The Year 2023 in Books

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share the twenty-six (26) book reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(The cover for the book The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin).

Our highest rated read for 2023 was The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. Earning 4.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5, the book, Rubin “set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” The subject matter was offering suggestions for how best to engage the construction of creatively made content effectively.

(The cover for the book Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon).

Five books earned 4.5-stars from Matt Lynn Digital in 2023, with Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon earning the top billing. The proper means for reading Heavy: An American Memoir is with an open mind and an open heart while aiming for empathy and understanding. Other books earning 4.5-stars include 60 Seconds & You’re Hired! by Robin Ryan, Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America by Wil Haygood, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael D. Watkins.

(The cover for the book Sea of Tranquility: A Novel by Emily St. John Mandel).

Led by the Emily St. John Mandel book Sea of Tranquility: A Novel, three books read in 2023 earned 4.25-star ratings. The notion of experiencing a life moving through time and space on an emotional journey of self-discovery drew us to the St. John Mandel work. Other books also earning 4.25-stars were the extraordinary Dan Chaon book Sleepwalk and the Ernest Hemingway book To Have and Have Not.

(The cover for the book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers).

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as written by Carson McCullers tops a stable of six books to earn 4.0-stars. The central point of the book using a mute as the protagonist while sharing the semi-autobiographical character Mick Kelly as an exposition for the writer were appealing concepts for the work. Others to earn a similar 4.0-star rating included Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.

(The cover for the book The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel).

The Dava Sobel book The Glass Universe How the Ladies of Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars leads a stable of eleven (11) books to earn 3.75-stars for books that we read in 2023. Learning the histories of women including Annie Jump Cannon and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin made this reading worth the effort in recognizing women contributing to science and the social fabric of a society simultaneously. The remaining ten books we read this year included Stone Cold by David Baldacci, Red War by Kyle Mills in the Vince Flynn series, The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien with Guy Gruviel Kay and Christopher Tolkien, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, Lethal Agent by Kyle Mills through Vince Flynn,  Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott, Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work by Marilee Adams and Divine Justice by David Baldacci.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, or similar work to that mentioned above, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Saturday, December 30, 2023

Washington Irving and the book ‘Tales of the Alhambra’

A collection of essays, literary sketches and short stories compose the writings from Tales of the Alhambra. As quoted here by Britannica, Alhambra itself is a “palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, Spain.” An 1828 visit by Washington Irving inspired the writing of this brief overview.

(A portrait of Washington Irving, the author of Tales of Alhambra. Irving was born in New York City, New York, United States).

The tales collected in the book includes a combination of non-fictional accounting for the architecture of the Moorish castle from the height of the Moorish civilization. The work expands into a travelogue of the surrounding region with historical fact and medieval myth. The giving of a cursory history of the civilization at its highest reaches, will satisfy some. As quoted here, the offering of “[s]ecret chambers, desperate battles, imprisoned princesses, palace ghosts, and fragrant gardens” offers delights of more engaging flavor for those with a heart for the fantastic. The human stories of absconding with hidden riches, and attempts to profit from secret knowledge of this for gain, offers the most entertaining storytelling of the collection.

(Alternative covers for Tales of Alhambra by Washington Irving, which was first published in 1832).

A later, “authors revised edition” of Tales of Alhambra was published in 1851. That second edition is not the object of this consideration. An ideal audience for this book would be fans of fantasy writing. The earliest that I would consider introducing this work for firsthand reading would be young adults of 12-to-14-years young. I give Tales of Alhambra by Washington Irving 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Wednesday, August 30, 2023