It's that time again... the time of the year when I somehow admit how many books I completed and then somehow find my favorites and list them out for you.
Last year I intentionally limited myself to 100; this year I removed all limits and broke my own record, coming in with 200 (full-length, not children's) books for 2023.
I want to start by saying this: I am a white, cis, married, Christian, middle-class female. I have two kids, two dogs, and a pool. I have a master's degree and my kids attend a private school. I have immense privilege, and I neither deny nor flaunt that. It is just fact.
But it's what we do with our privilege that matters. Where we spend our time, money, and energy reflects more on us than any access into which we were born. And I chose to spend my time this year reading a plethora of perspectives to bring me out of that privileged bubble I know so well. (Before you give me too many accolades, I must confess that almost 50% of my reading was in the Christian suspense genre because leopards don't change their spots overnight.)
Karen Swallow Prior, a Liberty University literature professor, says that reading great fiction "allows us to enter the minds of characters who are quite different than us, allowing us to expand our ability to understand and to empathize with other points of view. That's an essential skill that so many people are losing. ... We need to be able to see the world through someone else's eyes, now more than ever."
And so I read. I read stories and memoirs to see perspectives as if I were Black, poor, transgender, Asian, disabled, abused, gay, Jewish, male, or trafficked.
I read to find empathy, to understand, and to open my heart to the marginalized and the "other."
And I read so dang much that I had to separate my list into two: my top 10 fiction and my top 10 nonfiction. (Provided annotations are from the Google because I have officially run out of my own words, and I didn't include any content warnings but lots of them have them. Please do your research.)
Fiction List
10. Parachutes by Kelly Yang
Parachutes is a force. As fast-paced as it is powerful, its story of immigration, social class, and rape culture calls out the damaging consequences of privilege in ways that will make readers want to speak up and take action.
9. Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest
This debut novel follows a disabled teen as she develops the courage to advocate for herself and others.
8. See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon
In this book, Miles and Barrett are trapped in a time loop, forced to relieve the same day over and over.
7. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.
6. Kneel by Candace Buford
This fearless debut novel explores racism, injustice, and self-expression through the story of a promising Black football star in Louisiana.
5. The Words Between Us by Erin Bartels
With evocative prose that recalls the classic novels we love, Erin Bartels pens a story that shows that words--the ones we say, the ones we read, and the ones we write--have more power than we imagine.
4. The Dressmaker's Secret by Lorna Cook
1941, Nazi-occupied Paris: In the glamorous Ritz hotel there is a woman with a dangerous secret… As Coco Chanel’s assistant, Adèle lives side by side with German officers in the splendour of The Ritz hotel. But Adèle has a secret. She is working for the resistance, right under the Germans’ noses.
3. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
Single mom and domestic abuse survivor Olivia has escaped her past and built a new life for herself and her son, Asher, in a small town. When Asher is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Lily, she risks everything to defend him – even as it turns her life upside down.
2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Addie is a girl who wants to be more than she is, so she makes a deal with the kind of devil whose deals are always worse than they seem. For centuries she exists in a lonely purgatory, blessed with immortality and cursed to be forgotten—until the day she meets a boy who remembers her.
1. The Water Keeper trilogy by Charles Martin
Murph is dedicated to his work saving the women and girls from human trafficking along the shores of Florida, and once secured, he sends them to a mountain town in Colorado—Freetown, for a little symbolism—so they can heal physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Murph's mantra is that love always shows up, and that's what guides him in his ceaseless journey for justice.
NonFiction List
10. Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate by Justin Lee
More than just a memoir, Torn provides insightful, practical guidance for all committed Christians who wonder how to relate to gay friends or family members--or who struggle with their own sexuality. Convinced that "in a culture that sees gays and Christians as enemies, gay Christians are in a unique position to bring peace," Lee demonstrates that people of faith on both sides of the debate can respect, learn from, and love one another.
9. The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here by Kaitlyn Schiess
Schiess combines American political history and biblical interpretation to help readers faithfully read Scripture, talk with others about it, and apply it to contemporary political issues--and to their lives. Rather than prescribing what readers should think about specific hot-button issues, Schiess outlines core biblical themes around power, allegiance, national identity, and more.
8. All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
All My Knotted-Up Life is a beautifully crafted portrait of resilience and survival, a poignant reminder of God’s enduring faithfulness, and proof positive that if we ever truly took the time to hear people’s full stories . . . we’d all walk around slack-jawed.
7. UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality by Colby Martin
UnClobber reexamines what the Bible says (and does not say) about homosexuality in such a way that breathes fresh life into outdated and inaccurate assumptions and interpretations.
6. Thicker than Water: A Memoir by Kerry Washington
Award-winning actor, director, producer, and activist Kerry Washington shares the deeply moving journey of her life so far, and the bravely intimate story of discovering her truth.
5. Holy Runaways: Rediscovering Faith After Being Burned by Religion by Matthias Roberts
Roberts blends deeply personal stories, new interpretations of familiar Christian parables, and recent scholarship about the dynamics of trauma to offer a way forward—and a warm, helpful companion—for listeners on their own journeys. He calls out people who perpetuate systems of violence and oppression and suggests ways we can all contribute to a new system built on love—and a new home we can inhabit together.
4. Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
In this book by actor Viola Davis, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever.
3. Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu
At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays that ask candid questions about the stories we’ve been told - and the stories we tell - about our faith, our selves, and our world
2. Tell Me Everything: A Memoir by Minka Kelly
Minka Kelly’s life has been anything but easy. Raised by a single mother who worked as a stripper and struggled with addiction, Minka spent years waking up in strange apartments as she and her mom bounced around the country, relying on friends and relatives to take them in. At times they even lived in storage units. She reconnected with her father, Aerosmith’s Rick Dufay, and eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she landed the role of a lifetime on Friday Night Lights.
1. Strong Like Water: Finding the Freedom, Safety, and Compassion to Move through Hard Things--and Experience True Flourishing by Aundi Kolber
When it comes to difficult circumstances, we've all heard the platitudes: "No pain, no gain." "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But if we spend our lives trying to be "the strong one," we become exhausted, burned-out, and disconnected from our truest God-given selves. What if it were different? Could there be a different way to be strong? Could strength mean more than pushing on and pushing through pain, bearing every heavy burden on our own? What if, instead, true strength were more like the tide: soft and bold, fierce and gentle, moving together as one powerful force?
