My top 10 reads for 2023
It’s the end of 2023 and I read 32/30 books this year. It’s raining fire works here at the mo, it’s 00:29 on January 1st 2024 as I am writing this to you. I have read few books that I’ve felt is an absolute bangers and I’ve picked 10 of them that I think stood out for me.
Book 1, 2, 3 : Wildwood Chronicles
Author : Colin Meloy, Carson Ellis (Illustrations)
#1 Wildwood
It’s a trilogy and I love all of them! Our main girl character is Prue, Prue McKeel who is aged 9 years old was pedaling together with her baby brother Mac who was in tow. Till when the murder of crows took her brother away, crossed the river, passing the Industrial Waste and into the Impassible Wilderness; Prue’s ordinary adventures turn wild! Impassible Wilderness was always been a forbidden place for Prue and his brother; their parents never told her why they warned her not to go.
I love how author weaved in an actual political drama that’s happening around the world into the story, the complication, the chracters building as well as the world building. It’s gorgeous. It has a dash of The Chronicles of Narnia throughout the book. If you love Narnia, you’re going to love this book.
It’s indeed children’s book;and there’s whimsical scene illustration that was really beautiful too!
I’ve written a full booknotes of this book last year January.
Book 4 : Before Your Memory Fades
Author : Toshikazu Kawaguchi
It’s a Japanese translated series and it’s a slow burn for me!
I fell in love with the idea of travel in time and there’s an actual magic in a real world that we are living in. I found these series in 2022 and I even re-read the first two in the series! When I finished Before Coffee Gets Cold, I hopped on to the second book Tales from the Café . I was addicted to the time travelling, I straight away bought the sequel Before Your Memory Fades. In each of the book, there’s relationship map of characters to help you connect all of the characters that’re mentioned in this story. I find it fascinating to see how Toshikazu structure the connection between characters that they’re somehow, somewhat had cross path or knew each other.
Each of the series have similar scene, there will always be someone who comes to the cafe and wants to travel back in time to meet their loved-ones. You might find it repetitive but to me, each story highlighted a different life lesson from different relationships. It’s definitely full of emotions and these stories make you think of how you treasure your lovers, family and the current life you’re in either to learn from the past or to hope for better future.
Book 5 : Sweet Bean Paste
Author : Durian Sukegawa
Another Japanese translated book. This fiction book sets in a real world and is about beautiful friendship between two generations who respectively had a troubled past. Sentaro who was an ex-criminal works in dorayaki shop met an elderly woman, Tokue who were gifted in making sweet bean paste despite her physical inability. It’s cruel social stigma where people are judged by their past and their physical looks. This book broke me, made me questions everything of how “society” shapes our mind and treats people unequally especially to those who don’t speak like them, who don’t do the same thing like them and even don’t look the same like them.
Petite but deep reflective story; there’s so many angle to explore from this book which I might spend longer time to write my analysis later on!
Book 6 : Convenience Store Woman
Author : Sayaka Murata
I continued to let Japanese writer broke me inside and rebuild the way I perceive and process the world around me. This book is beautiful and it’s set in our real world. I think all millenial woman (or woman of any age!) should at least read this book once. Our main girl, Keiko who was never fit in neither in her family nor in the society, was deliciously self-aware and was at peace with herself. There’s a tint of magical realism in some of the plot and I find it adorable, as this story has an illusion of what society calls normal and what’s considered as successful life or not.
Petite and deep reflective story, and I might pile this book for a longer booknotes later.
Book 7 : Remarkably Bright Creatures
Author : Shelby Van Pelt
First, I got to say, this book cover is gorgeous and colorful! It promises all the fun adventure and makes you impatiently to meet our main male character, Marcellus the giant octopus who live in an aquarium.
It’s a fiction book sets in our real world with a tint of magical and whimsical feel, as our human character, Tova who build a friendship with this creature. This book is not written from a human point of view, but from an octopus point of view! I’m telling you, it hits you differently. If you love animals or simply just love marine lives, experience how this animal helps human to heal from a life’s tragedy; here’s one book that can bring you comfort and happiness, you can’t put it down!
The storyline is somewhat easy and predictable but it’s still fun to see how Marcellus helps Tova to solve mystery of her missing son.
Book 8 : The Boy and the Dog
Author : Seishū Hase
Slow building and slow burn! It’s a Japanese translated book, fiction and sets in a real world. It’s about a German sheperd/ Japanese breed mix (I think!) dog who appeared in few people’s lives in several locations in Japan. He survived a tsunami and earthquake before causing his displacement. He was loved by all the people he met because of his obvious intelligence, his obedience and empathy towards them. It’s a beautiful story of how he travels to look for his original owner whilst making impact to various temporary owners who loved him so much. It’s a book that will get you overflowing with emotion as you twirl the pages towards the end.
Book 9 : In the Lives of Puppets
Author : T.J. Klune
If there’s an author who I would pick up any book they write without knowing what’s it about or how’s the rating, after JK Rowling’s era, *drumroll* the other author would be TJ Klune.
I first read The House in the Cerulean Sea in 2021 and I fell in love with the way Klune writes and tells story. I’ve read Under the Whispering Door in 2022 and I love it too!
I love how he made peculiar characters in his book feels belong in every world he created. This book sets in a fantasy world, there’s a tinge of sci-fi meets magical realism; it’s definitely an intelligent world building! A father, Giovanni build a house in a peculiar forests that is on the branches of trees. Meet our soon to be the main character, a little boy who was raised by Giovanni. This story is a father-son relationship and their adventure as the boy discover his father’s dark past. This book is also about friendship and forgiveness of a dark past.
My favourite are two robots, the sarcastic nurse machine, Nurse Ratched and the vaccuum cleaner, Rambo! Ratched is so mean but at the same time loving and protective whilst Rambo is a people pleaser, funny in his way and would do anything just to be loved! I had to stop reading just to calm myself from a hard laugh from these two
It’s deep reflective story of how human are destroyed by their own creation metaphorically speaking, isn’t that is what is currently happening?
It’s well crafted and it’s brilliant. I’m making my life mission to read every book he ever written and will be writing next!
Book 10 : The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Author : Alix E. Harrow
It’s a multiverse historical fiction and it had sucked me in through out the book! A hint, it’s a door of other kinds and January is the name of our main character girl, who yearned to be loved for who she is. She was raised by Mr. Locke who both love her so much and also fear for her future. She never understood why she was strangely protected in the house and was never felt like she fit in the world she’s living in (she has a colored skin). This book tells a story of her adventure in finding a book titled “The Ten Thousand Doors” who documented a life of a woman called Adelaide. The whole book is about how January unveil the mystery, overcame her loneliness and find out who she really is.
Alix has got it all on lock, capturing the beauty of past century, the furniture, the decoration, the culture of era and even the emotions ~ it almost felt like I was there with January!
Happy New Year friends! What’s your favourite books in 2023?
