My 30 Favorite Books of 2023
10 fiction, 10 non-fiction & 10 cookbooks for reading--& for giving :)
Happy Thanksgiving Week! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and around here we’re deep in menu-planning, list-making, grocery-ordering & greenmarket-visiting.
Several families in our neighborhood will be celebrating together, with a wider group joining for a morning turkey bowl and for dessert in the evening. I’m already looking forward to a stuffing-forward meal, stuffing being my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal…although last year my neighbor Tim brought a pumpkin tiramisu that did give the stuffing a run for its money.
One new addition to our Thanksgiving table: Henry’s brioche French toast. He attended two Friendsgivings this past weekend, and as you can imagine, I asked him about his plan no less than a dozen times—“soooo, what are you making? Could I, you know, help? This is kind of my area…” And every time, he told me that he was going to make French toast. He does make a very good French toast, and who am I to stand in the way of a teenager’s culinary vision?—and really, the more I thought about it, I began to see the genius: cinnamon and maple are decidedly autumnal flavors, and in my experience, most kids and teenagers aren’t wild about the traditional Thanksgiving menu and end up eating nothing but rolls and butter while they wait for pie…why not give them French toast?! I think this is the beginning of a new tradition, at least around our table…
Whatever traditions you’re making or keeping, wherever and however you’re gathering, I hope it’s a day of connection and deliciousness and memory-making—and I hope you save a little bit of stuffing to pan fry and top with a runny egg on Friday morning…that’s my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. :)
Okay, on to the main event: BOOKS. Yes, maybe it’s a little early to declare my favorites—what about all the December releases that could get neglected? But here’s my thinking: maybe you’re going away for Thanksgiving weekend & you need something great to read (we are, in fact, going upstate for part of the weekend, and we’re very much looking forward to some cozy reading time in front of the fire).
Or maybe you’re starting to turn your mind toward Christmas shopping, in which case may I suggest BOOKS? I love to give books as gifts, because to me they’re the perfect mix of useful and luxurious—you’re giving someone an experience, really, a couple hours or days or weeks of living in another world, seeing the world through other eyes, expanding the libraries in our brains page by page, story by story.
You have definitely seen some of these recommendations before…I went through all the books I read this year, including all the book recommendations I’ve made here and on socials, and lifted out from that list my top ten in each category, regardless of whether I’ve already mentioned it or not. It has been a very good year for fiction, especially—I found I had a really hard time narrowing down this first list…happy reading!
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