Literary Kitten

In 2023, I discovered a lot of my reading preferences. I like weird girls with their weird stories. I like stories about feminine rage. I like dark, moody, atmospheric classics and contemporary pieces too. I love fluid, beautiful writing and prose. Rich characters, environments, deep meanings and connections. Although, I love a simple, punchy story too.

What it comes down to: I found a lot of these elements in my top 10 favorite reads of 2023. What sticks out for me with these books is how these stories made me feel, how my reading experience went while reading a book. Was it a rewarding ending after a lot of build up? Was it a fast-moving, insane story that made me scream the entire time? Did I cry? Well all of these books answer at least one of those questions with a big fat YES. So here they are! My favorite books of 2023 with a brief description of why they stood out to me.

10. Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

“Boys are boys and they do what they want. Women want things too sometimes, but mostly they’re just warm sensory boards for men to tweak and rub and learn about themselves and the world through.”

When my partner and I went out of town for their work, I ended up reading a bunch of books in the hotel to pass the time. This book happened to be one of them and a book I had so much fun reading. I will NEVER forget my reading experience with this one.

The story starts off with Ralph and Abby trying to get back into the motions of life after Ralph’s mother, Laura passes away. The blurb on the back of this one describes it as a possible ghost tale, a tale of a mother haunting their child and daughter-in-law. To my surprise, it was much more than that and I was VERY pleased.

Pick up this one if you like reading about: motherhood (dark), how the grieving process can manifest itself, thrillers, struggling with depression, Chicken à la King, and pick this up if you like weird books in general. Check all trigger warnings.

9. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

“She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the windows of her eyes and that is very frightening.”

The most beautiful writing I have ever read. Carter puts a feminist, gothic twist on well-known fairy tales and elevates them into the stars. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I jumped into this book, but whatever expectations I did have somehow got blown out of the water.

I had chills while I read “The Bloody Chamber” and “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon”. There’s something about how Carter takes classic stories and puts her own twist on them that made this experience so memorable for me. In addition to the two I listed above, my other favorites included “Puss in Boots” and “The Erl-King”. Specifically, in “The Bloody Chamber”, the imagery playing out in my mind of the mom’s love for her daughter really warmed my heart ( I don’t want to spoil what happens so that’s all I can say).

Check trigger warnings for this one too! And maybe consider not bingeing it all at once. It can be quite heavy.

Read it if you like: feminist themes, gothic horror, fairy tales, short story collections

8. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

“I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.”

How do you process the grief of losing someone who hasn’t passed but has changed in such an immense way that you don’t even know them anymore? And not just anybody, but the love of your life? Let’s take it another step further into the spooky depths of the deep sea. How do you process the grief of losing the love of your life that changed after going missing in the spooky sea, deep underwater? And when we say “changed”, we don’t just mean that they’ve grown distant.

I’ll let you find out what I mean if you decide to read this; let me add, I think you should. It’s a slow-moving, beautifully written, sapphic literary horror book that answers these questions and the answers aren’t easy ones. Maybe the point is there isn’t an answer made for everyone, but instead, everyone has to find their own answers. This book grew on me after I finished it and I still think about it often. As always, check trigger warnings.

Check it out if you enjoy: body horror, sapphic horror, queer literature, creepy tales about the sea, slower paced, creepy reads.

7. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

“I have not broken your heart – you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”

Ah, a classic. One of THE classics you might say. A classic for a reason. Every person I’ve heard/seen talk about this book agrees on one thing: every character is insufferable. I loved it though. I love complex, morally gray characters. I admit, I did have to search for a family tree just to figure who is who and who did what. For that reason, I struggled with it in the beginning.

At a point though, I was really enjoying it and I wanted to know what happened next. It’s an OG gothic romance. I can’t resist. The story is told through a couple different perspectives, taking place during the evolution of a family over ten or so years. The writing is incredible as I’m sure you know or can guess. There are themes of revenge, growth, class, and more. I just love this one so much and I loved the ending; this book is not for everyone but it was for me.

Read if you enjoy: classics, gothic fiction, revenge stories, intricate writing

6. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

“Life’ wrote a friend of mine, ‘is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.”

I cried at the ending. I cried a lot. Let me tell you why. Dare I say it is one of the most quotable books I’ve ever read? The way Forster writes about the human experience, loving others despite differences; he made me cry. The character of Mr. Emerson in particular is one of my favorites ever. He is a light in the dark of my mind, and I will flip through my edition of this book to read many of his lines when I’m not feeling good.

A Room with a View primarily discusses the clashing of classes, what it means to love with your whole heart, and having confidence in your own agency. Also, a lot of the book takes place while traveling in Italy and it’s just so good. At first, I was unsure because in my mind, a lot of classics seem to start a bit slow and there’s some time before reaching the point. But so often, it is worth reaching that point.

Read it if you like: classics, romance, a good cry, characters defying expectations society places on them

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

“But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.”

Frankenstein. Frankenstein. I connected with this book so heavily because of how Shelley wrote about creation and family. This is another one of those classics I think most people have read but once again, I had to catch up. I’m so happy I’m catching up on these classics because of books like Frankenstein. There’s a reason books like these are so beloved.

It’s another gothic classic so you know I’m going to love it. To be serious, for me, I felt so much sympathy towards the creature Dr. Frankenstein created, even though I abhorred his actions in the end. For someone to create another being and then to discard them is an awful crime to commit. Desolation, abandonment, having to go through life without a guiding hand: it’s one of the worst human experiences. Frankenstein really makes you feel and understand some of that. Of course, it’s also written brilliantly.

Read it if you like: gothic horror, classic horror, monster books, excellent prose

4. Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

“They will call you hysterical no matter how much dignity you have. So you might as well do whatever the hell you want.”

A crime thriller based on true events that completely focuses on the victims. It’s a treat. It’s my favorite new release of 2023 (out of what I’ve read). I couldn’t put this one down; both main characters, Pam and Tina, are so badass. I love how Knoll points out the public’s sometimes unhealthy obsessions with true crime and the tendency to blame the victims instead of the monster. These are real crimes that impact real people, real families, friends, etc.

Bright Young Women is so tasteful; this book tugs on your heart strings for all the women impacted by crimes such as the ones discussed in the book. The book doesn’t sensationalize or romanticize a monster or a crime, it’s just real. Knoll handles all of this in such a genuine, raw way. This one is very dear to me.

Pick it up if you like: thrillers, feminist themes, reading from several perspectives, time jumping and flashbacks, badass women.

3. Sadie by Courtney Summers

“I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”

We all cried. I cried again. Summers destroyed my heart with Sadie’s story (or of what we know of it). Sadie goes missing after searching for the person who killed her sister. Just typing about this book right now is giving me chills. Like many other people state about this book: I can’t believe it’s YA. There’s some really dark things happening in this book. It’s a WHOLE EXPERIENCE.

The audiobook and book will have you hooked immediately. The story is told in a mixed media way, with transcripts of podcasts inserted through out. And it works. It works so well. The reader really feels for Sadie and everything she’s gone through. There’s this heartbreaking recurring theme about kids having the burden of the world on their shoulders; they don’t feel they can share it with anyone. So much responsibility, so young; its an excruciatingly emotional read but 100% worth it.

Read it if you enjoy: mysteries, thrillers, YA (or not honestly it’s just that good), mixed media stories, audiobooks (it’s such an amazing audiobook)

2. Bunny by Mona Awad

“I’ve never really not written, never not had another world of my own making to escape to, never known how to be in this world without most of my soul dreaming up and living in another.”

BUNNY CHANGED MY LIFE. I’m not even joking. This year, Bunny was my introduction to that “weird books for weird girls” genre. It’s just so very cool, Bunny. Don’t you know this book deserves at least 4 stars on Goodreads, Bunny? It has only 3.5, BUNNY!!! I guess it’s not so very for everyone.

I was completely gagged by the big reveal. I was gagged by the ending. The whole time I was in complete shock, while also wondering where books like this had been my whole life? It’s so culty, Barbie, Mean Girls… witchy, violent, Heathers. It has everything. Also bunnies are one of my favorite animals, so that worked in AND out of the book’s favor for me.

Girls create boys with some strange sort of magic ritual. Girls that like pink and so very cute things but also brutal things. They’re all also writers in a university, hence making this technically a dark academia. They also write extremely dark things? Oh I love it so much. I don’t ever see this not being one of my favorite books.

Read it if you like: literally anything. Please give Bunny a chance, it’s so fun and brutal and disturbing all at the same time

1. The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

“And did I pass?” The face of the old woman on my right was unreadable in the gathering dusk. On my left the younger woman said, “You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.”

One night, Literary Kitten couldn’t sleep. She stumbled out of bed to her office at 5 A.M. and randomly grabbed a book off her shelf. She couldn’t believe what she picked up, completely arbitrarily. This book… would become a top three favorite book of all time competing with the likes of The Picture of the Dorian Gray.

Yep, it’s this masterpiece by Neil Gaiman. Suddenly, I felt validated in my stillness. None of us really know where exactly we’re going or where we’re going to end up; we just know we’re moving along the best we can with some stops along the way. The human experience, life, is all about living. When I say living I mean: enjoying the small things we take for granted, like the moon, the stars, the falling leaves on trees and the sticks they leave behind. Life is not all about occupation, money, what you have gained or lost, but what has been there all along. Life is human, animal, nature, glowing in the dark, or sometimes completely unseen.

This book made me feel all of that. I felt appreciation for my beating heart on this earth while reading The Ocean at the end of the Lane. I don’t have much else to say, this one really touched me.

Read it if you like: coming of age tales, heartwarming stories, easy reads, slightly spooky reads, characters you want to hug

Well that’s a wrap on 2023! Thank you if you took the time to read my thoughts or even to just take a quick peak at my top reads of the year. I can’t wait to post about my 2024 reads!

originally posted on: January 4, 2024 (on previous site)