Coralie Colmez's 3 favorite reads in 2023

This is one of those books that you feel like you’re living in, with the characters becoming your friends and the things they do (in this case, creating amazing-sounding video games – and I’m not even a gamer) as tangible as if they really exist.

I especially loved that the relationship between the two main characters is a friendship, a complicated one which evolves in a natural, believable way (though I also adored the love interest, who is just wonderful).

I also give it lots of extra points for centering a smart, confident, complex woman in STEM – and for taking on the challenges of working in a male-dominated world while not making it the main feature of her character.

At first glance, this book is not my thing at all: it is very conceptual, very fantastical, and has a second-person narrative voice. But I’m a well-behaved book-club member, so I cracked it open and was blown away from the very first page.

This is superb, beautiful, masterful writing. It’s writing that makes you want to go back to school so you can have another go at learning how to do it yourself. Read it to remember that a good sentence is a thing of beauty, to learn a bit of Sri Lankan history – and for a laugh too, because it’s very funny!

Demon Copperfield was my third Kingsolver, and I find her more amazing with each one.

Her books take place in completely different settings, and they are all meticulously researched but don’t come off as history lessons. And she approaches difficult topics – here, the opioid crisis in the American Midwest – with warmth, openness, and a shining sense of humor.

She does this by illustrating different sides of the topic with a cast of characters that are rich, distinct and real, and writing in all shades of grey: generous with everyone, but also not letting anyone off the hook. I read the last few pages of the book in a café, which was a bad idea as I couldn’t stop crying!