the first half of this year was a blur because it was dominated by me struggling very much to write the sequel to the daughters of izdihar (the weavers of alamaxa, which you can preorder, because i put my blood, sweat, and tears into it and i think it’s pretty good lol).
however, i did manage to read more books than last year! in 2022 i read a paltry 25 books, but in 2023 i read 37! still way less than the 70-100 i used to read in a year, but at least i’m on an upwards trajectory.
favorite books of 2023, in no particular order:
the adventures of amina al-sirafi by shannon chakraborty: shannon chakraborty is one of my favorite authors and anything she writes is an auto buy for me, so i never expected not to like her new seafaring adventure, but i was delighted by how much it delighted me. it’s so unapologetically and casually muslim but also irreverent and swashbuckling and rooted in its historical time period and so damn fun. amina is a sort of character you don’t see too often in fantasy — a mother, middle-aged, who’s already had her adventures, and it was a breath of fresh air reading from the perspective of an experienced older woman who’s kind of over everything the world has thrown at her.
the river of silver by shannon chakraborty: i adore the daevabad trilogy and somehow the river of silver made me adore it even more. i would read hundreds of more books in this world, with these characters. every single short story in the river of silver was too short. every single story could have been a novel and i would have devoured it. it’s clear shannon chakraborty knows these characters and this world front and back and there is such a richness to the character dynamics.
babel by rf kuang: i finally read it! and i’m in the camp of people who absolutely love babel. i don’t think it’s without its flaws, but i think that the sheer magnitude of it as an accomplishment eclipses any issues it may have. for example, i have thoughts on how victoire and letty both were characters who felt more like plot devices than people, and i also have thoughts on the midpoint’s trajectory, but ultimately i am just awed by the sheer scale of babel. it also made me very emotional, something which few books manage to do; i related to it on a very personal level and it was one of those novels that feels like coming home. also, the writing is gorgeous.
the ninth rain by jen williams: i love a fantasy novel that really commits to bonkers worldbuilding. jen williams throws everything but the kitchen sink at this world, but it works. it’s one of the more creative fantasy novels i’ve come across, and it’s headed by a trio of very intriguing characters, two of whom i had the pleasure of shipping. (i love it when a book makes me ship characters and gives me all those fandom feelings.)
city of stairs by robert jackson bennett: i first read city of stairs back in 2015 and remembered liking it but not loving it; when i reread it this year i absolutely loved it. perhaps it’s because at this point i’ve read so much more fantasy and can see how much of a standout this is in comparison. it’s a tightly-written fantasy murder mystery with some extremely cool god-lore. it’s expertly plotted and leads you to twist after twist. it’s also led by one of my favorite fantasy characters of all time, shara komayd. i finished the entire trilogy this year and very much enjoyed the other two books as well, but city of stairs will always be my favorite because i love shara so much.
a lady’s guide to fortune hunting by sophie irwin: i don’t read a ton of romance generally, so i was happy that the one i randomly decided to pick up turned out to be so, so good! it was an absolute delight, a very jane austen-esque romantic comedy featuring a heroine who is so unapologetically mercenary about her goals. the writing strikes a wonderful balance between austen-esque and modern and there was so much tongue-in-cheek humor. i can’t wait to read sophie irwin’s next book!
everything’s fine by cecilia rabess: this book was the subject of some controversy at the start of the year because it was inexplicably marketed as a peppy rom-com about a racist white man and black woman, which isn’t really what it is at all. to me it read far more sad and sinister than than rom-com, particularly because it’s suffused with a palpable dread that continues to build until the very last page of the book. i think it buckles a bit in the last act with a plot point that can’t stand on its own two legs, but ultimately i think this was a really thought-provoking novel with some great writing.
the hero strikes back by moira j moore: this is a mass market fantasy published back when mass market fantasy was a thing, and it definitely gives mass market fantasy vibes in a way i can’t quite put my finger on. there’s just something about the eclectic narration style and the worldbuilding that marks it as of its time. that said, i loved it and i’m continuing on with the seven-book series because the chemistry between the two main leads is incredible. i’d recommend this to folks looking for something that gives cozy fantasy but has somewhat high stakes.
companions of the night by vivian vande velde: i actually dnf’d this book when i was twelve or thirteen years old, for reasons i can’t remember, but the first chapter — a teenage girl finding herself in a laundromat where a group of people have captured a man they believe to be a vampire — stuck with me. i always meant to go back and give it another go, and i’m so glad i did. this is what vampire novels should aspire to be. the vampire character is so well-written; he manages to be compelling even though he’s very much a reprehensible person. the lead gal, kerry, is…probably unrealistically mature for a sixteen-year-old, but it made her a great protagonist.
a study in drowning by ava reid: i’ve adored both of ava reid’s previous novels and this one was no exception. i love ava’s lyrical writing and worldbuilding. this book in particular has an undefinable quality that makes it feel otherworldly. i also loved the story within a story aspect, as well as the chapter epigraphs.
seven faceless saints by mk lobb: fantasy murder mysery in florence-esque world with childhood friends to enemies to lovers. first, mk lobb’s writing is so very good, and i foten found myself rereading her lines. second, the two main characters are both well-drawn and compelling, and i was pleased we got a dual pov so we could see how they saw each other.
now for some standout television!
the boys (s1, 2, & 3): i’ve been meaning to watch the boys for a while but what pushed me was knowing jensen ackles joins the third season (in case you missed it, i’m a supernatural girlie and jensen ackles is one of my favorite actors). this is such a wild series in so many ways, and i can admire a show that goes all out bonkers and pulls out all the stops. like, it just keeps one-upping itself, and i love that.
interview with the vampire: i started reading anne rice when i was 11 years old. she got me into vampires and has been such a huge influence on my morbid interests. this is a new and different take on the book, with the biggest differences being: it’s set in a different time period, louis is a black man, claudia is fifteen insted of five, and the queer subtext between louis and lestat is no longer just subtext (this was called the gay vampire show on twitter because it is in fact very gay). i actually had a lot of criticisms of this show, mostly containing the framing device (the interview structure was…questionably done) and claudia’s storyline (you’d think in the year of our lord 2023 having women be raped to teach them some sort of lesson would not be a thing even subtly but this was so overt and the creator even SAYS it out loud), but everything else was so spectacular i couldn’t not love it. in particular, sam reid’s performance as lestat is…mindblowing, to be quite honest.
lambs of god: and so, because i was so impressed by sam reid, i started seeking out his filmography, and found this odd little australian miniseries about three nuns who live on a secluded island the priest who arrives and upsets their way of life. it’s very weird and plays with the idea of whether miracles are real and some things aren’t addressed very well at all, but it’s got great vibes and the performances are great.
the newsreader (s1): this truly was the year of sam reid, because i never would have watched this show if he hadn’t been headlining it. it’s got similar vibes to the hour, in that it follows a news channel in a particular time period (in this case, the 1980s). it’s got a great cast of characters who play off each other really well and i’m looking forward to season 2!
wilderness: starring jenna coleman and oliver jackson-cohen, wilderness is a soap opera that desperately wants you to think it’s prestige tv, even with the taylor swift “look what you made me do” opener. but, soap operas that think they are prestige tv is actually one of my favorite genres of tv, so i enjoyed this immensely. sure, it sometimes veers into cringe, but it’s just such a train wreck that it’s hard to look away. also i’ve loved jenna coleman for years and she’s excellent in this, as is oliver jackson-cohen, who is a newer to me, but is someone whose career i will continue to follow.
this really was a year of films; i watched so many more than i usually do. i even went to the actual movie theater for the first time since 2019!
here’s my standouts out of the 71 films i saw:
prometheus & alien covenant: i watched the entire alien franchise this year, because, incredibly, i’d never seen it before, and while i enjoyed the original movies (well, i enjoyed movie one and two, movie three and four were awful), i enjoyed the more recent duology way more. partly this was due to michael fassbender’s performance, but partly i felt like these movies seemed more philosophical and grounded, and of course so very sad.
nimona: not too much to say here except that this was a really well-done adaptation of a beloved graphic novel!
oppenheimer: i’ve adored cillian murphy since i was a teenager and really that was the main reason i wanted to see this movie (aside from the barbenheimer phenomenon). incredible acting, score, cinematography. not a movie i think is flawless by any means — i had major issues with how florence pugh’s character was written — but just well done on a technical level and very affecting.
talk to me: i watch a lot of horror but there’s not a lot of horror i end up loving, because i’m quite picky about it. i went to see talk to me in theatres and it absolutely terrified me, which doesn’t ever happen. it takes a very common premise and tackles it in a new way. there are scenes in this movie that have been forever branded onto the inside of my eyelids.
the limehouse golem: starring olivia coleman (whom i adore) and set in the victorian era (my favorite time period), the limehouse golem is a murder mystery that feel very grounded in its time period. it just felt so deeply victorian in a way that a lot of historical dramas don’t, and i especially liked the attention paid to the music halls. there are some fascinating ruminations on gender and gender performance as it relates to actual performance which i didn’t expect, along with an awesome twist.
john tucker must die: sometimes you just need to watch a 2006 film for the nostalgia. this gave me so much nostalgia. it was very dumb and fun and i was riveted by a group of girls who band together to take revenge on john tucker, the guy who cheated on all of them.
bottoms: an absolutely bonkers plot with bonkers humor that is right up my alley. great acting from every single person and a touching ending that isn’t cringe.
inglorious basterds (rewatch): i don’t normally include rewatches, but since the last time i watched inglorious basterds i was in high school, i figured it deserved a shout-out. i had no idea how i’d feel about it fourteen years later but i loved it as much as i did when i was a teenager.
a writing retrospective:
listen. i don’t like to lightly throw around the word “writer’s block” because i don’t want to manifest that. but after finishing the weavers of alamaxa earlier this year i haven’t actually written anything else. i mean, i’ve written words, and i’ve toyed with various projects, but i haven’t actually written anything that amounts to something cohesive, nor have i really settled on something. in fact, i ended up trunking a project that i’d tried to revive (though i should have known it was a lost cause, since it’s a project i’ve been struggling with for almost ten years).
i have had a book out on submission since november. i actually started writing it in 2019, when my brain could still write in a way that felt effortless, and polished it up in 2021.
i’m not really sure exactly where i’m at with my writing at the moment, to be honest. i still feel like i’m being pulled in several different directions with regards to projects. right now i’m trying to direct my focus towards a high fantasy that i’ve tinkered with since 2012. i’m also trying to make peace with the fact that i am a slow writer. i always have been, but i’d never confronted that because i was never before faced with deadlines, and i was never before so in-tune with the publishing world.
miscellaneous but major things:
this was the year i lost 100lbs. well, technically the weight started coming off in may 2022, when i had my surgery to cure cushing’s disease, but in 2023 i spent the whole year on ozempic, the so-called magic drug that’s been making the rounds. i was prescribed ozempic because of a diabetes diagnosis, and weight loss was a side effect. it’s been a very surreal thing because i haven’t been at my current weight since high school, so it’s very much been a process of getting to know my body from scratch. i also had to buy an entirely new wardrobe, lol. but the major weight loss also seems to have sapped me of strength and energy, and my brain fog is at an all time high. possibly this is because i’m not consuming as many nutrients as my body needs, possibly it’s a side-effect of ozempic, but it’s definitely hampered my writing ability. i’m finally off ozempic in 2024 and hoping to see a change in cognitive ability.
in 2023 i went to the UK for the first time! it was a very spur of the moment summer trip. i got to see london, the cotswolds, yorkshire, and edinburgh. it was strange, because i’d been dreaming of the UK for so long, and i’d idolized it for so long that it was never going to meet my expectations. and it didn’t. it’s not that i was disappointed, because i loved the trip, and in fact i’m going to the UK again later this year, to see the highlands, but i think i got a lot of perspective that i needed. (also, i’ll say it here: the cotswolds are supremely overrated.)
a major highlight of 2023 was getting to see the canadian revival of natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812. i saw the broadway version a few years back, and i managed to see it six times before it closed unceremoniously early. the revival was originally supposed to be in 2020, but then covid hit and everything was shut down, so i was very happy that the theatre decided to continue with this revival. and it was, well, magical. like, this show has kind of ruined musical theatre for me because there’s nothing imo that can top its energy and vibe.
oh and of course 2023 was the year i debuted lmao. but you probably already knew that if you’re reading this. and the best part has been the readers. finding that one review that just gets what you were trying to do. talking to a reader who felt seen by the worldbuilding. the fanart. seeing readers get attached to specific characters. getting emails from people who loved my book so much they just had to let me know. all of it means so much.
and that’s all! i hope everyone’s new year is off to a good start.