Favorite Books of 2023

It's the time of the year when everyone is doing their "best of" book lists. It's been a big (and somewhat unusual) reading year for me, so I can't help but chime in. Here goes:

"Happiness Falls" by Angie Kim is my favorite book of the year, and it definitely hasn't gotten enough love from reviewers. It's an unusual story that combines mystery, family drama, psychology, philosophy and medicine. One of the characters is Eugene, a boy suffering from Angelman Syndrome. It's a horrific genetic condition of the nervous system that results in delayed development, seizures and speech impairment. Not surprisingly, the family's life revolves in many ways around caring for Eugene. When he comes home one day from an outing with his dad without the father in tow, it's a full-blown family crisis. 

It's a tiny spoiler, but the father has been researching the relativity of happiness. There is real research on this subject, including a study that compares the happiness levels of winners of a lottery v. quadraplegic/paraplegic accident victims. The surprising -- and humbling -- conclusion was that the accident victims were often made happier by everyday occurrences. It's a question of expectations. I'm just now putting the connection together between Eugene's condition and the dad's research. Picture a lightbulb. 

I fear my description makes this book sound depressing, but it's not. At its heart "Happiness Falls" is the story of a family coming together in a time of crisis and learning about each other in unexpected ways. Yes, there are parts that are sad, even tragic. But isn't that life? 

"The Ferryman" by Justin Cronin and "Babel, or the Necessity of Violence" by R.F Kuang. I've ventured into the realm of dystopian/fantasy/sci-fi novels this year and really enjoyed these two novels. It started when I asked a bookseller last holiday season what her favorite book of the year had been. "Babel" topped her list, so I decided to give it a try. I loved it. It's a story about colonialism and language and how far you're willing to go to protect what you believe in. I was literally sobbing when I got to the end. So thanks, Ms. Bookseller! 

This experience prompted me to be a bit more open-minded about my reading choices, and "The Ferryman" ended up in my hands. It was gripping. 

In the initial pages, we meet an aging woman who is dispatching herself into the waters behind her home. She appears to be preparing to commit suicide. She reflects on her life with her husband, whom she loves very much, and their adopted son, who came to them in an odd manner. You can tell there's more going on here than meets the eye, but what? 

Welcome to Prospera, a place where the citizens wear mysterious implants that monitor their physical health and psychological well-being. Hmm. While it could be a useful tool (especially if you're someone who wears a ring device), here's the creepy part. When their numbers dip below a certain level, off they go to the Nursery for a reboot. Their memories are wiped clean; their physical bodies become young again; and they eventually are adopted by a new family to start life all over again. 

I have to admit that the idea has a certain appeal. But if all went well, it wouldn't be much of a story, would it?  Imagine the power of the people in charge of this process. This includes the Ferryman, the person who accompanies these people on the final journey of their current lives. It's a book I wanted to start over the moment I got to the last page (after saying "wow" out loud a few times). Even (especially?) if you're not a reader of dystopian fiction, "The Ferryman" is worth a try. 

"What We Talk About When We Talk about Anne Frank" by Nathan Englander is a book that literally jumped off the library bookshelf and into my hands. I was looking for a Louise Penny book (love Inspector Gamache) and turned around and this book was sitting on the opposite shelf. (Note that books by authors with last names starting with "E" should not be anywhere near the Louise Penny offerings.) I thought, mistakenly as it turns out, that I'd recently read something about Englander's book so I picked it up. It is one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time. This from a person who does not read short stories as a rule. 

Englander has crafted eight very different stories featuring Jewish characters in an array of situations, from a summer camp for elders to a get-together of old friends 20 years on to a man at a peep show. (Yes, you read that right.) Most of the stories instantly drew me in. I could easily visualize these people despite the fact that my background is so different than theirs. Englander employs humor and life in his stories before landing a big punch to the gut. It's a style of writing that I appreciate immensely. 

Note: If you have a subscription to the New Yorker, you can read the title story in the magazine's archives. The story, like the collection, dates back to 2012. 

"Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano is a book that's on pretty much every "best of" list for the year. It was also the 100th pick for Oprah's Book Club, with much fanfare.  

It turns out that the story of four sisters is an updated version of "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Who knew? I personally picked up the book because I liked her "Dear Edward," the story of a boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash.  

Not surprisingly, "Hello Beautiful" is filled with family drama. How could it not be with all those women? And, yes, there is a boy/man whose relationship with the sisters is the cause of much of that drama. But he has his own story, and it's a sad one. In fact, I found William to be the most interesting character in the novel. "Hello Beautiful" isn't a book that demands much of its readers, but I was definitely eager to find out how things would work out. 

And with that, it's time for me to head out for a walk. It's an excuse to listen to "Under the Dome" by Stephen King. What a story. The set-up is that a mysterious force field has come down over a small town in Maine, leaving its citizens trapped inside. Things go south very quickly. It's a story about human nature and political ambition/power and what can happen when that power ends up in the wrong hands. Is this ringing any bells? King wrote this novel in 2013, and it feels a bit prescient to me. I suspect the good guys will win in the end. I hope that happens in real life.