Welcome to the 19th installment of The Millions’ annual Year in Reading series! YIR gathers together some of today’s most exciting writers, thinkers, and tastemakers to share the books that shaped their year. What makes the series special is that it celebrates the subjectivity of reading: where yearend best-of lists pass off their value judgement as definitive, YIR essayists take a more phenomenological tact, focusing instead on capturing the experience of the books they read. (I’m not particularly interested in handing down a decision on “The 10 Best Books of 2023,” and neither are this year’s contributors.) This, of course, makes for great, probing essays—in writing about our reading lives, we inevitably write about our inner lives.
YIR contributors were encouraged approach the assignment—to reflect on the books they read this year, an intentionally vague prompt—however they wanted, and many did so with dazzling creativity. One contributor, a former writer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, arranged her essay like an art gallery, with each book she read assigned a museum wall label. Another, whose work revolves around revolutionary and utopian movements in history, organized her year by the long-defunct French Revolutionary calendar. Some opted to write personal narratives, while others embraced the listicle format. Some divided up their reading between work and pleasure; for others, the two blended together (as is often the case for those of us in the literary profession).
The books that populate this year’s essays also varied widely. Some contributors read with intention: one writer of nonfiction returned to reading fiction for the first time in 13 years; one poet decided to read only Black romance in the second half of 2023. For two new parents, their years in reading were defined by the many picture books that they read to their infants. There were, however, common threads. This year, contributors read one book more than any other: Catherine Lacey‘s novel Biography of X, which chronicles the life of a fictional artist against the backdrop of an alternate America. Also widely read and written about were Dan Sinykin‘s Big Fiction, an analysis of the conglomeration of the publishing industry, and the works of Annie Ernaux (a star of last year’s YIR as well).
I’m profoundly grateful for the generosity of this year’s contributors, the names of whom will be revealed below as entries are published throughout the month, concluding on Thursday, December 21. Be sure to bookmark this page and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date.
—Sophia Stewart, editor
Emily Wilson, classicist and translator of The Iliad
Vauhini Vara, author of This Is Salvaged
Jenn Shapland, author of Thin Skin
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Source : A Year in Reading: 2023
