What I've Read So Far in 2023

I have not read as much as I usually would have by this time of year. Though I am actively trying not to turn it into a competition with my younger self, the part of me that still struggles with perfectionism and comparison faults my present self for not staying on top of it. When I look at ‘booktubers’ (whose jobs — I would remind myself — are precisely to read) reading 100 books by the middle of the year I can’t help but feel a tinge of irrational inadequacy.

In any case, since you are interested, here are the books I have read so far this year and a few notes on them:

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri J. Nouwen

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

• This was the last of Jane Austen’s 6 novels that I had left to read. Very different from her better known works such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, still thoroughly enjoyable. Perhaps the best Austen novel I’ve read from a technical and storytelling standpoint. Would love to get to her shorter published works — Love and Friendship, Sandition, Lady Susan etc, some time soon.

Searching for and Maintaining Pease: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart, Fr. Jaques Philippe

The Me You Love in the Dark, Skottie Young and Illustrated by Jorge Corona

Daisy Jones and the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Read this as the show was coming out. Previously read Malibu Rising also by Reid. Loved the story and characters but had problems with Reid’s writing style. Was hesitant to read this as it’s one of the internet’s beloved. Enjoyed it, although had the same critique with her other work, characters and plot are interesting, but for me the writing doesn't always do it justice.

Interior Freedom, Fr. Jaques Philippe

The Great Indoors, Emily Anthes

• Interesting analysis on how architecture and space affects our health. Worth reading. Would like to learn more about urban planning.

Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger

• I was afraid that I only liked J.D. Salinger because of Catcher in the Rye and was afraid since time had past since then (and I myself was no longer an angsty-existential teenager) I wouldn’t like his work as much. Franny and Zooey is the definition of “no plot, just vibes”. Loved it. I love work that focuses on characters and how much of their life and story can be told in just a snapshot of their existence. Franny and Zooey is a part of a larger collection of work surrounding the Glass family. Would love to finish reading the collection at some point. (If you do read this, prepare for how pretentious these characters are. However, having studied literature and sociology in university and endured (and participated) in similar conversations, I get it. It’s really how people talk sometimes. LOL.)

Nora Goes off Script, Annabel Monaghan

• (SPOILERS BUT) Look I love a good romantic comedy but you’re telling me these two people fell in love in two weeks, spent another one or two geographically in the same place, were long distance for a week or two, broke up for ten months then got engaged? I don’t know about that, man.

Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld

• In spite of the title I don’t think I would classify this specifically as a romantic comedy. I would say it was a pleasant read. I wouldn’t not recommend it if you’re looking for something easy to read.

Stories of a Bitter Country, Ninotchka Rosca

• Read Rosca’s State of War a while back. Loved it. It was a 1984-esque allegory for Martial Law in the Philippines. Stories of a Bitter Country collects some of Rosca’s short stories from her career. Didn’t love all of them but many of them haunting, challenging, though-provoking, as good writing should be.

Happy Place, Emily Henry

• Emily Henry gave me hope in the romantic comedy genre when I first read Beach Read a few years ago. Henry writes great characters and realistic rom-com plots. (Her characters have never fallen in love within two weeks. SEE ABOVE.) The romance in Happy Place to me was secondary. What I did enjoy was the dynamic within the group of late-20s friends and the challenges of growing up, growing apart and figuring life out with people that matter. Being in that stage of life myself, it’s nice to read stories of characters struggling and figuring out the same things I am.

Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger

• Salinger serves post World War Two disillusionment and loneliness. That is all.

I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

• Don’t get me started on this book. Seriously don’t. I started writing a full on essay on this book after I finished reading it. It lived rent-free in my mind for WEEKS. One day I will publish that essay. But for now, highly, highly, highly recommend. There is something so charming and intelligent about this novel. Please read it. I beg you.

A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler

• I’ve loved Anne Tyler’s work ever since I read The Clock Winder at eleven. (The Clock Winder was Tyler’s second novel and I believe one of her least commercially successful. Still one of my favourite books to this day.) I’ve read maybe four or five or her novels by now. Haven’t loved all of them, but thoroughly enjoyed A Spool of Blue Thread. Tyler has a way of writing complex characters and familial relationships.

Trust, Hernan Diaz

• I really enjoyed this. The concept is very unique. It’s split into four works that come together to tell the story of a fictional couple. Readers are left to think about which telling of the same events are the true story. I thought this would be the type of book to stay with me, but I honestly forgot that I already read this.

Po-On, F. Sionil Jose

• The first in F. Sionil Jose’s Rosales saga. Starts in pre-revolution Philippines and ends during the The Philippine-American War. Difficult to read knowing the history of the Philippines and the pains of colonisation. But definitely worth reading — questions of identity, national duty, the nation-state, family and religion within the Philippine context.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa

• Cozy Japanese lit read. Quirky characters, bookshop setting, just good people being good people.

The Grace of Waiting: Learning Patience and Embracing its Gifts, Margaret Whipp

Deadly Class Vol. 6, Rick Remender and illustrated by Wes Craig