My 10 Favourite Books of 2023

Saltburn, salmon and rizz. And THE GOLDEN MOLE LIVES

Well, well, well. I cannot believe that this time last year, this newsletter was but a twinkle in my eye. Now there are almost 33,000 of you and I’ve written 55 letters. I really didn’t expect this. (Which is, I’ve realised, key. Low expectations = joyful reward.) Thank you.

For the last dispatch of the year, I’ve done a round-up of my fave books I’ve read in 2023 and a typically broad church of reccs. Here we go!

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver My number 1 book of the year, by the Pulitzer prizewinning Kingsolver, this is a re-telling of David Copperfield, set in the 80s opioid crisis in rural Virginia, and a bildungsroman of sorts, featuring a plucky boy called Demon. A few people have told me that they found it tough going, but despite the subject material it positively skipped along for me, because Demon is the most smart, charming narrator. Read more of my thoughts on it here.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy My other joint number 1 read of 2023 is Irish writer Claire Kilroy’s first book in 10 years, about a woman’s violent and tender experience of early motherhood. The love, the loneliness, the fury; the disorientating and simultaneous sense of connection and disconnection. Read many more of my thoughts on it here.

Augustown by Kei Miller A compelling, poetic patchwork of stories about a fictional town in Jamaica called Augustown told through one single day - the day of the apocalyptic “attaclaps” (a Rastafri take on retributive doom) triggered by a teacher cutting off the dreads of a young boy called Kaia. Published in 2016, I read it this year as Bobby chose it for Book Chat - it’s honestly impossible to summarise this lush book, I really suggest listening to our chat.

Free Therapy by Rebecca Ivory A new collection of short stories by Irish writer Rebecca Ivory, which I waxed lyrical about in a recent edition of Book Thoughts. I adore short stories and I galloped through these, which reminded me of Saba Sams, Lorrie Moore and Abigail Ulman.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid Another pick by Bobby for Book Chat (this is why I love doing this podcast! We are back in January btw) published in 2007. A confronting, clever book about a young Pakistani man, Changez, who arrives in America a few years before 9/11 with grand ambitions, which he quickly exceeds, only to find even in success, it - and he - are far from free. Hamid cleverly utilises the unreliable narrator and melds the personal and the political with ease.

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan The second novel from the Acts of Desperation author, dealing with similar themes of class, sex, violence and love. A young child is suspected of an appalling crime on a council estate, and her immigrant Irish family are knowingly manipulated by a tabloid hack looking for his big scoop. Read more of my thoughts on it here.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue An absolute riot, from another Irish writer (high proportion of Irish writers on this list), about two best friends, Rachel and James, and their relationship with Rachel’s uni professor and his younger book editor wife. It’s tender and funny and weird, but so exquisitely and minutely observed, weaving in class, sexuality, abortion rights, literature and so much more. Read more of my thoughts on it here.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld An extremely fun novel from one of my favourite authors, best known for Prep, Rodham and American Wife. It’s a markedly different beast to her previous fare - and deliberately so. Inspired by Sittenfeld’s love of SNL, Romantic Comedy is about Sally, a cynical writer on a Saturday night comedy show, who falls for an popstar who guests on the show. If you’re looking for something escapist and uplifting, this one is for you. Read more of my thoughts on it here.

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel A recommendation from The Hyphen’s Emma Gannon, I absolutely loved this book translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey, about two close friends in Mexico and their experiences of motherhood, friendship and community. It’s unbelievably profound - subtly exploring the different experiences of motherhood: like, do you need to be a parent to mother a child? What if your child was not the child you thought it would be? Do we always revert to children when we are with our own mothers? I’m still in awe of this book. Read my Book Thoughts on it here.

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan I had previously avoided Egan’s cult 2010 novel, having head the timeline was as chaotic as Cloud Atlas, but when Bobby picked it for Book Chat, I kicked myself for being so dumb. The timeline does jump around a lot and it reads more like a series of short stories than a novel, but it’s not remotely different to follow imho. The characters are so well rendered and the payoffs, plural, are satisfying and frequently, masterfully, shocking. Minus one experimental chapter (which we discuss) it weaves together beautifully. I’m now really enjoying making my way through Egan’s canon.

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BITS podcasts, movies, journalism and animals, always animals

THE GOLDEN MOLE IS BACK! As regular readers of this newsletter will know, I am besotted with Katherine Rundell’s book The Golden Mole and so I am very happy that this tiny mammal has been spotted in South Africa for the first time since 1937. It’s doubling charming for me because it’s my nickname for my baby boy.

so snouty

Speaking of animals - I am tempted to start an entire segment of this newsletter dedicated to animal news - I found out last week that pigs trotters are also known as pettitoes. Can also be applied to the toes of small children, apparently. So from hereon my offspring do not have toes, they have pettitoes.

Keeping on theme, one of my best friends cast the latest instalment of Chicken Run: Dawn of The Nugget which has just dropped on Netflix and it’s a solid gold option for the post (or pre?) Christmas slump. Even if I did once think that she was casting the plasticine models - picking them off a tiny conveyor belt - and not the, um, voices.

I have a lot of time for The OED’s words of the year and this year’s winner rizz - a neologism rooted in Black American culture meaning charming/ charismatic/ attractive - positively effervesces off the tongue. That said, my vote would’ve been for the runner up, beige flag. Thoughts?

Better than any word of any year is this limited edition beetroot and orange salmon from Sainsbury’s which I cannot stop eating/ thinking about. Absolutely gutted that it’s ltd ed. Can anyone tell me why after hating it for 36 years I now crave beetroot so hard? (No, not pregnant.)

I got my mitts on a screener of the impressively divisive Saltburn and it is a riot. The cuckoo in the nest is a tale as old as time, (props to The New Yorker for dubbing it “Brideshead for the incel age”) and the pacing was nutty (90% of the action happens in the last 10 minutes), but Rosamund Pike is hilarious and Jacob Elordi is extremely convincing as an early noughties posh boy. I’m not sure I will - or can - ever forget that bathwater scene. (IYKYK.)

I came to this instalment of Modern Love The Devastation of Disinheritance via The Audacity and felt the author’s grief like an anvil in my heart.

“I replied [to my father] that I was moved by his poetry but also hurt that only his oldest son had ever seemed to matter to him. My father wrote back, explaining that his life had felt simple, nearly perfect, when he was in medical school with only my mother and one baby boy. My mother had wanted children more than anything. He had not.”

Fellow pen nerds, I bought a packet of Sakura fineliners and they are goooood.

A podcast for High Low fans! The Rest is Entertainment (sibling to The Rest is Politics/ History/ Football) is hosted by storied and lol Guardian journalist Marina Hyde and eye-poppingly successful author, Richard Osman and covers movies, TV, books and sleb goss. It’s erudite and lively - a smart edition to the Goalhanger stable.

Speaking of podcasts, Daisy Buchanan scores a rare audio interview with Jilly Cooper (now 86) for her podcast, You’re Booked, and it’s very feelgood vibes, right from the moment she asks Daisy, “are you married at the moment?” Can’t get enough of the ‘at the moment’.

Please do share Camille Charriere’s raw and tender piece for Vogue about the agony of IVF in real time with anyone who has not had “their happy ending”.

“Nothing has been quite as confusing as trying to give up stress. Stress will hurt your chances of a viable embryo. Trying not to stress is so stressful.”

Also serves as a useful primer for what not to say to someone navigating fertility treatment.

I’ve been absolutely gripped by Constance Ford’s serialised memoir, Evangelical Therapy publishing in newsletter instalments. It starts in the 1980s, when Ford - who has been raised and married in The Nazarene church and is now in an abusive relationship, raising 3 young children - is told by a doctor that her physical illness is, in fact, psychological. Cue the arrival of a therapist - and hopefully the reader imagines, an emancipation. I’m excited for the next instalment.

Ending on Paul Rudd and Jimmy Fallon’s daft ditty about an even dafter hat, Teenie Weenie Beanie, which has been stuck in my head for a solid week. (I want to write something on earworms, incidentally - they are the bane of my life.)

A very Merry Christmas to you all 🎅🤶🦌🌟🎄🎁 And to those for whom this time of year is the absolute worst, I am sending you love, strength and an abundance of cheesy movies.

Books+Bits mainline will be back on the 9th Jan. (Paid subs you’ll have one more edition on Friday.) Thank you for making my first year here so sweet. See you in 2024!