Neil Serven

A sloppy list of the books that I enjoyed reading in 2023:

1. The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard
2. Either/Or, Elif Batuman
3. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
4. Relentless Melt, Jeremy P. Bushnell
5. My Education, Susan Choi
6. I Meant It Once, Kate Doyle
7.  Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Isaac Fitzgerald
8. Nothing Special, Nicole Flattery
9. Tinkers, Paul Harding
10. The Price of Salt, or Carol, Patricia Highsmith
11. Cherry, Mary Karr
12. The Dinner, Herman Koch
13. In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado
14. A Burning, Megha Majumdar
15. Brother and Sister Enter the Forest, Richard Mirabella
16. Lunch Poems, Frank O’Hara
17. The Words, Jean-Paul Sartre
18. Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth, Chris Ware
19. Weather, Jenny Offill
20. The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner
21. Loitering With Intent, Muriel Spark
22. Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner

I read 50 books in all–a high number for me–including seven re-reads. The year was remarkably busy in other respects, as I started a new job in July, completed the first draft of a novel, and published four pieces (two essays, a review, and a flash fiction), with a longer story due to come out next year. It feels like I end every year wishing to be able to make writing a more integral part of my life, but this year it feels like I genuinely made that happen. I look forward to keeping it going.