Unputdownable books of 2023
I’ve been meaning to do a newsletter with an exhaustive list of my favorite books for the year. Hope you pick one of these up in 2024.
You know that feeling of not wanting something to end—a movie, your last vacation, a phone call with an old friend… these are harbingers that you’re engaged and you’re in it. To me, as a someday author, I would imagine it’s probably the biggest compliment you can give an author—“I just didn’t want your story to end and when it did I was so sad!”
And trust me, I didn’t want any of the books on this list to end. When it did, I found myself turning to Google to learn more about the book and author. I realized it’s my way of keeping the story going. I need to know what the author looks like, what other books they wrote, and how the story came about. I check Instagram, watch their book tour interviews on YouTube, or follow them if they have Substacks.
So now that I’ve properly hyped up this list for you, I hope you’ll dive in with enthusiasm and fervor. (Quick note, the books on this list weren’t necessarily published in 2023. Second note, here’s a best memoir books I wrote last year.)
Memoirs from non-celebrities
You Could Make This Place Beautiful, by Maggie Smith
I heard about this book through my former writing teacher,
. Brooke suggested this book to me because Maggie covers the topic of divorce in an unexpected way. I was on the fence about including my divorce in my book, because I feared boring my future readers to death with an amicable, no-drama split.So Brooke suggested I read Maggie’s story to get a bit of inspiration. Despite being about divorce, a topic that never particularly felt all that interesting to me, the book felt lyrical and peaceful because Maggie is a poet.
“You Could Make This Place Beautiful” is the story of a married couple’s demise caused by infidelity. I liked how Maggie took liberties in breaking out of the traditional mold of memoir writing. I was taken aback in moments when she broke the fourth wall and addressed the reader directly as “Dear Reader”—something I had always thought was frowned upon in memoir writing.
After reading her story, I felt a renewed sense of creativity when crafting my own chapters.
I discovered
also has a Substack. Her publication is called For Dear Life with Maggie Smith.Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself, by Luke Russert
The name Tim Russert didn’t ring a bell but when I Googled him, I instantly knew who he was—a famous journalist who appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
His son, Luke Russert, was also a broadcast news correspondent for NBC. The memoir is written about the loss of his father.
I liked the double timeline structure of the story. Luke narrates two journeys—processing his grief and his adventures across six continents after feeling unfulfilled from his TV career.
The story is an inspirational take on grief. I’ve never lost anyone close to me, but I still felt a shared experience with the author’s desire to travel. I took off every month to travel for a year in 2017 and created a travel blog that I have since moved to Substack. Luke’s story resonated with me because when I traveled extensively, I too was in search of wanting to find more meaning in my life.
What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator, by Barbara Butcher
In an alternate universe, I would have pursued a career as a medical examiner. I’m fascinated by death and what happens to the body after you die. I got hooked on this topic after reading “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach.
If you’re into this stuff like I am, “What the Dead Know” gives an in-depth look at what happens to the human body postmortem, especially when they don’t peacefully go in their sleep. People are killed in car accidents, burned, or shot, to name a few, and Barbara investigates each person’s unique circumstance in how they died but also, how they lived.
Barbara recounts her time as a death investigator in Manhattan. She investigated more than 5,500 death scenes and 680 homicides. She was also there to pick up the pieces after 9/11.
Some parts felt so dark, and I wondered how the author didn’t have some form of PTSD, especially after 9/11. But overall, she does a great job of balancing it out with her own story, like battling alcoholism. And in case you were wondering, Butcher is her real last name.
Prison memoirs
Corrections in Ink, by Keri Blakinger
I wrote about this previously but loved this book so much that I’m including it again.
The memoir is about Keri, a rising ice-skating star-turned-drug-addict. How did a person practically on the road to the Olympics end up doing heroin, getting tangled up with prostitution, and serving time?
The author’s story fascinated and horrified me. It was a reminder that anyone can fall from grace. It made me think about my brother—he had two parents who loved and supported him from the day he was born, yet his choices set him on a path that landed him behind bars.
Keri’s story gave me hope. She’s a fighter and one helluva writer. She vowed to get clean and do better, and quite frankly, this book is the stuff that makes Netflix movies. (Shortly before she wrote it, she was on NPR’s Fresh Air, getting interviewed by Terry Gross.)
Keri now writes for The Marshall Project and The New Yorker. Her prison advocacy and investigative journalism work are impressive—I am such a fan. She reports about the inhumane conditions of our prisons, including the treatment of people on death row.
Ear Hustle, by Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor
Ear Hustle is prison jargon for eavesdropping. The book was inspired by the podcast, which recently aired its 100th episode. As a fan, I went to the live show in San Francisco earlier this month. It was the perfect way for me to culminate a year of listening to all 10 seasons.
It’s one of my favorite podcasts because its message is clear—we’re all just human and trying to live our best lives, even if we happen to be behind concrete walls and barbed wire fences.
Through the podcast, I listened to stories of drama, heartache, mistakes, and regrets. The show reminds me of how resilient people can be. Despite being incarcerated, people reveal how they’ve learned from their past and turned it into something more positive.
The book, co-written by both podcast hosts, gives readers the backstory of how the podcast got started. Nigel was a photography professor and volunteer at San Quentin State Prison. Earlonne was serving 31 years to life at San Quentin.
They started Ear Hustle because they were drawn to storytelling and wanted people to better understand what day-to-day life in San Quentin was like. They entered the podcast in Radiotopia’s contest (with over 1,000 other podcast hopefuls) and won.
(If you’re interested in this stuff, I recently wrote a Behind the bars prison roundup of what I’m reading, watching, and listening to. If you enjoy podcasts about prison, check out this story I wrote.)
Celebrity memoirs
I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy
What a title. This is an unflinching memoir written by a former child star who was emotionally and psychologically abused by her mom.
Jennette McCurdy was best known for her roles in Nickelodeon shows like “iCarly” and “Sam & Cat.” These shows were foreign to me, as I was way too old to even know what they were about, but they were big shows for the network.
I had also never heard of Jeannette before but was immediately hooked on her story of child stardom and being pushed into an industry by a mom who wanted to fulfill her own fantasy of making it in Hollywood. It felt… gross.
At the heart of the story is Jeannette’s controlling and manipulative mom, who also struggled with breast cancer when Jeannette was growing up. The cancer was an added layer of intense guilt for Jeannette, who wanted nothing more than to please her mom. Here’s another layer of complexity—Jeannette and her mom struggled with eating disorders.
The story made me feel for Jeannette and other people who go through abuse from a parent. No spoilers here, but I loved the ending.
Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain, by Andrew McCarthy
The Camino de Santiago—what an experience, amirite? I almost did it, but backed out at the last minute. You need about a month and a half to do it, and I didn’t have the time. It’s on my bucket list though.
So when I saw this memoir, I was like hell yes. Plus, back in the day, I was such a big Andrew McCarthy fan. I must’ve watched “St. Elmo’s Fire” at least 100 times. It’s an ‘80s classic if you haven’t seen it.
Reading Andrew’s story gave me insight into what it was like to walk 500 miles (with your 19-year-old son whom you often feel out of touch with), beyond just blisters and climbing hills.
Andrew admitted to not understanding his son as well as he would like, but throughout the story, I felt his fatherly love. He’s a cool dad—he didn’t care that Sam smoked cigarettes from time to time and drank a little too much wine with other hikers at the hostels (called albergues) along the way.
I listened to the audio version and realized Andrew’s voice kind of sounded like David Sedaris. Sam also jumped in from time to time to narrate his parts.
Walking the Camino changes you forever—you don’t have to experience it to know that. I felt like I experienced positive growth and changes in both father and son. Who knew that walking could do so much?
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, by Matthew Perry
I wasn’t particularly a big fan of Matthew Perry, but heard the positive reviews for his memoir. I regret not reading the book right when it came out because I would have loved to see him live on stage during his book tour. By the time I checked the schedule, it was all sold out.
I was so moved by Matthew’s courage to tell his story of addiction. The days he spent trying to get his hands on prescription pills were mind-boggling.
At one point, he was taking up to 55 pills a day. Learning about how he became a logistical expert and networker extraordinaire was fascinating. His days of getting a prescription from a doctor were over a long time ago, so he’d find ways to get prescriptions from his network of high-powered friends or just get the pills from a drug dealer.
He’d constantly be on his phone, waiting to hear back from someone about where to go so he could rush from the set of “Friends” to score. Out of the “Friends” crew, he said Jennifer Aniston was particularly disgusted by his drug use. She tried to knock some sense into him over the years, asking him to seek treatment, but he admitted he wasn’t ready to get sober.
Matthew had battled his addiction for so long, he could watch any rerun from “Friends” and instantly tell what he was addicted to at the time. If he looked bloated and overweight, he was a raging alcoholic. If Chandler’s button-down shirts looked too baggy, he was popping pills.
I never realized how isolating addiction can be. Matthew admitted to feeling lonely and displaced. An addiction that severe makes it impossible to be close with or have a relationship with a woman.
His story was raw and I felt his vulnerability and frustration at wanting to get sober. He spent millions on going to rehab. His final achievement of getting clean before he died was truly a triumph.
RIP Matty.
Pageboy, by Elliot Page
Elliot Page (formerly known as Ellen Page) decided to change his name to Elliot because his favorite movie as a kid was “E.T.”
When I thought of Elliot, I always pictured the adorable freckle-faced teen on “Juno.” I heard he transitioned, so I was curious. The story is about gender identity and his journey to becoming a man, but it’s also about love and self-acceptance.
I was surprised to learn Elliot disliked the Hollywood scene. He struggled with being in the public eye and was horrified the day a celebrity magazine questioned his sexuality—Is Ellen Page a lesbian?
The actor opened up about his darkest days of never feeling right in his own skin and battling an eating disorder. Some parts were hard to get through, like the time he was almost beaten up in front of a convenience store in West Hollywood by a man who followed him from the sidewalk and called him a “faggot.”
Ultimately, his story shed light on self-discovery and a desire for a more inclusive world.
A Heart That Works, by Rob Delaney
Remember the TV series “Catastrophe” on Amazon? I was obsessed with it. I thought Rob Delaney was hilarious.
I was delighted when I saw he wrote a book but was disheartened that it was about the death of his two-year-old son. Henry died from brain cancer.
Through the book, I learned that grief is complicated, weird, and unique to each person. The writing was beautiful and at times, LOL funny. Reading this book made my heart want to burst wide open.
It’s a short read (way too short IMO), at 196 pages. I really wanted this story to keep going. He and his wife had another baby (they have four sons!), so maybe he’ll write a second memoir. Fingers crossed.
Fiction
Take My Hand, by Dolen-Perkins Valdez
I’m trying to read more fiction, but only made it through two fiction books this year.
I was blown away by this book, historical fiction, and bestseller, “Take My Hand.” The story took place in the 1970s about a black nurse in post-segregation Alabama.
Inspired by the true story of Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf, who were 12 and 14, were surgically sterilized without their knowledge. The Relf sisters were mentally disabled children. (Here’s a link to OprahDaily.com if you want to learn more.)
The story jumps around in time and focuses on Civil Townsend, a Black nurse who is an advocate and idealist. She works at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, where most of the nurses are also Black even though the organization is run by a white woman. The clinic mostly served poor and marginalized communities that were mostly Black and Latino.
Back then, these types of clinics made house calls, giving birth control shots like Depo-Provera to female household members. Many families feared that if they didn’t agree to the shots, their welfare or state-issued funds wouldn’t be released.
The writing and dialogue were phenomenal, plus the audiobook narrator was the best I had ever heard. (Quick sidenote—I’m picky about audiobook narrators and was glad it wasn’t narrated by Julia Whalen. She dominates the New York Times bestseller list and for a while there, it felt like she was narrating everything, so it was so great to listen to someone who sounded completely different. The narrator for “Take My Hand” was one of the best voice actors/narrators I’ve ever heard. Her name is Lauren J. Daggett.)
With the rich writing, dialogue, and amazing narration, it was like watching a Scorsese movie. I downloaded the book just before a 1,000-mile road trip and finished the entire 11 hours in two days.
Even if you’re not particularly into fiction, you need to put this one on your list.
Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld
Ever wonder what would’ve happened if you never married your husband or wife or had kids? What if you followed your passion to travel the world, join the Peace Corps, or become a CEO?
In “Rodham,” Curtis Sittenfeld writes about what might’ve happened if Hillary Clinton never married Bill. In real life, Bill asked Hillary to marry him several times. In an interview I heard with the author (who is a woman, by the way), she said the story was her take on what if Hillary said no.
The story follows Hillary’s prestigious rise as a senator and then-presidential hopeful. She and Bill were college sweethearts at Yale Law School, but after a whirlwind romance, Bill cheated and Hillary called it quits.
Rather than going down the road of wife, mother, and caretaker, Hillary goes on to become a successful lawyer and prominent political figure, while Bill becomes a Silicon Valley investor and multi-millionaire who lives in San Francisco.
Just like “Take My Hand,” the dialogue in “Rodham” is smart and witty, yet still somehow realistic. There’s also a handful of hilarious scenes with Donald Trump. Even if you’re not political at all, the story is a wildly entertaining read.
What were your favorite books this year and what’s on your list for 2024?