I love always learning more. The knowledge I gain from both fiction and nonfiction selections is a core piece of me. And while one of my goals last year was to read LESS that was in service of absorbing more and also of using reading for the pleasure and tool I want it to be instead of the escapism it had become my last pregnancy and the subsequent pandemic… still, I managed to read almost 75 books last year and These are my top 10 (and a few honorable mentions) in no particular order

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NONFICTION:

Everything All At Once by Steph Catudal: Not only is this book on of my favorites I read last year, I had the incredible pleasure of meeting the author at not one but two reading events when it launched. Steph Catudal writes an incredible book that takes the parallels between her fathers horrific lung cancer and her husbands horrific lung cancer years later. Full disclosure, I know about this book because her husband, “Rivs” is one of my heroes and a truly incredible piece of the running community. This book is about so much more than these two important men in her life though. It touches on grief, faith (and doubt!), community, self love, forgiveness, and so much more. But most of all love. There is so much love in this book and that, alongside its wisdom, is what basically guarantees I will be reading it again very soon.

Born To Run by Christopher McDougall: This book was just a right place right time situation for me. I read this just after I ran the Mesa Half in 2023, the last firm running commitment I had and I was SO burned out on running I was truly wondering if I would ever do it again. Reading this book reminded me of the JOY you can find in running. The story was wild and while I question some of the numbers they cite for certain running recommendations (certain situations seem more correlation than causation, etc.) I have been open to playing with some of them and here I am a little less than a year later having fallen in love with trail running… but don’t count on me becoming a barefoot ultra runner any time soon! If you aren’t a runner, some of the stats and specifics may be dizzying, but absolutely still worth the read!

I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt: OK, let me start by sharing the full title of this book which is actually quite lengthy but tells you a lot of what you need to know- I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and being Black in America. Tyler Merritt’s memoir covers all those things and more in the warmest and funniest way without succumbing to toxic positivity or glossing over the hard stuff. As someone who happens to love both hip hop and musical theatre it felt like it was meant for me and that Tyler and I would absolutely be friends in an alternate timeline of the universe. Even if you aren’t a broadway or hip hop fan though, this book is full of little gems and such a great, quick read.

The Love Prescription by John and Julie Gottman: Whether you are in a new relationship or a decades old marriage, this book has such specific, simple (though not necessarily easy) ways to make your partnership better. This distills John and Julie Gottman’s core work on relationships into seven days of actionable steps. The chapters were short enough that even with a busy parenting life and a crazy work schedule I got my husband to buy in and while he didn’t read every page… he did do the work. I think even the best matched couple needs to put in the work if they want a great marriage, and this book helps you focus that work in a quality not quantity type of way. (PS: if you are an auditory learner I highly recommend their episode on Brene Brown’s podcast– one of my favorite podcast series of all time)

Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson: If you want to read about one of the coolest women ever that I can’t believe was never mentioned in history class at my all girls high school… add this book to your list! Christian Desroches-Noblecourt is everything the subtitle of this book promises- “the daredevil archaeologist who saved Egypt’s ancient temples from destruction” but that doesn’t even touch on the way she was involved with the French resistance against the Nazis in Word War II or all the plucky, memorable other side adventures the book mentions. It reminded me that preservation and conservation and a link to our history is not inevitable, it is something people work for.

FICTION:

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: This book was quite a wild ride. The themes it covers are vast and while it sometimes felt a bit pedantic (perhaps purposely?), it moved so fast that I can forgive it those moments I wanted to roll my eyes. Our current online environment is wild and its not getting easier anytime soon. Add in what sounds like a nightmare culture in the publishing industry (and I KNOW the problems mentioned there are not just in that industry which is what makes this book so good) and I can’t get over how well written it was. Have you noticed I’m being cagey about the actual details of this book? That is because  is SO HARD to describe without inevitably getting into spoilers so…  just trust that love it or hate it this book will give you PLENTY to talk and think about for months to come.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros: If you are even tangentially on “bookstagram” then your algorithm has inevitably shown you plenty about The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yaros. Fourth Wing is the first book in this series that is at the top of almost every “Romantasy” list. If that isn’t your usual genre then the best way I can describe it is like Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones. At first I was skeptical because it seemed SO full of typical tropes (Plucky female lead? Check. School of learning magic and defense among other things? Check. Dragons? Check.) But the ways it diverged and came into its own and the way the pacing really picked up the second half of the book had me sold on this as one of y favorites of the year. OH, and I am VERY happy I read this book as an ebook because no one needed to walk in on an audiobook version of the spicy scenes… of which there are more of in the sequel so don’t say I didn’t warn you…
But seriously, this book has some of the coolest dragon lore my little nerdy heart could ever want.

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: Do you love The Princess Bride? Or strong quirky female protagonists in a fantasy setting but aren’t necessarily looking for the open door spicy scenes I mentioned above? Or the pacing of Brandon Sanderson’s writing? This is the book for you. It is hard to think of a book that brought me more pure pleasure and giggle out loud joy than this book. It is SO whimsical and wonderful and such a quick read. Even if fantasy isn’t your primary genre this reads more like a fairy tale for older readers and I honestly can’t wait to read it again and share it with my kids.

 

Poetry/Plays:

And Yet… by Kate Baer: This is Baer’s third poetry collection in as many years… (this came out in 2022 but I didn’t read until early 2023). I absolutely love the poems in this book. It was a return to the more traditional poetry style she had in What Kind of Woman which I much prefer to the erasure poetry in her last collection (I Hope This Finds You Well). It is hard to pick a favorite because so many of these are gorgeous and hit at my core, but if you made me pick I think I’d have to say Putting Away the Baby Clothes and Still Married take the cake.

POTUS by Selina Fillinger: What was with me reading and loving books with absurd subtitles this year? Here we go again, the full title of this play is actually- POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. I was SO sad that my schedule didn’t work out to see this production that a local theatre company did this past winter but had SO much fun reading the utter insanity in this play. If you have a problem with course language this is not the play for you, and while it definitely pushes on some political buttons, overall it does a good job of not making this about a single POTUS but instead about the absurdity of politics in general. I can’t tell you how much I wish I could have seen the broadway production as well…

Honorable Mention:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: The best “bookclub book” I read this year. I don’t mean that in a pejorative way, just a descriptive way. This is a Goodreads darling and for good reason. I’m so happy it got a TV show so more people will experience the story and looking forward to watching the adaptation when we circle back to having Apple TV+ again. A good dose of feminism, humor, and heart and a quick read… but also I did forget about reading it until I was going back over my list of books I read last year…

Surrender- 40 songs, 1 story by Bono: I can once again thank Brene Brown for helping me find this book. I’m not the biggest U2 listener, but I could not stop listening to the audiobook version of this book. I definitely recommend the book in this format as it includes referenced songs and, for me at least, Bono’s voice is just a delight to spend that many hours with.

*Return of the King: Yes, it’s Tolkien. yes, you have to read the whole trilogy to appreciate this final installment. No, I’m not linking to it because of the aforementioned reasons… but it remains a masterpiece. So full of hope and excitement and such a good payoff for reading so many pages. So it felt weird not to include here.