Top 20 Books I Read in 2023

THANK YOU so much for watching my videos in 2023!
The full ranking for the year is available on my Patreon page: / thebookchemist
The books I couldn't wave enthusiastically in the video were all books I read from the library. Support your library!
The alphabetical list by author surname of the books I mention in this video, with links to my reviews (if I filmed one):
Butler - Kindred - • Kindred by Octavia But...
Chisholm - A Waiter in Paris
Clark - Revolutionary Spring
De Maria - The Twenty Days of Turin - • The Twenty Days of Tur...
De Roberto - L'Imperio
Ernaux - The Years
Fowler - Booth - • Booth by Karen Joy Fow...
Harrison - The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again - • The Sunken Land Begins...
Ingalls - Mrs Caliban - • Mrs Caliban by Rachel ...
Jacobson - The Mighty Walzer
Kushner - The Flamethrowers - • The Flamethrowers by R...
La Farge - The Night Ocean
Le Guin - The Dispossessed - • The Dispossessed by Ur...
Lethem - Brooklyn Crime Novel - • Brooklyn Crime Novel b...
Nguyen - The Sympathizer - • The Sympathizer by Vie...
Powers - The Overstory - • The Overstory by Richa...
Sarr - The Most Secret Memory of Men - • The Most Secret Memory...
Sciascia - The Mystery of Majorana
Taranto - How I Won the Nobel Prize - • How I Won the Nobel Pr...
Whitehead - Crook Manifesto - • Crook Manifesto by Col...
Zola - Germinal - • Germinal by Emile Zola...
If you enjoy my reviews, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon:
/ thebookchemist
One-off donations are also always welcome:
www.paypal.me/Bookchemist
Follow me on GoodReads!
/ 15078502.mattia_ravasi
Follow me on Twitter!
/ the_bookchemist

[@mungoslade]

i love your videos, great recommendations! but when you do videos with multiple books, PLEASE, keep a cover or title on the screen longer than a few seconds so i don't have to rewind the video to check the title in order to add it to my TBR! I loved Crook Manifesto.

[@TheBookchemist]

Will do!!

[@er1nyes_]

It's always a joy to watch your best of lists, cuz there's always and array of classics and some newer works, but mostly because you're not falling into the trends. On the majority of channels one sees the same books over and over, and it all becomes redundant, but you never disappoint, and coming here one knows that there'll be unique recommendations always brilliantly and eloquently reviewed. Btw, the sound quality has surely improved, the volume is higher, so much better now. The investment on the mic paid off. Have a nice year, Mattia!

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you so much :)

[@ghost2031]

Always enjoying your Top Books of the year list.

[@irena7777777]

So happy to see this! I thought you’d stopped making videos so this a great surprise

[@luci.diiorio]

Although I never experienced any audio difficulties-I am able to hear an improvement. Excellent work you do!

[@incandenzabookclub]

What an exciting event is to see your your top each year! I really want to read The Years Annie Ernaux, many people love it, many people hate it. My only experience as a reader with her was The Happening and I loved it (also the film adaptation). My best wished for you this 2024, I hope you'll find more hidden gems.

[@QZaccardelli]

Excellent! Sounds great!

[@jackeverett328]

Happy new year! Always love your videos!

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you Jack :)

[@linwoodsly7101]

Thank you for rendering ur review of such a wide variety of novels …new to ur channel shall keep viewing…😂

[@user-nu6vw9bq5b]

Overstory didn't stay with me for too long either. In retrospect I think maybe it needed more science fiction (and less bloat). But the bit about the family who photographed a tree throughout a hundred years, and some other stuff like that, was really imaginative.

[@indigo_diary]

I recently discovered your channel and bingewatched so many of your videos. Your intelligent, eloquent reviews are a joy to listen to. I've added "The overstory" and "The years" to my TBR - "The overstory" in particular sounds so unique and intriguing, I've rarely read novels with an environmental theme. My top 3 books of 2023 were "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, "My Dark Vanessa" by Kate Elizabeth Russell, and "All the lovers in the night" by Mieko Kawakami (am planning on posting a review on my channel later). Happy new year and happy reading!

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you Milena - happy new year!

[@ameliareads589]

I think I once heard Ernaux saying in an interview that she writes fiction, because she could never trust her memory. My favourite book was actually a Finnish one that unfortunately isn't translated into English or Italian. But Permafrost by Eva Baltasar and Is Mother Dead? by Vigdis Hjorth have been in my top reads.

[@johntyndall1373]

A few of my favorites that I read in 2023: Our Country Friends by Shteyngart; Cloud Cuckoo Land by Doerr; Songs for Angel by Blais; Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Enard; The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Saramago; both The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys by Whitehead; The Book of Rain by Wharton; and The Melody by Crace. Thank you for sharing your passion for literature. Have a great year of reading in 2024.

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you John, I've noted down a few titles!

[@QZaccardelli]

Incredible!

[@jlworrad]

The Dispossessed is a fantastic book.

[@WitchRetired]

The way you describe books always makes me want to read them all! I've had a pretty disappointing reading year; the only book that really stood out for me was The Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo. A new production of the play has been a huge success here in Athens for the past couple of years, but reading the text was somehow even better than seeing the show.

[@TheBookchemist]

Thank you! I have never read any Fo (how embarrassing) - I've noted this one down :)

[@qaq89]

I’ve been subscribed to your channel for so long and I had no idea that you were interested in the 1848 revolutions. (Although I did suspect you were of a left persuasion!) I highly recommend checking out Chris Cutrone’s lecture/teach-in on 1848. He’s a fantastic teacher. Big fan of your videos and I look forward to more in the future!

[@TheBookchemist]

Uuuh, duly noted - I'm really curious! Thanks for the comment :)

[@bed-of-roses]

Admirable

[@happyseal9546]

All very topical for current affairs ❤

[@Paromita_M]

Nice list. 👏

[@morganli7953]

What other books would you recommend about the revolutions of 1848? I loved Revolutionary Spring too.

[@TheBookchemist]

I found Hobsbawm's The Age of Revolution (which covers the period 1792 to 1848) truly insightful and enlightening - it gave a very clear and nuanced picture of the state of Europe at the time. I've enjoyed other books on the subject (especially Mike Rapport's 1848: Year of Revolution) but truth be told there is little in there that is not also explored in more detail in Revolutionary Spring. Finally, when it comes to the Italian revolutions, The Siege of Venice by Jonathan Keates is a fairly engrossing and captivating (though somewhat partisan!) treatment of the events.

[@lysanderhock7014]

1. Dan Simmons: The Hyperion Cantos - 2000 pages of the most original space opera, perhaps a couple of hundreds to many, but I still can only recommend it so very, very much 2. Emil Ferris: My Favorite Thing is Monsters - amazing graphic novel 3. Don DeLillo: Underworld 4. Thomas Pynchon: Bleeding Edge 5. Ursula K. LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness Somehow I didn't enjoy reading Butler's Kindred, and neither did I like Solaris (although I absolutely see why it is considered a classic). Alas, I didn't read too many books last year. However, it would still have been a good year, even if Hyperion had been the only one. It is really good, read it if you can. Thank your for the recommendations. I guess I'll check out Colson Whitehead this year and I'll definitely read le venti giornate.

[@TheBookchemist]

I've duly noted Hyperion! My Favorite Thing Is Monsters has been on my list for a long time - I should really track it down this year.

[@AmalijaKomar]

Love Ernaux and Legvin.

[@RadellasReadingRoom]

"A New Life" added to my TBR as I now work in postgraduate admissions Hearing you talk about the book on the 1848 revolutions, I was wondering if you have any recommendations for books on the French Revolution? Most of what I can find are biographies (Robespierre, Lafyette, Napoleon 🙄, Marie Antoinette) or are focused on The Terror with the Estates General and the Riding School glossed over as background.

[@TheBookchemist]

I have been reading up on the French Revolution in the last few years, but my main issue is that, since I spend 99% of the year in the UK, the books I can easily track down tend to be by Anglo-Saxon (especially British & "commonwealth") historians, whereas I'd like to read more recent historiography by French scholars. That said, two books on the subject I enjoyed would be Christopher Hibbert's The French Revolution (a fairly brief introduction, but very well presented) and Peter McPhee's Liberty or Death (which offers a broad and comprehensive account, and a balanced & relatively sympathetic view on the Jacobins and Robespierre). I hope this helps!

[@RadellasReadingRoom]

@@TheBookchemist I've read the Hibbert but I hadn't come across Peter McPhee, so I'll check it out, thank you. I agree (as someone born and raised in the UK) it would be nice to have some more French voices on the subject. Actually, I recently read Mona Chollet's "In Defence of Witches" and it was quite interesting seeing the witch-trials through a French lens when it's so often presented as an American/British thing.

[@qaq89]

There is of course Hobsbawm’s Age of Revolution but if you’re looking for a Francophone perspective you should check out Jean Jaures’ “Socialist History of the French Revolution”. Yes Jaures was a socialist party leader but he was also a well respected historian in his own right. Jaures was later assassinated by a French Nationalist on the eve of the First World War for his anti-militarism.

[@TheBookchemist]

@@qaq89 I actually finished Hobsbawm's Age of Revolution earlier this week, it was marvelous. Thanks so much for the recommendation - I've noted it down!

[@TheBookchemist]

@@RadellasReadingRoom As a quick follow up I stumbled just the other day, in an Italian bookshop, on La Révolution française by François Furet and Denis Richet, which - based on the blurb - leaves the Terror and Robespierre in the background and focuses more on the Constituent Assembly and the bourgeois aspect of the Revolution. I *think* an English edition exists, although it doesn't seem super easy to find. Just thought I'd flag it :) !

[@nl3064]

What I read in 2023, and my take was, Great: 1. Invitation to a Beheading (V. Nabokov) 2. The Thing In The Snow (S. Adams) 3. Campfires of the Dead and the Living (P. Christopher) 4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (J. Le Carré) 5. Consider This (C. Palahniuk) Good: 6. Fugitives and Refugees (C. Palahniuk) 8. The Shards (B.E. Ellis) 9. Not Forever, But For Now (C. Palahniuk) 10. The Decay of the Angel (Y. Mishima) 11. Zodiac (R. Graysmith) 12. Notes On The Cinematograph (R. Bresson) 13. Make Something Up (C. Palahniuk) 14. Faceless Killers (H. Mankell) 15. Snuff (C. Palahniuk) 16. Rant (C. Palahniuk) 17. Red Lights (G. Simenon) Fine: 18. Touching From a Distance (D. Curtis) 19. The Day of the Locust (N. West) Mid: Ecce Homo (F. Nietzsche) The Fire Next Time (J. Baldwin) Bad: The ABC Murders (A. Christie)

[@Whatever_Happy_People]

When you spoke about Germinal you mentioned another book what was it please? Germinal and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo are brilliant.

[@TheBookchemist]

The Viceroys by Federico De Roberto!

[@Whatever_Happy_People]

Thankyou peace​@@TheBookchemist

[@malexander4094]

When you review "The Years" ...up to a certain point, if I were to mistake "France" for "England," and "2nd half of the 20th century" with "the 1st half"....then, your brief summation would sound a lot like "The Years" by Virginia Woolf. Except, there are a few different characters in that one--but whenever there's a change, the individual is so interiorized (well, this is Woolf) ...Well, I'm wondering, is Ernaux referencing Woolf at all?

[@JeanArtQuro]

Have you read Jan Potocki's "Manuscript Found in Saragossa"? It's stylistically/narratively equidistant between The Canterbury Tales and a Pynchon novel, and by that I mean that it seemed somewhat up your alley.

[@TheBookchemist]

Funnily (shamefully!) I studied it in university as the first example of "fantastic" literature... but I haven't read it yet! I should really make up for it this year.

[@mindheartsun]

Hi, I have a short story I'm working on. This has nothing to do with your video (I hope you don't mind). But, would it be possible for me to send it to you after I'm done with it? I'm not looking for feedback on the actual story (although you're welcome to share your thoughts :) I just want to know what it makes you feel.

[@TheBookchemist]

Hello and thank you for the offer - I'm really honored! I'll have to decline (I am really swamped with readings at the moment), but I wish you every success with your work on the story.

[@firestarter7680]

Ciao, the best book I read was The nix from Nathan Hill

[@k.e.1760]

Will you read more Murakami this year? Or maybe László Krasznahorkai

[@TheBookchemist]

I think it's high time for more Murakami!

[@jade7398]

There is more than one book called Booth. Could you say who the author is? I would like to read the book.

[@jasondavidvalenciamarin4415]

Karen Joy Fowler

[@residentevilzzz3352]

De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault Head of a dead young man Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....

[@andrewmatthews9753]

1st

[@marcelandersson743]

Hello TheBookChemist! What is your business email, in re: a press inquiry?

[@TheBookchemist]

Hello Marcel! Feel free to email me at [e-mail] :)