Laura Krantz's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Elizabeth Zott reminded me of my brilliant grandmother—a woman who was Phi Beta Kappa in college, had a masters degree, and spoke French fluently.

Despite all this, my grandmother’s opportunities were limited—because she was a woman. Not to say that she didn’t make the most of her amazing life. But what else could she have accomplished had society not been so limiting? 

Which is why I loved Elizabeth Zott so much. Bonnie Garmus’s hilariously sharp-minded and sharp-tongued protagonist—who would have been my grandmother’s contemporary—did everything she could to overcome the stupidity of societal norms and blaze a trail.

I enjoyed every minute of this book and I like to think my grandmother would have been rooting for Zott as much as I was. 

Like the movie Titanic, you know how this book is going to end. But Booth isn’t about the ending—the assassination that will change American history.

There’s not even that much about the assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Instead, Karen Joy Fowler takes us into the lives of the Booth family—who they were, what they believed, how they saw the world. 

The book is historical fiction, but Fowler dug deep in the Booths’ actual history—using letters and other documents—to paint a picture of the people who shaped John Wilkes Booth’s life. We often learn about historical figures without learning about what, or who, influenced them, but they didn’t live in a vacuum and Fowler’s book is a reminder of just how powerful an influence family can be. 

I was just a bit younger than Monica Lewinsky when that scandal erupted, and the Clinton White House and its allies dragged her through the mud.

At the time, I didn’t understand the significance of her story. Nor did I really make the connection between her experience and mine, as my college professor, and later my supervisor at work—men with a lot of control over my life—hit on me. 

Fast forward 25 years. I’m reading Rebecca Makkai’s pager-turner, which is set in roughly the same time period, and her novel had me revisiting these moments—the power dynamics, the secrets, and the vulnerability of young women.

Part social commentary, part whodunnit, I Have Some Questions For You is a powerful, fascinating read and a reminder of how fiction can make us reconsider fact.