The Bookish Mutant’s 5-star Reads of 2023

Happy Wednesday, bibliophiles!

I was going to publish this earlier in the day, but that was before my laptop charger broke. Luckily, I’ve got a spare, but I’m glad that it happened, because while I was rationing my laptop’s battery life, I finished a book that landed on this year’s honorable mentions! Happy accidents.

Growth happens every year, but 2023 has especially felt like a year of growth to me; I’ve gotten into the rhythm of college, and I’ve tread into more challenging territory with my English degree. I’ve had the honor of being a learning assistant, and the experience of helping teach a class has greatly enriched me—and given me a much-needed boost to my public speaking confidence. And I started the year with buzzing my hair off! Not something that past me thought I’d ever do. (For those of you who are uncertain: do it. It’s worth it. Growing out your hair takes a while, but it’s worth the experience.)

I still haven’t gotten into the reading rhythm that I used to have (and I doubt I ever will—Jeezus, how did I ever manage to read 300 books in a year? How?), but that doesn’t mean that I’ve found plenty of gems in the bunch. Like last year, I don’t have as many 5-star reads, but that’s fine with me—as I said last year, it’s probably a consequence of my tastes getting more selective, and finding them scattered few and far between makes me savor them that much more. It’s a strange bunch this year—fiction and nonfiction, time travel and pirates. But these are the books that made this year all the richer.

Let’s begin, shall we?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S 5-STAR READS OF 2023⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Ceremony – Leslie Marmon Silko | You thought I wouldn’t give a book with themes of mixed-race identity and storytelling 5 stars? Really?
• The Isles of the Gods – Amie Kaufman | Banger after banger from Amie Kaufman
• This Is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone | Cosmically sprawling, achingly romantic. Just the right combination.
• So Lucky – Nicola Griffith | Disabled female rage!! Disabled female rage!!
• A Thousand Steps into Night – Traci Chee | There’s something to be said about 5-star reads that come out of nowhere. So much more emotional than I bargained for, but that’s not a complaint.
• Story of Your Life – Ted Chiang | somebody hold me
• The Stonewall Reader – edited by the New York Public Library | Nothing more liberating than learning your own history.
• Fear Stalks the Land! A Commonplace Book – Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood | One word: Radiohead. Of course I gave it 5 stars.

HONORABLE MENTIONS (4.5 STARS):

• The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World – Sarah Stewart Johnson
• Nothing Burns as Bright as You – Ashley Woodfolk
• Some Desperate Glory – Emily Tesh
• Our Wives Under the Sea – Julia Armfield
• The Siren, The Song, and the Spy (The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, #2) – Maggie Tokuda-Hall
• Into the Heartless Wood – Joanna Ruth Meyer

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these books, and if so, did you enjoy them as much as I did? What were your favorite reads of the year? Let me know in the comments!

Today’s song:

That’s it for my favorite books of the year! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!