The One with All the Books
my favorite reads of 2023 (and what's ahead for HT Book Club in the new year)
I admit I love this time of year and all the “Best Book” lists floating around on the internet. While I get tired of many trends quickly, this will not be one of them. Give me all the lists, please.
If I had to sum up my year of reading, 2023 was the Year of the Memoir. From Matthew Perry to Frederick Buechner to Maggie Smith, I could not get enough. There’s something about the way memoir allows us to peek into another person’s experience, to grow compassion, and to expand the way we experience the wider world that keeps me going back. Over and over again.
If you want my full reading list for the year, you can find that over at Goodreads, but here are the highlights—the books I want to mention.
Books I Keep Quoting
The Gift of Being Yourself by David G. Benner - Reading this small-but-substantial book felt like an exhale I didn’t know I needed. As a person prone to thinking I am not enough, Benner’s book reminded me of all the ways God quietly meets us in the ground of who we are. I plan to re-read this book in 2024.
“Deep knowing of self gives opportunity for deep knowing of God, just as deep knowing of God gives opportunity for deep knowing of self.” —David Benner
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith - Thirty or so pages in, I texted a writer friend, “No one should be allowed to write this well.” The artfulness of Maggie Smith’s memoir was so stunning I waffled in between wanting to sit back in awe and throw the book against the wall and give up my career entirely. While her experience has been different from my own, I found myself connected to her experience of unexpected loss and finding one’s self in the aftermath. This book was definitely in my top two.
“It’s a smallness that makes me feel a part of the world, not separate from it.” —Maggie Smith, You Could Make This Place Beautiful
Books That Made Me Think
Orphaned Believers by Sara Billups - What I appreciated most about Sara’s inquiry into American Evangelicalism of the ‘90s is how she approached the topic with such tenderness—setting out not to condemn but to ask honest questions and wrap them in the narrative of her own experience. Yes, some of the questions stung, but they were not without hope or deep love for God and people. And they’re questions that have stuck with me as I navigate how to inhabit the world as a modern-day believer, while still longing for the One who is our Home.
How to Inhabit Time by James K.A. Smith - As one who continues to be pulled toward a slower pace of life, I was really compelled by this book on how to see time (past, present, and future) from the lens of eternity and from a posture of faithfulness. It did not disappoint!
Belonging by Geoffrey Cohen - I had this book checked out from the library for MONTHS as I did the deep writing for my own book, and even now, I find myself returning to many of its insights and research. The style definitely leans academic, but it’s a great read for anyone wanting to think deeper about your own belonging and creating welcoming spaces.
Books with Compelling Stories
Tell Me the Dream Again by Tasha Jun - This memoir was a hauntingly beautiful read that gave me a small window into the complexities of being bi-racial in modern-day America while at the same time providing a hand to hold in my own journey toward belonging. Tasha is a fantastic storyteller (I was especially wowed by her folktale at the very end, making me hopeful for more from her in the future).
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen - Magical realism is not one of my typical fiction genres, but this book was an utter delight from start to finish. With a touch of mystery and other-worldliness, I loved the underlying theme of a group of misfits finding their place.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - Full disclosure: I’m still only about one-third of the way through this book, but giving that I started it over the weekend and have not been able to put it down (oh, and it won the Pulitzer), I feel pretty confident about adding it to this list. The book deals with some really heartbreaking realities of poverty, family, loss, drugs, foster care, and much more, but goodness it’s breaking my heart in the best of ways—creating space in the rubble for compassion to grow.
All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore - Good glory. I listened to this book and was captivated from start to finish. Like many people who grew up within the evangelical church, Beth Moore was a name I knew. I saw the piles of Beth Moore Bible Studies my own mama kept close, meeting her in formative moments of her life. But as I read Beth’s memoir, the word that kept coming to mind as I listened to her retelling of personal and often painful stories was generous. How generous she was to write these things down and offer them to us. As a writer, I hope I can be half as brave.
It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway: And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward by Elizabeth Passarella - I love any writer that can seamlessly go deep on one page while making me laugh out loud on the next, and Elizabeth Passarella did just that with wit and a winsome way with words. Having never read anything of Passarella prior to picking up this book from the library on a whim, her memoir was surprisingly delightful and human and one I continue to recommend.
That’s it for my list! I would also love to hear about your favorite reads from the year, so feel free to leave a comment below and tell us all about them.
What’s Ahead for HT Book Club
We are bringing back Human Together Book Club in the new year! I have some fun things in store, but I want to give you a heads up on what to expect and what we will be reading during the winter months, in case you want to join.
A reminder that HT Book Club reads one book a month and gathers to talk about it the first Friday of every month. We read with two questions in mind:
What does this tell us about being human?
How can we be a little more human together?
We keep things casual (people often show up reading only part of the book, which is totally fine), and I send out discussion questions in advance for those of us who like to do a little marinating beforehand.
Book Club access is part of being a paid subscriber to Human Together. I’m running an annual subscription special for the remainder of December, in case like me you’re a sucker for a good deal. But also know this: I never want anyone to feel excluded due to money, so if you want to participate but paying isn’t an option, simply email me at sarah@sarahewestfall.com and we will work it out, no questions asked.
Here’s a heads up on what we will be reading during the winter months:
January: With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani
February: How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South by Esau McCauley
March: Start with Hello (And Other Simple Ways to Live as Neighbors) by Shannan Martin
If you have any Book Club questions, feel free to let me know! I look forward to reading together in the new year.
Special note: Many of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase. Thank you for contributing to my future reading budget.
I love hearing all your thoughts on books. Thanks for the shout out too!
I loved this list! What a great year for memoir.