My top 10 books of 2023

Grab a cuppa and lets get into it

Hello, I’m Molly and I write about my slow and simple life in the Scottish Highlands. Please subscribe to support my work and to read more of my stories. You can also find me on YouTube and shop my Etsy Store and sustainable Teemill Clothing.

It was a year of adventure, laughter, joy, fury, dread, heartbreak, tears, overstrained eyes, late nights and aching hands. In other words, just another year in the life of a bookworm.

I’m super proud to have read 52 books this year (and counting). That’s 11 more than last year and a personal best. I haven’t read this much since I was a teenager…

I’ve also diversified my reading this year. Although its still very fiction orientated, I found myself falling in love with memoirs, specifically nature memoirs, over the past few months. Its a genre I intend to continue exploring in 2024.

In this post, I have taken on the very difficult yet fun challenge to pick my top 10 books of 2023.

If you would like some more reading inspiration, you can learn about my weekly reading routine (and how to set up your own) HERE, my seasonal reading guide HERE and watch my YouTube video with tips on how you can read more HERE.

As always, I plan all my reading in my Notion Bookworm Planner and sell this template on my Etsy store HERE. Its transformed my relationship with reading and is one of the main reasons I’ve hit my reading goal this year.

So, without further ado, lets get into it. A cup of tea is obligatory.

(Note - I decided not to include re-reads e.g., Wuthering Heights & Anne of Green Gables, in this list, so these are all just books I’ve read for the first time. Also, those books without quotes were only because I forgot to write them down, not because they weren’t quote-worthy!)

Non-fiction

The salt path & Landlines, Raynor Winn

I know, first entry and I’m already cheating as this is technically two books. I couldn’t pick between them so had to include both!

Raynor Winn is the author that got me into nature memoirs as I read The Salt Path in January. Her story beautifully demonstrates the power of nature. After she and her husband, face great hardship, they decide to go on a walk. A very long walk. And it changed everything.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I burst into tears at the end of Landlines. I felt like I lived this story with them and its one that I will always keep close to my heart.

P.S., I didn’t include her other book The wild silence (written between these two) as although it was still superb, it didn’t quite have the same impact for me as these books.

‘A place within me that will always be wild, empty and free.’ (Landlines quote)

Everything I know about love, Dolly Alderton

I’m quite embarrassed to admit that I’d never heard of Dolly before this year. Now, I am obsessed.

She is without a doubt an exceptional writer. This memoir is her first book and follows her life from childhood to late 20’s. Its one of the funniest books I’ve read and brilliantly relatable, whilst still containing some poignant messages. It brilliantly conveyed that love comes in all shapes and sizes. I couldn’t put it down.

I also read her novel, Ghosts, which was fantastic but interestingly, given I’m a fiction fanatic, I preferred her memoir. I can’t wait to read more of her work.

‘This is how I operated when my hormones were pumping through my bloodstream so thick and fast; a handshake became a snog, a hug became a dry hump.’

‘I looked across the crowded kitchen at this small, birdlike creature, snapping into pieces, all her bones and words crumbling, and I wanted to barge through the room to hold her. It was the worst moment of my life.’

Fiction

The animals of Lockwood Manor, Jane Healey

I’ve put this book first as, of all the fiction I read this year, this is the one that stands out.

I loved everything about it. The Gothic countryside manor setting, the war tension, the quirky characters, the hidden mystery and the unexpected yet beautiful romance. It’s not a book I feel like I read, but rather one that consumed me.

It followed the meeting of two very different woman. One, a curator of the mammal collection at the Natural History Museum, who is sent to look after these specimens when they evacuated into the countryside. The other a seemingly fragile lady, sheltered by her overbearing father, who suffers from unexplained night terrors. A captivating story.

This is why I think reading is deeply personal. This may not be the most accomplished or award winning book I read this year, but its one that profoundly moved me and I will remember for a long time.

‘An angry figure, a weeping woman who hated me, a Lord of the manor who warned me against exciting his fragile daughter, and talk of a cursed room. What kind of place was this?’

The little shop of happily ever after, Jenny Colgan

I read my first Jenny Colgan book in March this year. After that, I was hooked.

She has become my ultimate comfort author. She has the knack of creating immensely likeable characters. You cannot help but like her stories.

I picked this book out of the multiple I read as it just screamed ‘me’. It followed the protagonist, Nina, an avid book lover, who leaves southern England to move to the Scottish Highlands and set up her own mobile bookshop. Oh, and of course, she finds romance along the way. What’s not to love?

The sort of sequel (they work as stand alone books), The Bookshop on the Shore is equally as brilliant and just piqued to the post here.

‘Books have been her solace when she was sad; her friends when she was lonely. They had mended her heart when it was broken, and encouraged her to hope when she was down.’

Summer People, Elin Hilderbrand

I didn’t know what to expect when I picked this book up on a whim from the library.

In all honesty, I didn’t have super high hopes. Although it was very well reviewed, the blurb didn’t really capture me. Of course, I ended up adoring it. I love it when books do that.

Set on a fictional island off the coast of Maine, this book follows two couples as their life’s intersect and secrets are revealed. The author describes the dynamics of small island life beautifully and the setting feels like it becomes a character in itself.

It turned out to be one of my favourite romances of the year.

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig

This book felt very different to the other’s I read this year.

I’m not usually a big consumer of fantasy, but I love how this book cleverly brings a fantastical edge to a very believable modern day story, where the protagonist finds herself in a library where every book gives her the option of living a different life.

Matt’s writing style is really unique and I loved how inventive this story was. I admired how he encouraged the reader to reflect on their own lives and felt it conveyed some important messages.

‘Regret is the root of all wisdom, because you can't move on without first understanding the mistakes of the past.’

I capture the castle, Dodie Smith

Written as a diary from an adolescent girl in the 1930’s, this book beautifully describes the dynamics of Cassandra’s somewhat bohemian and impoverished family, that happen to live in an English castle.

J.K. Rowling is quoted in saying that ‘this book has one of the most charismatic narrators I’ve ever met’ and I couldn’t agree more. Cassandra is intelligent, funny, caring and resilient. You can’t help falling in love with her.

Its one of the most beautifully written stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This one is staying on my bookshelf for a long time…

‘I told her she couldn’t go to the streets in the depths of Suffolk.’

‘How moons do vary! Some are white, some are gold, this was like a dazzling circle of tin - I never saw a moon look so hard before.’

‘It was so bad that I found myself going around and leaning against walls - I can’t think why misery makes me lean against walls, but it does.’

Really good, actually, Monica Heisey

I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry with laughter, yet this one did more than once. I howled. My partner became quite alarmed…

Although the plot was simple, as you follow the main character through her divorce, the story-telling was sublime. A heart warming and hilarious account of dating in your early 30’s. It felt like reading a modern Bridget Jones, which is never a bad thing!

I have huge admiration for this author and the rave reviews really say it all.

‘The idea that I had freaked out a therapist was very stressful.’

‘I felt like a walking Before photo surrounded by dozens of possible Afters, all of them named Amber.’

If I can’t have you, Charlotte Levin

When my friend lent me this, she described it to be like the TV series ‘You’, but from a female perspective. She was bang on.

This story is told in the first person, with a flawed and highly unreliable narrator, that you somehow end up rooting for even when it defies all logic. It was probably the most intense book I read this year as we follow the protagonist’s obsession with her boss to its bitter end.

Not one for the faint hearted but totally and utterly brilliant.

The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins

Speaking of flawed characters…

This book follows the life of Evelyn Hugo, a formidable character that gives me modern (ish - its starts in the 50’s) day Scarlett O’ Hara vibes. Evelyn is selfish, vain and, at times, cruel. Yet she is also brave, fiercely loyal and has the ability to love deeply.

She somehow becomes a very unlikely feminist icon.

This book cleverly demonstrates that a glamorous life is never quite as it seems, with a great twist at the end.

A moving story with an unforgettable character.

‘When you dig just the tiniest but beneath the surface, everyone’s love life is original and interesting and nuanced and defies an easy definition.’

That’s a wrap

If you’ve read any of these books, please do add your thoughts below. What’s the best book you’ve read this year? I’d love to know!

This will be my last post of 2023 as I’m taking a wee break over the festive season. As always, thank you so much for supporting my work. It truly means the world.

Until next time,

Molly xx

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