Sophie’s favourite books of 2023 so far
I’m going to start with a brag: I am smashing my Goodreads Challenge so far this year. SMASHING IT.
Did I just jinx myself by bragging about it? I really, really hope not…
I know it’s not quite halfway through the year yet, but I’m just a few books from halfway to my Goodreads goal (47 of 100!), so it feels like the right time to declare my love for some books and see how I feel about them by the end of the year. Will they still be on the list? Will the book at the top still be at the top?
My favourites of the year so far are….
‘Frontier’ by Grace Curtis - There’s something about quiet, reflective sci-fi ala Becky Chambers that just does it for me and while this debut took a few chapters to get going, I ended up loving this queer, Western, space opera of a woman searching the scorched, abandoned Earth for her love. Beautiful! (Full review here)
‘The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi’ by SA Chakraborty - This is my favourite book of 2023 so far, with no contenders. I haven’t read the Daevabad trilogy (YET), but Amina’s story is set hundreds of years before in the same world where Amina al-Sirafi is retired from ruling the seas. When she’s offered a reward she can’t refuse, it’s time to get back on the ocean. This is wonderfully immersive, (Full review here)
‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent - I love it, LOVE IT, when one of the books that I read for our podcast is a book that ends up on my favourites list, and this is one of the best I’ve found for a long time. It’s dark academia at its dark and twisty best, with really brilliant writing to boot. (Full review here)
‘Eyes Guts Throat Bones’ by Moira Fowley - I’m a big fan of Moira Fowley’s YA novels, and this is debut short story collection and first fiction for adults too. This collection is essentially lesbian horror at the end of the world and I’m still thinking about it weeks after finishing it. (Full review here)
‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew - Andrew’s debut novel kicked off season four of ‘The Dark Academicals’ podcast (you can listen right here!) and I couldn’t have asked for a better season opener. Ghosts, Hell, college and a relationship that took me right back to the 2010s paranormal YA of dreams. (Full review here)
‘How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart’ by Florentyna Leow - This is a little book that packs a real punch! It’s a melding of travel and food writing, memoir, essays exploring friendship, heartbreak and finding home, and it’s absolutely beautiful. I fell head over heels in love with it. (Full review here)
‘Hidden Legacy’ series by Ilona Andrews - specifically, the first trilogy in the series that stars Nevada and Rogan. I adore Andrews’ urban fantasy worlds and the characters she creates are strong, powerful, flawed and impossible not to love. This magical version of Houston, Texas was everything I wanted! The second trilogy stars Nevada’s sister Catalina, and while I enjoyed it, it took me longer to get on board with it.
As a little Brucey Bonus, I’m also going to include my favourite TV shows and movies. In all honesty, I’m slacking on them both this year - I only really find the attention span to watch things at the weekend and I’m terrible about going to the cinema, BUT I still do have favourites.
TV
If I’m ignoring things I’ve rewatched, then there’s only one real standout for 2023 so far: Lockwood and Co.
I adore the book series and the show captured all of the things I love about the books. I just desperately need Netflix to renew it for season two now, please!
I’m very much looking forward to diving into ‘Queen Charlotte’ this evening, and I’m also excited to see how ‘Never Have I Ever’ wraps up this summer.
Movies
As I said, I’m terrible about going to the cinema so there are a bunch of films I really want to see that will no doubt be favourites: ‘Renfield’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3’, ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ and ‘Are you there God, it’s me Margaret’.
Also, ‘Barbie’ is coming out soon. That is going to be a masterpiece.
but my two favourite films I’ve watched this year are ‘Glass Onion’, ‘The Menu’ and ‘Matilda’.
Theatre
I’ve been lucky enough to see a new all-time favourite musical on the West End this year with ‘&Juliet’ and I adored it. So did Sarah! It’s a reimagining of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ if Juliet had lived and it’s full of pop music, overturning gender stereotypes and championing women to take control of their own fates. It’s wonderful.
What have you read, watched, listened to so far this year that you think will make your 2023 favourites?
Written by Sophie
