favorites 2023
a list by rory
created 5 months ago, last updated 5 months ago

in reverse chronological order of when i read them.

i was surprised to find that i didn't read as many amazing books this year as i felt like i did. maybe i just thought about more amazing books than i actually read, lol, as i have many great books i'm currently in the middle of, and many more up next in the queue. so, more for 2024!

click "show notes" for the commentary.

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Kitchen Confidential
by Anthony Bourdain

anthony bourdain == the best comfort reading/tv

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Life in code
by Ellen Ullman

random bookstore pickup that turned out to be life-changing: rare chicken soup for the programmer/poet soul.

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Nightwood
by Djuna Barnes

where has this book been all my life? when i needed role models for my toxic girl crushes?

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Slouching towards Bethlehem
by Joan Didion

no one does LA, SF, and NY in the 60s quite like joan didion.

Editor's Burial
by David Brendel

anthology of old new yorker pieces that inspired the french dispatch (movie)! many characters in the movie are amalgamations of the writers featured in the book.