A Messy 2023 Round-Up!

my favorite books and albums of 2023.

Two years ago today, I wrote my first Substack piece:

counting Christmas trees.

Two years! For my two year anniversary with my high school boyfriend, I was planning to go on a hot air balloon ride together. It would be my gift to him in September, our anniversary. Two years felt like the biggest, most beautiful dedication. But then he came back from the church camp he was working at that summer and broke up with me the day after I got my wisdom teeth out. I’ve still never been in a hot air balloon.

Two years with you—you funny little news(love)letter. Two years with you—you beautiful reader you. It feels big and beautiful and somehow it feels like we’ve been together much longer. Happy anniversary! And Happy Winter Solstice! This is our hot air balloon ride!

On this darkest day of the year, I want to share some of the brightest books and albums of my year. When I look back at this year, all the brightest moments were just that—moments between me and my little family or my loved ones. There was hardly any music playing in these special moments. (well, with a couple exceptions to that rule.) That has to be a first for me. Music has always been such a big part of my life… like it’s been my whole life?? But when I took a leap and left KEXP, I found bigger parts of life that didn’t have a trendy playlist. Wow.

But there was music. (there will always be music.) And there were books. (there will always be books.) Here are my favorites from 2023.

Top Ten Books I Read in 2023

I am not a voracious reader. I do not “keep up with the book Joneses,” but I’m trying to be a better reader, because I want to be a better writer. And I did read more than ten books this year! (absolutely patting myself on the back.) With that in mind, here are my ten favorite books I read this year… not all from 2023… don’t @ me…

10. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

This is a fun little rom-com where I got to pretend that I was a writer for SNL and fell in love with Harry Styles. Great vacation read.

9. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Okay, I probably needed this book more than any of the other ones. You’ve heard me talk about it before… how it shook me to my core when I realized we all basically only have 4,000 weeks on this earth, in this life. This is a time-management self-help book. Warning: It may make you quit your job and travel Europe.

8. Calypso by David Sedaris

David Sedaris’ funniest book to date. I laughed out loud so hard. I want to write more like David Sedaris—be a humorous essayist—so I read a lot of Sedaris this year and I think it made my life better.

7. Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott

Wow, this book. This book is an extension of this series for The New York Times. I kept having to step back and remind myself that this book is non-fiction. This is the story about homeless youth (one girl, in particular) in New York City, but it feels like a heartbreaking story of a nation who cannot provide for their most vulnerable. This book is incredible and important.

6. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

I’m a Sally Rooney fan and now I know there is something extra special about reading her work in Ireland and the French countryside. I always want to be one of the wayward genius college students in her books who is trying to find herself while on holiday in a beautiful house in France… and this summer, I kinda was her… minus the genius part. Yes, this book is no Normal People, but I still loved it.

5. Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris

Making his second appearance on the list! This is Sedaris’ most vulnerable book yet. You can tell that he held on to some things he felt like he couldn’t write until his father passed away. And now that his father has passed away, here are the things about his family that he’s been holding on to, wanting to write, but wouldn’t. It’s powerful. It makes me want to be a humorous essayist who writes about the beautiful darkness in us all.

4. Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner

This book is two years old. If I had read it in 2021, it would’ve been on the top of my list, but it wouldn’t have hit me as deeply as it did. If I would’ve read it in 2022, the year my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, it would have destroyed me. Reading it in 2023 was just right. This book is beautiful and funny and filled with vivid scenes of place and family. It’s perfect. And I got to see Michelle Zauner speak at Seattle’s Town Hall this year, which felt so special. If you haven’t read this yes, what are you waiting for?? (if you have a sick parent, I get it.)

3. Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Wowowowow. A beautiful story of childhood friendships and doing life as best as you can through it all. With video games. You’ve heard of this book. It’s probably topping everyone else’s favorite book lists of 2023. It’s so good.

2. Is This Okay? by Harriet Gibsone

I randomly picked this book up at Shakespeare & Co and connected with it immediately. I’m sad to see that it’s not super available in the States?? Yet?? (Harriet, what’s the story??) Though some of the London-insider scene was lost on me, this collection of essays about being a woman writer in the music scene in the 2000s and 2010s hit me right in the feels. Throughout the whole book, I felt so connected to Harriet and felt seen. A beautiful debut by an internet music writer who fucking did it.

1. Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

All hail the queen! Samantha Irby is my new favorite author—the writer I want to be. Move over David Sedaris (sorry), this new queen has everything:

• A dedication to Zoloft.

• Getting peed on.

• An extensive breakdown of every Sex & the City episode.

• Dave Matthews love that makes you remember being a teenager.

• A near-death experience that somehow is so hilarious and also relatable.

So many laugh-out-loud moments. This is Irby’s fourth book of essays that features a real cute animal. I just cannot get enough. BIG FAN.

My Top Ten Albums Of 2023… Okay, One From 2022.

I spent half of the year working at KEXP, the best radio station in the world. I was completely dedicated to discovering new music and championing the people who made that music or needed that music. And then I stopped working there and kind of turned the music off. So a weird year for music discovery for me, but it still absolutely happened and it was a wonderful year for music. Kevin Cole would always buy all of his top albums on vinyl and I think that tradition is amazing. *checks bank account.* Maybe next year. Here are my favorite albums of the year…

11. Earl Sweatshirt - VOIR DIRE

Fave Track:

This album is *chef’s kiss* and perfect for putting on when you want to push yourself creatively to be the best you ever thought you could be.

10. Nation of Language - Strange Disciple

Fave Track:

Honestly, this one was a bit of a sleeper/slowburn. But then I saw them open up for LCD Soundsystem and was singing along to all of the lyrics of songs from this album and realized how much I love it and needed it this year.