I owe a lot of my early sobriety to manically reading books. Reading in rehab was the catalyst to this new ‘healthy’ book addiction that I have developed.
This post is dedicated to my all-time favorites from 2020-2023. If you wanna see everything I’ve read – I have it pretty much covered on my Goodreads.
Must-Read Non-Fiction
- Invisible Child – Andrea Elliot
- A documentation – a snapshot honestly – of the experience growing up in a shelter in New York City.
- Author is NYT journalist, initially planning on writing a piece about 11-year-old girl named Dasani who was living in a shelter in Brooklyn w/ her family. She ended up spending 8 years with the family documenting their story.
- I recommend this book to everyone – the length may be daunting, but you won’t want to put it down. Required reading especially if you live in NYC.
- A documentation – a snapshot honestly – of the experience growing up in a shelter in New York City.
- Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
- A reminder that humans can have a healthy relationship with nature.
- Author is a Native American scientist and botanist, sharing generational wisdom that has been lost to colonization and erasure. The land that is now America was taken care of and cultivated for thousands of years before Europeans came – and she tells us how and why.
- Eye-opening, it will make going outside and just seeing a tree more thrilling. Seriously will expand your existence.
- A reminder that humans can have a healthy relationship with nature.
- Columbine – Dave Cullen
- A complete journalistic overview of the Columbine High School shooting, from victims to perpetrators.
- Author compiles data from an exhaustive amount of sources to paint a clear picture of the circumstances that lead to the crime that went on to inspire many more.
- School shootings are endemic to America. I think we must look towards the issue to see the disease as it is, and hopefully inspire change.
- A complete journalistic overview of the Columbine High School shooting, from victims to perpetrators.
- The Wager – David Grann
- INSANE true story about a shipwreck in the 1740s near Patagonia.
- The HMS Wager sets off from England. The captain kinda sucks, the crew was practically forced on board with guns to their backs, and they didn’t know about scurvy. They end up shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere and it gets crazier. Author wrote Killers of the Flower Moon – so he’s a great storyteller.
- This is a history heavy book, lots of detail and intricacies and if you’re into that kinda stuff- this book is like crack.
- INSANE true story about a shipwreck in the 1740s near Patagonia.
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
- An autobiography that exudes triumph in the most human way possible. The existence of the book is proof enough.
- The journey of growing up in America as a black girl in the 1930s and 1940s. From Arkansas to California, her life is full of poetry and purpose.
- Another required reading item. Angelou is a poet at heart, and her story reads so smoothly it feels like you’re gliding.
- An autobiography that exudes triumph in the most human way possible. The existence of the book is proof enough.
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – Michelle McNamara
- A search for an unidentified serial killer and rapist that tore through California between the 1970s and 1980s.
- Author’s life mission was to discover the identity of this killer who had evaded escape for decades. However – she died right before finishing the book, and ultimately, before his identity was revealed.
- Fascinating that this man evaded justice for so long. Makes you think about all the nice old men walking down the street.
- A search for an unidentified serial killer and rapist that tore through California between the 1970s and 1980s.
- Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari
- We are all just hairless apes, creating meaning in a world that is essentially meaningless.
- A reality check on humanity. The book covers the entire history of humans, how we beat out Neanderthals and created the society we all accept today.
- Another long one, but gives you information that will last a lifetime. Grounding also- gets back to our deeper roots.
- We are all just hairless apes, creating meaning in a world that is essentially meaningless.
- The Copenhagen Trilogy – Tove Ditlevsen
- I found a mirror in this book. Tove’s autobiography explores the world as a woman- and her struggles with men, drugs, and society are timeless.
- A series of three memoirs written by Danish writer Ditlevsen – ‘Childhood’, ‘Youth’, ‘Dependency’ – put together as one book. Born in 1917, the author is relatable as fuck to this day.
- It feels like you’re reading her blog- an unfiltered view into a world that was striving to be proper.
- I found a mirror in this book. Tove’s autobiography explores the world as a woman- and her struggles with men, drugs, and society are timeless.
- Honorable Mentions
Must-Read Fiction
- Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr
- The entire book takes place in three different timelines – an ancient civilization, present-day Idaho, and a future starship.
- I hated the title, and my unfounded bias kept me away from this book for too long, so DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.
- It’s historical, topical, sci-fi-ish and made me cry. The author wrote another absolute banger that I also recommend.
- The entire book takes place in three different timelines – an ancient civilization, present-day Idaho, and a future starship.
- The Overstory – Richard Powers
- The story is structured like a tree, split into four sections titled; ‘roots’, ‘trunk’, ‘crown’, ‘seeds’. It covers the stories of nine people, their messy lives throughout the years, and trees.
- Theres war, suicide, death, explosions, and TREES. I started looking up the types of trees around the city after this book and can now identify most.
- If you liked Braiding Sweetgrass, you will like this book. A good reminder the mundane can be extraordinary, and you’re left with weird optimism.
- The story is structured like a tree, split into four sections titled; ‘roots’, ‘trunk’, ‘crown’, ‘seeds’. It covers the stories of nine people, their messy lives throughout the years, and trees.
- Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
- The Appalachian experience captured through a boy’s life growing up in rural Virginia in the 90s-2000s. Death, drugs, dads, desperation – it has it all, and it’s tragic(ally beautiful?).
- Little ol me had no idea this was based off David Copperfield, a classic Dickens novel. If you’re familiar with that, then expect a similar narrative set in modern-day America.
- I can already tell this will become required reading for many high schoolers to come- and it should be. True definition of a modern classic.
- The Appalachian experience captured through a boy’s life growing up in rural Virginia in the 90s-2000s. Death, drugs, dads, desperation – it has it all, and it’s tragic(ally beautiful?).
- One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
- Basic? I don’t care. Multi-generational portrait of a family living in a fictitious town in Colombia – all through a supernatural lens.
- Epitome of the magic realism genre, which I think captures reality better in this case. Clearly I love embellished realities and sweeping family stories – and this has both.
- This one is for the girlies who liked English class. So many layers and ‘what does he mean when he writes…’ moments.
- Basic? I don’t care. Multi-generational portrait of a family living in a fictitious town in Colombia – all through a supernatural lens.
- Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
- Piranesi thinks he’s always lived in a world with a population of 15 people. The world is mostly ocean, with clouds for a sky and stone hallways connecting towards each other. How he got there is insane.
- A very mental book, and complete unbased fiction unlike the others listed here. Think Inception.
- This is a great vacation book, or a book for when you need to completely remove yourself from reality .
- Piranesi thinks he’s always lived in a world with a population of 15 people. The world is mostly ocean, with clouds for a sky and stone hallways connecting towards each other. How he got there is insane.
- The Orphan Master’s Son – Adam Johnson
- The story of a boy growing up in North Korea. Paints an interesting picture of the realities of life in the DPRK, and how they perceive the world.
- I think about this book a lot- it also talks about space, America, and lots of propaganda.
- Censorship is growing in America, and this is a great reminder of where that leads us.
- The story of a boy growing up in North Korea. Paints an interesting picture of the realities of life in the DPRK, and how they perceive the world.
- A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towels
- Reflections and stories from a former Count that has been put on house arrest in a Moscow hotel during the Bolshevik Revolution in the early 1900s.
- I read this book in rehab, just because someone had left it there so I wasn’t expecting much. Now it’s one of my favorite books and go-to recs, because the way its written is fun to read.
- Historical fiction in a sense, author is just a fundamentally great writer.
- Reflections and stories from a former Count that has been put on house arrest in a Moscow hotel during the Bolshevik Revolution in the early 1900s.
- Sea Of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel
- Four timelines, two in the past, two in the future, one thread that weaves them all together.
- Written during lockdown, this novel gives off the similar vibe of watching time pass by idly with reality quickly collapsing.
- Existential crisis, why are we here and what really is the purpose of it all- but in a weird sci-fi / historical way.
- Four timelines, two in the past, two in the future, one thread that weaves them all together.
- Honorable Mentions