes first monstrous and then dead. Fascinating and compelling all in one.
How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu. This tangled weaving of a story ranges from a high Arctic research camp to spaceships and the landscapes of the mind. It’s a beautiful, thought-provoking exploration of our relationships with the planet and our neighbours.
Okay, we all need the occasional shadowy and toothsome tale for dark nights, right?
Now She Is Witch - Kirsty Logan. Another absolutely delicious tale from Logan, following two women whose only paths to safety and empowerment lie in witchcraft and the power of their own flesh. This story is fantastically twisty and fiercely alive.
Our Missing Hearts - Celeste Ng. Not a gothic or dark fantasy like the others here, this is a societal dystopian set in a recognisably near-future US. But I added it here as it’s one of my fav books of the year and so goddamn sad that I didn’t know where else to put it! Read it, cry, be afraid for very different reasons than witches and monsters.
The Whispering Muse - Laura Purcell. Purcell is one of my auto-buy authors, so I dove straight into this not long after it was released and it did not disappoint. Immersed in the sumptuous gothic horror of a theatre, filled with urgency, deception and a thirst for blood, this is historic fiction with a dark and delicious twist.
The Path Of Thorns - A. G. Slatter. This book pretty much cemented Slatter in my auto-buy list too. A tangled and entrancing mystery, set in the perfect eerie house, I absolutely adored this story of the many way women are trapped by society, and the few ways they can fight back.
The Seawomen - Chloe Timms. This book is just marvellous. On a not-quite-familiar remote island, this book explores female agency, the tight grip of fear, and the complicated burdens of motherhood and childlessness, all in achingly beautiful prose.
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Especially ones that come sprinkled with magic.
Spice Road - Maya Ibrahim. A second world fantasy steeped in Arab culture YES PLEASE. This is a wonderful, immersive story of a girl poised to have everything risk it all to discover the secrets her missing brother took with him into the desert.
A Study In Drowning - Ava Reid. This is a twist on the haunted house and girl in love with fairystories ideas, full of atmosphere and with two young scholars in a race against time (and each other) to uncover the mystery behind both house and story before it’s too late.
The Grief Nurse - Angie Spoto. A murder mystery with a dash of gothic darkness and golden age gilding, this is a fantastic story of the weight of grief and what happens when we refuse to carry it.
Spells For Forgetting - Adrienne Young. A contemporary mystery set on an island that’s just a little bit otherworldly, this is a brilliant story of old secrets, too-close communities and romance.
And after all that, I think we need some PURE ADVENTURE FUN books that will add nothing but joy. (maybe not nothing, there may also be tears & fears, I take no responsibility).
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia Of Fairies - Heather Fawcett. Oh this book was a joy form start to finish & I cannot wait for the next instalment. A grumpy researcher and the over-privileged rival who might not be quite as intolerable as he seemed, secretive locals and brilliantly quirky fae, there’s nothing about this book that didn’t charm me half to death.
Threads That Bind - Kika Hatzopoulou. I adored this tidal city and the fresh and entrancing take on the idea of Fates and sisterhood. Romantic, dramatic and full of clever details, I enjoyed every second of this book.
The Hanging City - Charlie N. Holmberg. Homberg never fails to come up with worlds that feel both familiar and deeply original all in one, which takes impressive skill. This is no exception, the story of a human in a city of trolls, of prejudice and the long shadow of the past, told through a riveting, rollicking enthralling story.
Godkiller - Hannah Kaner. I am a sucker for lost and slightly fey children, so I fell in love with Inara and her small god, Skedi. Full of women who are powerful in more ways than just ‘can she fight like a bloke’, queernormativity, demons and war, this was A Ride.
Fair Rosaline - Natasha Solomon. This is a wonderful retelling of the most famous story ever told, exploring the absolutely NOT ROMANTIC DAMMIT SHE WAS THIRTEEN shadowy truths to the play and giving the elusive Rosaline a powerful, important voice speaking up for girls reduced to trophies and silent wives.
This is just a sprinkling of the books I’ve loved this year, but I’ll leave by shouting about a couple of 2024 books that I’ve been lucky enough to read in advance, and (less shoutily) my own two books coming next year.
The City of Stardust - Georgia Summers. This is a captivating, enthralling story of family, magic, the lure of doorways and the terrible cost of promises broken.
The Principle Of Moments - Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson. I adored this shimmering time-bending space opera that tears down narratives of colonial and fate, and builds up something beautiful and tender in its place.
…. and you all know about my two 2024 releases by now if you’ve been reading my blogs…
The Last To Drown. A novella full of Icelandic ghosts, the lure of the sea, and the dangers hiding within our broken hearts. Please add it to your Goodreads here
We Are All Ghosts In The Forest. In a world haunted by the ghosts of a broken internet, a hedgewitch running from her memories must protect a silent boy from the brewing storms. More news soooooon.
Happy shopping! Wishing you many book tokens for Christmas and all the gorgeous stories your heart desires, whatever mood you’re in!
Let me know your top recommendations this year.