2023: A year in books
(pretty much) everything I read in 2023
At the start of 2023 I decided to increase how much I read. When it came to reading books I was starting from a pretty low bar, as I really didn’t read very many (I read lots of articles, essays, discussions etc, but very few actual books).
So, the goal I set myself was to read a book a month for the year. For the voracious readers, this is undoubtedly not a lot, but from averaging no books a year to one a month was quite a step up.
I did really enjoy it, mostly, and whilst I haven’t quite formed a habit yet (I haven’t started a new book since the last one I read mid December), it is something that I’m a lot more aware of now, and it is in my mind that I have a few things to read and I will get back to the pile of books I have lined up soon.
I approached it quite open minded with regards what I was going to read, and wanted to cover a fairly broad selection (whilst also not wanting anything to become to laborious or something I came to dread), and was open to suggestions and ideas from anyone really.
So, here’s my 2023 reading list..
Meantime - Frankie Boyle
A drug addict sets out to investigate the death of an old friend. As you might imagine from Frankie Boyle, it did make me laugh out loud at times, although I couldn’t help but always hear Frankie as the main character. Certainly some of the character’s inner monologues were like something straight out of his TV show New World Order. It was a bit complex at times, and felt a bit like I would have fared better if I had a better understanding of some Scottish politics, but an enjoyable ride of twists, turns and characters none the less. One of only two books to make me literally laugh out loud (in the real world sense of both phrases, not the modern internet sense). 7/10
The way we eat now - Bee Wilson
One of my favourite reads of the year. A fact/stat-heavy book about the state of our diet, as well as a look back through previous eras of eating and a look ahead. Interesting observations on the current Global Standard Diet (how you can go to opposite sides of the world and witness very similar diets), the impact of brands such as Coca-Cola arriving in new geographies as well as social observations (not just what we eat, but how we eat and the changing attitudes towards how much we invest in cooking and eating, both in terms of time and effort), all without any real sense of judgement or holier-than-thou overtones. She does eventually conclude a dietary viewpoint very much aligned with my own, so there may be an element of confirmation bias going on here, but really enjoyed it. 9/10
Antigone - Sophocles
Meantime in Jan was quite long, and The way we eat now, in Feb, whilst very easy to read, was still a non-fiction book packed with stats and data, so not really a I-can’t-put-this-down-page-turner. This ultimately meant I was already looking like I might fail to complete my goal within the the first 2 months, so in my efforts to fudge the numbers I grabbed this. Probably read this play start-to-finish in a couple of hours, and was very enjoyable. Some interesting moral questions, but a highlight was the humour whilst a sentry attempts to deliver bad news to the king. It’s very funny whilst also strangely comforting that humour has remained so unchanged in ~2,400 years. 7/10
The vinyl detective - Andrew Cartmel
I loved this one. Very easy to read, properly fun fiction about a record collector who gets dragged into all sorts of shady stuff whilst hired to find a rare record. Got through this very quickly, the kind of thing where I’d pick it up any spare moment I had to read just a tiny bit more. The record hunting details also held great appeal to me and brought back strong memories (and did prompt me to get out record hunting again). 9/10
The Thursday murder club - Richard Osman
I had missed the hype for this one, but somehow we had a copy on the shelf so I picked it up next and was thoroughly enjoyable. Easy to read and had me intrigued to the end, a fairly easy going, fun whodunnit. Much like Frankie Boyle’s novel, I found myself reading the main character as Richard Osman’s voice (which was a bit odd, as the main character was a retired lady), but I did manage to shake it after a while. 7/10
Open side - Sam Warburton
Probably the other favourite read from the year, although it was some serious nostalgia that made this so enjoyable. As you might imagine, Sam (Sam Warburton, Welsh international rugby player and Lions captain) talks through a lot of his career with Wales and the Lions, all of which have very strong (and emotive) memories for me. It was interesting to hear about what he was thinking, and what was going on behind the scene with the teams at the time, but as he recounts a variety of classic games, all of which I can remember vividly, it was still just as thrilling. It was a bit like re-living the games themselves - I knew what was coming but still felt the excitement of the highs (almost) just the same. 9/10 (for fans of this era of Welsh rugby)
American dirt - Jeanine Cummins
I did hear some hype about this, which was maybe its undoing. It is a story about a lady and her son fleeing the Mexican cartel and attempting to illegally enter the United States. It was very well researched, and captured the harrowing ordeal and risk-of-death that immigrants take on a regular basis on the hope of making it to the US. I didn’t really have anything against it, but, as a novel, it didn’t do much for me. Possibly it felt too distant for me to really appreciate the impact of the horrors. The characters were well done, and the story fairly gripping in places, upsetting in others. As an insight into the ordeals that people go through, including risking their lives boarding trains in a very real and regular way, it was excellent. As a novel I found it a bit linear and from early on it felt like the conclusion was foregone. 6/10
The man I think I knew - Mike Gayle
Very enjoyable, if not predictable. A dude, destined for great things, finds his life not working out as everyone thought it would, and accidentally ends up working as full time carer for an old school mate who had been in an accident. Mike Gayle knows exactly what he’s doing here, emotional manipulation at its finest - you know what’s coming with all the ups and downs of the relationship between the two men (no prizes for guessing who’s really saving who here), but what’s not to love? By the end you are just racing through the pages, willing the inevitable to arrive so you can laugh-cry to your hearts content. 8/10
Mindful design - Scott Riley
Back to some non-fiction here, with a book, as the title suggests, about mindful design. I’m a big fan of product design topics, and thinking through how product design impacts people in all sorts of ways, for better or worse, and I love the idea of how this all comes together with catering for the broadest range of people. I also love pop psychology type stuff (and I don’t mean that as an insult, more to frame my understanding of these topics as quite light-touch superficial and not at all qualified expert-y). Reading what is essentially a text book is always a bit dry, but Scott keeps this interesting and engaging throughout, with examples and lots of data points. It’s the kind of book I think non-designers should read too (I’m not a designer), along with classics like Design of Everyday Things and Don’t make me think - it’s just as much about empathy, understanding and reasoning as it is about design. 7/10
Seven fires/Straight outta Cymru
Two books combined together here, as they are both half-recipe books, so not sure if they really counted. As with most food books these days, it’s not just page after page of recipes, and half the book is story telling and background.
To be honest, Straight Outta Cymru was purchased almost on sight on account of being 1) about burgers 2) Welsh 3) named after the classic 90’s NWA album. The book is from the Hills Brecon burger restaurant, which has now established pretty wide acclaim with people trekking from all over to sample it. The book was nice quality, and filled with stories about the restaurant, its creation and various burgers etc. I don’t often follow recipes in books (especially burgers), but I like to support independent businesses and these kind of things are always good to draw inspiration from. Also, it feels like burger books have moved from the domain of recipe books to coffee table books (much like interior design books did), everyone loves picking them up and browsing the pictures and ideas, but I’m not sure anyone is reaching for a recipe book to make burgers?
Seven fires was a gift from my mum after hearing a dude talking about the wonders of live fire cooking (wild cooking? or am I just confusing it with wild swimming?). I love cooking with fire whilst contained in BBQs and smokers, but done relatively little on campfires since my days in the scouts, and this definitely inspired me to get out and do it (although a miserable summer stopped me making progress). This book was about a variety (7 in fact) of ways to set up fires and cooking techniques. A good read, and hopefully 2024 is the year I put this into practice. I’m not sure makes sense to rate these two, but both good for those into these things.
How to be good - Nick Hornby
I’m giving this the benefit of the doubt and going to say my reading palette wasn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate some nuances here, but wow, this was bad. From the start there were no likeable characters, I didn’t particularly find myself interested in any of their stories and wasn’t backing any of them to succeed. It did seem to characterise the mundanity of unhappy, middle-class, suburban life well (not that that’s a world I particularly want to escape to whilst reading), but then also had some parts of the plot that were fantasy (a faith healer performing actual miracles). The ending was nothing if not consistent, which is to say uninteresting and left me caring as much as I did throughout (not at all). Was a good feeling to be able to stop reading it though. 1/10
The scandal (Beartown) - Fredrik Backman
After the last one, I needed something to put me on a better track, and this didn’t disappoint. Set in a fictional, small ice-hockey town.. somewhere? (as I read I was imagining an isolated Canadian town, but I assume actually Scandinavian). The concept is pretty straight forward - local town obsessed with the local youth hockey team but when the star player, destined for the big leagues, is involved in a terrible event, the town is divided (well I say that, they mostly support the hockey player, because think of the team!). But it’s very well done - well written, interesting dilemmas and great characters (the troubled, loyal but ultimately very moral, delinquent best friend was the best character storyline). Felt like the best written book I read all year and very much enjoyed. 9/10
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Annie Barrows
I knew very little about this, other than it had been made into a film, but it was another one I found on the shelf and thought why not. The book is written in the format of a series of letters between various people, which I really enjoyed - was quite a refreshing, different format and easy to read. I felt it maybe dragged on a bit in the middle, but overall pleasant. Good characters and you did get a good sense for the island and community, even if the “happy ending” (e.g. the inevitable couple you are waiting to get together) was a bit underwhelming and a bit like an afterthought, but fine. 6/10
The sound of laughter - Peter Kay
The guy’s funny, if not a writer. This the second book that made me laugh out loud. A series of anecdotes from his life starting from childhood up to the moment his career is about to start. As you might imagine, whilst he’s very funny in all his delivery and little tales, his childhood was pretty regular, and to pull a full biography out of that material was a stretch (as it would be for many of us). He had some impressive , out-of-the-ordinary stories, like the occasion he was working in a supermarket and it was robbed at gunpoint, but then also had to include more everyday stories like the time he took a chocolate bar at his job working in a petrol station and was worried he might get into trouble for it. 7/10
Harry Potter & the philosopher’s stone - J.K. Rowling
A cheat inclusion, as I actually read this to my youngest boy for bedtime stories over a couple months. Not sure much to add - we’ve watched the films, but the book was enjoyable and easy to read.
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Given it was December, I spotted this on the bookshelf and having never actually read it I thought why not. I’m not sure I should be here reviewing Dickens, as it feels like I’m setting myself up for trouble. However, I will say it was very enjoyable and actually still easy to read (some older books have a writing style I find harder to read, Gulliver’s Travels, for example, I found a bit laborious). Also, as I have told many people, I was impressed with how powerful the imagery was on the revelation of Tiny Tim’s fate - I have tried to explain to people and don’t think I do it justice, but those couple of lines really hit me (almost cried trying to re-explain it to people). And no, I’m not going to rate Dickens out of ten..