23 Books
An encouragement to read
In 2022 I turned 57 so I set myself a reading challenge. Fifty-seven books for a fifty-seventh turn around the sun.
Here is how I did and the books I chose to read (The List).
Last year was a good1 reading year. Fifty-nine books; an eclectic mix.
How do you build on that?
Modestly, he says, possibly unambitiously … pick a number, any number. Let’s say 23 for 2023 … it has a ring to it, hashtag-ready if you will.
#23Books
But there was method in my madness. Trying to hit a target number last year - a big one compared to previous years - turned the number into a priority. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the reading (I really did) but everything else took a back seat, including my writing.
The plan, therefore, is to read fewer books in 2023 than I did in 2022, but to write a whole lot more.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go"
Dr. Seuss I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
#23Books - The List
(I have no idea what I will read before I reach onto the shelf so this list will be added to as the reading year unfolds)
Underworld (Don DeLillo) - At 827 pages, this is a majestic work, roaming through 20th-century America with a narrative born of scale and ambition. But it is in the details that it excels; characters brought to vivid life by masterful prose and dialogue. I picked it to start the year for two reasons. It has been sitting unread on my bookshelf for 25 years. It was about time. And it is long, very long; a statement length for a year of ‘fewer’ books.
How to Stop Time (Matt Haig) - The author is brimful of imagination and excellently assembled words. This is a beautifully conceived and executed novel that flicks to and fro, from present to past. A story of love and being present, an encouragement to enjoy THIS moment.
The Storyteller (Dave Grohl) - I'm not a big reader of memoirs but this rip-roaring tale of life on the road with Scream, Nirvana, and Foo Fighters might change my mind. Laced with reflections on life, grief, and love, it is a cracking bit of storytelling.
We (Yevgeny Zamyatin) - An excellent recommendation by
A dystopia vision of a future when humans are just numbers, when the State decides what ‘happy’ is and it shapes a system around it; it is a dark world where individuality is frowned upon.
The Son (Jo Nesbo) - I’m trying to read intentionally to improve my writing. I picked this for a re-read because it brilliantly weaves characters and plot. It twists our sensibilities by making us cheer on the ultra-violent revenge of the young ‘hero’.
Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) - Late to the party, I know, but this is gorgeous (I think, secretly, I have an aversion to books that everyone just has to read!). Richly descriptive, nature is the central protagonist, a beautiful backdrop to sharp-edged prejudice. Poetic and gentle, pacy and thrilling. Compelling.
Alice in Exile (Piers Paul Read) - A new genre for me; elegantly crafted historical romance. The story of a bright independent-minded woman escaping socially-constricted England for pre-WW1 Russia. A tale of love and life, full of believable characters.
Bird by Bird ( Anne Lamott)- I write for the love of it. For the flow of the words and the joy of storytelling. Most books about writing want to train me and tell me how a writer writes. This is a gem. A book that celebrates the craft for the craft itself.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami) - This is a personal book about one person’s approach to running, writing, and life but it offers a gentle pause and prompts us to consider our own way of being. There is a beautiful cadence to it. Quiet wisdom.
The Monk of Mokha (Dave Eggers) - Not many of us would associate Yemen with world-beating coffee. But Mokhtar had a dream. What follows is a rip-roaring adventure. Gun-toting rebels, escapes, and coffee beans in suitcases. A caffeine-infused thriller of a book. A generous gift from
I Am Pilgrim (Terry Hayes) - An epic post-9/11 thriller (a re-read). Over 800 pages but so pacy you literally won't want to put it down. A lone wolf terrorist and his evil plot, pursued relentlessly by a spy brought in from the cold. Frighteningly plausible.
Soundings (Doreen Cunningham) - Part memoir, part travelogue, this is an epic tale of one woman's connection with whales and the indigenous people whose lives are intertwined. Two overlapping journeys create moments of deep personal discovery and growth.
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) - Another re-read (if you have read this, you will know it has an interesting layout that overlaps all the interwoven stories that make up the whole. This time I read each standalone tale in the order they start in the book … it helped me to enjoy it more the second time around). A complex structure for a set of tales that sprawls, straddling time and place, exploring threads of humanity and beliefs. Several casts of richly drawn characters. Beautiful writing. Inventive. Creative.
Riding The Iron Rooster (Paul Theroux) - Theroux is a master of immersive observation. He weaves each encounter into a compelling narrative that not only allows you to travel with him but offers deep insight into the societies he explores. A re-read of Theroux’s second journey to China.
The Book of Delights (Ross Gay) - A book of poetic prose written in an engaging, lyrical style by an author best known as an award-winning poet. A fascinating insight into life as a black man in America, the subject matter spans hugely complex issues and the simplicity of nature.
Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) - With the passing of Cormac McCarthy, widely acknowledged as one of America’s greatest writers, I was surprised to find that I had only read one of his novels. So to ‘Blood Meridian’ with high hopes. It was a tough read and the jury is out for me. The brutality of the Mexican borderlands is graphically described in a series of dark episodes interwoven with deep philosophical musings and complex language. Perhaps a second reading will open it up to me.
The Last Wilderness (Neil Ansell) - I picked this up having read Ansell’s excellent ‘Deep Country’. This exploration of solitude within nature reflects on a series of trips to the remote Knoydart peninsula in the Highlands of Scotland. Whilst the author is a fine nature writer, I much preferred ‘Deep Country’.
The Foot Soldiers (Gerald Seymour) - Since ‘Harry’s Game’ was published way back in 1975, Gerald Seymour has been casting fictional light on the murky shadows of espionage. It is astonishing how he has managed to stay sharp and contemporary as the world has evolved. This was a slow burner (my fault for not realising that it was the second of a series of three; I haven’t read the first!) but once I recognised Jonas Merrick as the central protagonist, it became a real page-turner as a new Cold War plays out against a backdrop of subterfuge and betrayal.
No Country For Old Men (Cormac McCarthy) - Anton Chigurh is surely one of the most malevolent, remorselessly bad, chilling, and scary characters to have been created in print and brilliantly brought to life by Javier Bardem in the Coen brothers 2007 film version. I loved this book - of course, I had the visualisation offered by the movie to colour in the images drawn by McCarthy’s spare, dialogue-driven prose. But this is a compelling study of evil; the writing is relentless, and the plot is both pacy and meandering. A classic.
The Devil’s Star (Jo Nesbo) - It is hard to solve crimes when you are peering at the clues through the bottom of a whisky bottle. Harry Hole is troubled; by the loss of a colleague, by what he knows of another, and by the loss of a relationship that means the world to him. But when a serial killer disturbs the sultry rhythms of an Oslo summer, Harry finds himself drawn into the darkness. Can he set aside his demons to catch a devil?
The Bourne Supremacy (Robert Ludlum) - We are fans of the Bourne movies so when I spotted this book for sale in a library as our granddaughter chose her books I snapped it up as a ‘holiday read’. First, the plot is wildly different from the movie of the same name. In a perfectly good way. Ludlum is a fantastic writer; his use of language is rich - this is no trashy ‘airport book’ to rattle through on the beach. It is a page-turner but the plot is complex and the interplay between the characters of David Webb and Jason Bourne will have your head spinning. A cracking read. I want the film now!
tenth of december (George Saunders) - This astonishing book of short stories reaches deep into American life through a cast of troubled characters with distinctive voices. It manages to be both amusing and disturbing.
Water, Wood and Wild Things (Hannah Kirshner) - This is such a gentle read, an immersion, over several years, into the rural community of Yamanaka. This Japanese mountain town is home to artists and craftspeople who have honed their skills over many years, turning it into a way of life. This is an affection unwrapping of ‘old’ Japan through learning and doing.
The Road (Cormac McCarthy) - They say that there is hope in this dystopian work by a master of words but you have to dig deep to find it. The pictures painted by McCarthy’s prose overlap with images recalled from the film version. The landscape is bleak as is life for The Man and his son. This is dark, with a lurking malevolence that feels claustrophobic. Rare moments of good fortune lift the spirits, theirs and ours, but ultimately you know it is a brief lightening of the load. Brilliantly bleak storytelling.
Prophet Song (Paul Lynch) - If I thought Cormac McCarthy would take me to the darkest places this year, I didn’t know what was coming with Lynch’s Booker Prize-winning novel set in an Ireland falling into dystopian despair. This is brilliant writing and compelling storytelling, the richness of the language shielding you - all too briefly - from the starkness of the scenes that unfold. It is the details that get to you, domestic banality alongside state-sponsored brutality. Eilish Stack is a woman driven to the edge as she tries to hold her family together as society breaks down. I cried at the penultimate chapter and was left breathless and unable to sleep as I turned the last page. A hard-hitting book that cuts right to the heart of contemporary conflict and the human cost.
"When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness"
Jules Renard
What is good anyway? Quantity isn’t a measure of anything much. But it was a great way (personally) to kickstart a dormant habit.
It sounds like you had a fantastic reading year in 2022! Fifty-nine books is quite impressive. Setting a goal of 23 books for 2023 seems like a balanced approach, allowing more time for your writing. How do you plan to strike that balance between reading and writing this year?
I haven’t read so many of these Barrie, Cloud Atlas - yes, brilliantly inspiring and creative, Murakami - always, although I’ve not read all yet... Jo Nesbo - because it was in a book swap box but wow, what intricate cast weaving... and the Last Wilderness is in my ‘to read’ pile but now I want to read Derp Country.. 🙏🏽