Some folks do a Top 10, others a Top 20; I read almost 450 books (counting shorts, for which I sometimes log multiple titles under one journal entry) last year, so this is gonna be as many titles as it’s gotta be. Books that make the Favorites cut are those I would happily re-read. Sometimes I’ve already re-read them before they make the list.
In chronological order:
Nonfiction – here, at least, I can keep it to ten:
1. I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein, memoir by national treasure.
2. Unprotected by Billy Porter, memoir by multitalented superstar.
3. Center Center by James B. Whiteside, memoir by multitalented ballet star.
4. Downton Shabby by Hopwood DePree, true adventures of a Hollywood hyphenate trying to renovate a crumbling manor house in England.
5. Forgiveness: A Gay Man’s Memoir by Vincent Burke, requires tolerance for formatting / editing, but an essential primary source for anyone concerned with the gay experience since 1950.
6. An Immense World by Ed Yong, a mind-blowingly good book about the senses of nonhumans.
7. A Sailor of King George by Captain Frederick Hoffman, requires tolerance for formatting and for 18th-century style, but a terrific primary source as well as a cracking good memoir.
8. The Terror Before Trafalgar by Tom Pocock, an excellent companion to the previous, covering the period 1800-1805 during the multi-decade Napoleonic wars.
9. Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune by Rory Muir, a look at how younger sons made a living in England circa 1790-1830, excellent resource.
10. Ejaculate Responsibly by Gabrielle Stanley Blair. Literally everyone on Earth should read this book.
Fiction:
1. Whistling In The Dark by Tamara Allen, terrific M/M historical romance featuring two WWI veterans in NYC at the dawn of the Jazz Age. (Allen: complete read in 2023, big fan.)
2. One Day On Beetle Rock by Sally Carrighar, deeply observed critter-POV vignettes about wildlife in the Sierra Nevada (re-read).
3. High Stakes by Dick Francis, thriller featuring an inventor caught up in a race-fixing scheme. I’ve read this so many times and I love it more every time. This title stands in for a multi-book Francis re-read.
4. Escort (Three Tales of a Silver Fox) by Harper Fox, M/M contemporary romance. One of my top authors of 2023.
5. The Enigma Affair by Charlie Lovett, an intelligent thriller: ingenious, suspenseful, deft, compassionate, and seething.
6. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles, M/M historical romance by an author who I have yet to find disappointing. Stands in for all the other Charles titles read, re-read, and adored in 2023.
7. Lights and Sirens by Lisa Henry, M/M contemporary romance featuring Australian first responders. I logged some other high-rated Henry titles in 2023, too.
8. Astounding! by Kim Fielding, SF/F M/M romance featuring a depressed editor and an alien. This book was so good it started me on a Fielding binge which I am prepared to say will not stop until I’ve read everything and thus stands in for a whole lot of Fielding titles read and adored in 2023.
9. Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie, F/M contemporary romance, a re-read.
10. Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly, M/M contemporary romance, strangers to lovers while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Stands in for several other Kelly titles.
11. The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, an excellent mystery about a young Black musician whose family-legacy violin is stolen.
12. The Infinite Onion by Alice Archer, M/M contemporary romance featuring a homeless man given refuge by a borderline-agoraphobic artist.
13. Spear by Nicola Griffith, an extremely satisfying riff on Arthurian legend.
14. All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim, M/M contemporary second-chance romance about a musician and a movie star.
15. Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Kaje Harper, M/M alt-medieval fantasy romance featuring a sorcerer with PTSD and a warrior / messenger for the king.
16. The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne, a very clever, witty whodunit that is also a charming postwar bromance.
17. Imperfect Illusions by Vanora Lawless, M/M historical fantasy set immediately before and during WWI, featuring magic-skilled conscripts blackmailed into serving. Also: its sequel. Book 3 impatiently awaited.
18. An Inconvenient Earl by Will Forrest, M/M Regency romance; lovers to antagonists to allies to lovers again, highly satisfying. One of my top authors of 2023.
19. The Pearl by Robin Knight, M/M contemporary coming-of-age romance set in Australia.
20. Camp by L.C. Rosen, M/M contemporary young-adult romance set at a queer summer camp. One of my top authors of 2023.
21. Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell, M/M contemporary romance featuring a schoolteacher and the father of a student. (Also: his ‘Mistletoe & Mishigas.’)
22. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, M/M midcentury romance set at a New York newspaper.
23. Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. M/M multi-decade second-chance romance.
24. Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane, a ST:TOS novel that really delivers (a re-read).
25. These Old Lies by Larrie Barton, M/M multi-decade love story spanning 50 years.
26. Best Supporting Actor by Joanna Chambers & Sally Malcolm, M/M contemporary romance about, guess what, actors.
27. Role Playing by Cathy Yardley, F/M contemporary featuring older protagonists. This title stands in for a whole slew of Yardley titles I read and enjoyed in 2023.
28. Work For It by Talia Hibbert, M/M contemporary featuring a depressed traveler / writer and an ill-used small-town farm manager (a re-read).
29. A Matter of Scale by Steve De Groof, makes the list despite some formatting / editing issues because spacetime-bending cat! And a mostly female cast of smart, eccentric characters who move from strangers to allies to friends while figuring out how to get a clutch of kidnapped adolescent sentient dragons back home.
30. Where Foxes Say Goodnight by Sam Burns, M/M contemporary romance plus mystery plus some mayhem.
31. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez, F/M contemporary romance featuring a small-town mayor / carpenter and a rich Minneapolis doctor.
32. Codename Charming by Lucy Park, F/M contemporary featuring a royal couple’s personal assistant and bodyguard.
33. The Seventh of December: The Czarina’s Necklace by Garrick Jones. First of three (so far; please write more!!) WWII adventure romances featuring two military intelligence officers. Big fan of this new-to-me author.
34. The Oak and the Ash by Annick Trent, M/M historical romance featuring an apothecary surgeon and an earl’s ex-Navy valet. Intrigue, suspense, excellent character development, deeply satisfying conclusion (also read and loved her book ‘Beck and Call’).
I make it one home run per 10 books read. Will address my personal Favorite Christmas Season Books separately, because that’s another whole ridiculously long list.