6.17 The Community Library Reading Awards 2023
Welcome to the fifth annual Community Library Reading Awards! A completely subjective and biased awards ceremony in which the prizes go to the books I read and liked in 2023. Tonight there are twelve awards to give out to honour some of my favourite books I read in 2023. I hope you enjoy!
Listen to the episode here
TL;DL? Here’s a list of all the books I talked about in the episode:
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
published 1973
adult / fiction / coming-of-age / queer
The gist: Queer-identifying protagonist Molly leaves her small town life to seek her fortune in New York City
Oreo by Fran Ross
published 1974
adult / fiction / coming-of-age / adventure
The gist: Our protagonist Oreo leaves her small town to find her father in New York City
2. BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
published in 2005
adult / fiction / literary
The gist: The feud between two rival academics deepens and complicates when their two families move to the same area.
3. MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
published 2020
adult / fiction / speculative / literary
The gist: An introspective look at a woman’s life, her relationships, connections, and life choices.
4. FAVOURITE COVER
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
published 2023
adult / fiction / literary / thriller
The gist: When her writer friend dies, a struggling author steals her manuscript and passes it off as her own.
Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
published 2022
adult / fiction / speculative / fantasy / historical
The gist: A fourteen-year-old ghost girl who haunts a monastery falls in love with an eccentric woman who comes to stay.
5. FAVOURITE YA FICTION
As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
published 2021
YA / fiction / mystery / thriller
The gist: After two years of solving mysteries in her town, high school student Pip’s own life is now in danger.
6. FAVOURITE TRANSLATED FICTION
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
published 2005
translated from Japanese by Alexander O. Smith
adult / fiction / detective mystery
The gist: When a woman is implicated in a murder, her strange neighbour decides to help her.
7. FAVOURITE MYSTERY / THRILLER
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
published 2022
adult / fiction / mystery
The gist: Told in a series of voice-note transcriptions, middle-aged man recently released from prison tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of his primary school teacher.
8. FAVOURITE FANTASY
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
published 2023
adult / fiction / fantasy / historical
The gist: A middle-aged lady pirate is brought out of retirement to go on one last seafaring mission.
9. FAVOURITE NONFICTION
Midnight Chicken: & Other Recipes Worth Living For by Ella Risbridger
published 2019
adult / nonfiction / cook book / mental health
The gist: A cook book with delicious recipes, and about how Ella learned to find reasons to live through food.
10. FAVOURITE 2023 RELEASE
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
published 2023
adult / fiction / romance / comedy
The gist: A romance author agrees to participate in a reality dating show to find love.
11. NEW FAVOURITE AUTHOR
Emily St. John Mandel
b. 1979 in British Colombia, Canada
Author of six novels
12. BOOK OF THE YEAR
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
published 2014
adult / fiction / speculative / literary
The gist: We follow a collection of characters both before and after a deadly virus sweeps the world and causes civilisation’s collapse.
