Concrete Islands Books of the Year 2023

These are our favourite books of 2023, works that challenged and delighted us with tales of life, love and very often rock n roll

In a year absolutely glittering with literary gems, whittling it down to such a concise list has not been without its challenges. Featured here are titles which have both challenged and delighted us, providing solace, laughter and definitely a few tears along the way too. In being lucky enough to review books here at Concrete Islands, I never aspire with these daft wee words to moan and be critical but to celebrate the diverse and powerful voices that we are privileged enough to share our world with. Mostly non-fiction for us this year, they have illuminated the complexities of our era, rejoicing in all that this mad, spinning world has to offer.

The following blurbs were written by Chris Bateman (most) and Stewart Gardiner (some).

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Books of the year:

8.

Johnny Cash – The Life and Lyrics (White Rabbit)

A true beauty of a book, Johnny Cash – The Life in Lyrics offers a chance to connect with Johnny Cash’s legacy in a unique and profound way… a fitting tribute to the great man and all he left us with, immortalised forever in the pages of this remarkable book. (Chris Bateman)

Read the full review here.

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7.

Adrian Mckinty – The Detective Up Late (Blackstone)

A highlight of the year in books was undoubtedly the return of Carrickfergus’s finest, DI Duffy. The book begins at the start of a new decade as Duffy has, much to everyone’s surprise, survived into the 90s. McKinty’s skill in capturing the turmoil and fear of the era, blending it with a captivating crime story shines through in this book, as he once again immerses readers in the politically charged atmosphere of pre Good Friday Northern Ireland. The protagonist, Detective Sean Duffy, is as charismatic and complex (and frustrating) as ever, navigating not only almost hopeless cases but also his never straightforward personal life. McKinty’s dialogue is hilarious and his eye for detail makes the book both vivid and engaging. As is always the case with the best crime fiction, it transcends the genre. Not only an exploration of a violent and wild period in history, it tells people’s stories, captures the dialogue and gives you a sense of the times and how they lived through them. (Chris Bateman)

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6.

Dylan Jones – Loaded: The Life (and Afterlife) of The Velvet Underground (White Rabbit)

What can be said about the Velvet Underground that hasn’t already been said? A tremendous amount, actually, as Dylan Jones demonstrates in this excellent oral history of the mighty Velvets. Documentary-like, this oral history has an incredible A-list of contributors, flicking through the Dramatis Personae reads like an index of rock n roll folklore: Lester Bangs, David Bowie, Debbie Harry and Patti Smith to name but a very few.

Not only a history of the band, Loaded also deals with their lasting influence, chronicling a legacy that will stretch on through time as long as young people keep picking up instruments and searching for a template to express themselves, to seek a path away from the banalities of their lives, to escape to another world. (Chris Bateman)

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5.

Peter Ross – Steeple Chasing (Headline)

Don’t be fooled into thinking Peter Ross’s Steeple Chasing is a book for the ecclesiastical minded. Although spiritual in a sense, at its heart, Steeple Chasing is really a portrait of modern Britain, a hard concept to grasp at the best of times. Told through the lens of some of its most ancient buildings, this beautiful, soulful piece of reportage is a delight from start to finish. One of the joys of reading Ross is his perfect ability to have, and report, his conversations. Profound and layered with the collective wisdoms of all those old churches, Steeple Chasing is a celebration of the buildings, the people and the ideas that form around and are produced by these ancient halls where we congregate, in the good times and the bad. (Chris Bateman)

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4:

Paul McCartney – 1964: Eyes of the Storm (Allen Lane)

Paul McCartney’s curiosity about the world hasn’t been restricted to his songwriting. His interest in the avant-garde was well documented in Barry Miles’s Many Years from Now (which also served as a corrective to those who believed John Lennon to be the avant-garde one) and with the discovery of these photographs from the storm of Beatlemania, McCartney’s legacy has yet another string to its bow. He positions himself as “only an enthusiastic photographer who happened to be in the right place at the right time,” but that’s more than enough considering the time and the place. Rather like Sub Pop founder Bruce Pavitt’s Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989, this is a book length presentation of amateur photography by someone who was there that acts as a portal into another world. Flicking through the pages of 1964: Eyes of the Storm is not only to be transported to the past, but to spend time with The Beatles and their entourage. It’s a real eye-opener.

Also not to be missed was the publication in paperwork of McCartney’s unparalleled The Lyrics. You not only get seven additional songs discussed, but in Hemingway terms, this edition is a moveable feast. Keep the hardback edition safely on your shelves, while still carrying McCartney around for inspiration when you need it. Although the paperback won’t actually fit in your back pocket, this is portable magic nonetheless. (Stewart Gardiner)

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3.

Kerri ní Dochartaigh – Cacophony of Bone (Canongate)

Kerri’s ní Dochartaigh’s second book arrived earlier this year and did not disappoint. Beginning as she moves to a new home, it charts her life through the Covid era, living in rural Ireland. This is no Covid journal though, but a journey of the year through the gaze of one of our finest writers as she navigates the uncertainty, the fear and the joy that we found in those times. I don’t think there is a writer right now who is better tuned to our sad, splintering, beautiful world, to the wonders it can gift us and to the horrors we force upon it. (Chris Bateman)

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2.

John Niven – O Brother (Canongate)

Brothers, eh? Best pals, confidants, mortal enemies and everything in between, the only certainty being that they will shunt their way into your psyche and change you utterly and always, and they’ll keep doing this no matter how old you get. While the joys and trials of the experience of brotherhood in the west of Scotland is not unknown to this writer, never has it been so beautifully, poignantly, piss yourself hilariously and tragically rendered than in John Niven’s autobiography, O Brother. The brutal honesty of how Niven feels as he describes his brother’s descent, and all the love, and joy and hurt and chaos that goes along with it was one of the most moving experiences I have had from a book (and this one I listened to on audiobook, with Niven’s voice and sense of comic timing enriching it even further). One of the funniest, most beautiful and heart-breaking books I have read, it truly deserves all the critical acclaim it has received. Rest well Shades. (Chris Bateman)

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1.

Thurston Moore – Sonic Life (Faber)

Thurston Moore’s memoir Sonic Life reads like a future classic of the genre. Much more than an autobiographical summary of his days in Sonic Youth, Moore’s writing strongly evokes the magic of underground music and culture. What sets Sonic Life apart from other titles in the field, lies in the pages between those describing the astonishing thirty year run of the influential and beloved experimental rock band. 

The first third or so of the book details Moore’s formative years visiting New York from Connecticut, then moving to the city and embedding himself in the art rock scene – the story of a music fan’s deep engagement with the culture in the years before he was a celebrated part of that culture himself. Moore paints an evocative picture of mid-to-late 70s NYC witnessing radical rock practitioners Patti Smith, The Ramones, Suicide, The Cramps and many more. He not only sets the scene beautifully, but makes the reader feel as if they are there in the moment, mainlining punk rock history. As such, reading Sonic Life is a contact high, the pages like sheets of LSD you cannot help but absorb. (Stewart Gardiner)

Read Stewart Gardiner’s interview with Thurston Moore here.

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