Ah, it’s finally time for my favorite “Best of” posts—the reading recaps! Today, I’m revealing some of my favorite reads of 2023. I break this post into three sections: My overall favorites (which includes my #1 book of the year!), my favorites by genre, and some superlatives (I got most of these categories from Sarah’s Book Shelves yearly superlatives episode). I want to note that these books are the ones I read in 2023—they were not necessarily published in 2023. This is a long post, so let’s dive in!
Overall Favorites
Favorite Overall Book
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres-Sanchez – When I think about my favorite overall book of the year, I think about the book that impacted me the most. What’s the book I can’t stop thinking about? What’s the book I want everyone to read? In 2023, We Are Not From Here is that book. This is a hard, heavy book about three Guatemalan kids who make the arduous journey to the U.S. border, and it is a book that taught me so much. It taught me about the light and darkness that is in people, what our immigrants go through to get to the border, and how we as a country need to do so much better for them. It’s not an easy book, but it will be impactful.
Favorite Fiction
Falling by T.J. Newman – This book came so very close to being my favorite of the year. It was such a unique, fast-moving story that was so hard to put down! This is not a book for anyone who gets nervous about flying because it’s about a pilot who starts a flight and then finds out his family has been taken hostage. To save his family, he must crash the plane. I loved this book and I cannot believe it is Newman’s debut and that she wrote while she was working as a flight attendant! I could never. I loved Newman’s follow-up, Drowning, almost as much as this one. I haven’t flown since reading these books, so we’ll see how I feel about them the next time I have to step foot on an airplane.
Favorite Nonfiction
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson – What a sensational memoir this was! I read this in early February and I’m still thinking about this book and the way George told their stories. It’s maddening at times because I just felt so sad for George and what they went through to come to terms with their queerness and coming out. I listened to this book on audio, which George narrates, and I highly recommend taking in this story that way. It made their words so much more impactful.
Favorite Romance
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld – This was such a fun romance, and I love the way it was structured. It’s about a comedy writer (Sally) working on an SNL-style show and the celebrity (Noah) who was hosting for a particular week. The first act follows the two of them as they prepare for the show, and there’s definitely some flirtiness happening. The second act happens during 2020 and Covid times; Sally is now living at home since the show is on hiatus and Noah is quarantining in Los Angeles. They exchange lots of emails during this time. And then the third act is Sally deciding to drive to see Noah, and the culmination of their romance. I thought it was an inventive way to not only tell a romance, but also a Covid-era romance. I loved it!
Favorites by Genre
Favorite Contemporary Fiction
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin – This is one of the final books I read in 2023, and I am so glad it made this list! This is a book about a girl who is just trying to survive and the people she meets along the way. I found the main character to be such an easy person to root for. I just wanted all of the best things for her. The ending made me cry happy tears, which rarely happens for me!
Runner-up: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Favorite Historical Fiction
Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon – The historical fiction genre is littered with WWII novels, but I always love getting a new view of this time period from my reading. This book is a fictionalized retelling of Nancy Wake, a real-life spy during the war. The novel was fascinating and heartbreaking, and I learned a whole lot.
Runner-up: The Henna Artist by Alki Joshi
Favorite Contemporary Romance
Codename Charming by Lucy Parker – I have never been disappointed by a Lucy Parker novel and this one was no exception. It follows two employees of the royal family—a personal assistant to the princess’s husband and the head of security—and the fake relationship they have to fool the press. It’s sweet and funny and, dare I say, charming.
Runner-up: Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly
Favorite Historical Romance
A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera – I didn’t read any GREAT historical romances this year, but I’m choosing this book as my favorite historical romance because I appreciated what the author tried to do with the representation elements and discussing colonialism and slavery within the novel.
Runner-up: Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian
Favorite YA
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo – It’s hard to put into words how much this book meant to me. It’s about a 17-year-old girl growing up in 1950s and discovering her queer identity… and the girl she falls in love with. It’s a sweet story, but also heartbreaking. I just loved it.
Runner-up: The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow
Favorite Mystery/Thriller
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister – This book was on my list to make my “Overall Favorite” of the year because it was just so good. Inventive and clever with a really excellent ending. It’s a time travel book, except a woman is traveling back in time to solve the mystery of why her son murdered a man right in front of their home.
Runner-up: A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
Favorite Memoir/Essay Collection
Finding Me by Viola Davis – This memoir was exquisite. Viola Davis had a really tough life growing up and she doesn’t shy away from talking about how hard it was. It was a difficult book to read, but a beautiful one as well. This one is a must on audio, too!
Runner-Up: The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
Superlatives
The Most Disappointing DNF
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley – I loved Rowley’s previous novel The Guncle, and I had hoped his newest release would have the same magic as that book. But this one just didn’t. I tried this on audio and gave up after a few hours. I just didn’t love any of the characters and the story felt convoluted. And with its low Goodreads rating (3.67 compared to 4.15 for The Guncle), I think I made the right choice to abandon it.
The Most Disappointing Book I Read
Have I Told You This Already? Stories I Don’t Want to Forget by Lauren Graham – The reason this book was the most disappointing one I’ve read is because… it started to make me dislike Lauren Graham. Lorelei Gilmore! How can I dislike Lorelei Gilmore?! Alas, it just wasn’t a great set of essays. I think she wrote this book too soon after her breakup with Peter Krause because her signature humor just wasn’t there. I found the collection to be a bit tepid, honestly.
The Book I Was Surprised to Love
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb – Typically, I am not someone who is interested in books about classic music nor am I normally drawn to slow-burn mysteries. But I decided to give this book a shot, since so many of my trusted recommendation sources loved it. And I loved it, too! It was such a compelling story and somehow, Brendan Slocumb made me care deeply about his main character and his precious violin. I found myself on the edge of my seat until the end, and I found the ending to be particularly poignant and lovely.
The Book I Thought I Would Love More Than I Did
Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker – I had such high hopes for this novel. It sounded so interesting: an oral history of the disappearance of a teenage girl and the TV docu-series that followed along. But it just didn’t work for me. It was hard to be invested in the mystery when everything was revealed early on, and some of the commentary on the true crime genre felt heavy-handed.
Most Deserving of the Hype
The Measure by Nikki Erlick – This novel came out in 2022 and I heard a lot of buzz about it, but it sat on my TBR list for a while. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read a novel that had such a heavy premise. (One day, everyone finds a box on their doorstep. Inside the box is a string that indicates how long—or short—your life will be.) But this book was so, so good! I loved it and highly recommend it.
Least Deserving of the Hype
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak – Gah. This book was awful. It was filled with fatphobia, which is just uncalled for in 2022 (when this book was published). And the ending was so over-the-top and fat-fetched; it didn’t work for me. It somehow won a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror in 2022 and has a 4.14 rating, which I just do not understand.
The Book I Loved That Other People Hated
If We’re Being Honest by Cat Shook – This book has a 3.5-star rating on Goodreads, which is very low for Goodreads. But I really liked this novel! It’s one of those large family stories where everyone converges for an event, and we learn about the inner lives and secrets and lies of different members of the family. I thought it was a well-written, well-paced, and well-plotted book.
The Book I Hated That Other People Loved
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes – This book has a 4.3 rating on Goodreads but it’s not one that worked well for me. The writing was clunky and the book was poorly structured and way too long. I appreciated the representation elements of this book, but the rest of it didn’t work for me.
The Underrated Gem of the Year
Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer – With less than 4,000 ratings on Goodreads, this book qualifies as my underrated gem of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed this book (and so did everyone in my book club!) and thought it was such an interesting love story.
Favorite Reading Experience of the Year
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith – This year, the wonderful Engie hosted our first-ever Cool Bloggers Book Club when we read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. For many of us, this was a reread and it was so much fun to read this book alongside so many other bloggers. I love this book and I loved our discussions.
What were some of your favorite books of 2023? Or, pick a superlatives category and answer it!
Isn’t this a fun post! I liked a lot of the books you mentioned. Romantic Comedy had me looking up everything that Sittenfield has written – what a fun writer she is! Girls They Write Songs About was one of my favourite books last year – I think about it all the time!
I have Girls They Write Songs About on my TBR – I think I heard about it on Sarah’s Book Shelves, but was a little hesitant to read it because it has a low Goodreads rating (3.4!). But your ringing endorsement means I need to give it a try at least!
This was so fun to read! Like you, I loved the Cat Shook book!! I thought it was so endearing and relatable (big family drama is so relatable for me!!).
I need to read your favorite book. My favorite book was Hello Beautiful. Views on it are so divided though!
I am going to try to get around to Hello Beautiful very soon! My mom had my copy for a while – she loved it! I hope I love it just as much as you did!
You know I couldn’t click on this post fast enough when I saw it in Feedly!
I READ THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY BECAUSE OF YOU!!!! So thank you again for that. And I agree that ATGIB was the best reading experience of the year.
I can’t pick a favorite book of the year because there were so many good books this year. So far 2024 is following suit.
Yay! I’m glad my recommendation was a good one! It was such a good book and I didn’t expect it to be THAT good!
I’m glad 2024 has started off with a bang with lots of great reads – yay!
Thanks for all the suggestions– and which books to avoid. My favorite book of 2023 was nonfiction, one that I stumbled over in a real life bookstore, in fact. It is: Who Ate the First Oyster by Cody Cassidy. It is a look at which human being most likely first did something that we take for granted.
Ooh, that book sounds fascinating! I’m going to add it to my TBR – thanks for the rec!
Love everything about this post. And it looks like your reading year was really really good.
And I have read a few of your books too. yeah.
I have added more to my TBR though.
I did read a similar book to your best overall called Solito about the immigration from El Salvador. It was very interesting and heart breaking. It would be interesting to read your and compare.
I have Solito on my TBR – I need to give it a read, but I’ve heard it’s really sad so I need to be in the right headspace.
It is sad and at times heartbreaking but I think it is important to read those stories.
The follow-up to The Telegraph Club is BAD. Don’t read it, Stephany! It will make you sad!
I am loving how many people put ATGIB as one of their favorites of 2023. I feel like hosting that book club was one of my biggest accomplishments of the year!
Ugh, really? That makes me so sad! The Telegraph Club was SO GOOD. What a disappointment.
I think we are all so grateful to you for hosting the ATGIB book club. And now we have a new book to read together – I’m so excited!
If you liked Code Name Helene, I bet you would like Kate Quinn! Have you read any of her books? If you haven’t you should start with the Alice Network, but so far all of her books have been good! They are all WWII related though, so you may need to take a break between them and others of that genre.
I’ve read a few Kate Quinn books – she’s an amazing author! I looked up The Alice Network – I gave it 5 stars! Her books tend to be pretty long (if I’m remembering correctly) but I need to check out more of her backlist. I do love the way she writes. Thanks for the rec!
The audiobook of The Measure just came off my Libby holds! Perfect timing too, since I just finished one audiobook today.
I’m always so awestruck when I read people’s lists and realize that I haven’t read *any* books on their list, and then I get excited to read them but also a little sad that there are so many books in the world that I’ll probably never read.
So many books! There are so many I won’t read even if I had all the time in the world. On the one hand, it makes me happy that I’ll never run out of reading material. But on the other… I know I’m missing out on great books because we just can’t read them all. I feel your pain!
I like these categories and have put a bunch on my list– thank you 🙂
I’m so glad I could add a few books to your list!
I’ve read a couple of these, and you also reminded me of a couple others that I want to read (The Violin Conspiracy and Romantic Comedy.) You definitely read a wide variety, and tackled some tough topics. I keep just wanting to read mysteries : )
Read what you like! For a long, long time all I read were romances so I understand wanting to stick with a certain genre. It’s a hobby – you gotta do what feels good for you!
You and I have some fun overlaps! I too loved Romantic Comedy and Wrong Place, Wrong Time. I too really disliked The Celebrants (though I made it all the way through) and found Hidden Pictures to be overhyped. Looking forward to another year of great books!
Book twinsies! I applaud you for making it through The Celebrants. I think I may have tried to push through in print, but it wasn’t working for me in audio.