2023 Worst of the Year

 This was a year of betrayal, tragedy, and shadow sides (working cooperatively vs the power of an individual). 

I read some terrible books this year:

I didn't bring enough books on vacation ( I hadn't been reading very quickly this year and didn't want to bring my heavy nonfiction reads on vacation). While stuck on a cruise ship, there was only one massive book in the ship's library --Never by Ken Follett. I'd heard good things about Follett, but the subject matter spies, political intrigue, and nuclear war was not my cup of tea. I finally gave in an read the thing. It moved toward its dire outcome at a fine clip. People moving toward terrible things and not able to turn away,

The first time I read My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead I quite liked it. I was enchanted after reading Middlemarch and loved hearing someone who was equally interested in the book and the author. But reading it again a decade later, I was annoyed. It was too factual and held none of the charm I was looking for. How time makes changes. Our opinions and feelings remain fluid.

I really wanted to like Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, but this book had nothing that I was hoping for about it (philosophy, spirituality) and instead was crass and disgusting. So much writing from the Civil War era feels dirty, bleak, and depraved.