All My Absolute Favorite Reads from 2023

Reading Instruction

One of my favorite parts of winter break is snuggling down on the sofa with Christmas cookies, a cozy blanket, and a good book. Likewise, I love writing this post. In fact, I look forward to it all year. In August, I couldn’t wait anymore, so I started this list in the middle of a heat wave. My favorite reads of 2023 are eclectic, engaging, and colorful!

As always, a caveat: 2023 is the year I read these books, not necessarily the year each was released.

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Fantasy Favorite Reads

Fantasy is maybe my favorite literary genre, and this year was a good one for fantasy!

The Starless Crown and The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins are the first two books in the Moonfall series. I started the first one several times before I pushed through, and it was so worth it! If you love a classic ensemble quest with a very archetypal heroine, this is for you! The side characters are an absolute blast (my fav is a sky pirate).
How to be Eaten by Maria Adelmann is like twisted fairytale princesses in group therapy. Except each of their stories is twisted, gruesome, and somehow also relatable. I tore through this book in two days!
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson is a growing series for anyone who loved Harry Potter but wishes to give J.K. Rowling a middle finger. The first book, in particular, is this specific kind of wish fulfillment.

Three of a Kind

There have been very few times when I thought a movie outshone a book, but The Devil Wears Prada is at the top of the list (so is Order of the Phoenix, if you were curious). So that’s why I was so surprised to find that I had read three different books with distinct Prada vibes. What’s more, I loved each one!

First, A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia is about a fashion blogger who lands a job as the assistant for the editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine. Of the three books in this section, this one is the closest to The Devil Wears Prada: Millennial Edition. I loved the timely quips and pop culture references throughout.
Next, I read The Herd by Andrea Bartz. Probably the darkest of the novels in this section, Bartz follows the story of a character who founds a women-only co-working space. When she disappears, the mystery and tension kick into high gear.
Finally, Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks was my favorite of these three titles. This time, our erstwhile heroine leaves her New York City publishing dreams to work for a Nashville-based influencer. The character arc in this one really resonated with me, and I cannot recommend it enough!

Nonfiction Favorites

In general, my favorite reads are rarely nonfiction. However, 2023 was kind of a nonfiction renaissance for me, so I read way more nonfiction than usual. Here are my favorite reads:

First, Accountable by Dashka Slater was the book I could not shut up about this year. Slater follows the actions and fallout of a group of students who start a racist Instagram account about their peers. This was a fascinating and way too relatable read.
Second, The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton Morgan was a huge surprise for me! If I had finished it a few weeks earlier, it could have been one of the books that shocked me! Originally, I read this one because I’m a One Tree Hill fan, but Burton Morgan tells a warm, engaging story about aging, community, and family.
Finally, We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu was at times gut wrenching and full of laughter. I only knew Liu from Shang Chi and Celebrity Jeopardy!, so this was kind of a crash course. It was also eye opening, insightful, and charming.

Sports Favorite Reads

I don’t usually include a sports section in my list of annual favorite reads. However, my doctoral research is about college athletics, so I spent a lot of time with my hands in sports literature this year. I read it all: one-off articles, deep-dive think pieces, academic journals, federal testimony, and some truly fascinating books. These are the best of the best!

Big-Time Sports in American Universities by Charles T. Clotfelter
Sport and the Neoliberal University: Profit, Politics, and Pedagogy edited by Ryan King-White
Beyond the Cheers: Race As Spectacle in College Sport by C. Richard King and Charles Fruehling Springwood
Special Admission: How College Sports Recruitment Favors White Suburban Athletes by Kirsten Hextrum
Billion Dollar Fantasy: The High-Stakes Game Between FanDuel and DraftKings That Upended Sports in America by Albert Chen

One thing that struck me about the sports books on this list is that hardly any of them are really about sports. Each one is couched in the bigger capitalistic system of athletics. In particular, if you’re interested in the way sports and entertainment reflect culture and our sociopolitical culture, these books are for you. More than any other category on this list, these favorite reads are specifically American, especially since no other country so closely ties sports to academics.