The Curator: how to pick your ten best books of the year
the Natalie McGlocklin Method of Thoughts & Feelings plus a movie I walked out on.
For a moment, I thought perhaps I didn’t read the right books this year.
The Booker Prize and the NYT top ten books of 2023 came out this week and those plus the 18 million other lists rolling out almost convinced me that my “favorite” reads of the year are only mediocre. That somehow I’ve done a piss poor job of picking books and now everyone is wrapping up their best of the year while I’m frantically trying to shove a bunch of award winners into the last few weeks in the hopes of redeeming said list.
Intrusive thoughts include “My best-of 2023 list is actually just going to be a bunch of rando backlist titles with maybe two relevant ones and when I share this information I’ll be dismissed as a serious bookstacker for the rest of my life”.
Wow.
Well not all complete bullshit because I AM frantically trying to finish a bunch of really amazing books but Time Is Short and I must necessarily Choose. I genuinely get hyped up at all the great books that exist and I can’t help it that I want to read them all. But by nature, choosing one thing means you do not choose everything else. So be it. I have plenty of great books already on my tentative best-of list that I will eventually share with you, but if I could just find time to squeeze in the current two I’m reading plus maybe one or two more and…
This week’s therapy topic got me thinking about how we [you, me, The New York Times] choose our favorite reads of the year. I’m not talking about NPR’s 380 books they love or Time’s 100 must-read books. I’m talking about us and the classic, exasperating, New York Times Top Ten Books of the Year.
Any type of rating system is necessarily subjective, and there are many ways to approach individual book ratings. However, I believe there are only two overall ratings systems when narrowing a list down to just ten best titles: The New York Times Method of Craft & Purpose, and the Natalie McGlocklin Method of Thoughts & Feelings.
Now I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to stay far away from my flighty-sounding Book Rating Method but I believe, at its core, my system is more right and more fun. Which like can we all agree is the point?
Every single year when the NYT releases its ten best books I marvel at how such a large group could come to such a small consensus about pieces of art. From this behind-the-scenes article, the gist is that all the NYT review editors start reading books and then they discuss them, sometimes fighting for specific books they love. They evaluate merit based on how well a book accomplishes what it set out to accomplish. Those books they can’t get rid of through argument ride it out until eventually, they narrow it down to five fiction and five nonfiction titles that at least everyone in the room doesn’t hate. They don’t actively try to spread the wealth, per se, but they do balance the list by avoiding selecting multiple books written on the exact same topic.
It all sounds a bit exhausting and I am glad that these most professional readers put so much effort into selecting the top ten reads of the year, every year, just for us. I’ve found some fabulous reads from these lists that I might have overlooked in my regular reading days of yore [for a full backlist of all selected titles, check out the NYT website].
My process, as a non-professional reader, is less stringent natch. My top ten books of the year are usually comprised of novels or memoirs that meet the following criteria:
I finished the book during the calendar year
It made me [select all that apply]
really feel something deep in my bones (frightened, entertained, fascinated)
nostalgic for another time and place
in awe of the craft
wish I had written the book
have an existential crisis
AND I can’t live without a copy of it on my shelf.
To me, this sounds like fun and reminds me WHY I read. It’s not to have the most impressive Goodreads report at the end of the year, but to feel all the things. It’s also why I write this newsletter. I love discussing books with you or with the computer, whoever is willing to listen.
Maybe you actively select a best-of-the-year list, and maybe you don’t. I'd love to hear your process if you have a method for selecting your best reads. Regardless, I hope that as you reflect on whatever you’ve read this year, it brings you joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Thanks for being here.
READING →
Still on Our Share of Night but it’s 600 pages so I started Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead because I need something I might be able to finish for the next newsletter.
I carried The Stand around the house a bit and then moved it to the “current TBR shelf”.
I still haven’t pulled the trigger on The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store because I keep hoping it will go on Kindle sale. And now I am currently obsessed with obtaining a copy of The Bee Sting, this one in hardback because it’s so beige.
BUYING →
I love to bring consumables as a host[ess] gift, especially during the holidays. Even the most wine-snobby of your acquaintances will love this wine, and you can get it at Target. It’s pricey but if you are trying to impress, it always works.
NOT WATCHING →
The newest Hunger Games movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. MY GOD it was cringey. We purchased theater tickets, got through about 40 minutes but with two more hours to go, I just got the feeling that I’d rather have two hours of my life back than worry about the sunk cost of the tickets. Thankfully Mark agreed. It was the most liberating thing to walk straight out of that theater and not look back.
I’m quite shocked that any reviewers seemed to like this. I’m not a purist either - I never even read the books. But it was an incoherent mess with no single thematic string tying us to the story’s subject Snow. The kid who played Snow was irritating to look at, the storyline lagged, and we spent too much time watching them watch each other (clearly no one remembers the Twilight memes of yesteryear). As Vulture said, “Sometimes The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes feels like a Nicholas Sparks throwback about the unlikely romance between a sassy Southern girl and a more straitlaced military guy.” This is not what we asked for, team.
NEW BOOKS →
this week includes a California sapphic drama about artists and lovers, a cautionary tale for a social media world, a second installment in a popular cozy mystery series, and a personal look at a basketball (and bubblegum) legend.
BOOK NEWS →
Harper’s Bazaar 45 unputdownable books of 2023
The Washington Posts ten best books of 2023 (or if you are feeling really brave, their 50 notable titles of 2023)
As mentioned above the NPR 2023 books we love
And last but not least, the final round of voting for the Goodreads choice awards (I’ve read a total of 7 on this ballot😵💫).
RESTACK OF THE WEEK →
You probably don’t need me to tell you about Letters from an American. It’s the one news outlet giving me any hope these days that there are still good, rational people out there.
LET’S CHAT →
How do you select your top reads of the year? Do you have special criteria or just go with your gut?
If you had to reread one book every single year of your life, what would it be?
Would you rather watch a 45-minute video of my cats sleeping OR the new Hunger Games movie and why is it the video of my cats?
In Case You Missed It
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
My criteria is also a book that I can’t stop thinking about! That it lingers about in my brain for weeks or even MONTHS after I read it. To me, that is my contender for favourites of the year. Further criteria includes: books that make me cry, books where I’m blown away by the writing, books that I couldn’t put down and books that change the way I look at or think about the world.
I’m currently collecting my list of favourites of the year and BOY it is hard. But I also love it. I love being balls deep in books.
The Candy House has been on my TBR for a while, thanks for bumping it up further. It sounds brilliant! And no main character?!?! I’m flawed!
Devastated the new hunger games is sooo cringey. But at the same time so unbelievably pleased you saw it before I did and can therefore tell me to avoid the hell out of it. Thank you for your service 💜 at least the original 4 remain incredible and always at our finger tips to watch! I can’t wait for your best books of the year Natalie!
Savage Detectives was his breakout, but I would suggest starting with Amulet. It’s short. Here’s the Wiki link. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amulet_(novel). If had to choose a desert island novelist, it would either be Dickens or Bolano. 2666 is his masterpiece. Strangest, most indelible novel I’ve ever read.