Favorite Books & Music of the Year (So Far), Plus Links & Likes
A playlist of my favorite albums of the year so far, interviews with Alison Bechdel & Stewart Copeland, and more
2023 is half over, and the books and music I have devoured have often amazed me with their brilliance and emotional heft. For these lists I have limited myself to books & music released through this week, but remember, the rest of the year holds many more quality releases.
My Favorite Books of 2023 (So Far)
Yvette Lisa Ndlovu’s Drinking from Graveyard Wells is the most impressive debut story collection I have read since Deesha Philyaw’s The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. These stories combine folktale and realism to magical effect.
If Sheila Heti was Italian and wrote a modern Franny & Zooey, it would approximate how powerful and magnificent Veronica Raimo’s novel Lost on Me is.
Deena Mohamed’s Shubeik Lubeik is the most impressive graphic novel I have read since Chris Ware’s Building Stories. This story of wishes for sale is as thoughtfully told as it is surprising, moving, and imaginative.
Idra Novey’s novel Take What You Need is a powerful, compassionate, thoughtful consideration of art, family, and inherent bias. Easily my favorite book of the year so far.
J K Chukwu’s The Unfortunates is a spellbinding debut, a coming-of-age novel as powerful as it is timely. One of the year’s best books.
After finishing Johanna Hedva’s Your Love is Not Good, I immediately sought out (and read) her other books, it’s that good. This novel is skillfully put together and imaginatively haunting.
My Favorite Albums of 2023 (So Far)
Joanna Sternberg’s I’ve Got Me is one of my favorite albums of the year, a collection of smart and quirky songs that pierce with their emotional depth (and humor).
Listening to composer, sound artist, and cellist Lia Kohl’s album The Ceiling Reposes is like walking through someone else’s dream. Bits of cello, radio snippets, found sounds, and synthesizers coagulate into musical sensations that beg to be delved into further.
Mali Obamsawin’s music is directly informed by Indigenous people's experiences. Powerful and jarring, her debut album Sweet Tooth (actually released in November 2022) is a suite of six songs that live on long after the music stops.
Meg Baird’s new album Furling opens up her sound, revealing a dense, powerful palette that unveils more with every listen.
Miss Grit’s debut album Follow the Cyborg is as inventive in its song structures as it is powerful and entertaining.
Mandy, Indiana’s i’ve seen a way is one of the most exciting debut albums I’ve heard in years, both abrasive and beautiful at the same time.
My Favorite Albums of 2023 (So Far) Playlist (55 songs, 3 hours and 39 minutes)
Largehearted Likes:
The poetry of Paul Beatty
convinced me to pick up both of Paul Beatty’s poetry collections. So good.
This post byThis Orzo White Bean Salad
Brooklyn has been hot and humid, but this salad is very cool. I make it without the goat cheese so my vegan partner can share its deliciousness.
Largehearted Links
Ethel Cain’s interview with Interview (and her playlist of melanchoic bangers)
What’s on your bedroom playlist? Lots of ambient music. I keep blankets over all my windows and tornado footage looped on my TV 24/7 so I usually will put on “High Gravity” by Wulven and loop that for hours and lie on the floor.Chelsea Hodson interviewed about starting her indie press Rose Books
A Deep Dive Into The Season Two Soundtrack Of ‘The Bear’ With The Guys Who Curated It
This summer, The Bear returned for season two, and if anything Storer and Senior have doubled down on their unorthodox approach. Last season, they leaned heavily on the kinds of legacy alt-rock (Wilco, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Counting Crows), ’80 AOR (John Mellencamp, Genesis), and ’70s classic rock (Van Morrison) songs that you won’t likely hear in a boutique HBO series, but you probably will hear in a Chicago Italian beef joint. This season, they have gone back to many of the same artists in somewhat different proportions — there’s less Wilco and more R.E.M. this time — which helps to inform the singular world of the show and the personality of the characters.Aquarium Drunkard interviewed composer and drummer Stewart Copeland
I don’t actually compose films anymore. I’ve retired from that business, but I still compose opera and do orchestral compositions and so on. Police Deranged is both. It’s me doing my drumming thing, but also in the context of a big orchestral arrangement of songs that people know. It’s a winning show. It’s a really fun show to play.The Guardian interviewed cartoonist Alison Bechdel
We should talk about the Bechdel test…
If we must.How do you feel about it these days?
It was a joke. I didn’t ever intend for it to be the real gauge it has become and it’s hard to keep talking about it over and over, but it’s kind of cool.Bethany Cosentino’s song “For a Moment”
Bronwyn Fischer interviewed about her debut novel The Adult
I always wrote stuff as a kid and then going to university I forgot that was something I liked to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in school. I thought I might want to be a cook. I saw a novel writing course and thought, Oh my god, I like writing, I used to like writing. Writing was a hard thing to imagine a future in. It didn’t occur to me as a real prospect, so it had to sneak up on me.
IN THE MAMMOTH NOTHING OF THE NIGHT: The Ten Years of Ripely Pine 5xLP box set by Lady Lamb
A 10th anniversary remastered and expanded edition of Aly Tadros’s brilliant album Ripely Pine is the year’s most well-executed reissue yet.
Last Week’s LHB Feature Posts
Chachi D. Hauser’s playlist for her essay collection It’s Fun to Be a Person I Don’t Know
Jan Stinchcomb’s playlist for her novel Verushka
Leora Skolkin-Smith’s playlist for her novel Stealing Faith
I'm stoked that I moved at least one person to pick up Beatty's poetry. More and more what I find I like writing about is underrated art of all kinds.
Thank you, David!!!