Wendy on the Web

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Best Books of 2023

I wasn't sure how I was going to cobble this together. Since summer I have been busy reading for a big list, one of those without any real time or content limits, so it was hard to determine what to share here...

Well, I couldn't break the streak, so basically, this is what isn’t in contention over there... In addition to all that reading, this year, I luxuriated in everything read out loud by Julia Reed and finally got into the sagas of Penny Vincenzi. I also listened to procedurals by Helen H. Durrant and even the Marco Pierre White memoir, basically anything read by Tim Bentinck, who I have known for years as the solidly-Middle English David Archer (as well author of his own, very good biography).

What to Wear

The Kingdom of Prep: the inside story of the rise and “near” fall of J. Crew (2023) Maggie Bullock

Part archeology, part anthropology, all about what J. Crew represented in closets across America at the turn of this century.

Counterfeit (2022) Kirsten Chen

A fun, frothy novel about two former college roommates teaming up to undermine the luxury handbag industry.

Fabric: The hidden history of the material world (2021) Victoria Finlay

Finlay mixes memoir and her close study of fabric making around the world in this masterful volume. I can't wait to read her book on Colors.

Getting Out of Town

Tourists: How the British went abroad to find themselves (2022) Lucy Lethbridge

A glimpse into the centuries-old industry of going abroad and all that it has come to represent ad involve.

Travelers in the Third Reich: the rise of Fascism, 1919-1945 (2018) Julia Boyd

Of course people went there. Mines fascinating primary sources accounts of those who went to Germany during Hitler’s regime.

First Person Stories

Stash: my life in hiding (2023) Laura Cathcart Robbins

A standout memoir about addiction and recovery, with a surprising romance.

Dirtbag, Massachusetts: a confessional (2022) Isaac Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald’s semi-feral boyhood onwards, autodidactic response, and slough through the service industry are terrific fun to read about.

Odd boy out (2022) Gyles Brandreth

Gyles is a fixture on This Morning and in The Oldie; he is a true Renaissance man, and, after reading his wonderful biography full of gossip and name-dropping, I will never hear an Oscar Wilde reference or see a teddy bear without thinking of him.

Shifting the Frame

Becky (2023) by Sarah May

Thackeray’s Vanity Fair recast in frothy ‘90s English tabloid culture.

The family Chao (2022) Lam Samantha Chang

The Brother Karamazov in a midwestern ethnic restaurant, with siblings that feel like you know them.

Beware the woman: a novel (2023) Megan Abbott

In this expert gothic with a new bride held captive in a remote Upper Peninsula cabin, Abbott explodes many gendered tropes underpinning suspense.

The fraud (2023) Zadie Smith

Smith imagines the story behind Tichborne claimant, the long-lost heir that had Victorian England captivated, as engineered by his Caribbean manservant.

Some fiction, and one stranger than fiction

Love Marriage (2022) Monica Ali

Two young doctors look like the perfect couple, but the upcoming wedding throws both the traditional Muslim parents of the bride and the arty elite mother of the groom into chaos.

The List (2023) Yomi Adegoke

When a young influencer’s fiancé appears on a crowdsourced list of wrong-doers, it throws their relationship and realities into conflict.

Yellowface (2023) R.F. Kuang

Literary jealousy made manifest when a hot young author leaves an identity-rich manuscript behind.

Factory girls (2022) Michelle Gallen

Now-historical fiction amid textile workers at a factory in Northern Ireland includes 1990s interreligious conflict, juxtaposed with the lure of the broader world.

Wrong place, wrong time (2022) Gillian McAllister

Not usually a fan of things that play with timelines, but this Groundhog Day-esque book where a woman moves through time trying to understand the events that led to her son’s arrest was a treat.

Lucky girl: a novel (2023) by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu

A coming-to-New York story about a young Kenyan student finding her very sweet way.

American pain: how a young felon and his ring of doctors unleashed America's deadliest drug epidemic (2016) John Temple

A fascinating true story about the Florida pill mills feeding the opioid epidemic, their unique corportate culture and their downfall.

See favorites from the past fourteen years below:

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Best Books of 2022

Remember how, when you made your crush a mixed tape, you included the name of the song and artist, but also what album the track came from? I miss that…#nostalgiaisdeadly
— laurelsnyder (@LaurelSnyder) December 1, 2022

Okay, this was a weird year. A lot more re-reading -- some Phyllis A. Whitney, lots of Jen Lancaster, Susan Isaacs, some of the late great Barbara Ehrenreich. And, let's face it, I spent a lot of time in the past. The 1980s, in particular, which is why the Snyder hashtag above, #nostalgiaisdeadly, resonated. I do feel like the arc bending towards justice gets a little longer every year, but that doesn't stop me reveling in some cultural nostalgia. And note that I am also including a bit more YA this go-round, since I am not reading for any awards requiring confidentiality....

All About the 1980s

Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction (2018)

Gabrielle Moss

Not unlike Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell on last year's list, this gorgeous volume collects some extraordinary cover art from a range of what-would-become YA books from past decades. A loving tribute to the books that made us.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall (2022)

Alexandra Lange

This book is one of the best things I've read about American sociology, consumerism, and change over time. While not strictly about the '80s, that decade factors heavily.

Red, White, and Whole (2021)

Rajani LaRocca

It's 1983, Reha's mother is sick, and this novel in verse explores her experiences, caught between cultures and working through those heady middle school friendships.

I Must Betray You (2022)

Ruta Sepetys

Sepetys explores Ceausescu's Romania, where the VCR is upending totalitarianism and young people are negotiating freedoms. Watch Chuck Norris Versus Communism afterwards.

Party Girls Die in Pearls (2017)

Plum Sykes

From the detailed descriptions of the '80s wardrobe to the silly in-group slang, I thoroughly adored this blast from the past wrapped around a mystery.

YA, YA (okay, and some MG)

Himawari House (2021)

Harmony Becker

This really well-executed graphic novel features a trio of teenagers finding their way in the world and exploring aspects of Japanese culture, with re-discovery of their own identities thrown into relief.

In the Wild Light (2021)

Jeff Zentner

Jeff Zentner has his finger on the pulse of the realities of the contemporary American South, even when you put those Southern kids in a Connecticut boarding school.

The City Beautiful (2021)

Aden Polydoros

This incredibly dark YA novel will take you into the White City that was the Chicago World's Fair, with precise period details and an entirely new sensibility. Fans of Daniel Kraus will love it.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021)

Malinda Lo

I was in the middle of this one when it swept the ALA Youth Media awards in January. Historical, queer, romantic, complicated Asian identities, this book has so much going on and it still manages to be a page-turner.

The Tryout (2022)

Christina Soontornvat

A graphic novel about middle school with all the friendship drama and feels for your rabid Raina readers. I am already antsy for the sequel, which will be called The Squad…

African Town (2022)

Charles Waters and Irene Latham

An achievement of a novel in verse, told from alternating points of view, about the close-knit community founded by the last group of enslaved people brought to the United States. Carefully researched and masterfully executed, but funny and joyous, too.

A Sitting in St. James (2021)

Rita Williams-Garcia

A complicated family, a brutal place and time, and all sorts of personal agendas and generational vendettas make this novel absolutely Faulknerian. I dare most readers to even notice it is marketed as young adult.

Thrillers, Mysteries, a Little Romance

Apples Never Fall (2021)

Liane Moriarity

Back to vintage Moriarity, with characters who are so dimensional and stories that criss-cross in shocking moments of revelation. Here, four children attempt to figure out what has happened to their mother and what the young stranger who stayed in their home might have had to do with it. No one gets it right.

The Spies of Shilling Lane (2019)

Jennifer Ryan

A young woman disappears while doing espionage work during the Second World War. Her headstrong mother heads to London to find her, and finds a sweet happily-ever-after of her own in the process. Jennifer Ryan has a great body of work set in this era, but this was my favorite.

The It Girl (2022)

Ruth Ware

Again, as with the Sykes, back to Oxford, only a decade ago but somehow more distant because of all the inherent institutional anachronisms. A cast of characters that will remind you of people you knew in college.

Meet Me in London (2021)

Georgia Toffolo

I am not British, so I refuse to be thwarted by Toff's Tory leanings. This is the first in a series of four delightful linked romances, about a creative and an entrepreneur, and it's perfect for the holidays and for those who have not been abroad in too long.

The Last Party (2022)

Clare Mackintosh

A fun procedural set in a border community where locals are dealing with an influx of weekenders at a new resort. Lots of interesting characters and a wonderful ending that leaves you wondering just who really "did it."

The Heights (2022)

Louise Candlish

The observation of someone who shouldn't be there, from a distance, spiraling into obsession, is the perfect pandemic-era thriller, at once claustrophobic and voyeuristic.

The Maid (2022)

Nita Prose

The voice of a neurodivergent main character is so different, and the twists so very clever, it definitely made me think a thought or two. And can I mention how fun it is to read a book set in Canada?

The Rock Star in Seat 3A (2012)

Jill Kargman

After a re-watch of the whole of Odd Mom Out, I ripped through all Jill Kargman's books this year, because I am convinced we would be best friends in another universe. This was particularly fun and sexy, and full of the trademark Kargman side-eye.

Thirteen more years of best books:

Books are such a gift, my boon companion, and I love this time of the year because I find so many wonderful things to read in these year-end lists. Here's to lots more great books in 2023!

Monday, December 6, 2021

Best Books of 2021

Next year, I don't think I'll be reading for any awards, so I can say WAY more about literature for young people, but this year I am still in awe of the YA novel Gravity (2020) by Sarah Deming. It was a book I heard about at ALAN back when that was a face-to-face thing, but never actually ran across until later, but it was a stunner.

Actually, most of the protagonists I have been reading about in 2021 have been older...

Over That Hill

I was surprised to find Caroline B. Cooney had some new books out with some very grown-up themes but all her predictable twists and turns. I highly recommend Before She was Helen (2020) by Caroline B. Cooney and The Grandmother Plot (2021) by Caroline B. Cooney was a treat as well.

If you want to push your spunky old ladies a bit further afield, I recommend the always-underestimated Maude who appeared first in An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good (2018) by Helene Tursten and reappears in An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed (2021) by Helene Tursten -- so good that I preordered. Life changing!

If you are of an anxious bent, The Ditch (2019) by Herman Koch will hit you right in the suspicions. Bonus: great Amsterdam scene-setting. Oh, to travel again!

Thrillers

While it skewed a bit pedestrian, The Party Upstairs (2021) by Lee Connell has stuck with me all year -- I keep thinking about other people's right to trash coming before my own. Applicable in this pandemic and this economy for sure.

Set in a very James M. Cain-esque midcentury America, More Better Deals (2021) by Joe R. Lansdale is remarkable is scene-setting, brutality, and character development.

As in 2019, I am still all about Louise Candlish -- see The Heights coming out in 2022 -- but I have never seen set-ups quite like The Double Life of Anna Day (2006) by Louise Candlish (totally wild self-recreation in the shadow of the Alhambra) and the bystander-savior falling in love with the possibly homicidal teen mom in The Day You Saved My Life (2013) by Louise Candlish.

Want to know how booksellers make Amazon work for them? Some Books Aren't for Reading (2019) by Howard Marc Chesley gives you some insight, and a little intrigue.

Memoirs

Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More (2020) by Grace Dent. Dent is one of my absolute favorite writers, and this is about the midlife crunch as much as it is about food and ambition.

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir (2021) by Michelle Zauner. I don't know the band, and don't even really like Korean food, but the author's complicated relationship with her mother is relatable and will make you cry.

The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir (2011) by Sherry Turkle. Turkle herself is an interesting as her theories, especially when she writes about MIT and Seymour Papert.

Nonfiction

We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and A Half-Century of Silence (2020) by Becky Cooper More academia, and more stories not ending the way you wanted them to.

For real life and its ghosts, writing doesn't get more vibrant than The Lost Pianos of Siberia (2021) by Sophy Roberts, which weaves music and mystery and geography in a fascinating way.

Again, Hallie Rubenhold manages to address all of this hidden, female history and I especially enjoyed the broadsheet coverage of the trial she includes in The Lady in Red : an Eighteenth-Century Tale of Sex, Scandal, and Divorce (2008) by Hallie Rubenhold.

Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted Story of '80s and '80s Horror Fiction (2017) by Grady Hendrix made me want to reach down into the backlist. Frankly. I am looking forward to spending a lot of this holiday break reading some solid old stuff -- I have dipped into Phyllis A. Whitney, Mary Stewart, and Dorothy Sayers all recently. Book history for real....

Twelve more years of best books: