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I both love and hate end of the year book lists—love because they’re fun roundups full of great titles. But they also make me cringe, even silently rage, because without fail, they leave out amazing books that deserve the spotlight, arguably more than the mega bestsellers often dominating the lists. But the cold mechanics of how books are marketed and promoted shouldn’t stop us from reflecting on the incredible books we’ve spent time with this year and celebrating the ones that built lasting homes in our hearts and minds.
I won’t deny this list is subjective. I’ve admittedly left off many great books, but here is a round-up of some of the best debuts I read this year, all of which deserve a place on your TBR.
Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella
This beautiful novel is about the limitations of love and the anatomy of memory deals with a complicated sibling relationship between Justin and Willa. The novel opens when Justin shows up on Willa’s doorstep and then goes back in time so we see how he got to where we meet him. It’s so gorgeous and haunting that it’s truly unforgettable. (Also, be sure to check out Richard’s incredible essay “Writing My Novel Wasn’t Therapy,” which we published earlier this year.)
Shortlisted for this year’s National Book Award, this stunning collection by Aaliyah Bilal features Black Muslims as they reckon with family, faith, and community. A collection dealing with faith of any kind, regardless of the particular religion, should wrestle with the gap between what the characters believe and their actions, and Bilal is a master at drawing those contradictions. These characters come to life in these stories, which are often quiet, but never without an elegant assuredness. And the collection builds, ending on arguably the strongest story of the collection, “Due North,” about a daughter struggling with the recent death of her father, an imam. Temple Folk announces Aaliyah Bilal as a remarkable talent and a writer to watch.
Extended Stay by Juan Martinez
This literary horror novel isn’t an easy read, but it is an important one that looks at how capitalism exploits immigrant labor. It follows two siblings from Colombia to a hotel in Las Vegas after their family is lost to an atrocious massacre, but the horrors of the past don’t leave them. Juan Martinez is an incredible writer and brings to life this story with remarkable acuity. (It’s not technically his debut, but it is his debut novel, so I’m sneaking it in.) As Angie Raney writes in her review, “Extended Stay by Juan Martinez is unlike any horror book I’ve ever read. It’s primal, confounding, honest, and terrifying, but brilliant nonetheless.”
The thing you need to know before reading this book is it’s not a traditional thriller, but literary fiction with a sharp voice and a deliciously unreliable narrator. The novel follows thirty-year-old Virginia, the operator at the local police tip line, who is eager to meet a man and get married. A tip reveals the location of several women’s bodies and authorities speculate that the murders were done by someone who knows police procedure. But despite the crime thriller elements, this is a deeply psychological novel about compulsion and corruption with a simply masterful execution of unreliability.
Go Back and Get It by Dionne Ford
This astonishing book should’ve been nominated for all the awards. It still blows my mind how much emotional labor went into this extraordinary debut memoir. Dionne Ford traced her family history back to her great-great grandmother who was enslaved. As I wrote in my review, “Ford’s willingness to stare down her, her family’s, and this country’s painful history makes this book extraordinary, alongside her openness about her path to healing—one that included a wide range of therapies, lifestyle changes, and recovery meetings… Perhaps our country’s roots are too atrocious for a full recovery, but Go Back and Get It shows us that healing is possible, at least on an individual level.”
A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani
I adore everything about this debut novel centering Black biracial Lara and her fiery Russian mother Yevgenia (who is probably the most unforgettable character I’ve ever met). But every character in this prismatic novel is vivid. It’s a coming-of-age tale about survival that deals with race, class, gender, and privilege with thoughtfulness and emotional resonance. It made me laugh, broke my heart, and made me see the world anew.
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane
I don’t read many dystopian novels because the current world feels dystopian enough, but I adored this one. It’s set in the near future under heavy surveillance and where extra shadows are handed out as punishment, and the story follows our narrator after her wife’s death as she must single parent their infant. I couldn’t put it down, not only because Crane paints such a chilling world, but they manage to sustain intense intimacy throughout the novel. As Aram Mrjoian wrote in his introduction to his interview with the author, “the novel stands out in its poetic reporting on the everyday experience of living under incessant observation and enforcement.”
Looking back at all the 2023 titles I read, Davon Loeb’s lyrical memoir stands out for its intimacy and brilliance. Loeb is the son of a Black mother and a white Jewish man, and the book explores his growing up in a Black family in a predominantly white suburban town. It’s a deeply felt book, notable not only for its thoughtful examination of race, identity, accountability, and authority, but its masterful execution of narrative.
All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky
I’m a sucker for razor sharp prose and Ruth Madievsky is a queen of mic-drop sentences. Her debut novel, All-Night Pharmacy centers the toxic relationship between the unnamed narrator and her wild older sister who goes missing. It’s a smart, propulsive story that deals with intergenerational familial trauma, addiction, mysticism, and power. As Brock Kingsley writes in his review, “ In All-Night Pharmacy, Madievsky constructs a portrait of a young woman doing the hard internal work to establish meaning, a sense of self, and connection to the outside world. She shows us how, despite not even having a name, the narrator is able to begin building a new “I,” moving from being to becoming and developing into a subject of her own making.”
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig
I don’t read much historical fiction, but loved this gripping novel about a Chinese pirate queen. It’s a fictionalized account of 19th-century Shek Yeung and her fight to maintain power, which brings up questions of power, violence, gender, and fate. Chang-Eppig manages to deliver a well-researched, adventurous epic story with lyricism and radiant prose. It’s the perfect novel for anyone looking for both a great story and great writing.
This book is, well, kind of brutal. Margo Steines doesn’t just recount her experiences, she contextualizes and examines them with such intelligence, honesty, and wit. I was astounding by this book for many reasons, but mostly just by how utterly brilliant it is. As Monika Dziamka writes in her review, “Steines’s ability to be so thoughtful and introspective, connecting her unique experiences with broader themes and issues, provide plenty of opportunities—perhaps even surprising ones—to which the reader can relate. Brutalities: A Love Story is an extraordinary debut.”
I love multiple POV novels, especially when they’re done well, and Chin-Sun Lee does an extraordinary job of bringing all the characters in Upcountry to life. As Sara Lippmann wrote in her introduction of her interview with Lee, “With stunning precision, disquieting tension, and assured prose, Lee delivers a transporting and spellbinding story of resiliency and despair, faith and distrust, identity and community I rapidly devoured. It’s hard to believe Upcountry is her first novel.”
My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin
Set in the late 90s against the backdrop of the Clinton/ Lewinsky scandal, it’s a smart, beautifully written novel that examines consent, the cost of our mistakes, and how we reckon with our past. As Ian MacAllen says in his review, “At its heart, My Last Innocent Year is a campus novel, and it hits many of the same notes as classics of the genre.” And as Ariana Turner said in her interview with Alpert Florin, “Florin delivers an incisive, nuanced take on an all-too-familiar story—one that resonates far beyond the scope of the ’90s.”
I’ve snuck this one on every book list I’ve contributed to because it’s that good. This story collection by PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize-winner Shannon Sanders introduces us to the Collins family, and a few of their acquaintances, as they prepare for visitors, arrive at someone else’s home, or host in theirs. Leaning into themes of performance and keeping up social appearance, these stories are told with humor, heart, and grace.
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