My favourite (mostly queer) books of 2023
Jan. 1st, 2024 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sleepypapercrownsInstead of a December recap I’ll just jump straight into some 2023 favourites. Happy new year to you all!
Let’s start with some stats:
- I read 1.4 million words of fanfic across 30 fandoms from 75 writers.
- As for books I read 60 books, my most read author was Martha Wells and my average rating was 3.84/5.
- Lastly, I watched 27 movies and 13 tv shows.
Because I can’t choose a ranking, these are in the order I read them! Also: almost all of them are queer, which made me absolutely giddy with joy. I will definitely take that into next year.
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (2019, contemporary/gay protagonist)
Read this if you want a down to earth look into the life of a gay man in korea. It’s about late night hookups, smoking cigarettes with friends and being diagnosed with HIV in a time where that’s still incredibly stigmatised. Also read this for the translator’s note by Anton Hur.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2022, sci-fi/horror/sapphic romance)
Read this if you want an eerie feeling cut through by the most heart-warming love story. It’s about grieving a person that’s still technically there, love persevering and the deep sea.
Ducks by Kate Beaton (2022, graphic novel/memoir)
Read this if you want to learn more about life in the Canadian Oil Sands. It’s about surviving in an incredibly male dominated and harsh environment while still finding the little spots of goodness in there. If you have never read a memoir in graphic novel form, start with this one!
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura (2017, fantasy)
Read this if you want to heal your childhood loneliness. It’s about a group of children that don’t go to school for one reason or another and meet in a castle that is on the other side of their mirrors. They have to solve a mystery but find friendship and healing along the way.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar (2019, sci-fi/sapphic romance)
Read this if you want the most poetic love letters. It’s about two time-travelling agents across a war that find increasingly elaborate ways to hide their letters to each other. I love sapphic love!!
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (2019, memoir/queer author)
Read this if you want to be whacked across the head. I can’t say it any other way. It’s about the intricacies of an abusive relationship, specifically a queer one. It’s written in such a unique way, I was in awe (and horrified) the whole time.
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo (2020-22, fantasy/multiple queer characters)
Read these if you want a fascinating take on storytelling wrapped in a lush fantasy setting. Each of these novellas tackle a different story through the eyes of our non-binary main character whose task it is to record them. I only read the first three so far, but am hungry for more. I listened to the audiobooks and would definitely recommend that format!
The Resolution Universe by Everina Maxwell (2021/2022, sci-fi/gay romance)
Read these if you want fan-ficy (in a good way!) romances within a galaxy wide political plot. The first one includes a scene where it’s so cold that our couple has to cuddle to stay warm! Peak literature. The second one is my personal favourite because of the descriptions of Ten and Surit’s minds. My mind is often an ocean trying to swallow me, too.
Teixcalaan Duology by Arkady Martine (2019/2021, sci-fi/sapphic romance)
Read these if you want a richly built world full of political intrigue, poetry, culture and an empire that our main character both loves and hates. It's also about identity, trust and queer love and made me stop multiple times with the question of how the fuck Arkady Martine managed to craft this world. Truly spectacular.
To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (2019, sci-fi/queer found family)
Read this if you want to accompany a found family of queer astronauts on their research mission across four different planets. Incredibly fascinating world building and gentle loving relationships. Becky Chambers is an author I can trust with any book they write.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (2021, historical fantasy/gay romance)
Read this if you want equal parts (murder) mystery and hot hot romance, lol. It’s about our main character finding out about a secret magic society in Victorian England, having to find a way to remove a curse that’s slowly killing him and falling in love in the process. It’s an excellently fun time and I am currently reading #2 in this set!
And this is the point where I realise, I don’t want to tell you about my favourite tv shows and movies because they don’t matter. Let’s just gush about queer books instead. What’s a book you’d recommend to me based on this list? Also tell me about a subgenre of books you found joy in last year (like me and sci-fi with political intrigue and romance)!
Let’s start with some stats:
- I read 1.4 million words of fanfic across 30 fandoms from 75 writers.
- As for books I read 60 books, my most read author was Martha Wells and my average rating was 3.84/5.
- Lastly, I watched 27 movies and 13 tv shows.
My favourite books of 2023
Because I can’t choose a ranking, these are in the order I read them! Also: almost all of them are queer, which made me absolutely giddy with joy. I will definitely take that into next year.
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (2019, contemporary/gay protagonist)
Read this if you want a down to earth look into the life of a gay man in korea. It’s about late night hookups, smoking cigarettes with friends and being diagnosed with HIV in a time where that’s still incredibly stigmatised. Also read this for the translator’s note by Anton Hur.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2022, sci-fi/horror/sapphic romance)
Read this if you want an eerie feeling cut through by the most heart-warming love story. It’s about grieving a person that’s still technically there, love persevering and the deep sea.
Ducks by Kate Beaton (2022, graphic novel/memoir)
Read this if you want to learn more about life in the Canadian Oil Sands. It’s about surviving in an incredibly male dominated and harsh environment while still finding the little spots of goodness in there. If you have never read a memoir in graphic novel form, start with this one!
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura (2017, fantasy)
Read this if you want to heal your childhood loneliness. It’s about a group of children that don’t go to school for one reason or another and meet in a castle that is on the other side of their mirrors. They have to solve a mystery but find friendship and healing along the way.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar (2019, sci-fi/sapphic romance)
Read this if you want the most poetic love letters. It’s about two time-travelling agents across a war that find increasingly elaborate ways to hide their letters to each other. I love sapphic love!!
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (2019, memoir/queer author)
Read this if you want to be whacked across the head. I can’t say it any other way. It’s about the intricacies of an abusive relationship, specifically a queer one. It’s written in such a unique way, I was in awe (and horrified) the whole time.
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo (2020-22, fantasy/multiple queer characters)
Read these if you want a fascinating take on storytelling wrapped in a lush fantasy setting. Each of these novellas tackle a different story through the eyes of our non-binary main character whose task it is to record them. I only read the first three so far, but am hungry for more. I listened to the audiobooks and would definitely recommend that format!
The Resolution Universe by Everina Maxwell (2021/2022, sci-fi/gay romance)
Read these if you want fan-ficy (in a good way!) romances within a galaxy wide political plot. The first one includes a scene where it’s so cold that our couple has to cuddle to stay warm! Peak literature. The second one is my personal favourite because of the descriptions of Ten and Surit’s minds. My mind is often an ocean trying to swallow me, too.
Teixcalaan Duology by Arkady Martine (2019/2021, sci-fi/sapphic romance)
Read these if you want a richly built world full of political intrigue, poetry, culture and an empire that our main character both loves and hates. It's also about identity, trust and queer love and made me stop multiple times with the question of how the fuck Arkady Martine managed to craft this world. Truly spectacular.
To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (2019, sci-fi/queer found family)
Read this if you want to accompany a found family of queer astronauts on their research mission across four different planets. Incredibly fascinating world building and gentle loving relationships. Becky Chambers is an author I can trust with any book they write.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (2021, historical fantasy/gay romance)
Read this if you want equal parts (murder) mystery and hot hot romance, lol. It’s about our main character finding out about a secret magic society in Victorian England, having to find a way to remove a curse that’s slowly killing him and falling in love in the process. It’s an excellently fun time and I am currently reading #2 in this set!
And this is the point where I realise, I don’t want to tell you about my favourite tv shows and movies because they don’t matter. Let’s just gush about queer books instead. What’s a book you’d recommend to me based on this list? Also tell me about a subgenre of books you found joy in last year (like me and sci-fi with political intrigue and romance)!
no subject
Date: 2024-01-01 06:11 pm (UTC)I also would recommend Master of Djinn, it’s a fun queer fantasy mystery set in an alt-history version of Cairo featuring an older grumpy lesbian protagonist and a fresh-faced new detective who I’m pretty sure is also queer (I read this book at the very start of 2023 so. Memory is a bit hazy.) I LOVE how many women this book has and the world/story in general.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-01 07:35 pm (UTC)If have been walking circles around She Who Became the Sun for such a long time but I've been hesistant especially because of the high importance of histroy. History was my worst subject in school and I have taken that dislike with me since then... I will endeavor to try though, maybe I can find it at the library!
As for Master of Djinn, I have equally looked at it multiple times at the library already, so I will definitely just pick it up next time. Thanks for the recs!!!