Have you been participating in the 2023 Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge? If so, congratulations are in order, because we are down to the last prompt of the year! December’s prompt is “A book that was published in 2023,” and there are certainly a plethora of interesting titles you might have missed from which to choose. Here are five worthy reads for you to consider:
Rebecca, not Becky by Christina Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene – In the vein of Such a Fun Age, this is a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers—one white, one black—living in a “perfect” suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America’s all-too-familiar racial reckoning.
This Spells Love by Kate Robb – A young woman tries to heal her heartbreak by casting a spell to erase her ex from her past, but she wakes up in an alternate reality where she’s lost more than she wished for in this witty, whimsical, friends-to-lovers debut.
Whalefall: A Novel by Daniel Kraus – The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.
Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge – Fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Marie Benedict, Nita Prose, and of course, Julia Child, will adore this magnifique new mystery set in Paris and starring Julia Child’s (fictional) best friend, confidante, and fellow American. From the acclaimed author of Murder at Mallowan Hall, this delightful new book provides a fresh perspective on the iconic chef’s years in post-WWII Paris.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai – Award-winning author Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.
This is just a small selection of some of the many new and interesting titles that 2023 has brought us! If none of these titles pique your interest, please ask any of our Reference Librarians for a suggestion; we have a lot of thoughts about books old and new. And keep an eye out for an all-new Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge for 2024!
