Top Ten Books I'm Thankful I Read This Year
Happy Thanksgiving! And welcome back to what has become my new favorite annual posting tradition. This post isn't necessarily about the BEST books, though there is often overlap, but the ones that fed a particular niche desire at the perfect time, that I felt lucky to get my hands on, or a myriad of other reasons. Restricting myself to ten is always a struggle, but so far I don't regret any of my past picks, so I think that's a good metric.
Previous Years
2022
2021
2020
Now, off to the races! The first three have...A Theme.
. The Belle of Belgrave Square - Mimi Matthews [2022]
It keeps showing up on my TTT lists this year for a REASON (and it will show up again!). But I'm most grateful to this one because on top of it being everything I wanted when I added it to my TBR in 2022, and swoonier than I could have dreamed in the romance department, my delay in actually getting to it after checking it out of the library lined up perfectly with my falling into the Tom Hiddleston spiral. It was honestly absurd, how fast I went from being reminded "aw poor Edward Sharpe [Crimson Peak] and the consequences of his actions, wish I had a historical romance I could project a better version of him onto!" and then looking to my left like "OH MY GOD." (does the physical character description match? not really. does that matter 2 me? no)
(Side note: I'd also like to shout out her novella Fair As A Star [2020], an even sweeter romance ft. friends-to-lovers, which soothed my soul soooo much when I was in a glass case of emotion after the Loki S2 finale. If the above book is going to have ANY competition as my favorite of the year, it's going to be from this one. Speaking of Loki --)
2. Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Mackenzie Lee [2019]
As a brand-new Loki fan, this was everything I wanted to feel like I was getting more of the TV series and then some. As a six-month veteran fan, I remain very confident that his characterization is just SPOT-on. Bonus: now I am shipping him as much with Theo as Amora in this one.
3. This Bird Has Flown - Susanna Hoffs [2023]
Fifty percent because I cast Tom Hiddleston as the Tom H. in this book and that worked just spectacularly for me, fifty percent because I think even if I hadn't, I would have fallen for this Tom with his endless list of desirable character traits, and the incredibly indulgent romance that develops. This book WAS my April happy place, and remains one of my favorite places to return. HATERZ 2 THE LEFT. (3.21 avg. rating on Goodreads, pbbbbt)
4. Beloved Monster - Helen Markley Miller [1968]
I've been wanting to read this for a while, but it wasn't originally available on OpenLibrary OR on Interlibrary Loan, nor was it cheap to buy. But it's finally on the former, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Everything I love in wholesome vintage teen fiction generally, plus "orphan inherits a distant relative's mansion and tries to use it to keep herself solvent," ft. possible hidden treasure within??
5. The Pink House (and Family Matters) - Louise Platt Hauck [1933/34]
I would never have heard of this author if not for a Reddit post looking for a lost book about a young woman buying a bungalow that was "cottagecore AF," which general consencus implied was the first book (and if it wasn't, this blog post convinced me to read it anyway). When I looked her catalog up, I immediately decided I had to ILL-request at least one more, so I picked a family saga that I saw a tantalizing cliffhangery excerpt from on Etsy (did the matriarch just die in childbirth??) (no. just passed out). I had an absolutely enchanting time reading both, not to mention a beautiful memory of the Super Bowl Sunday where I swapped books with Mom and we each read the one of these we hadn't read the week before.
6. Camper Girl - Glenn Erick Miller [2020]
Bought on a whim to fill out a ThriftBooks order because it had been on my TBR, this ended being both an incredibly satisfying story and the book to pull me out of a 6-week slump of mostly average reads.
7. Lady Sunshine - Amy Mason Doan [2021]
A book as beautiful as its cover promised; my summer happy place.
8. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter - Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook [2010]
I'm grateful a book like this exists in the first place, the ultimate insider's scoop because you are LITERALLY snooping through the head writer and showrunner's email inbox (with some text messages to boot!), and getting all his insight into the best season of the best show in the UK (S4 + the Tenth Doctor specials). But I'm especially grateful that after seeing occasional excerpts over the years, I finally I read it while in the thick of my strongest renaissance for watching DW since I watched it for the first time
9. These Silent Woods - Kimi Cunningham Graham [2021]
I had intended to cast this w/ Owen Grady in the lead role, but then literal days before I read it, I saw this gifset from Big Sky season 3 and experienced my first-ever moment of finding Jensen Ackles attractive, so my brain decided otherwise. Despite being initially unwilling, I ultimately had the BEST time seeing him in this "everything I could want in a father-loves-his-daughter-beyond-all-measure and more" story.
10. The Small Room - May Sarton [1961]
I don't know what it is about this one, but I just...sort of feel like it will stay with me for a long time.
Bonus: Leftovers From 2022
I'm breaking my own strict "you HAVE to CHOOSE" rules and adding 3 more that I read between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve last year, because by rights I should really have picked my ten from the last twelve months, but...I already wrote the post before I remembered that. And I liked my picks above too much to eliminate more than one of them, and I couldn't choose my fave below.
11. This Is Not A Love Letter - Kim Purcell [2018]
I can't say why without spoilers -- oh wait I can on here!! -- but I had a vague memory of accidentally seeing the spoiler of what happened to Chris some years back. And it perfectly matched a real-life news story I'd just heard and needed to process through the safe lens of fiction.
[spoiler cut! god I love LJ](in the book, a white teen girl is dating a black boy. He disappears, and it turns out he killed himself, despite her initial refusal to consider the possibility. In real life, the news had just appeared that ever-happy-seeming Stephen "Twitch" Boss, husband to Allison Holker, had just done the same, and I was REELING because HOW?? He had never appeared anything less than the smiliest man alive. Ergo...transpose it and vicariously see how the one left behind would cope.tl;dr reading this helped me process it.)
12. A Shroud of Leaves - Rebecca Alexander [2019]
I'm still not over the way I watched season 1 of Bedlam, got hit with an immediate need to read a properly resolved story about missing girls, and then just stumbled upon this book -- that I'd never heard of but which was exactly what I needed, and more! drooling over descriptions of the historic estate in both the present day and 1913 -- at the dollar store. (and I haven't found a book there since!)
Previous Years
2022
2021
2020
Now, off to the races! The first three have...A Theme.
. The Belle of Belgrave Square - Mimi Matthews [2022]
It keeps showing up on my TTT lists this year for a REASON (and it will show up again!). But I'm most grateful to this one because on top of it being everything I wanted when I added it to my TBR in 2022, and swoonier than I could have dreamed in the romance department, my delay in actually getting to it after checking it out of the library lined up perfectly with my falling into the Tom Hiddleston spiral. It was honestly absurd, how fast I went from being reminded "aw poor Edward Sharpe [Crimson Peak] and the consequences of his actions, wish I had a historical romance I could project a better version of him onto!" and then looking to my left like "OH MY GOD." (does the physical character description match? not really. does that matter 2 me? no)
(Side note: I'd also like to shout out her novella Fair As A Star [2020], an even sweeter romance ft. friends-to-lovers, which soothed my soul soooo much when I was in a glass case of emotion after the Loki S2 finale. If the above book is going to have ANY competition as my favorite of the year, it's going to be from this one. Speaking of Loki --)
2. Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Mackenzie Lee [2019]
As a brand-new Loki fan, this was everything I wanted to feel like I was getting more of the TV series and then some. As a six-month veteran fan, I remain very confident that his characterization is just SPOT-on. Bonus: now I am shipping him as much with Theo as Amora in this one.
3. This Bird Has Flown - Susanna Hoffs [2023]
Fifty percent because I cast Tom Hiddleston as the Tom H. in this book and that worked just spectacularly for me, fifty percent because I think even if I hadn't, I would have fallen for this Tom with his endless list of desirable character traits, and the incredibly indulgent romance that develops. This book WAS my April happy place, and remains one of my favorite places to return. HATERZ 2 THE LEFT. (3.21 avg. rating on Goodreads, pbbbbt)
4. Beloved Monster - Helen Markley Miller [1968]
I've been wanting to read this for a while, but it wasn't originally available on OpenLibrary OR on Interlibrary Loan, nor was it cheap to buy. But it's finally on the former, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Everything I love in wholesome vintage teen fiction generally, plus "orphan inherits a distant relative's mansion and tries to use it to keep herself solvent," ft. possible hidden treasure within??
5. The Pink House (and Family Matters) - Louise Platt Hauck [1933/34]
I would never have heard of this author if not for a Reddit post looking for a lost book about a young woman buying a bungalow that was "cottagecore AF," which general consencus implied was the first book (and if it wasn't, this blog post convinced me to read it anyway). When I looked her catalog up, I immediately decided I had to ILL-request at least one more, so I picked a family saga that I saw a tantalizing cliffhangery excerpt from on Etsy (did the matriarch just die in childbirth??) (no. just passed out). I had an absolutely enchanting time reading both, not to mention a beautiful memory of the Super Bowl Sunday where I swapped books with Mom and we each read the one of these we hadn't read the week before.
6. Camper Girl - Glenn Erick Miller [2020]
Bought on a whim to fill out a ThriftBooks order because it had been on my TBR, this ended being both an incredibly satisfying story and the book to pull me out of a 6-week slump of mostly average reads.
7. Lady Sunshine - Amy Mason Doan [2021]
A book as beautiful as its cover promised; my summer happy place.
8. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter - Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook [2010]
I'm grateful a book like this exists in the first place, the ultimate insider's scoop because you are LITERALLY snooping through the head writer and showrunner's email inbox (with some text messages to boot!), and getting all his insight into the best season of the best show in the UK (S4 + the Tenth Doctor specials). But I'm especially grateful that after seeing occasional excerpts over the years, I finally I read it while in the thick of my strongest renaissance for watching DW since I watched it for the first time
9. These Silent Woods - Kimi Cunningham Graham [2021]
I had intended to cast this w/ Owen Grady in the lead role, but then literal days before I read it, I saw this gifset from Big Sky season 3 and experienced my first-ever moment of finding Jensen Ackles attractive, so my brain decided otherwise. Despite being initially unwilling, I ultimately had the BEST time seeing him in this "everything I could want in a father-loves-his-daughter-beyond-all-measure and more" story.
10. The Small Room - May Sarton [1961]
I don't know what it is about this one, but I just...sort of feel like it will stay with me for a long time.
Bonus: Leftovers From 2022
I'm breaking my own strict "you HAVE to CHOOSE" rules and adding 3 more that I read between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve last year, because by rights I should really have picked my ten from the last twelve months, but...I already wrote the post before I remembered that. And I liked my picks above too much to eliminate more than one of them, and I couldn't choose my fave below.
11. This Is Not A Love Letter - Kim Purcell [2018]
I can't say why without spoilers -- oh wait I can on here!! -- but I had a vague memory of accidentally seeing the spoiler of what happened to Chris some years back. And it perfectly matched a real-life news story I'd just heard and needed to process through the safe lens of fiction.
[spoiler cut! god I love LJ](in the book, a white teen girl is dating a black boy. He disappears, and it turns out he killed himself, despite her initial refusal to consider the possibility. In real life, the news had just appeared that ever-happy-seeming Stephen "Twitch" Boss, husband to Allison Holker, had just done the same, and I was REELING because HOW?? He had never appeared anything less than the smiliest man alive. Ergo...transpose it and vicariously see how the one left behind would cope.tl;dr reading this helped me process it.)
12. A Shroud of Leaves - Rebecca Alexander [2019]
I'm still not over the way I watched season 1 of Bedlam, got hit with an immediate need to read a properly resolved story about missing girls, and then just stumbled upon this book -- that I'd never heard of but which was exactly what I needed, and more! drooling over descriptions of the historic estate in both the present day and 1913 -- at the dollar store. (and I haven't found a book there since!)