holiday reading list 2023

Book lists are a happy tradition here at wonder | wander | world. All throughout the year we read, read, read. We enjoy compiling and sharing our summer reading and holiday book lists especially. 

As we prepare to celebrate Yuletide 2023, here is the 100 best books of 2023, according to Shepherd. Looking for the best books of 2023? 

discover their best recommendations here

Shepherd canvassed 1,200+ authors and super readers for their three favorite reads of 2023. With 10,000+ authors have shared five of their favorite books around a topic, theme, or mood. 

They up the fun so we can discover the books they love based on a book you love, an author you adore, or a Wikipedia topic that interests you. 

To thoroughly enjoy your reading experience, we share with our readers an insightful article by emerging Mumbai writer Anoushka Zaveri - "A Year of Reading Women," Unlearning and Rediscovering Literature.

only one of these 17 artists is a woman

Happy Holidays and happy reading to us all! May we each revel in our own realizations and revelations. 

Candy Gourlay & her uplifting stories

This week on wonder | wander | world our pick of the week is Candy Gourlay - London based Filipino author of fiction for children and young adults. 

the author

Candy Gourlay was born in the Philippines, grew up under a dictatorship and met her husband during a revolution. Growing up, she wondered why books only featured pink-skinned children who lived in worlds that didn't resemble her tropical home in Manila.

at the 6th Filipino American International Book Festival, SFO

It took her years to learn that Filipino stories too, belong in the pages of books. Her novel Bone Talk was recently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Prize. She lives in London with her family, where she wages war on the snails in her garden.

Her multi-awarded books have brought joy to many readers, young and older.

turning your pain into art

For the first time in wonder | wander | world, we're taking a writing class together! It was even more of an eye-opening experience than we expected, and sometimes very emotional. 

Anxiety Eggs, art by Mahala, 2017

mystic eyes - the worlds of Jackie Morris

One of our favourite illustrators at wonder | wander | world is Jackie Morris, whose work we've loved ever since discovering The Snow Leopard in 2007.

It's a story of a mythical leopard who sings the world into being, illustrated with gorgeous art of the real-life snow leopard, a desperately endangered species. We were hooked!

The Ice Bear, 2011

Her art ranges from the brilliantly-observed realism of works like The Ice Bear and the White Fox, to whimsical fairytales straight from a child's imagination.

Tell Me A Dragon, 2009

In 2017 she collaborated with nature writer and poet Robert Macfarlane to produce The Lost Words, a large-format poetry book dedicated to words from the natural world which were removed from the Oxford Illustrated Children's Dictionary: acorn, dandelion, otter, and many others.

Her most recent book is a reissue of the 2015 Queen of the Sky, a real-life story about her friend rescuing and nursing an injured peregrine falcon in the Welsh countryside.

We look forward to more gorgeous stories woven by this talented craftswoman!

sweet salve for our achey breakey hearts

wonder | wander | world shares this sweet find - a treasure trove of stories that inspire a "great capacity for wonder" (New York Times) from the beloved author of A Wrinkle in Time, this collection transcends generational divides to highlight the power of hope and joy.

The Moment of Tenderness is a powerful collection of short stories that traces an emotional arc inspired by Madeleine L'Engle's early life and career, from her lonely childhood in New York to her life as a mother in small-town Connecticut.

In a selection of eighteen stories discovered by one of L'Engle's granddaughters, we see how L'Engle's personal experiences and abiding faith informed the creation of her many cherished works.

L’Engle shared with her readers her great capacity for wonder, and her refreshingly earnest desire to tunnel deep inside the human heart and expose its power to generate and regenerate hope and love — even in the face of eviscerating darkness. ~ Heidi Pitlor

read read read

This is the time to catch up on all our reading. Not just the news or COVID19 updates. Or all the online feeds spilling over into our lives for those of us who have the luxury of being stuck at home.

wonder | wander | world gives a special shout out for author, activist and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams.

Writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School, she is the author of numerous books. Here is a sampling of our top picks for this week.

The environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place interweaving narratives of dying and accommodation that transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace.

Finding Beauty In A Broken World is a compassionate meditation on how nature and humans both collide and connect, affirming a reverence for all life, and constructing a narrative of hopeful acts, taking that which is broken and creating something whole.

When Women Were Birds is a carefully crafted kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question: What does it mean to have a voice?

The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks and an exploration of what they mean to us and what we mean to them.

A poem of seasonal observances: The Chinese Solar Terms

One of our favourite books is Liza Dalby's The Tale of Murasaki, a historical novel about the life of the famous writer of the Tale of Genji. Before she becomes Murasaki Shikibu, the book imagines the character of Fuji, a quiet but fiercely intelligent poet with a keen sensitivity for seasons and nature.

The Tale of Murasaki, Penguin Random House, 2001

World Building | drawing it in

Think about the last movie you watched or book you read where you said to yourself: 'I want to live there.'

When we were small wonder | wander | women, we often pretended to be space knights or Bene Gesserit. Harry Potter or Game of Thrones seem so magnetic because the creators are masters of world-building. But how does someone build a world that doesn't exist?

Barbara Kingsolver | scientist & artist

Reading a recent interview of Barbara Kingsolver on the publication of her latest book, Unsheltered - wonder | wander | world was inspired to post Literary Hub's list of essential texts on climate change as well - precisely because they were also written by women. Hurrah!

Kingsolver's Guardian article was aptly titled, "It feels as though we are living through the end of the world." If we should be so lucky that the world as we have come to know it since the time of defeatist folks like Trump and Duterte is indeed coming to an end, we declare resoundingly - bring it on.

It is time. We believe the sick cruel world of their dour imaginings must be extinguished forever more.

Another Kingsolver interview on Longreads has an even better title: "I've always been praised or accused of ambition." Where they discuss the writing craft and the effects of “writing while female.”

Set in New Jersey, home to wonder | wander | women too, Kingsolver returns with a timely novel that interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval.

Perfect timing indeed. Happy reading to all.

Philippine trials & tribulations

Given the recent spate of bad news coming from our homeland, wonder | wander | world proudly presents this week's pick.

6 books that will help make sense of the Philippines now

by Nash Tysmans

"If there’s one thing Trevor Noah and I agree on, it’s that we now live in a world where nuance is in short supply. The economy of ideas that runs on a currency of likes and shares forces us to make quick calls on issues, and the social nature of our networks can sometimes feel like quiet contemplation is tantamount to apathy."

These are places to start when you want to learn more about the Philippines and the issues the country currently faces:

1. “Bakwit: The Power of the Displaced” by Jose Jowel Canuday (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2009)
2. “Tradition and Transformation: Studies on Cordillera Indigenous Culture” by June Prill-Brett, edited by Delfin Tolentino, Jr. (Cordillera Studies Center, 2015)
3. “Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self” by Alex Tizon (First Mariner Books, 2018)
4. The Embarrassment of Slavery: Controversies Over Bondage and Nationalism in the American Colonial Philippines” by Michael Salman (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2001)
5. “Barangay” by William Henry Scott (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1994)
6. “Puki-Usap” by Liv Strömquist, translated to Filipino by Beverly W. Siy (Pride Press, Anvil Publishing, 2018)

More recommended reading from Nash: 6 books to help you understand Mindanao better.

Tom Wolfe, visionary: 1931-2018

There aren't many people about whom the word 'visionary' would mean so much. Tom Wolfe had a far-reaching insight into his subjects and characters, a highly specific look (the memorable visual branding of his white suit and tailored clothes), and a ringing voice to his writing that stood out even among the singular styles of his New Journalism peers.

our fave subversive | Dr. Seuss

Today on the birth anniversary of Dr. Seuss - Theodore "Ted" Geisel - we celebrate all way of how being YOUer than you is such a grand gift.

Portrait of "Dr. Seuss" [Ted Geisel] by Everett Raymond Kinstler

Dreamer or cynic? Grandfather or grinch? It seems that Dr. Seuss was all of these things and more. A complex, talented and passionate man who struggled to remain hopeful in spite of the "dissemination of stupidity" he saw all around him.

mapping world classics

Honey it's cold outside!

Best to snuggle up with some great reads.

Tik-Tok of Oz, L. Frank Baum, Chicago, 1914

On our on going book lovers book worming adventures - Charting the Geography of Classic Literature by Anika Burgess at Atlas Obscura.

These are just a few of over 60 maps that are currently on display at the exhibition Landmarks: Maps as Literary Illustration, at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

The collection includes the work of landmark authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and the late Ursula K. Le Guin, and spans everything from love stories to fairy tales.

The exhibition is open through to April 14, 2018.

love! Love! LOVE! 

summer reads

On the NYC subway, they posted a sign that advertises their library. How cool is that? 

On the C Train, NYC

Here at wonder | wander | world we compiled our own summer reading list for you too. 

the art of movement

This week we are inspired by the stunning images of The Art of Movement, the new coffee table book by photographers Ken Browar and Deborah Ory aka NYC Dance Project.

Image courtesy of NYC Dance Project

James Welch : path finder to the center of our hearts

Today wonder | wander | world pays tribute in honor of Native American author James Welch, considered a founder of the Native American Renaissance. 

His novel Fools Crow (1986) received several national literary awards, and his debut novel Winter in the Blood (1974) was adapted as a film by the same name, released in 2013. 

In 1997 Welch received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas. 

A Google Doodle by artist Sophie Daio was created in honor of what would have been his 76th birthday, watching over the Google home page in a drawing that evokes both his Native American heritage and his award-winning literary career. 

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin! 

Lief Peng's Today's Inspiration: vintage illustration heaven!

Vintage illustration is one of the most popular and imitated genres of illustration, but almost nothing is known about the men and women who created stunning work for endless magazines and agencies in the 50s and 60s. 

Lola Fielding

Leif Peng, himself an accomplished commercial artist, runs a well-researched blog called Today's Inspiration where he tracks down mid-century illustrators, gathering up every crumb of detail about their life and work, and making beautiful posts about them.

Alison Worman: thinking with your hands

Alison Worman is our inspiration for this week. Her sketchbooks and art objects take our meandering thoughts in unexpected directions.

'What Was Once John's Yellow Mug', 2009

Alison fills her sketchbooks with scraps of paper and fabric, stitches, and lace. Often the finished book is so thick it can't fully close.

The Second Black Sketchbook

She is a Book Arts genius and is even featured on one of our favourite blogs, The Jealous Curator.

The Second Black Sketchbook featured on The Jealous Curator

It's deceptively simple work that inspires us to be looser and more relaxed in our own art journals. 

Terry Pratchett Tribute: Words Can Change Our World

On 18 February 2009, over a year after he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, one of the world's favourite fantasy authors became Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE. On 12 March of this year, Sir Terry (or Pterry, as many of his fans know him) passed away in his home in Broad Chalke (a very Discworldly name), Wiltshire, England.

Sir Terry's coat of arms, from File 770.

Sir Terry inspired a few generations of writers and artists with his fictional universe of Discworld, a planet shaped like a disc carried on the back of four elephants on top of a giant turtle. Far-fetched as the world seems, the people who lived in it were very real, rounded characters who contained whole worlds in themselves.