★★★★★ A woman travels to a luxury hotel with plans to kill herself but instead gets wrapped up in the wedding festivities happening on site.

★★★★☆ A young Iranian-American man muddles through life trying to find his purpose before eventually fixating on martyrdom as the answer.

★★★★☆ A story of love, growth, and second chances, the novel follows a set of siblings as they discover their family's complex history.

Inspired by an underwhelming list from Goodreads, this counts down a far superior list of the Top 50 books of the last 5 years (2020-2024).

★★★☆☆ A series of loosely-related vignettes spanning 400 years show off Mason's literary prowess but fail to coalesce into something special

★★★☆☆ Another attempt to imagine "what would you do if you knew you when you would die", but like other similar novels this also falls flat.

★★★★☆ When a 19-year-old finds herself desperate for cash after having a child with her professor, she turns to OnlyFans to make ends meet.

★★★★☆ Richly rendered characters living in a deteriorating society, Enger's novel merges bits of beauty into an overwhelmingly sad world.

★★★★★ A historical opus that examines the horrors of the Vietnam War and its turbulent aftermath through the eyes of a young female nurse.

★★★☆☆ An alternative take on Stranger in a Strange Land; social commentary abounds as an 1847 explorer tries to acclimate to modern society.

★★★★☆ Equal parts funny, heartwarming, and sad, the story of a gay uncle pressed into temporary custody of his niece and nephew for a summer

★★★☆☆ The Danny Ryan trilogy coasts to a conclusion, wrapping up open plot points but mostly just checking the box in this mailed-in effort.

★★★★☆ A book club darling of a novel about a boy born with ocular albinism (red eyes), whose life I found less extraordinary than expected.

★☆☆☆☆ By the author of the excellent Thistlefoot, a collection of short stories written six years ago that should have remained unpublished.

★★★★☆ A reimagining of the events leading up to and surrounding the crimes of Ted Bundy, with a focus on the victims rather than the killer.

A running tally of my "Best Books of 2023", updated each time I finish a book throughout the year.

★★★★★ It's long, but it's also a brilliant tour de force, presenting a multi-generational character study spanning nearly 80 years in India.

★★★★★ A masterful book, Lehane's best since Mystic River, set against the racial tensions of Boston school busing during the summer of '74.

★★★★★ A beautifully written character study of a cast of memorable souls that spans 30 years from the end of World War II until the mid-70s.

★★★★★ Harrow returns to top form with a genre-blending story of a young woman trying to scrape by in a town haunted by its past and secrets.