As it does every year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently announced its favorite Southern books of the year. If you missed the 2023 list, you can check it out at ajc.com.
As much as I enjoy working with the AJC’s book critics to compile that list every year, I also like to query local authors about the best books they read. Five local scribes were gracious enough to share the titles of their favorite books of 2023, along with a few words about why they chose them. Their recommendations are as varied as the authors themselves.
Renowned environmental writer Janisse Ray, whose most recent book is the novella “The Woods of Fannin County,” defied expectations straight out of the gate when she named a celebrity memoir as one of her favorite books of 2023.
“Although not a book I’d normally read, Britney Spears’ ‘The Woman in Me’ (Gallery Books, $32.99) surprised me with its candor, its anger,” she said. “Child stars deal with a certain kind of pathology that parades as privilege — most of this out of their control — and of course a time comes when they have to sort that out. Spears does that here.”
Although Spears thanks but doesn’t name the “collaborators” who helped her pen the memoir, the New York Times cites unnamed sources that claim ghostwriters Ada Calhoun, Sam Lansky and Luke Dempsey contributed significantly.
“The book is shocking, also innocent, tender, sad,” said Ray. “And how did I not know that she’s Southern?”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Meanwhile, Lynn Cullen, whose latest historical novel is “The Woman with the Cure,” takes up the nature-writing mantle with her favorite read of the year, “North Woods” (Penguin Random House, $28) by Daniel Mason.
“I’m partial to any story in which the trees star, as do the woods of a northwestern corner of Massachusetts in this sprawling, deftly written novel,” said Cullen.
Described by the New York Times as a “bulging scrapbook of a novel,” “North Woods” uses lectures, poems, diary entries, song lyrics and more to tell the stories of the occupants — human, spectral and animal — of a house in the woods over the course of three centuries.
“The people who inhabit the woods over the centuries leave their mark in sometimes noble but more often misguided if not comical ways, but the trees remain our stoic heroes. They — and this book — are masterpieces,” said Cullen.
Credit: Melville House
Credit: Melville House
The subject of a recent Bookshelf column, Van Jensen, is the debut author of the sci-fi novel “Godfall,” which Ron Howard has optioned for a limited series. Jensen’s favorite book this year is the speculative debut novel “Flux” (Melville House, $28.99) by Jinwoo Chong.
This surreal, neo-noir thriller about a man who believes his time-traveling employers are covering up violent crimes follows three characters whose lives begin to intersect in strange ways.
“This novel has maddeningly well-crafted prose for a young author, but it’s also excellent big-concept sci-fi and a rip roaring read from beginning to end,” said Jensen.
“One Blood” author Denene Millner’s favorite book of 2023 is Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory” (Gallery/Saga Press, $28.99), a historical novel set in Jim Crow Florida.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“Due delivers an introspective look into all the ways American racism and its disregard for Black children is a horror unto itself as she explores a fictional story about a real-life tragedy: the deaths of children at Florida’s infamous Dozier School for Boys,” said Millner. “In this offering, the ghosts are scary, but the true horror lies in the humans, whose cruelty is every bit as frightening as it is real. The book is all at once beautifully written, engaging, scary as hell and heartbreaking.”
Kathy Trocheck, aka Mary Kay Andrews, author of “Bright Lights, Big Christmas” among dozens more books, loves a well-crafted romance novel, and her pick of the year qualifies, although it’s much more than that, too.
Credit: Celadon Books
Credit: Celadon Books
“One of my favorite novels of the year was Tracey Lange’s ‘The Connellys of County Down’ (Celadon Books, 28.99),” said Trocheck. “It’s such a beautifully written, poignant story of family bonds and burdens, betrayal and forgiveness. (It’s) the story of 30-year-old Tara Connelly, recently released from prison, (who returns to) the bosom of her flawed but loving working-class family under the watchful eye of a sympathetic local cop whose feelings for Tara aren’t strictly professional. Lange’s tender treatment of these damaged but not ruined characters is a wonder.”
Whether it’s for your own reading pleasure or a gift for someone else, you can’t go wrong with one these author-approved books to finish out the year.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be contacted at suzanne.vanatten@ajc.com.
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