Hi Jill! Excited to try some of your Recs here. Loved Demon Copperhead as well. My prize this year goes to The Covenant of Water. And reading in companion with Oprah’s podcast with Verghese made it that much sweeter. Happy holidays!!
I will need to give The Covenant of Water another shot... I think I was in the wrong headspace when I first tried it. So many people have liked it (and I loved Cutting for Stone). Will try it with Oprah's podcast- great tip!
I just finished a book about two women who met at Yale as undergrads, both of whom who aspire to be world renowned authors....Yellowface. A great read, with a main storyline about plagiarism, and support subtexts about racism (Asians), vitriol on social media, and the publishing industry. I'm 90% sure you must have read it by now, but if not, it would be an honor to send you a copy.
And how goes Bennington? Proud of you for taking that leap.
Loved your list! Love Claire Keegan, though last night I read her short story Antarctica--she has a heart of ice, like William Trevor. I think my most memorable book this year is probably The Covenant of Water. Longer than it needed to be, but beautiful on all the levels, character, story, sentence....
hi Jill- what a treat! love to add some books to my tbr ( and get to be nostalgic about our old book club!) I'm reading writers and lovers by lily King(I think lexy recommended years ago) and I really like the way she writes. Solito by Javier zamora is next up on many recommendations.
- LOVE your costume- demon copperhead was heavy, but definitely left a major impression- as it should. I loved your comments about time with reading...a wonderful bonus I hadn't thought about before. (Have you read saving time by Jenny O'Dell?) Anyway I enjoyed short stories by Kathleen Alcott called emergency but I guess my favorite was also demon copperhead. Great holiday card!
I *love* Writers & Lovers (wrote a blog post about the opening of that novel, which is brilliant from a writing standpoint). Solito is on my TBR, thanks for reminding me of this one! And thanks for recommending Kathleen Alcott, will check her out. Miss you (and our book club!) and hope you're well. xoxo
Hi Jill - my favorite novel this year - besides Demon Copperhead - was This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. It was required summer reading for the high schoolers in our town and our book club decided to read it. We had a great conversation afterwards! Thanks for your recommendations, Merideth
Oh, that's a great book, especially for book club discussions. We read it in our book club many years back, and I really appreciated the perspective it provides. Hope you're well, Mer, and congrats again on your book!
Mer- Congratulations! The random number generator chose your comment as the winner of my book giveaway. :) Please choose a book from my top 12 list that you'd like me to send you, and happy holidays!
Hi Jill. Demon Copperhead was definitely at the top for me. I'd say a close second was Nightcrawling. I have a couple of your top 12 on my want to read list!
It was very hard. I thought about listing some "honorable mentions" like I did last year, but that list might have been 20 books long, which kind of defeats the purpose. ;)
As always, I enjoyed the latest issue of Witticisms and look forward to reading some of your recommendations. As for me, my favorite read in 2023 was Somebody's Fool, by Richard Russo, one of my very favorite authors. Russo is a masterful writer, at once moving the plot along while doing a great job at character development. He's a literary writer without the pretensions of a "look at how smart I am" author.
Best wishes to you and your family for a peaceful and joyous holiday season.
Hi Jill. Thank you for this! I’ve been hoping to read Demon Copperhead and Tom Lake over the holidays. Now I’m even more motivated. My favorite book this year was Romantic comedy. I loved her comic voice and the fun, fresh topic.
Oh, you will love them both. I was pleasantly surprised by Romantic Comedy, genuinely loved the first half (found the epistolary section in the middle to drag a bit, though). Agree that the voice & topic were so fun!
Hey, Jill! Appreciate your opening remarks abt time. I'm writing an article currently on a local photographer who has described his craft as a way to "stop time," a power you ascribe to books as well. I like that. Anyway, my favorite book of 2023 has to be *Crime and Punishment*.
Such a remarkable novel- I read it for fun in high school and then in my Russian Novel course in college. Ryan, if you haven't read A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, you absolutely must. You're exactly the target audience.
I'll check it out! Your confidence that I'm "exactly" its target audience is excellent rhetorical technique, Jill -- an appeal to ethos. It's almost as powerful as my wonder abt "exactly" what you think I have in common with the book. But don't tell me! I want to find out. :)
I also read and loved Remarkably Bright Creatures this year!! Tom Lake and The Rachel Incident are on my TBR, and taking note of your other suggestions!
I don’t count for your giveaway since I’m in Canada, but some of my favourites this year were Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane (surprisingly moving), Go as a River by Shelley Read and (not recent, but read it this year) Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid!
I'm eager to read Go as a River. Loved Such a Fun Age and she has a new one coming out in 2024. I hope you enjoy Tom Lake & The Rachel Incident- very different but both so well done. :)
I've read a number of great books this year, but the one currently in my reader is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. This multi-POV, multi-timeline literary novel tells some hard truth about settling the United States, from the Native American voice. It is a beautiful and tragic story that needs to be shared. Hope you find time to check it out!
Hi Jill! Excited to try some of your Recs here. Loved Demon Copperhead as well. My prize this year goes to The Covenant of Water. And reading in companion with Oprah’s podcast with Verghese made it that much sweeter. Happy holidays!!
I will need to give The Covenant of Water another shot... I think I was in the wrong headspace when I first tried it. So many people have liked it (and I loved Cutting for Stone). Will try it with Oprah's podcast- great tip!
Hey Jill,
I just finished a book about two women who met at Yale as undergrads, both of whom who aspire to be world renowned authors....Yellowface. A great read, with a main storyline about plagiarism, and support subtexts about racism (Asians), vitriol on social media, and the publishing industry. I'm 90% sure you must have read it by now, but if not, it would be an honor to send you a copy.
And how goes Bennington? Proud of you for taking that leap.
Phil
Yes, I read and enjoyed Yellowface- a fun satire of publishing, very well written. The author is getting a PhD at Yale! :)
Loved your list! Love Claire Keegan, though last night I read her short story Antarctica--she has a heart of ice, like William Trevor. I think my most memorable book this year is probably The Covenant of Water. Longer than it needed to be, but beautiful on all the levels, character, story, sentence....
hi Jill- what a treat! love to add some books to my tbr ( and get to be nostalgic about our old book club!) I'm reading writers and lovers by lily King(I think lexy recommended years ago) and I really like the way she writes. Solito by Javier zamora is next up on many recommendations.
- LOVE your costume- demon copperhead was heavy, but definitely left a major impression- as it should. I loved your comments about time with reading...a wonderful bonus I hadn't thought about before. (Have you read saving time by Jenny O'Dell?) Anyway I enjoyed short stories by Kathleen Alcott called emergency but I guess my favorite was also demon copperhead. Great holiday card!
I *love* Writers & Lovers (wrote a blog post about the opening of that novel, which is brilliant from a writing standpoint). Solito is on my TBR, thanks for reminding me of this one! And thanks for recommending Kathleen Alcott, will check her out. Miss you (and our book club!) and hope you're well. xoxo
Hi Jill - my favorite novel this year - besides Demon Copperhead - was This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. It was required summer reading for the high schoolers in our town and our book club decided to read it. We had a great conversation afterwards! Thanks for your recommendations, Merideth
Oh, that's a great book, especially for book club discussions. We read it in our book club many years back, and I really appreciated the perspective it provides. Hope you're well, Mer, and congrats again on your book!
Thanks Jill, I'm excited to go to my first authors' night signing event tomorrow. Should be fun! You are an inspiration.
Mer- Congratulations! The random number generator chose your comment as the winner of my book giveaway. :) Please choose a book from my top 12 list that you'd like me to send you, and happy holidays!
Thank you so much Jill! Signed edition of Tom Lake arrived today. Can’t wait to dig into it.
Hi Jill. Demon Copperhead was definitely at the top for me. I'd say a close second was Nightcrawling. I have a couple of your top 12 on my want to read list!
Nightcrawling was so devastating- made it on my list last year. Let me know as you read some of the others!
I admire that you got the list down to 12! I'm getting ready to write my list and I'm struggling to narrow it down.
It was very hard. I thought about listing some "honorable mentions" like I did last year, but that list might have been 20 books long, which kind of defeats the purpose. ;)
Hey Jill,
As always, I enjoyed the latest issue of Witticisms and look forward to reading some of your recommendations. As for me, my favorite read in 2023 was Somebody's Fool, by Richard Russo, one of my very favorite authors. Russo is a masterful writer, at once moving the plot along while doing a great job at character development. He's a literary writer without the pretensions of a "look at how smart I am" author.
Best wishes to you and your family for a peaceful and joyous holiday season.
With love,
Phil
Hi Phil- Would you believe I've never read Richard Russo? He's one of my dad's favorites. One day!
I knew Claire Keegan had to be on your list!
Putting only one of her books on my list was the most restraint I've shown this holiday season :)
Hi Jill. Thank you for this! I’ve been hoping to read Demon Copperhead and Tom Lake over the holidays. Now I’m even more motivated. My favorite book this year was Romantic comedy. I loved her comic voice and the fun, fresh topic.
Oh, you will love them both. I was pleasantly surprised by Romantic Comedy, genuinely loved the first half (found the epistolary section in the middle to drag a bit, though). Agree that the voice & topic were so fun!
Hey, Jill! Appreciate your opening remarks abt time. I'm writing an article currently on a local photographer who has described his craft as a way to "stop time," a power you ascribe to books as well. I like that. Anyway, my favorite book of 2023 has to be *Crime and Punishment*.
Such a remarkable novel- I read it for fun in high school and then in my Russian Novel course in college. Ryan, if you haven't read A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, you absolutely must. You're exactly the target audience.
I'll check it out! Your confidence that I'm "exactly" its target audience is excellent rhetorical technique, Jill -- an appeal to ethos. It's almost as powerful as my wonder abt "exactly" what you think I have in common with the book. But don't tell me! I want to find out. :)
I also read and loved Remarkably Bright Creatures this year!! Tom Lake and The Rachel Incident are on my TBR, and taking note of your other suggestions!
I don’t count for your giveaway since I’m in Canada, but some of my favourites this year were Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane (surprisingly moving), Go as a River by Shelley Read and (not recent, but read it this year) Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid!
I'm eager to read Go as a River. Loved Such a Fun Age and she has a new one coming out in 2024. I hope you enjoy Tom Lake & The Rachel Incident- very different but both so well done. :)
I also LOVED The Prophets but can’t remember if I read that this year or last. I believe it racked up awards last year but I read early 2023.
That's on my TBR!
And the winner, blindly selected using a random number generator, is Merideth! Congratulations!
Hi,
I've read a number of great books this year, but the one currently in my reader is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. This multi-POV, multi-timeline literary novel tells some hard truth about settling the United States, from the Native American voice. It is a beautiful and tragic story that needs to be shared. Hope you find time to check it out!
I haven't heard of that one, but I'll check it out. Thanks for the rec!