Books of 2023

Yes, it is that time of the year again! Looking back on all I have read this year and planning ahead for my 2024 reads. Last year around this time I was in the middle of what turned out to be the best book I would read the entire year (spoiler alert!) and this year might possibly be the same. But we'll find out about that next year around this time.
Amazingly, I read 43 books this year. That is 2 more than in 2015, when I was actually attempting to read 52 books in my books challenge. Turns out that joining the local library will give you access to a massive amount of books, some good and some not so good, some of which you'd never thought of to read by yourself, others you're sure you'll never read again. Added to that, 2022 was quite a poor year in reading so I still had loads of books waiting to be read (including 3 Man Booker winners, as it turns out).

So, without further ado, let's look at the list:

1 Great Circle

2 The Last White Man

3 Flights of Fancy

4 Faalmoed & andere filosofische overdenkingen

5 Sorrow and Bliss

6 Men without Women

7 Little fires everywhere

8 Altijd iets the vinden

9 The No-Show

10 De Kooi

11 The Color Purple

12 Wall and Piece

13 The Miniaturist

14 Welkom bij de club

15 Gegijzeld

16 The Secret History

17 You have a friend in 10A

18 Sea of Tranquility

19 Monet - Op zoek naar het licht

20 Love Marriage

21 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

22 Monet - Een feest voor het oog

23 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

24 The End of the World is a Cul de Sac

25 Becoming

26 Liefdesbang

27 The Long View

28 Parable of the Sower

29 Foster

30 Parable of the Talents

31 Crying in H Mart

32 Daisy Jones & the Six

33 Companion Piece

34 Trespasses

35 Love on the Brain

36 Last Night in Montreal

37 Our Missing Hearts

38 The Love Hypothesis

39 Shuggie Bain

40 Birnam Wood

41 Project Hail Mary

42 The Switch

43 The Promise

Just two rereads in the entire pile; a children's book (Gegijzeld, which would now probably be labelled 'young adult') that I wanted to reread and a Beth O'Leary snack (The Switch) during NaNoWriMo. That makes for a total of 41 entirely new books, fiction and non-fiction, English and Dutch, in a year. This may well be my best reading year of the last 10 years, if not more.

Best English novel

1 Great Circle

2 Trespasses

3 Sea of Tranquility

Not surprisingly, I've written about all these three books earlier, as they made quite an impression. Great Circle is just one of the best books I've ever read; wholly fictional, but it feels like you've lived an entire life with these characters. Trespasses feels equally real but is rooted in a past not all that long ago, which makes the impression it leaves somehow feel more real. Sea of Tranquility is another one of Emily St. John Mandel's best works, although nothing will ever top Station Eleven.

But this was a hard choice to make. The good thing about GoodReads is that it tracks your reviews, so I've ended up with the books that I gave five star reviews when I just read them, but honorable mentions must go out to Project Hail Mary (see also below), Companion Piece, Little fires everywhere, The Last White Man and Love Marriage. All great books that made a lasting impression this year.

Best Dutch novel

1 Welkom bij de club

So Thomas van der Meer calls his book a novel, and I will treat it as such, but it feels more like an autobiography of the author in his transformation from woman to man and from office worker to healthcare professional. He faces so much judgement and prejudice, it is a miracle this story is as light and funny as it is.

Best classic

Well... I read a couple of novels that could be considered classics this year; The Color Purple, The Secret History, maybe even Parable of the Sower? But I wasn't really overwhelmed by any of these books, especially the first two, which have become quite famous. I enjoyed Parable of the Sower for the most part, but then at the end it fizzled away into nothing much and the sequel, Parable of the Talents, didn't improve much. So despite actually reading some classics for the first time in years, I won't be appointing a 'best' among them.

Best non-fiction

1 Faalmoed  & andere filosofische overdenkingen 

2 Liefdesbang

3 Altijd iets te vinden

The library has a wealth of non-fiction books I would never actually buy but enjoy reading very much. These three books al taught me something in their on field; philosophy, relationships and art. This is no strict order, I enjoyed and learned from all of them, and several of the other non-fiction books I read too. 

Best autobiographical

1 Becoming

2 De Kooi

3 Crying in H Mart

It's been a while since I could actually separate non-fiction and autobiographical into two piles, but here we are. I very much enjoyed Michelle Obama's autobiography, although it could have been a bit shorter. But it gave a good insight into her life and the process of running for president of the United States. De Kooi is written by a special forces man who is famous because of a tv programme he participates in. This book felt like a covid-project; not much else to do, so time to put your memories to paper, but it gave an interesting insight in a small group of specialised agents who keep society safe. Crying in H Mart has become somewhat of a BookTok phenomenon and as I didn't really know the author I couldn't really relate to it all that much, but it was an enjoyable read.

Best short-story collection

1 The End of the World is a Cul de Sac

2 You have a Friend in 10A

3 Men without Women

I read The End of the World is a Cul de Sac before reading Trespasses and I was a bit confused about what Louise Kennedy was on about. Some of these stories were great, some not so much. But this was the right way around, as reading You have a Friend in 10A, the story collection of Maggie Shipstead, sent me into doubts about her writing. Some authors just excel in writing longer stories, although again some of the short stories were really good. I've written about Men withouth Women before and it only made the list because it does contain some nice stories. But none of these collections are really that great, especially compared to last year's 'winner' Story of your life and others.

Best scifi/fantasy

1 Project Hail Mary

2 Sea of Tranquility

3 Parable of the Sower

I've written about Project Hail Mary and about Sea of Tranquility before; they are that wonderful combination of great writing, smart plots, interesting characters and a wholly new setting, which the author created just for us. Parable of the Sower is the last on the list because as a scifi novel, especially a dystopian one, I did enjoy it. It just left me annoyed at the open ending and religious overtones. But it is one of those novels that has been around for ages and you wonder how you never knew it existed (until someone metioned it in a conference talk, in my case).

Best 'new' author

1 Maggie Shipstead / Louise Kennedy

2 Celeste Ng

3 Taylor Jenkins Reid

I'm putting two authors on the first place here, as both produced a wonderful novel and a somewhat mediocre short story collection. Can't really decide between them. I am looking forward to reading more of their novels, as that is apparently where their strenghts lie. 

Celeste Ng's Little fires everywhere must have been on my to-read pile for literally years before I picked it up and then I was mad at myself for not doing so earlier, because it is a great story. I then read Our Missing Hearts, which made less of an impression than I would have thought given the subject matter. Taylor Jenkins Reid is another BookTok phenomenon; I enjoyed both of her novels but they seem a bit too catered to the current sentiments in young adulty reading; I hope to find something that has truly 'her' voice in the coming year.

Most disappointing novel

1 The Color Purple

2 The Miniaturist

3 Birnam Wood

As mentioned above, The Color Purple is now considered a classic and even won the Pullizer Prize, but I'm afraid I'm missing the hype here. I didn't care for any of the characters, the style felt stilted and the plot really wasn't going anywhere. The Miniaturist was one of those novels that spent a lot of time in the 'top 10' piles in the book store but I'm happy I didn't buy it, because it was a silly story, set in an unrealistic Amsterdam of the seventeenth century. It feels like a book Americans would read to 'understand' the Netherlands or the Dutch somehow. Both these books were among my firsr library readings, which just goes to show how easy it is to borrow something you're not entirely sure you will actually like.

I wrote about my disappointment with Birnam Wood earlier; I probably would have rated it a lot higher if it hadn't been written by Eleanor Catton, which just proves that writing one good book is no guarantee for further success. There were books I disliked far mor than Birnam Wood, such as The Love Hypothesis (which is basically Ali Hazelwood's earlier novel, Love on the Brain, in another jacket) or The Long View (which is Elizabeth Jane Howard's least rated book) but since my expectations for these books were so much lower, they just receive an honorable mention here.

And as a special bonus category:

Best Man Booker winner

1 The Promise

2 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

3 Shuggie Bain

I had quite a pile of Man Booker winners still to read (2020, 2021 and 2022), and despite the large number of other books I read this year, I fitted them all in. All of them felt like 'real' Man Booker winners in their own rights, although I probably would have picked other books from the short list in these respective years (Maggie Shipstead! Claire Keegan!). But I can see why they won. I enjoyed The Promise best of all; a well-structured plot without it being too obvious and a nice tie-in between the novel's events and historical milestones. I look forward to reading other books by Damon Galgut, especially if they have the same stream-of-conscious-like writing style. The Seven Moons... took me a while to get through, but it shed light on a part of the world, and on a history of that part of the world, which I'd never read about before. Shuggie Bain I wrote about before; I still haven't fully made up my mind about that one.

Authors I read more than once:

- Maggie Shipstead (2x)

- Celeste Ng (2x)

- Beth O'Leary (2x)

- Emily St. John Mandel (2x)

- Louise Kennedy (2x)

- Taylor Jenkins Reid (2x)

- Octavia E. Butler (2x)

- Ali Hazelwood (2x)

Apart from Beth O'Leary and Emily St. John Mandel, these are all new authors I read for the first time in 2024. And apparently, their first novels gave me an appetite for more. And next year I will probably read more from all of these authors and many more, although I don't think I will ever manage 43 books in one year again for quite some time!

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir fits onto a very small list of people who understand science, who really get things most of us cannot ever expect to fully comprehend, and who can make art out of that understanding. And with art I mean; books, stories, comics, etcetera, not just tv series or books explaining the very difficult things so that we do understand them. I mean; art encorporating that knowledge, but going beyond it to tell a story, or make a joke, or paint a picture. (The only other person on this list, for me, is Randall Monroe of the xckd webcomic. So it's a short list. And Andy has only written three books so far, another list that I wish were a bit longer.)

I read his first novel, The Martian, as I was travelling back from the very random road tripping tour I did back in 2016 and it was just the thing to keep me awake across the 14 hours and several different flights that got me back from Phoenix to Amsterdam. Turns out that story was made into a famous film with Matt Damon way before I read the actual novel, but I'm glad I read the book first. 

I somehow missed Artemis, his second novel, but I was on time with his third, Project Hail Mary, as it was hailed (yes, I wrote that) as one of the best science novels by my favourite science communication column. And yes, we should call this a science fiction novel since most of the things happening in it are not really happening today as of yet, but I'm sticking with science novel since they could happen (apart from the alien species that sets the whole thing in motion, of course). By which I mean; the science checks out. Just as in The Martian, everything actually works the way it could go, there are no magical science cheats or easy passes to get out of trouble. As I said before; Mr Weir combines science and art in a way that not many people can.

So Project Hail Mary. Ryland Grace finds himself waking up in a spaceship hurtling towards another star. He is not sure how he got there, he is not even sure who he actually is. Here we get to the magic of Weir's writing: the protagonist tries to figure out where he is from by analysing that he uses inches for small distances, but kilometers per hour (or whichever metric equivalent is in the book) for more scientific things. So he concludes he must be American, and probably a scientist. As the novel progresses we get several flashbacks that fill out Ryland's backstory, but these early parts, when we are getting to know a character who is at the same time getting to know himself, are brillant writing.

As it turns out, Ryland is out there to save humanity from a catastrophic ecological disaster. His companions have sadly not survived their coma, so he is on his own. Or is he...?

The blurb stops there, so if you don't want to get any spoilers you should stop reading now, but with a blurb like that you can be sure that he will not be on his own. In fact, pretty soon after he arrives at the star, he is joined by another spaceship, containing another solo astronaut out to save his (their?) home planet. These two characters live in completely different environments and have completely different biological make-ups, but somehow manage to communicate (again; this is written in a believeable manner) and decide to join forces. Ryland and Rocky (as he dubs his alien companion) set out to save both worlds.

What follows are the expected adventures, setbacks, discoveries and further setbacks. If you've read or watched The Martian or any 'journey of the hero' like story, you will know what to expect. Combined with the science and the wonderful way Weir paints his setting with words would have already made for great reading, but Project Hail Mary goes further. As we get to know Ryland through the flashbacks, we realise he is not the prefect hero, he might even be called the opposite. And as they work together to find a solution, Ryland muses on what it means to be human, to cooperate, to exist. They discuss fundamental topics about how live has evolved and why it should be the two of them who meet here, lightyears from both of their home planets.

In The Martian, the final setback (which was of course overcome) was one too many for me. It somehow broke my suspension of disbelief, as to me failure wasn't actually possible anymore at that point. The same might be true for some with Project Hail Mary. For me, these final chapters were an image of humility, humanity, and sacrificing yourself for the greater good. In my opinion, flawed as he is, Ryland Grace makes for a better main character than near-perfect Mark Watney ever could. Faced with the most difficult decision of his life, far more difficult than the one that brought him on the spaceship in the first place, he is put in a position not many of us would ever want to be in. To have an already great novel end on such a high note, seeing the title of the final chapter actually brought tears to my eyes. That doesn't happen a lot, especially with science (fiction) novels. 

It is a rare thing, a novel that goes beyond the science most of us understand, but manages to explain the things that are happening in a natural way, while it gives the reader two characters that are believeable, likeable and relateable, and also instills a sense of right and wrong, of choice and sacrifice, all in one adventurous package. It may well be the best thing I read for a long time to come.

Birnam wood

So Eleanor Catton's second novel has been out for a while now, but I refrained from reading it just yet. I'd gifted it to a couple of people who had lukewarm responses and I'd only recently reread her first novel The Luminaries (or so I thought... turns out that was early 2021). Anyway, at some point, I felt I really had to get going, as I was very curious what kind of a second novel she had produced. Hopefully, it didn't suffer from the 'second novel effect', although the 10 year gap between the books did not really bode well...

Unfortunately, this new novel, Birnam Wood, is nowhere near the level of The Luminaries. If it weren't for the very clever plot devices and rock-solid structure of the novel, and both stories being set in New Zealand. I wouldn't have guessed they were written by the same person. 

Birnam Wood centers around a grass roots farming collective (they call themselves a 'guerilla gardening group') of the same name, who semi-legally grow crops in people's gardens, but also in abandoned fields or backyards. How this would ever become a profitable endeveaour is beyond me. I mean, they sell the crops, but they also have to eat for themselves. Adding the costs of soil, seeds, water et cetera to the list, as someone who has been growing her own food for years now, I'd say they'd have to take over most of their town for this to ever become a profitable situation. But they are apparently still at it after a couple of years, with Mira somewhat informally heading the group. She feels it is up to her to improve things. When she stumbles upon the perfect solution to their problem; an American billionaire wanting to sponsor them on his newly bought plot of land, they jump at the opportunity. 

Wait... An anarchist group taking money from the practial embodiment of everything they fight against? Yes, unbelievable as it sounds, that is the event that sets this story in motion.

If this all sounds too good to be true, you're right. In the first chapter written from his point of view, we discover this billionaire has more than one ulterior motive. He is, quite bluntly put, wholly evil. This was one of the most refreshing parts about the book, really, to read about a villain whose evilness is not explained away by a traumatised childhood or thwarted love; he is just in it for his own gain and nothing else. 

All the other characters were unfortunately far less interesting; they have their backstory, ideals, and motivations, but most of the conflict between these characters could have been easily resolved if they'd just talked to each other. The three main young characters, Mira, Shelley and Tony, are in a weird triangular love/hate relationship that felt like it only existed to create tension between them and have them make rash descisions to annoy another character. Sure, I know people can be confused or guearded, but even the characters themselves tell us how many assumptions they are make about everyone around them. Again, if they'd communicated a bit better, half the book would not have happened.

And these characters are millenials, so they do talk a lot. These were the best parts of the story, for me; the lengthy conversations the Birnam Wood crowd has about society, politics, nature, all those things that are not working in their favour. These parts were really well written, as were some of the background descriptions. Also, lengthy descriptions of New Zealand's amazing nature and wildlife, which I hope to experience for myself one day, although I will not be camping (or gardening) on frozen ground, as these characters are continiously doing. 

And yes, the plot works, the structure is ingenious, Catton doesn't teach creative writing for nothing. She knows how to pace her narrative, when to switch the point of view, how to keep the reader guessing and reading on. That bad things are going to happen, is a given from the start. But to whom? And how bad will it be?

Unfortunately, I didn't care. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about the outcome. Despite all the backstory and all the points of view, they never came alive for me. Technically, the story works very well. Emotionally, this novel is flat as a pancake.