Let’s chat about my favorite of 2023! I track my reading through Storygraph, an app I highly recommend not only for their stats information, but also a solid way to cut ties with Bezos’ Goodreads.
My stats for 2023: – 154 books – 46,473 pages – 80% nonfiction / 20% fiction – Top Genres: Food and Drink, History – Top Moods: Informative, Lighthearted, Emotional, Reflective
My Year in Review is inspired by categories created by Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast. Although as much as I try, I am incapable of just choosing only one, so I added a few extra titles.
2 Books I Love:
I’ve loved Alicia Kennedy’s work — highly recommend subscribing to her Substack if you’re interested in food politics — and No Meat Required is one of my favorite books of 2023. As a former sustainability person who worked in food sourcing, this book is one of the best I’ve read in the field; I wish I was able to assign this book to our internship staff. She connects the politics of eating, American identity and food, colonization of spaces and foodways, and more. I can’t wait for her second book.This book is it. Absolutely Stunning. Asgarian’s impeccable research tells the story of the birth families of the children murdered by their adoptive parents and child protective services in the United States. I just don’t have enough words to describe this incredible book and her work.
1 Backlist Book I Love:
I read Andrews’ book after returning from Manchester, UK and wow I learned so much about the history of racial capitalism, particularly in the European colonization context. This provided so much research to the questions I had standing in the world’s “Cottonopolis”.
The Last Great Book Someone Recommended to Me:
Christina Sharpe’s book is such a gift and I’m so grateful to have read it.
2Books I Love to Recommend:
Cookbook graphic novels are my favorite niche genre and I adored Nadler’s book. Its a favorite to recommend to patrons because its an engaging read with gorgeous drawings and easily digestible (pun intended) information on Jewish history and cuisine. I’m a Jenny Odell fangirl. Her second book, Saving TIme, is a great read for anyone interested in the development of the concept of time and who owns it.
Favorite Audiobook:
I’m not usually an audiobook girlie but after listening to a few interviews with Andrew Leland and the stellar reviews of his narration, I checked out the audio version of The Country of the Blind. I loved this book; I listened while wandering the streets of Berlin this summer and learned so much about the blind community and accommodation (or lack of) in America.
Favorite Young Adult Book:
A gorgeous graphic novel romance where all the characters are named after varieties of cheese.
2 Favorite Children’s Books:
This book is absolutely wonderful. A delightful story of a dad and child making okra stew, this is also a great title to introduce little ones to Gullah Geechee culture. Noodle’s death really hit hard. The king of “Bones or No Bones” left us with his legacy of choosing what’s best for you and resting when you need it. Noodle Conquers Comfy Mountain is a story of asking for help when you need it… obviously I sobbed the entire time. I also cry while explaining my love for Noodle to parents just trying to check out the book from our library.
Book That Made Me Laugh:
I learned so much from Michael Harriot’s book but I also laughed essentially the entire audiobook. This engaging (and enraging) read was one of my favorites of the year, especially the quizzes at the end of each chapter.
Book That Made Me Cry:
I have a lot of complicated feelings about The Vaster Wilds. I’m still not even sure I liked it? But its one of the titles that stays with you; I constantly find myself thinking of this book. Our protagonist is on a J O U R N E Y and the last two chapters really impacted me. Picture me standing on a train traveling from Munich just sobbing uncontrollably.
Book Where I Learned A Lot:
I absolutely adore Sohla El-Waylly. I first discovered her in Dan Levy’s delightful Big Brunch and loved her honest opinions. This cookbook is a TRIUMPH with more than 600 pages and divided between savory and pastry.
Book That Made Me Angry:
Phew emoji. This incredibly researched book on the existence (and perpetuation) of poverty in the United States is enraging. The exploitation of the poor and the illusion of equity as a part of the American identity are at the heart of Desmond’s work and unlike many researchers, he offers tangible solutions to solving these problems.
2 Books That Brings Me Joy:
I am a notoriously bad biscuit baker, which makes my seemingly unending need for southern biscuits especially difficult. After seeing Erika Council on season two of High on the Hog, I picked up her book to learn more about her story and hopefully, to pick up tips on making better biscuits. Known as the “biscuit Jedi”, Council’s book is an homage to the women the industry intentionally omits from history and a gorgeous collection of biscuits.Sofia Coppola’s Archive is an elder millennial’s dream. A collection of photographs and notes from each of her films is such a lovely read and nostalgic walk through early 2000s culture.
Book I am Proud to Have Read:
This incredible compilation of biographies, stories, and recipes is a must-read for anyone interested in food culture. Similarly to Erika Council’s work, these are often narratives intentionally omitted from history and Miller does a fantastic job of bringing all of these together in one book.
Book I’m Embarrassed I Still Haven’t Read:
Hopefully next year! Nathan Thrall’s book is such a needed work, especially right now.
Book I Wish More People Read:
Phew, this book. A stunning book by the incredible Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I’d also offer that this should be at the top of every library’s book club list as it inspires conversations around abolition, exploitation, and crime in the United States.
A Book About Where I’m From:
I’m using the term “where I’m from” rather loosely here but Regan’s childhood growing up in the Midwest with eastern European roots is a close tie to my youth in Ohio with Polish / Hungarian ancestry. I loved this memoir; its a beautiful book of stories and identity, with gorgeous descriptions of foraging in the woods as a child and the decision to open a rural Michelin star restaurant in (very) rural Michigan. If I was creating a sustainability books to read list, Fieldwork would be at the top.
Book I would Like to Seen Turned into a Movie or TV Show:
This book is so bizarre and unexpected that I’d love to see it adapted as an HBO limited series. Where are the folks who developed Station Eleven? I loved this book.
Book Combination I Would Recommend to the President of the United States:
Adam Hochschild’s (no relation) 1998 book on King Leopold II’s colonial exploitation of the Congo Free State is one of the most noteworthy and highly regarded books on the subject and wow, does it hold up. Hochschild’s research into the genocide committed by the Belgians is incredibly difficult to read, especially as (see below) the legacies of exploitation are still affecting Congolese people today. One aspect of the book I particularly thought should be noted is the continuous thread of the lack of Congolese stories and voices; even as perpetrators of unthinkable violence, a majority of the narratives we have on the murder of an estimated 10 million innocent people is through the mouths and writing of those that perpetrated said genocide.Cobalt Red is the unfortunate continuation of King Leopold’s Ghost in that the violence and exploitation of the Congo’s people and resources continues today. As foreign corporations move into the country, they are essentially employing enslaved labor of the Indigenous people of the region — including children — into incredibly dangerous labor that leaves people maimed, sick, or dead while exporting cobalt for batteries that enriches shareholders of these companies. When we discuss a sustainable future, we often hear about batteries for electric cars or our phones, but less often talked about is legacy of violence, death, and destruction to obtain these materials. Is it sustainable if those mining these materials do not earn a living wage? If the land, water, and air is so polluted it can no longer support life?
My Favorite Nonfiction: 1. We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America (Roxanna Asgarian) 2. No Meat Required The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating (Alicia Kennedy) 3. Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives (Siddharth Kara) 4. Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir (Ilana Regan) 5. Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock (Jenny Odell) 6. Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America (Michael Harriot) 7. The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight (Andrew Leland) 8. Poverty, by America (Matthew Desmond) 9. Stamped from the Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America (Ibram X. Kendi and Joel Christian Gill) 10. Archive (Sofia Coppola)
My Favorite Fiction: 1. Chain-Gain All-Stars (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah) 2. Let Us Descend (Jesmyn Ward) 3. Zora Books Her Happy Ever After (Taj McCoy) 4. Land of Milk and Honey (C Pam Zhang) 5. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (James McBride)
My Favorite Cookbooks: 1. Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook (Sohla El-Waylly) 2. Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit (Erika Council) 3. Birdsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives (Al Tait, Kitty Tait) 4. Pomegranates and Artichokes (Saghar Setareh) 5. Chími Nu’Am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen (Sara Calvosa Olson) 6. The Jewish Deli: An Illustrated History of the Chosen Food (Ben Nadler) 7. Sweet Salone: Recipes from the Heart of Sierra Leone (Maria Bradford) 8. The Secret Life of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen (Bee Wilson) 9. Salamati: Hamed’s Persian Kitchen (Hamad Allahyari) 10. Mayumi: Filipino American Desserts Remixed (Abi Balingit)
Currently:
Reading: Down Along That Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy (Connor Towne O’Neill) Watching: Parks and Recreation (Peacock) Listening: Glamorous Trash (Chelsea Devantez)
she / her I have a lot of Leslie Knope tendencies. Studied political science | sustainable food & justice. I’m a dog mom to the terror duo of Porkchop Reptar and Arya Tonks. Forever an intentional wanderer and admirer of black coffee.
I like inappropriately fake eyelashes and podcasts of the documentary variety. I’m an advocate for building a more radically empathetic world.
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