This week kicks off our annual two episode best of the year extravaganza! Trevor and Paul count down the first part of their ten favorite reads of 2023—and they’re joined by a cast of listeners who share some of their top books and best reading experiences of the year! We dare you to not add a book (or more!) to your 2024 TBR!
Giveaway Details
We are excited to give away three Dalkey Archive books to a lucky listener with a U.S. address*.
Please send us an email (or dm on Instagram or Twitter) telling us your interest in The Dalkey Archive! That’s it! We recommend getting these to us by the end of day Friday, December 15 because we will be drawing the winner early the next day!
*Unfortunately, due to high shipping costs, this giveaway is limited to U.S. addresses. We are sorry! We do love our international listeners!
Shownotes
Eastbound, by Maylis De Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore
The Sorrow of Others, by Ada Zhang
A Horse at Night: On Writing, by Amina Cain
Rattlebone, by Maxine Clair
Midnight in theGarden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt
Trust, by Hernan Diaz
Fire Rush, Jacqueline Crooks
Makeshift, by Sarah Campion
Joseph and His Brothers, by Thomas Mann, translated by John E. Woods
Love, by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken
Foster, by Claire Keegan
Women Talking, by Miriam Toews
Five Little Indians, by Michelle Good
Trieste, by Daša Drndić, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać
The Springs of Affection, by Maeve Brennan
The Unreality of Memory, by Elisa Gabbert
The Infatuations, by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa
Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life, by Adam Phillips
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
American Fantastica, by Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
Kindred, by Rebecca Wragg Sykes
The Birthday Party, by Laurent Mauvignier, translated by Daniel Levin Becker
The Sunlit Man, by Brandon Sanderson
Tress of the Emerald Sea, by Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson
Open City, by Teju Cole
School for Love, by Olivia Manning
The Balkan Trilogy, by Olivia Manning
The Levant Trilogy, by Olivia Manning
Ex-Wife, by Ursula Parrott
The Feast, by Margaret Kennedy
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
Time Shelter, by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel
The Physics of Sorrow, by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel
Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
The Guest Lecture, by Martin Riker
The Box, by Mandy-Suzanne Wong
The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence
Abigail, by Magda Szabo, translated by Len Rix
Zaddik, by David Rosenbaum
Five Decembers, by James Kestrel
The Lost Man, by Jane Harper
Lone Women, by Victor Lavalle
The Strange, by Nathan Ballingrud
March’s End, by Daniel Polanski
Brother of the More Famous Jack, by Barbara Trapido
Alfred Ollivant’s Bob, Son of Battle, a new version by Lydia Davis
Gentleman Overboard, by Herbert Clyde Lewis
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Michael R. Katz
About the Podcast
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another.
Please join us! You can subscribe at Apple podcasts or go to the feed to import to your favorite podcatcher.
Many thanks to those who helped make this possible! If you’d like to donate as well, you can do so on Substack or on our Patreon page. Patreon subscribers get regular bonus episode and early access to all episodes! Every supporter has their own feed that he or she can use in their podcast app of choice to download our episodes a few days early. Please go check it out!
Episode 69: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2023, Part I