Every book I read last year

It's never too late for a 2023 post

As Larry David would no doubt agree, it is far too late for me to wish you a happy new year. [Ed note: this was true when I wrote this six weeks ago and is even more true now.] But is it too late for me to tell you all the books I read last year? Absolutely not! Hey, I don’t make the rules… Actually, I do. Which is why this newsletter is coming to you so long after the last Shirley post, that you probably forgot you subscribe. (Looking forward to all the unsubscribes this post spurs! See you never.) And now, onto the list 👇👇👇

A few years ago I started wondering if it was possible to recall every book I’ve ever read, and so I started a document called Every Book I’ve Ever Read. And when I failed at that by making it too complicated, I started a new document called Every Book I’ve Ever Read, Take 2. This one is also overcomplicated, with columns for various tags including genre of book and mood of book and “Other Categorical Notes” as well as “Other General Notes” (welcome to the ADHD brain, friends); nevertheless, it stuck.

Now, I fill in only the columns I feel like filling in that day (typically: Title, Author, Year Published, and Year Read) and tell myself I’ll do the rest later. I’ve still managed to mess up the data somehow, but at least I have a record for moving forward, and perhaps one day I will finish back-filling it by digging through my grad school reading lists, and college syllabi, and horrific high school flashbacks (I literally bit my copy of Howard’s End out of rage), and joyful childhood memories, and iPhone photos of book covers I snapped in pretty lighting next to beverages and then got too self-conscious to post to social media.

Unless I forgot to add some of last year’s books to my list, which is possible, I read 45—not bad!—but this year, I am aiming for the elusive 52. (If anyone’s up for a reading challenge or accountability partner, DM me. Also, pro tip: Add more poetry books, they are short.)

A word on 2023’s books themselves: I read differently than in years past, and much less diversely on almost every level, because I started a long-term project [yes, that is code for an N-O-V-E-L, but let’s not jinx the project anymore than it already is by saying the word aloud]. During much of the year, I sought out books with a particular theme I thought would help me (in the end, most of them didn’t, but that’s OK—I had the theme wrong, and now I have it right!). I also kept re-reading a small handful of books while obsessing over structure (these books are not on this list).

All this to say, this is a different list than you may have come to expect from Shirley. But perhaps you will find it useful, or even just voyeuristic. (It does feel oddly vulnerable to share.)

Even though I found immense value in pretty much all of these books, an asterisk indicates a book that has already appeared on Shirley, or may show up in a future Shirley, or could have been in a hypothetical Shirley had I written it, or the author is my friend ; )

The Books! (in alphabetical order)

1. American Housewife: Stories, by Helen Ellis (2016)

2. *Big Swiss, by Jen Beagin (2023)

3. *Costalegre, by

   Courtney Maum
   (2019) [Ed note: Courtney writes the excellent Substack Before and After the Book Deal, which I highly recommend subscribing to.]

4. Death Valley, by Melissa Broder (2023)

5. *Easy Beauty, by Chloé Cooper Jones (2022) (nonfiction)

6. Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh (2015)

7. *Fen: Stories, by Daisy Johnson (2016) [Ed note: This was recommended to me by ace recommender and human

   ariél martinez
   , who writes the must-read Substack All the Things She Said (Were Good).]

8. *Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton (2020)

9. Hangasman, by Shirley Jackson (1951)

10. *Happy All the Time, by Laurie Colwin (1978)

11. *Haunted Houses, by Lynn Tillman (1987)

12. Heartburn, by Nora Ephron (1983)

13. *I Have Some Questions for You (2023), by

    Rebecca Makkai
    [Ed note: She is the creator of yet another great Substack, particularly for writers but also for normal humans, SubMakk.]

14. *I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories, by Laura van den Berg (2020)

15. In the Act, by Rachel Ingalls (1987)

16. It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover (2016)

17. *Lessons and Carols: A Meditation on Recovery, by John West (2023)

18. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (2022)

19. *Luster, by Raven Leilani (2020)

20. *Mrs. Caliban, by Rachel Ingalls (1982)

21. Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson (2019)

22. *Pet, by Catherine Chidgey (2023)

23. Publishing Now: GenderFail's Working Class Guide to Making a Living Off Self Publishing, by Be Oakley (2023) (nonfiction)

24. *Real Estate, by Deborah Levy (2021) (nonfiction)

25. Recipe for a Perfect Wife, by Karma Brown (2020)

26. *Severance, by Ling Ma (2018)

27. *Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan (2020)

28. Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy (2011)

29. *Terrace Story, by Hilary Leichter (2023) 

30. The Drowning Kind, by Jennifer McMahon (2021)

31. *The Hive and the Honey, by Paul Yoon (2023)

32. *The Last Animal, by Ramona Ausubel (2023)

33. *The Living Is Easy, by Dorothy West (1948)

34. *The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, by Colleen Oakley (2023)

35. *The Nursery, by Szilvia Molnar (2023)

36. *The Pisces, by Melissa Broder (2018)

37. *The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty (2022)

38. Times Like These: Stories, by Rachel Ingalls (2005)

39. *Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin (2022)

40. *Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine (2011)

41. *Vladimir, by Julia May Jonas (2022)

42. Wayward, by Dana Spiotta (2021)

43. *We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry (2020)

44. Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple (2012)

45. Wish Her Safe at Home, by Stephen Benatar (1982)

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Oh, and one more big thing:

Shirley’s back! Yes, friends, moving forward, you can expect to see Shirley in your inbox on the regular again, brought to you by Ritalin™️. Look out for the usual monthly recommendations post—featuring one Current, one Contemporary, and one Of Yore pick—the first Friday of every month.* Will there be other things, too? Oh yes, yes there will be.

*Subject to change, in available regions only, purchase not required to enter, information provided is for general informational purposes only, may cause dry mouth, do not consume while operating heavy machinery.

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