What was your favorite book from 2023?

Here are some of your neighbors' answers! Now tell us yours...

We asked some folks from around town to tell us about their favorite book from 2023.

We’d also love to hear from you! Got a favorite book from 2023? Tell us about it in the comments, with title, author and why you liked it.

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The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber & David Wengrow. 

This broad-ranging collaboration between an anthropologist and archaeologist argues convincingly that traditional views of human social development have missed how much human agency has been ignored by western scholars, such that social and economic equality are choices that have been made many times in history and prehistory, all across the globe. If then and in those places, why not now? Along the way, the authors document the indispensable intellectual contributions of North American native peoples to the origins and development of the so-called "French Enlightenment."  An incredible tour de force!

—Rob Schmidt, Owner, Many Rivers Books

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

With one of my book clubs, I just finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, so it's at the top of my mind. The story is set in the 1960s in Alaska and follows the lead female protagonist as she comes of age with a father who became abusive after returning home from the Vietnam war. I loved the writing as it transported me to a wild Alaska with this family as they navigated the trials and tribulations of living off the grid, overcoming abuse, a complicated mother/daughter relationship, and of course a young love story. 

—Katie Davis, Executive Director, Sebastopol Area Senior Center

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The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman & Kaley Warner Klemp

I personally love how the 15 Commitments suggest ways we can best deepen our own life experience while also creating success around us, whether it be in the boardroom or the living room. Questions around living from a place of openness, curiosity, and a commitment to learning, or living from a place of being closed off, defensive and needing to be right, help us to recognize our own reflection into the world so we can make new choices with awareness. Commitments such as responsibility, speaking unarguably, feeling all feelings, practicing integrity, generating appreciation, all contribute to successful living with a deepened sense of purpose and authenticity. The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership has been an amazing guide in my life, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to take full responsibility of their own life.

—Mark de Saulnier, Executive Director of the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center

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Until The End Of Time by Brian Greene

I have read a number of wonderful books this year, but one that stands out is Brian Greene’s Until The End Of Time, a history of our universe and a projection into its future.
He explains entropy in a way that I had not considered before and clearly shows the fundamental reality of impermanence. I found great comfort and awe in his reminder of how young our universe really is (less than 14 billion years) compared to its life expectancy of trillions of years when there will be no atomic nuclei. He also explores the relationship between entropy and the evolution of life on earth. All in all, this is a fascinating read!

—Larry Robinson, poet

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Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom

This year I loved listening to this book of poetry on Sonoma County Library's digital resource, Libby: Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom. I am certainly not a poetry connoisseur, but I relished listening to this book of beautiful, heart-wrenching, misfit poems—at least three times! I needed the content, because in our world full of vitriol and misunderstandings, this little book embraces our collective sadnesses while saying, hey, there's still things to love about our three-dimensional, maddening existence.

—Courtney Klein, librarian, Sebastopol Library

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I like a good “beach read” book when reading for enjoyment. In 2023 I read a compelling read called When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton.

—Neysa Hinton, Sebastopol City Councilmember

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The Book of Joy, Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams.

I found this book in our neighborhood free library. This is a book to savor. In 2015 the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu met with writer Douglas Abrams to create this book about joy. It is their gift to the world. The book is filled with the wisdom of these two spiritual leaders who come from different religious backgrounds and who have overcome tremendous adversity. The true joy they are talking about is within us, despite our circumstances, and that our greatest joy is doing good for others. They discuss obstacles to joy:  fear, anger, grief, loneliness, envy and more. It is remarkable to read about these emotions through the lens of their compassionate wisdom and understanding. It also includes inspiring stories of other people who overcame unimaginable hardships and who live with gratitude. They outline the eight pillars of joy, and they joke around a lot. It concludes with a chapter on spiritual practices for cultivating joy. This is not only my favorite book of 2023, it’s one of my all-time favorites. 

—Sandra Maurer, Sebastopol City Councilmember

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The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut

The book that has stuck with me the longest this year is The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut. Blending biography and fiction to evaluate the contributions, destructive and constructive, of Jon von Neumann, the reader confronts human imperfections of cold logic and contrasts them with pure logic of cold AI. Timely, insightful and thought-provoking as we progress, like it or not, further into an AI-enhanced human existence.

—Mathew Rose, librarian and branch manager, Sebastopol Library

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California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline
By Rosanna Xia

As a journalist, Xia is able to put into context the very complex and fluid state of land and sea. And as a Californian, she uses an almost lyrical voice in describing the problems we face along our coastline.

—Jann Eyrich, author of The Rotting Whale, a Hugo Sandoval Eco-Mystery

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Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

A beautiful work of fiction that somehow manages to skillfully dance between humor, playfulness, and grief. The reader is given a window into the work of figuring out what one's life will look like, whether early on, with Cameron in his twenties, or in a later season, with Tova in her seventies. I believe that just about any reader will find this book to be a joy, I mean, how often is an octopus a main character?

And for children:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (3 books series)

My children and I were unable to put the books in this series down. Stewart does an amazing job developing the quirky characters of these tales and tucks in humor that, as a parent reading to my children, I very much appreciate! Stewart's writing and vocabulary are such that an adult without the excuse of bedtime reading to children would most definitely enjoy this series!

—The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris, Rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

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Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir by Sly Stone, with Ben Greenman

Of all the books I have crawled into this year, from Naomi Klein’s riveting Doppelganger and Rachel Maddow’s brilliant Prequel to Greil Marcus’s stunning Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs, one that has grabbed hold of me in the most personal way is Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir (AUWA Books, 2023) by Sly Stone, with Ben Greenman and a Foreword by Questlove.  I did not approach the book as a fangirl. Instead, I read it like the 7th grade girl I once was, dancing slow with the love of my young life to “Yellow Moon.” Sly grew up in Vallejo, my home town, and so much of the book winds through familiar streets and peers into homes, classrooms, and churches I once haunted. There he is, sitting on the side of the road on November 22, 1963, listening to his car Booty Green’s radio and crying. There are the radio stations where he was a DJ and I was a listener, under the covers with my transistor radio. Even if you didn’t grow up in Vallejo and are not sure of Sly Stone’s contribution to the world of music, you may enjoy this book. It is written in an almost staccato way, with bursts of words and short sentences suggesting other possibly more interesting details. Sly makes his brilliant foolish drug-drenched years come to life in a remarkably entertaining way and lets us down easy, glad that he clears the hurdles of his demons and addictions. Thank you, Sly!

­—Michele Anna Jordan, food writer and cookbook author

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