The years go by, don’t they? And although my blog continues to take a back seat to my writing and my running of the non-profit Writing Through, it lies fallow in my brain, awaiting its annual post about what I have read this year. And here we are.

This year’s list is a pretty eclectic one. It seems I escaped quite a bit into the noir world of spies and detectives. But I also dove back into my early interest in classical Greece, its mythology and culture. Plus there have been a few gaps filled, a few beloved authors revisited, and even some politically-leaning nonfiction. I must also now include the annual apology for not listing here the poetry books I read this year, but I assure you they are continually being read and, as importantly, bought.

So here is my reading list of 2023, and my wish that your 2024 is filled with joy, peace and health, plus a library full of beautiful and enlightening books.

  1. Louise Penny, Glass Houses
  2. Louise Penny, Kingdom of the Blind
  3. Louise Penny, A Better Man
  4. Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead
  5. Jennifer Saint, Electra
  6. Robert Graves, Homer’s Daughter
  7. Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities
  8. Salman Rushdie, Victory City
  9. Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, Your Brain on Art
  10. Anthony Trollope, The Way We Live Today
  11. Emil Zola, Germinal
  12. Anthony Trollope, The Warden
  13. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers
  14. Arthur C. Brooks, From Strength to Strength
  15. Ann Patchett, The Precious Days
  16. Eric Foner, The Second Founding
  17. Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
  18. Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
  19. Henri Bosco, The Child and the River
  20. David Kinney, The Big One
  21. Mick Herron, Slow Horses
  22. Bill Eville, Washed Ashore
  23. Mick Herron, Dead Lions
  24. Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani – Travels in the Southern Peloponnese
  25. Valerie Perrin, Fresh Water for Flowers