I got to read for pleasure again in 2023! What a concept, y’all. And I am hoping to do more pleasure reading in 2024. Since 2020, my reading has been impacted due to (a) pandemic, duh; (b) not traveling to an office job during the week, which is where I did most of my reading; and (c) job stuff—be it acquiring/editing full-time and/or teaching. And one cannot forget the release of my own book at the end of last summer as well as judging for the PEN Awards from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023. All said, I decided to keep my reading goals on the low side. For me that meant 40 books. I ended up reading 44, maybe 45 or more if you count the books I didn’t quite finish but made a good dent in by the end of the calendar year. Yet again, one of my biggest regrets reading-wise is that I didn’t get to read as much poetry as I would have liked. I did binge a few graphic novels the last two months. I love me some graphic novels; they’re a great way to learn more about pacing and storyboarding for one’s own work. As I often say, you can learn from every genre
Now, do I have stacks upon stacks of books all around me in my home office? Absolutely! Will I be buying even more books in 2024 on top of the stacks piling up that need homes on shelves? You’re damn right, I will, because: solidarity and this is my brand, after all.
If you’ve read some or all or most of these books, I’d love to hear your thoughts (and recs)! Below are my fave reads of 2023, in no particular order:
If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie (2023) - This is such a sweet campus love story between two gals who aren’t always the best communicators when it comes to relationships, especially since they’re both new to them. Momo and PG have their meet-cute a couple times before descending into a deep friendship that’s more than that. If You’ll Have Me has laughs and a lot of tender moments, especially with how Eunnie illustrates the main characters’ past heartbreaks leading to their present actions.
Mexikid by Pedro Martín (2023) - I was laughing SO much when I read Mexikid on my way back from NCTE this year and gobbled it up as soon as I landed. Martín creates such a layered story of a family trip encompassing a learning experience for the characters, namely about one another, as well as how a big family shows love in different ways while coming to understand more about their heritage. If you follow Martín’s IG account (mexikidstories) you’ll see that he has mini comics about his childhood as well, so this graphic novel is a great culmination of what readers have been introduced to online.
Blackbirds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert (2021) - Colbert’s award-winning nonfiction account of the Tulsa Massacre is a great book, not only for young readers but those of us at every age. Colbert doesn’t spare the details and provides a wealth of facts around how white supremacy led to the slaughter of hundreds of Black people and a Black town. Building the story from a lot of pieces that constitute the whole to the glaring omission of this massacre from not only local but national discussions, makes this an essential read. Particularly with what we’re seeing in our news media and globally now, Blackbirds can help articulate to younger readers current discussions of occupation, colonization, and persecution, in addition to the bias in media that can skew stories with even a headline.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (2020) - Not only was, am, I on a graphic novel kick, I’m also digging the rom-coms! I was in Chicago this summer and a wonderful bookseller at Unabridged Bookstore suggested Alexis Hall to me when I mentioned I was eager for a book that was along the lines of Casey McQuiston’s work. Boyfriend Material didn’t disappoint! Now the premise may seem a little Hallmark (no shade) though the execution is completely hilarious and sweet. Luc is dealing with straight up homophobia at his job along with his former “bad boy persona” due to a jerkwad ex who sold bits of their story to the tabloids—something that continues to haunt Luc. (His dad is a famous rock musician, by the way.) So he enlists a handsome guy he hates, and thinks dislikes him, named Oliver who is the creme de la creme of partners. What ensues is shenanigans! And there’s a follow-up to this one so you can figure out how it ends, but the journey is one you wanna be on the ride for.
I’m From by Gary R. Gray Jr. & Oge Mora (2023) - You’re gonna see a few picture books on this list and Gary R. Gray Jr & Oge Mora’s collaboration, I’m From, is one of the most endearing and celebratory (picture) books I had the chance to read recently. I’m From gives testament and love to the small things like getting a nice shape up to the food and community that makes us who we are. It’s Black joy personified! Pick this one up if you haven’t and listen to Gary’s podcast, It’s Personal. As a fellow podcaster I have a lot of admiration for anyone who has a job, creates, and provides space for creators to talk about work.
We the Animals by Justin Torres (2011) - Alright, it took me a while to read this one solely because it was in one of those TBR stacks! Newly minted National Book Award winner, Justin Torres’ debut is a taut and teachable (I love using it for workshops) book with such strength in it’s depth and conciseness. Each chapter feels like a complete scene and a full-fledged moment building to the next, and the shift in POV is also something to learn from. To master such a story of a young man, let alone a family, in less than 200 pages??? Sir! (slow clap) It will not take me a decade to read Torres’ latest Blackouts. The experimental style he brings to his current book is a model for authors to see there are no bounds to our stories.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (2020) - Back on the rom-com train! I’d been hearing about Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters series and wanted to dig in. So I was delightfully enchanted with the sexual energy between Danika Brown and hunky former rugby player Zafir. Little does Dani know Zafir has had a thing for her for a while, and little does Zafir know, Dani has some commitment issues—due to, you guessed it, a jerkwad ex! Anywho, similar to Boyfriend Material the two act as a couple to help Zafir earn some visibility (and donations) for a charity he runs. And, as you can imagine, things get salacious when they let their true feelings float to the surface. A super funny and spicy read.
BIG by Vashti Harrison (2023) - I will be shouting from the rooftops how much I love Big! When I first heard about Harrison’s new picture book I thought it was about a young Black girl growing up. Well, it is and isn’t. This is about how a young Black girl’s body can start to be policed and at such a young age based on problematic societal expectations. Big is sparse in words, so this may be great for reading time and an opportunity to explore with younger readers the impact of each page/spread. On IG, Vashti explains a bit about her methodology & intention especially with the use of colors like “husky gray.” As I noted with Torres, sparseness can be impactful in so many ways. A book like Big is one you have to take in each page slowly to see how every aspect builds the whole, which is what you should do with any illustrated work, and yet in this one it feels even more potent. Ten-ten recommend!
Tangled Up in Mayhem by Merrill Wyatt (2023) - I got an early read of this one and I thought it was so fun! (See a theme this year?) This is a middle grade mystery series where two besties, Sloane and Amelia, are trying to up their YouTube docuseries game. (They have an account where they record the cases they solve.) They get hired by one of their foes’—yes even tweens have foes—parents to try and find a valuable artifact in an amusement park. Of course trouble ensues when the girls find out there’s more than meets the eye with this job. Tie in some grandma’s with klepto tendencies, their foes unexpected arrival at the park, some creepy figure bumping around in the night, and you have a quirky series with twists, turns, and characters’ building deeper family connections.
Dyke (geology) by Sabrina Imbler (2021) - I was introduced to Imbler’s work because they’re one of this year’s recipients of the National Book Award Science & Literature prize. And Dyke has that lovely and brilliant duality of merging the personal with the geological and environmental–much like Imbler’s current book, How Far the Light Reaches, that you can also hear me gush about on the Literary Arts podcast, The Archive Project (TAP)! In some ways, Dyke reminds me of Mean by Myriam Gurba with the direct correlations, research, and confrontation of feelings and societal “norms” and others expectations as we build on our own. Imbler’s voice deftly weaves so much into a chapbook that you can read it over and over again, absorbing the potency of each line. I behoove you to pick this one and How Far the Light Reaches up.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (2020) - The hype is real with this one. Good Indians was one of those books I heard about nonstop in 2020, especially since it won so many awards. When I had a chance to read it for a Center for Fiction reading group, I made sure to add it to the list. And it did not disappoint. Character and voice are some of my biggest go-tos and this novel had it all with A LOT of creepy stuff in-between. A haunting impacts four friends who reside on or have left their reservation. One-by-one they’re impacted in ways you wouldn’t expect. By the end of Jones’ novel you’re wondering who will be left standing and what this means for the legacy these characters were trying to carry on in the first place. I’d love to write more, but I want you to come into it cold just like I did so you can experience it all first-hand. So please go read and then come talk to me about it!
Shutter by Ramona Emerson (2022) - Longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for a PEN Award, Emerson’s Shutter is another title I was completely absorbed by and am teaching whenever I get the chance. One of my favorite parts of Emerson’s novel is how she builds parallel storylines until they meet, reflecting the past (in the types of doodads she uses to take photos) to the present mystery of a woman who was killed but won’t leave forensic photographer Rita Todacheene alone. As in, Rita is not getting any peace thanks to her ability to communicate with the non-living, so factor that in for years with her gift and you have a lot of stuff going on. Much is at stake for Rita from her sanity & health to her job to potential corruption within the ranks of her police department. This is not only a top-notch thriller, it’s a nuanced exploration of how much follows us when we refuse to face the truth.
The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi and Loveis Wise (2021) - Yay picture books! Zoboi and Wise collaborated on this immersive and vivid picture book on Black history as well as how the tenets of Kwanzaa have always been crucial parts of Black culture. From the Kingdom of Dahomey to the impact of the Voting Rights Act to the election of Barack Obama and ongoing protests for Black lives, The People Remember is a testament to thriving, fighting, and loving ourselves and our community.
And of course this list wouldn’t be complete without some additional book recommendations of some wonderful titles! So make sure to check out:
John Manuel Arias’ Where There Was Fire, Agustina Bazterrica’s Tender Is the Flesh, Huda Fahmy’s Huda F Cares?, Scaachi Koul’s One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Glenis Redmond’s The Listening Skin, Ari Tison’s Saints of the Household, and The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela.