What Books Made You Think the Most This Year?
Plus the best bookish stocking stuffers, the NYT's best crime fiction of 2023, and more.
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We’re keeping it light and breezy on this winter Wednesday. Happy reading!
The Atlantic’s Top 10 Books of the Year
Oh, how I love it when editors explain how they’ve determined which books make a list! At The Atlantic, the end-of-year reading highlights are defined as “the book that made us think the most this year.” I’m delighted to see that they’ve featured The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland, which is hands down the book that taught me the most this year, and Safiya Sinclair’s wonderful debut memoir How to Say Babylon. Tell me: what books made you think the most this year?
Feeling Like a Criminal
Speaking of books I’m thrilled to see make a best-of list, The New York Times has released their picks for best crime fiction of 2023, and Margot Douaihy’s supremely fun Scorched Grace has a well-deserved spot. A tattooed, sweary, crime-fighting nun in New Orleans?! Come on.
Culture Vulture
It’s a best-of bonanza today! Vulture’s list, built around “authors whose original ideas challenged our preconceived notions of the world,” is maybe the most unique of the year-end entries I’ve seen. Who would’ve expected a book about hot dogs to make the cut?
The Best Bookish Stocking Stuffers
Holiday gifts need not break the bank. Whatever you’re celebrating this season, these bookish stocking stuffers would make lovely gifts, and there are options at several price points. These reading log bookmarks? Just three bucks!
A big thanks to Amistad Books for sponsoring this installment of Today in Books. Pick up Rebecca, Not Becky wherever books are sold or click the image for more info.
"A Fever in the Heartland" by Timothy Egan and Jon Meacham's "His Truth is Marching On -- John Lewis" were execptonally good and important reading. I knew John Lewis personally so, at times, the book was a little tough emotionally. And for 2023 giggles Joth Lithgos's "A Confederacy of Dumptys" is a winner.