All the books I read in 2023
It’s become a yearly tradition of mine to publish a list of books I read throughout the year as the year draws to a close. Here’s what I read in 2023:
French Milk by Lucy Knisley 🖍️
Stargazing by Jen Wang 🖍️
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang 🖍️
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle 🖍️
Life is Better When You Draw (It): And Other Truths about Your Creative Habit by Koosje Koene
A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston 🧒
Writers’ Retreats: Literary Cabins, Creative Hideaways, and Favorite Writing Spaces of Iconic Authors by Neil Burkey
Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski 🧒🖍️
My Inner Sky: On Embracing Day, Night, and All The Times in Between by Mari Andrew
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton 🖍️
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
What’s Cooking in Flowerville: Recipes from Garden, Balcony or Window Box by Felicita Sala 🧒
The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney by Alice B. McGinty & Elizabeth Haidle 🧒
Before They Were Authors: Famous Writers as Kids by Eliozabeth Haidle 🧒
The Balcony by Melissa Castrillon 🧒
I Don’t Draw, I Color! by Adam Lehrhaupt and Felicita Sala 🧒
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari and Felicita Sala 🧒
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 1 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 2 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 3 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 4 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 5 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 6 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 7 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 8 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 9 by Afro 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 10 by Afro 🖍️
Writing to Change the World: An Inspiring Guide for Transforming the World with Words by Mary Pipher
Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao 🖍️
Highly Sensitive People in an Insensitive World: How to Create a Happy Life by Ilse Sand
Handbook by Kevin Budnik 🖍️
Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrap the World: The Story of Two Groundbreaking Environmental Artists by G. Neri and Elizabeth Haidle 🧒
Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adam’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration by Elizabeth Partridge & Lauren Tamaki 🖍️
Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan, Emily MacLachlan, and Katy Schneider 🧒
Bird Cat Dog by Lee Nordling and Meritxell Bosch 🧒🖍️
Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith 🧒
Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere by Elise Gravel 🧒🖍️
A Career in Books: A Novel about Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun by Kate Gavino 🖍️
Notes from a Sickbed by Tessa Brunton 🖍️
El Deafo by Cece Bell and David Lasky 🧒🖍️
Maybe an Artist by Liz Montague 🖍️
Little Fox in the Forest by Stephanie Graegin 🧒
Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting by Kindra Neely 🖍️
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast 🖍️
The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi
A Year Without Mom by Dasha Tolstikova 🧒🖍️
Look Again by Elizabeth Trembley 🖍️
Fast-Draft Your Memoir: Write Your Life Story in 45 Hours by Rachael Herron
Headland by Kate Schneider 🖍️
RX by Rachel Lindsay 🖍️
A Hole on the Heart: Bringing Up Beth by Henny Beaumont 🖍️
Laid-back Camp, Vol. 11 by Afro 🖍️
Stitches by David Small 🖍️
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh 🖍️
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug🖍️
What is clear from the list of my reading choices is that I continue to value visual narratives and creativity, as I mostly have read graphic novels (🖍️) and illustrated works. What’s new this year is that I started reading children’s books (🧒) as I began to create similar narratives. The coming year should be no different, as I plan to immerse myself in graphic memoirs, graphic novels, and art-related literature. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, which I recently started reading again, will be a crucial read to finish in the next year as well.
