Episode 69: Our Favorite Books We Read in 2023, Part I The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast

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!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe