The best of nonfiction 2023 includes some old friends
Somehow, we have reached (almost) the end of another year, which means it’s time for my annual Biblioracle Book Awards, an entirely idiosyncratic exercise meant to highlight some of the most interesting and memorable books I read this year that were published 2023.
Are these the “best” books of the year? Let me put it this way, they were the best for me in the award categories I assign to each book. If those categories sound good, they may be the best for you too.
This week, I’ll tackle nonfiction. Next week, fiction. After that, it’s on to 2024.
Best Blend of Memoir, History, and Cultural Commentary Book of the Year:
”The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight” by Andrew Leland is centered on the story of Leland’s progressive loss of his eyesight to a degenerative disease, but Leland uses his experience as a jumping-off point for ranging explorations of what it means to be both sighted and blind in the world. You’ll never see things quite the same way after reading this book. (Pun intended.)
Hello Old Friend Book of the Year:
OK, Jeff Tweedy and I are not friends, but having now read his third work of nonfiction, “World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music” following reading his previous two books (a memoir and 2020’s “How to Write One Song”) I feel like we are, because as usual he writes with a winning casualness and intimacy, and it feels like hanging out with a friend. In this book, he walks us through the most meaningful songs in his life. Make sure to read with headphones and your streaming service handy.
Hello Older Friends Book of the Year:
I was not friends with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert either, but growing up in Chicago and seeing them on my screen every week since my childhood always made me feel like they were my guys, even as they became international sensations. Matt Singer’s “Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel and Ebert Changed Movies Forever” is an enjoyable romp through the shared history and influence of two legendary Chicagoans.
Huh, I Hadn’t Thought of it That Way Book of the Year:
I like to think that I’m something of a comedy aficionado, but I’ve got nothing on Jesse David Fox, author of “Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture — and the Magic That Makes It Work.” The book works as both a chronicle, moving from Seinfeld forward through time, and a critical study of comedy that reveals the way comedy is a reflection of its times, and what we see when we look closely at that reflection.
Indulging my Education Nerd Side Book of the Year:
I don’t teach regularly anymore, but I still keep abreast of what’s going on for the sake of my own writing on education, and this year, the most intriguing book was “Off the Mark: How Ratings, and Rankings Undermine Learning (but Don’t Have To)” by Jack Schneider and Ethan Hutt. I knew firsthand that the system of grades wasn’t doing my students any favors if the goal was maximizing learning. Schneider and Hutt, two professors of education, go deep on the history and practice of grading to try to find a way through that helps students without being too disruptive.
Just Read This Already Book of the Year:
At my free newsletter, The Biblioracle Recommends (biblioracle.substack.com) I went ahead and called Hannah Pittard’s “We Are Too Many: A Memoir (Kind Of )” the best book of the year. I won’t repeat myself other than to say I meant it.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”