2023 was a somewhat strange reading year for me – definitely not bad, with 166 books* finished, about 40 000 pages read and some branching out in terms of genre accomplished. But while I read many good books, there were perhaps fewer absolute highs than I have had in the past. I was also rather inconsistent: August and December were great with 26 and 23 books respectively (these tend to be my best months every year, simply because I have more free time due to holidays). And then there were weeks when I read only alien romance, as my brain was too exhausted from the translation work I was doing on top of my actual work to focus on anything more demanding.

Overall, though, I am happy with my reading year – it was varied and fascinating and I managed to read in Estonian more than I usually do, although still not enough by Estonian authors. I continued to enjoy audiobooks, which certainly helps with quantity, by allowing me to ‘read’ as I walk; more on this shortly. If I have one regret, it’s that I focused too much on new releases** and that’s something I want to change in 2024. But for now, here are my favourites from 2023*** in no particular order:

The Earth Transformed: An Untold History by Peter Frankopan. This is the most impressive thing I read last year – and the longest. Goodreads claims it has 736 pages – on one hand, this includes the index, but on the other, it does NOT include the notes. These are available separately online, as there are over 200 pages of them (I did consult the notes extensively, as they are really rather fascinating). Anyway, I have already talked about this book in my post about my favourite history books and I do not have much to add. I would recommend The Earth Transformed to anyone who wants to understand the world history as a whole, not just discrete elements of it. And of course, if you have a particular interest in how climate and environment have impacted the past (and by extension, the present), this is a must read. It’s a serious work that requires some commitment, but it’s also rewarding.

Otherlands: A World in the Making by Thomas Halliday. There is a bit of an overlap here with Frankopan’s work, as this is also a history book about the environment, but Halliday goes back much further. He describes ancient landscapes, flora and fauna, going back tens of thousands, then millions and many millions of years. All of it is fascinating and Halliday’s prose is extraordinarily good – most of the fiction I read is not as well-written as this non-fiction book on a rather niche topic. It almost reads like science fiction, with all those different Earths back in time, where even the basic geography is entirely alien, not to mention the life forms. I listened to this one and while it was a lovely experience, I do wish I had read it in parallel (I did it occasionally, but not all the time), as following the Latin names of the extinct animals and other details can be a bit of a challenge in the audio format. Someone should turn it into a documentary series, 10/10 would watch.

Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino. Well, I guess this has some overlap with Frankopan as well, with its focus on biodiversity and the history of food. That said, Eating to Extinction of course has a much narrower focus, looking at grains, fruits, vegetables and other edibles that we are losing. It also has a very different structure, with every chapter dedicated to one specific food. Saladino is showing how our diets and agriculture are increasingly homogenised and why this is a problem – for many reasons, some of them very pragmatic. For me, though, the value of the book is mostly in the descriptions of interesting foods from all over the world, from ancient wheat varieties to rare cheeses and wild honey gathered with the help of birds. After reading this, I spent days trying to order some perry (a cider-like beverage made from pears, originally in England) and then found some by chance in Estonia. If you are someone who gets excited about the domestication of maize, this is for you.

Doppleganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. Finally, a book that has nothing to do with environment, plants or animals, although the world Klein describes can be more bizarre and terrifying than the fires of the Carboniferous. This rather personal book looks at the strange situation where Klein is often confused online with Naomi Wolf, whose political views – at least these days – are dramatically different from the author’s. She uses this as a starting point to explore social media, conspiracy theories, the rise of the populist (far) right and the decline of the left, the alienation and the distrust in our societies (mostly the US, but much of this is more broadly relevant). It is a deeply thought, insightful and vulnerable book that goes beyond making fun of people who think Bill Gates wants to control them via vaccines. This would be valuable for anyone who is working in policy, governance or communication – or just trying to stay sane in today’s world.

Soviet Milk/Emapiim by Nora Ikstena. It was more of a non-fiction year for me (as has been the rule in recent years), but I did read some exceptional fiction, too. And quite a bit of it in translation, which is always the goal! I am very happy about finally reading Soviet Milk (I read it in the excellent Estonian translation titled Emapiim) which I absolutely loved. It does a great job of showing us the life in Soviet Latvia and against that background, a strained grandmother-mother-daughter relationship. I highly recommend it to both those who have lived in the Soviet Union and those who have not – for slightly different reasons, but I believe it would be a great experience for both.

The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut. I loved Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World when I read it a few years ago and I possibly loved The MANIAC even more. He has a very specific style that often reads like non-fiction (and is, most of the time, very close to real events) and a potentially unhealthy fascination with exceptionally gifted and troubled men. I am not entirely sure what it says about me that I find his books irresistible, but to me they read almost like thrillers, despite the high-concept premise and overall pretentiousness. If you feel that you might be interested in von Neumann’s work on the atom bomb or artificial intelligence or the game of go, may I suggest you give it a… go?

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Returning, as promised, to audiobooks – this was the first literary fiction book I listened to on Audible and it turned out to be the perfect choice. I was surprised by how much I liked this, considering I thought The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was perfectly fine but not much more and that I’m not interested in books about fictional bands. While Daisy Jones isn’t ‘great literature’, it is executed so well that I was completely won over – the plot is engaging, the characters sympathetic but not boring and Reid has a great ear for a one-liner. All this works especially well in audio format, as the book is presented as a collection of interviews with former band members, another thing I usually don’t like but works very well on this occasion. I had niggles, but if you simply need a good story to recover, say, from Labatut, this is ideal.

Content Warning: Everything by Akwaeke Emezi. I seem to read one exceptional poetry collection per year and after Ilya Kaminsky and Sappho, in 2023 it was Emezi’s turn. I am a big fan of them in general, with Dear Senthuran making my best of list in 2022 and the poetry didn’t disappoint. Their text is, as always, intense and often provocative, but for me, this is justified by its brilliance. Emezi is difficult to describe and sometimes a challenge to read, so I simply recommend you check it out. You may find it megalomanic or awe-inspiring or both.

Witch King by Martha Wells. I struggled with picking my favourite SFF for this list – I read quite a bit of both science fiction and fantasy this year, a lot of it seriously good, but nothing stood out very clearly. I am picking Wells over some other options because a) I think it’s a pity she is mostly known for Murderbot (despite my undying love for Murderbot) and b) I saw some people complaining online that Witch King is confusing and messy and difficult to follow, which I find to be complete nonsense. It is a stand-alone fantasy (also a plus!) about a demon/witch king who has to figure out how he ended up dead and what to do about it. It does, indeed, require some engagement of one’s cognitive faculties, but Malazan Book of the Fallen it ain’t. I had a lot of fun reading it, thanks to Kai being a great protagonist, Wells being a great writer and the world also being…great.

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow. I admit this is an unconventional choice – an Amazon exclusive short story only available as a digital or audio book. But this was, unequivocally, one of my favourite things I read this year. Harrow seems to work better for me when she writes in shorter formats, but this isn’t really like anything else I have read by her. The mood is fable-like and rather dark, with elements of time travel and military fantasy, but done in a poetic way. If I had to describe it as anything, I would say This is How You Lose the Time War plus Jeanne d’Arc minus the sapphic love (there is love, though). Mesmerising stuff.

And finally, I need to mention that personally speaking, my book of the year was of course The Rooster House/Kukemaja that I translated into Estonian. I will not go into any details here, as I have already written about it.

This is it for now, but I am planning to do separate posts on fiction, non-fiction and SFF, as there are some excellent books I couldn’t fit into this list. What were your favourite reads of 2023?

*I am using the stats from my Goodreads which can be a bit misleading, as I also log an occasional short story, if I read it separately. This and novellas and poetry collections bring the average number of pages down to 238. And the alien romance and paranormal fantasy I read a significant amount in 2023 go very fast, making it easier to reach over 150 books.

**As always, everything I read in 2023 counts, it doesn’t have to be a book released last year.

***Three books are not pictured: my Ikstena is in Tallinn, I could not locate my copy of the Witch King and The Six Deaths of the Saint does not exist in physical form.