march: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13

so much reading this month - a two week spring break helped!  and 3 of these were audiobooks...

the waters, by bonnie jo campbell (this was a read with jenna book club recommendation that i liked, but didn't love.  it's set in a marshy area of michigan and follows three generations of strong and wild women.  it's poignant and thoughtful, but not one that i'll be rushing out to recommend.)

good material, by dolly alderton (this was another read with jenna recommendation - the story of a break up told through the eyes of the man who has been broken up with.  i don't think we get that story often - break up stories are almost always ones about women struggling with a relationship ending.  this was funny and had some depth to it, and i think anyone who has been broken up with will find things to grab onto here.  a great beach read!)

fourth wing, by rebecca yarros (okay guys, i have been sucked in to the romance and dragons series.  i read this at a breakneck pace and am on the list at the library for the second book.)

rough sleepers, by tracy kidder (listened to this audiobook and then got to hear the author speak in pittsburgh last week.  this is the incredibly well written narrative nonfiction story of dr. jim o'connell and boston's healthcare for the homeless program. kidder is an amazing writer and this story is so poignant.  tough to read at points, but so so important.  highly recommend!)

invisible women, by caroline criado perez (another audiobook - this is about data bias and how it impacts women.  SUCH important and interesting information, and this book compiles a ton of it to make a really scary case for how women are being ignored in things from car safety to transportation policy to drug trials.  highly recommend, though it was a bit of a slog at points - the author is incredibly thorough with the information she's sharing and sometimes i was like, "i get it, can we move on?")

interesting facts about space, by emily austin (another light read that's intriguing and charming and would be perfect for binge reading while on a trip.)

the wager, by david grann (arron and i listened to this audiobook over one weekend - this is by the author of killers of the flower moon, so i expected to find it compelling and was not wrong.  it's the true story of an around-the-world voyage in the 1840s, a shipwreck and a mutiny.  definitely recommend it!  great audiobook narrator, too.)

february: 4, 5 & 6

this month's reading:

how high we go in the dark, by sequoia nagamatsu (often, i really love stories with separate plot lines that all come together at the end.  this book had some plot lines that i found really compelling - the theme park for terminally ill kids, the pig who learns to speak - there were SO many plot lines that i couldn't keep track of them all and i'm honestly not sure how many of them came together in the end.  i didn't dislike this book at all, but i don't think it will stick with me.)

the best minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions, by jonathan rosen (i listened to the audiobook of this and found it SO compelling.  the premise - what you'll read on amazon or the back cover - is that this book is the memoir of a friendship between the author and his friend, michael, who has schizophrenia and who murders his pregnant girlfriend.  and that does happen, in real life and in the book, but the first 75% of the book is the story of their friendship and the onset and treatment of michael's mental illness.  this book doesn't turn the event into a tabloid article, and by the time the event happens, you feel such sadness and compassion for all people involved.  i'd highly recommend this - it was one of the new york times' 10 best books of the year, and i'm so glad it was because that's how it got on my list.)

tom lake, by ann patchett (i also listened to this, mostly because it is narrated by meryl streep!  i don't listen to much fiction, but maybe i should - i really enjoyed listening to this in the car and on walks with emma.  i have some bones to pick about certain elements of the plot that seemed implausible or out of character for certain characters, but overall i enjoyed this book for what it is - a 50-something women telling her 3 grown daughters the story of the summer she worked as an actress at a place called tom lake.  my book club is reading it this month so i can't wait to debrief it with them in a few weeks.  i have so many things i want their take on!)

january: 1, 2 & 3

tomb sweeping, by alexandra chang (this was a book of the month club pick of short stories - i liked this book just fine but didn't love it and have already put it out in my free little library.  not one that i'm going to push on you!)

birnam wood, by eleanor catton (the author's previous book - the luminaries - was one that i couldn't get through...and i tried twice.  so i was nervous about this one, but it got such great press that i did pick it up and found it really digestible and interesting and absolutely worth reading.  it follows this weird hippie gardening collective as they begin to plant and harvest on a huge estate run by a billionaire eccentric whose motives are suspect.  it turns into a thriller, though it doesn't start that way, and i really enjoyed following the mysterious story.  i'd definitely recommend this one if that description sounds palatable!)

the courage to teach, by parker j. palmer (this is a book that i started this summer but finally finished - there is so much goodness in this book about the magic and the challenges of teaching.  i was super inspired, and pulled parts of this into a faculty meeting this fall.  it was published 20 years ago, but if you work in education and haven't read it, i would highly recommend!)

2023 in books

this year i read 39 books, pretty similar to my reading habits over the past few years.  13 of those books meet some sort of diversity standard (as in, the main character or author is not white).  and 29 of those books were from my public library.  i heart the library.

my favorite books of 2023:

beloved, by toni morrison 

i have some questions for you, by rebecca makkai

hellhound on his trail: the stalking of martin luther king jr. and the international hunt for his assassin, by hampton sides

demon copperhead, by barbara kingsolver

a fever in the heartland, by timothy egan

the boys in the boat, by daniel james brown 

the covenant of water, by abraham verghese

december: 35, 36, 37, 38 & 39

i read a ton in december!

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, by taylor jenkins reid (it felt like all of my friends read this book and pushed it into my hand.  i was definitely entertained by this book and i know it will make a great movie or limited series!  i had heard that there was a twist, and it took me by surprise, which was fun.  i'd recommend this as great vacation reading!)

the covenant of water, by abraham verghese (this loooooong (700+ page) book was so worth the read.  i'd loved his first book and so eagerly dived into this one - i saw the author speak in november and was only about 150 pages in at that point...then had to take a break to read evelyn hugo in time for a book club meeting discussing it.  this multigenerational story of christians living on the coast of india had a ton of characters that i came to care a great deal about.  i'd highly recommend this!)

again and again, by jonathan evison (this was a book of the month club pick that i would never have picked up but for BOTM club picking it.  the main character has lived many lives, including in moorish spain, as oscar wilde's cat, and in the present day as an old man in a nursing home.  this is the story of the love of his live(s) who he's trying to find again after losing her in spain several hundred years ago.  an interesting read that i very much enjoyed but didn't LOVE...though i did cry a few tears at the end of it, so i was clearly invested.)

an immense world, by ed yong (i listened to this audiobook over several months and really enjoyed it.  it was one of the new york times' best books of the year last year, and it definitely deserved that honor.  the chapters are organized by the different senses - from taste to sight to echolocation, with many others in between - and discusses how that sense is lived by different animals, including humans.  i learned a ton and found it very interesting and accessible.  highly recommend this!  very excited to see this author speak in pittsburgh in a few months.)

miracle creek, by angie kim (i'm not sure how this book made it onto my list, but it did and then came available from the library, so i read it in december.  the framework of this book is a courtroom drama over who is responsible for a fire in a hyperbaric chamber that leads to the death of two people.  i liked but didn't love this book and the end felt too drawn out, but i was definitely interested while reading and the author really built some interesting and sympathetic characters.)

november: 34

just finished one book this month and it was an audiobook and i think that tells you everything you need to know haha.  i did start reading two different books this month, both of which i finished in december, so expect to see a bigger month of reading then!

the boys in the boat, by daniel james brown (i am so late to the game on this one, but i LOVED it and am thrilled the film is coming out soon.  excellent narrative nonfiction that weaves together the story of one man, the crew team he was a part of, and the whole US olympic push in 1936.  at the same time we get snippets of the effort to put on the berlin games by hitler's administration.  i was so moved by this story and highly recommend it to you!)

october: 30, 31, 32 & 33

a fever in the heartland, by timothy egan (i loved a previous book of his - the worst hard time - about the dust bowl - it was amazing narrative nonfiction and this newest book did not disappoint.  it's about the rise of the KKK in indiana in the 1920s, an abusive klan leader, and a woman who (as the subtitle tells us) was able to stop the klan.  i listened to the audiobook of this, which the author reads well, and was fascinated by the characters and the portrayal of 1920s america.  highly recommend if you have an interest in american history.)

amazing grace adams, by fran littlewood (this was a read with jenna book club pick, and i really liked it - would be a great claire beach read.  a claire beach read is something that doesn't rot your brain but is relatively easy to get through, is entertaining, and moves quickly.  this is the story of a woman in her 40s who is trying to get a birthday cake to her somewhat-estranged daughter on the daughter's 16th birthday.  i laughed.  i was touched.  i recommend this!)

american sirens, by kevin hazzard ( this is another audiobook and is the book i'll be leading a book club on with faculty at school this year.  did you know that the first professional paramedic crew in the united states was all-black and in pittsburgh?  this nonfiction is absolutely worth a read, both to learn more about emergency medicine and to learn more about this fantastic story.  definitely recommend!  audiobook is well-narrated.)

one good turn, by kate atkinson (this is the second book in the jackson brodie mystery series, and i was into it.  will be reading the third!  this book is fast-moving and not terribly taxing on the brain, with likable and quirky main characters.)

september: 27, 28 & 29

the poet x, by elizabeth acevedo (written in verse, this YA novel definitely didn't have me as its target audience, but i really enjoyed reading it and can see why it won the printz and other awards.  would highly recommend to a teenage audience or to adults who like reading YA.  if YA isn't your thing, skip it.)

chain gang all-stars, by nana kwame adjei-brenyah (this is a "read with jenna" book club pick that started out hard to follow (for me) but i fell into the rhythms and the story line and am really glad i read this one.  i'd describe it as hunger games meets a commentary on the american prison-industrial complex.  i like many of the books that jenna bush hager recommends through her book club, but this one stopped me in my tracks: the daughter of the former republican president has elevated - perhaps even changed forever - the career of a black american author by featuring his debut novel in her book club.  and that debut novel is an overt critique of our prison system.  many people will read this book and learn and perhaps change their minds on this topic who never would have picked it up had she not told them to.  huge props to her for using her platform in such a way.)

the lover's dictionary, by david levithan (the new york times review of books recommended this in an instagram story a few months ago highlighting great short books.  i really liked this - the story of the building and crumbling of a relationship through dictionary entries.  i finished it in a day and a half and think it would be the PERFECT book to take on a plane ride.  recommend!)