J.D. Cunegan

Well, 2023 was…interesting.

I released two books: Bitter End (Jill Andersen #6) and Summertime, Assassins, and Other Skullduggeries. I also wound up with a new job, an unexpected development that turned out to be exactly what I needed. But along the way, I didn’t read nearly as much as I’d hoped. Still, I managed to read 21 books for the year, and here are the five that stood out among them.

NOTE: These are not necessarily the best books that came out in 2023, just the best books I read throughout the calendar year.

5. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski

It’s not often I tear through a book in no time–lack of focus and a brain that won’t shush.

But I blew through Why We Love Baseball in a day and a half.

No American sport is as susceptible to romanticism and nostalgia like baseball, and Joe Posnanski does a masterful job of weaving his way through the stories–well-known and not so much–that made baseball the sport once called America’s pastime.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I already knew a good many of the yarns spun in this book, but there were just as many I didn’t know about (like how, decades later, Yogi Berra was still convinced Jackie Robinson was out when he stole home in the World Series).

I have a complicated relationship with sports, but next to auto racing, baseball is the one sport that I continue to love without reservation well into my adulthood. This is a must-have for anyone with even a passing interest in baseball.

Why We Love Baseball is available in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook.

4. Over the Moon by S.E. Anderson

Quirky science fiction? Check.

Prose that’s equal parts emotional, action-packed, and funny? Check.

Re-imagining a storytelling classic? Check.

S.E. Anderson opened 2023 with Over the Moon, a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz that highlights everything that makes her one of my favorite writers. This book is full of heart and verve and humor. This book follows in its inspiration’s footsteps, and Anderson’s characters are every bit as memorable.

Fans of Anderson’s Starstruck series will feel at home with Over the Moon, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

Over the Moon is available in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and Kindle.

3. Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix by Tilly Bridges

The Matrix as trans story is nothing new, but Begin Transmission transcends theory and allegory, giving concrete examples showing why the entire Matrix saga is, at its very essence, a story about trans people, by trans people (the Wachowskis, who created the series, are out trans women).

Transgender issues are front-and-center in the news these days (mostly because an entire political party has seen fit to erase trans stories and trans history, while making life miserable for trans people every chance they get). Which only makes a book like this all the more important.

Visibility and representation matter. That’s how hate and fear are dismantled.

Tilly Bridges, who herself is trans, provides as detailed a road map as anyone while examining what makes The Matrix a trans story. I watched the original film after reading this book, and it was almost like I was watching a complete different movie.

To this day, these films are the most visible trans narratives we have. And for that reason alone, Begin Transmission is a necessity for anyone either in the community or supportive of it.

Begin Transmission is available in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and Kindle.

2. I Will Kill You by Halo Scot

This book is dark. Disturbing.

And damn hard to put down.

Halo Scot is already known for twisted stories about people who are relatable and emotionally resonant, even as they commit despicable acts, and I Will Kill You is no different. In fact, Scot ups the ante even more in this book, and I don’t say this lightly: heed the content warnings.

Still, if you can stomach the more deranged parts, I Will Kill You is Scot’s best work. Tight, visceral, emotional; Scot writes with a ferocity and immediacy few others can match, as this book perfectly displays.

There will likely be times you need to back away from I Will Kill You. Take a break, let your stomach settle. And reading just before bed might not be the best idea. But if you’re willing to live with the dark, if you’re able to let those urges you never talk about briefly take hold, this book will take you for a ride.

I Will Kill You is available in paperback and Kindle.

1. The Prophet’s Wife by Libbie Grant

This book deserves to be more popular than it is.

Which is odd to say about a historical fiction set on the periphery of the formation of the Mormon Church. Yet Libbie Grant has penned a masterstroke of the genre, a story that is emotional and ponderous and relevant even to the religious struggles of today.

The Prophet’s Wife is unflinching is its details of the horrors humanity commits in the name of God, both large and small. But this book is also unwavering in the truth that for many people, God and church form the very foundations of their lives — and the constant push and pull between those two realities can be frustrating and heart wrenching.

After all, it’s easy for 21st-century readers to see Emma’s plight, beautifully unfurled in page after page, and wonder why she doesn’t say certain things or act in certain ways. But therein again lies the struggle within organized religion — Mormonism in particular. It’s easy for those of us on the outside to forget just how vital religion is to some people, even in the face of realities that, on their face, should be obviously shameful.

Hauntingly beautiful prose belies what is a tragic, thankless existence, one in service of people who in their hubris and flawed humanity perhaps do not deserve such service. The Prophet’s Wife is the sort of book I think everyone should read, regardless of their preferred genre.

The Prophet’s Wife is available in paperback, audiobook, and Kindle.

Honorable Mention: Fadeaway Joe by Hugh Lessig; Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow; Bisexual Men Exist by Vaneet Mehta; The Merry Dredgers by Jeremy C. Shipp; Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig; On Writing Well by William Zinsser

About J.D. Cunegan
J.D. Cunegan is known for his unique writing style, a mixture of murder mystery and superhero epic that introduces the reader to his comic book-inspired storytelling and fast-paced prose. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Cunegan has an extensive background in journalism, a lengthy career in media relations, and a lifelong love for writing. Cunegan lives in Hampton, Virginia, and next to books and art, his big passion in life in auto racing. When not hunched in front of a keyboard, scratching a pencil over a piece of paper, or with his nose stuck in a book, Cunegan can probably be found at a race track or watching a race on TV.

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