Hi Reader!

The Epigraph

– Mortimer J. Adler

The Prologue

It's that time of year when everyone is posting their best books of the year. I always struggle with this for a few reasons. One is that it's so subjective and another is that it's so hard to read a wide breadth of books from which to choose.

Yet, I am still compulsively reading these lists, searching for something to spark my interest. On the plus side, that's the real benefit of these types of lists!

Over here, I've been debating whether to share my top 10 picks. And, for the first time ever, I am struggling to decide what my #1 best book of the year is. (This I do always share, and it always feels really clear to me.)

Here's my conundrum:

​Demon Copperhead was easily the best book I've read in years. BUT, it was published in 2022, not 2023.

Second, if I'm only looking at 2023 books, I really, really liked both Hello Beautiful and Tom Lake. Both were exquisitely written, but one is far more recent in memory, so I don't know how to get in the right headspace to decide.

If you want to try to sway me, hit reply and let me know your thoughts on the best book of the year.

​

The Chapters

Chapter 1: New and Noteworthy

New on The Literary Lifestyle blog are even more things related to Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, the much-anticipated sequel to the hit dragon fantasy novel, Fourth Wing. I took 700 notes and parsed them into these (among other) posts:

• ​Book Club Questions for Iron Flame​
• ​Iron Flame Review: Does It Live Up to the Hype?​
• ​Iron Flame Ending Explained (With Spoilers)​
• ​Iron Flame Theories for Book 3: What We Know So Far​
• ​Ultimate Guide to the Iron Flame Map​

(Want even more? Check out my content hub for The Empyrean series.)

Chapter 2: Around the Book World

One of the most notable "book of the year" postings this week has been GoodReads Choice Award winners. The top fiction book of the year, Yellowface, surprised me. It was one of my top picks for sure, but I didn't realize it had such widespread support for being the #1 pick of the year. (It won by a landslide.)

I also thought all the Gilmore Girls fans around here would love this profile of Sam Phillips, whose famous "la la's" and other songs weave throughout the show.

Chapter 3: Currently Loving

I'm a bit of a candle hoarder (I know I've mentioned this before) and my all-time top pick has been selling well this week. This popular scent is the best because it's SO universally pleasant and hard to dislike.

Age ratings for books is a topic that's growing in popularity. I talked about it in detail with a reporter last week, and I also noticed that my post on Colleen Hoover age ratings has been popular -- likely because parents are shopping their teen's holiday wish lists.

Lastly, once in a while Book of the Month Club offers $5 signups through my referral link, and they're doing it right now. This is a great way to kickstart your reading goals and reading habits in 2024.

Remember, it's a good day to read a book.

-Jules

The Epilogue

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To show my gratitude, a portion of this month's profits are supporting Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.