#my favourites were probably kivirähk's the man who spoke snakish & catherynne valente's radiance; though it wasn't as good as orphan tales

[hedgehog-moss]

My top 10 nonfiction reads of 2023 (the asterisked ones are in French with no translation as of yet) :

Belle Greene, Alexandra Lapierre

The Indomitable Marie-Antoinette, Simone Bertière

Reporter: A Memoir, Seymour Hersh

Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, Erich Schwartzel

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, Patrick Keefe

Servir les riches, Alizée Delpierre*

La Comtesse Greffulhe : L’ombre des Guermantes, Laure Hillerin*

Le Courage de la nuance, Jean Birnbaum*

The Book Collectors of Daraya, Delphine Minoui

Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea's Feminist Movement, Hawon Jung

#book recs #i haven't finished the last one yet but it's been good so far! i really admire these women's resilience and solidarity #some inspiring stories of political activism + insight into aspects of korean history i didn't know about #i wanted to do a half-fiction half-nonfiction list like last year but i've read mostly disappointing fiction this year :( #my favourites were probably kivirähk's the man who spoke snakish & catherynne valente's radiance; though it wasn't as good as orphan tales #i'm reading jacques abeille's les jardins statuaires right now and it's quite frustrating because on the one hand #it's well-written and interesting with original worldbuilding. on the other i'm 300 pages in and there have been #2 female characters. the purpose of both (so far) was to have sex with the male protagonist and only 1 has a name #which makes the read feel less original and more ''same old shit as far as i'm concerned''