My Book Recommendations of the Year, Part One

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The year end list - we made it, fam!

Did we make it running at a full sprint, hair fully on point, a sparkle in our eye and at our optimal cholesterol levels? Or perhaps we are limping toward the finish line, ready to throw that damn Elf out the window, wondering exactly what 2023 had against you and the US women’s national soccer team? Either way, my dear friends - we did make it. And if we get to talk about our favorite books, well, I feel pretty grateful to be here.

So, my year end list, a quick guide. Though you might reasonably expect it, this list is NOT:

• Only books that were published this year

• The best-written or most literary or most impressive books

• Books that are all over all the critical year-end lists, which you should check out

What this list is:

• The books I keep thinking about

• The books I find myself recommending regularly

I might encourage you all to make your own lists; this reflection was pretty, pretty interesting. Because …you guys, was this a lackluster reading year for you, too? I can’t say there were a bunch of books that absolutely blew me away. Most of the much lauded books barely made my honorable mentions. But these end-of-year twelve are all solid reads and recommendations that I stand by, so - list mission accomplished.

Read on for part one, as usual starting with our lesser lamby books (brush up on the Gentle Lamb Diagnostic Scale here.) And for 2024, I wish us all not a lackluster reading year, but a … haveluster one? A lustrous reading year? A beautiful, inspiring, satisfying reading year! Let the weary world rejoice!

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Power summary: In All the Sinners Bleed, Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in his rural Virginia town. When a popular high school teacher is shot by a former student and that student is shot by one of his deputies, Titus’s investigation of the shootings exposes much more than any suspected.

Sure, let’s start the list with an absolute ripper of a noir mystery. Brutal and violent and not for the faint of heart, but also maybe the best in the mystery game right now? Terrific characters, complicated situations, fresh takes on old themes. Read all his books.

Power summary: In Everybody Knows, high-powered publicist Mae Pruitt’s boss is killed in Beverly Hills in an apparently random carjacking, but she thinks there’s more to his murder than the official report. Investigating his death forces her to confront Hollywood’s - and society’s - appetite for power, youth, and positive spin, and what she’s done to feed the beast.

Dig in, babes, here’s another gut-wrenching thriller that does not end with a fairytale wedding, okay? But this was excellent. Dark, fast-paced, with the perfectly cynical eye of Los Angeles. If you like this genre, you must read this one.

Back in March, I described Jennette McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died as a sweat lodge, and nine months later I stand by it. Total emotional wringer. She reflects on her childhood acting career with a monstrously narcissistic mother who controlled Jennette so completely that there was no room left, for Jennette’s desires, personality, or even her body. It’s an absolutely devastating, intelligent, candid, profoundly vulnerable, darkly funny memoir and if you have the emotional fortitude, it will blow you away.

I defy you to find another year-end list featuring The Year of Magical Thinking, published in 2007! That’s what I’m here for, all the cutting edge titles.

Anyway, if you’re late to this party as I was, you won’t be sorry to read this spare, incisive, stunning memoir about a year wherein Didion’s husband and true life partner died unexpectedly, while her daughter was in the hospital. The complete lack of sentimentality or literary flourish means the masterful writing and crystalline grief are laid bare. A must-read for everyone who has loved someone, or something, or life itself. (Read a whole bunch more words here.)

I read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow on January 1, 2023, and I never once doubted that it would make this year-end list.

Power summary: Sam and Sadie meet as children and stay connected as college acquaintances, then friends, then creative partners on video game designs. Through the years, they confront love, loss, illness, success, genius, and what it means to leave and come back to someone, again and again.

This novel takes the “boy meets girl” trope and turns it every which way, with a gorgeous 90s nostalgia and a profound humanity. If you’ve skipped over this book in every airport bookstore and Audible list but still want something great to read - you’ve found it. (Confession: this is one of those “loved it or hated it” books - I loved it. Read many more words why here.)

For fans of The Nightingale, or Kate Atkinson - may I suggest The Whalebone Theater?

Power Summary: a compelling WW2 story of Cristabel Seagrave and her siblings who grow up in the shadow of dissolute stepparents and a crumbling English manor, but who as young adults are confronted with WW2 and choose to become British secret agents.

This isn’t a perfect debut but it’s imaginative, sweeping, hopeful and sad, the way the best WW2 stories are. I really enjoyed it. Another good capital N-novel.

Meetcha back here for part 2, the 3+ lambies, same time next week? kk. Love your faces.

And drop your book recommendations of the year in the comments! Sharing is caring!

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All links go to perennial fave The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs, which really knows what an online book shopper wants. If you are so inclined, I’d be grateful if you shared this newsletter with a friend. Book people are my favorite people.