Earl Grey Books

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is ‘why I’m thankful for books’ for Thanksgiving. Even though we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, I’d decided I talk about specific books I read this year and that I’m thankful for.

This isn’t my favourite reads of 2023—some of these are favourites but mostly they’re ones I’m thankful I read for other reasons. I’ll be sharing my actual favourites in January because who knows what I could read before now and the end of the year?

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

Right off the bat, I wouldn’t consider The Cruel Prince a favourite for the year but I am thankful I read it because it taught me that I can occasionally like hyped books. I tend to shy away from popular reads because I often don’t enjoy them, so it was nice to see that there are exceptions. I don’t really plan on every coming back to this series but I’m still glad I gave it a chance.

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff

This is one of the most fantastic things I read this year. I picked it up during Eurovisionathon—it was an absolutely fascinating read, I learnt a lot from it but it was also really engaging and approachable. It’s a few years old now and kind of hard to find, but if you ever get the chance to pick this up, I’d really recommend it.

The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer

This was another read from Eurovisionathon. It’s a historical, middle-grade with folklore elements set in Romania around the 80s. It’s a beautiful read about community and family and the power of stories, but part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was for the disability representation. One of the characters is undergoing a similar treatment to what I did as a kid—every time I read something with a character close to my own experience, I think of that little girl inside me who spent years in and out of hospital and never saw anything in boos or movies close to her experience. I am always thankful when these stories are told.

Iced Out (Heston U Hotshots #1) by Veronica Eden

I credit Iced Out as the catalyst to my renewed obsession with ice hockey romance this year. I picked this up in May and had such a fantastic time reading it. I’ve read quite a few hockey romances sine and I still consider this one of my top three.

The Library by Bella Osborne

This was the book that finally got me into audiobooks this year. I never thought I’d be someone who could listen to audiobooks—in the past I’ve always struggled to focus and usually just gave up. The Library was the first thing I listened to the whole way through and I really enjoyed it. I’ve not looked back—I’ve read 9 other audiobooks since.

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

There’s nothing like returning to one of your favourite authors. This was Makkai’s first release since The Great Believers which is one of my top three favourite books of all time, so to say I was excited was an understatement. I don’t think this was as good as TGB but that’s a hard book to live up to in my mind, but this was still phenomenal. I read it in July and I still think about it every week so it’s definitely had a lasting impact on me.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

This is the epitome of what I was talking about before. I DNFed this, I think somewhere around the 200 page mark? I honestly can’t remember now. Anyway, I wasn’t enjoying it enough to read all 500 and something pages but the bit that I did read motivated me to pick up an writing project of mine. The piece I’m writing is nothing like this book, but one of the lead characters had a couple of moments that reminded me of the kind of feel/emotions I was going for in mine. So I put this book down but I did end up writing my own for NaNoWriMo.

The Hollow (Hercule Poirot #26) by Agatha Christie

I think this is something like my 35th Agatha Christie or something lie that. The point is I’ve read a lot from her, mostly Poirot’s and I’d been feeling a bit slumpy with them. I’ve read most of the big ones now and few of them have been a bit meh lately. This is the first one I listened to narrated by Hugh Fraser who played Hastings in the ITV Poirot series. He’s a fantastic narrator and really reinvigorated my love for the series and I’m looking forward to keeping on with his audio versions.

Malamander (Legends of Eerie-On-Sea #1) by Thomas Taylor

I’ve reread a lot this year, and some of those old favourites have not turned out the way I expected. So I’m thankful for things like Malamander which was fantastic when I read it for the first time and equally as fantastic when I read it the second.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

This is my favourite book of the year so far and unless something really, really fantastic comes along, I don’t see it being beaten out. I listened to this on audio and read a few physically that were just a lot. It’s a very intense and emotional read, but an absolutely breathtaking one. I really struggle when I love books as much as I do this one to talk about why I love it, I just really, really highly recommend this.

And that’s it. What books are you thankful for this year?