Time to Vote for the Top 10 Reads for 2023

[Theresa]

Nicole! Nona! While Gideon and Harrow made it to the top the year I read them, alas, Nona did not get that rating from me - only 4 stars I think.

Very happy though to see this series popping on on various top 10s!

[Joanne]

Nicole wrote: "The Woman Who Would Be King - Cooney
A Snicker of Magic - Lloyd
Annihilation - VanderMeer
Lanny - Porter
Nona the Ninth - Muir
Invisible Child - Elliott
Winterdance - Paulsen
Brain on Fire - Cahal..."

Great to see Candice Millard-especially this book-5 stars from me

[anarresa]

I will Judge You By Your Bookshelf - Snider
Let Me Clear My Throat - Passarello
Good Talk - Jacob
All Creatures Great and Small - Herriot
Man-Eaters - Cain
The Black Count - Reiss
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - Pulley
The Untold Story - Cogman
Dead Silence - Barnes
Lessons in Chemistry - Garmus

I had more than ten 4 star books for the first time in years!
Not too many more, here are the extra:

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less - Glidden
Leviathan Wakes - Corey
Legends & Lattes - Baldree
When We Had Wings - Lawhon
That Can Be Arranged - Fahmy

There's a lot of graphic memoir and I got some good space operas. Several from the games, so thanks to the group.

[SouthWestZippy]

Top 10

Taste: My Life through Food- Tucci
The Dog Stars- Heller
Walk the Blue Line: They Walk the Line between Life and Death-Patterson
When Crickets Cry-Martin
Deadly Charade- Adams
See No Evil-Laurie
The Kitchen Front-Ryan
What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley-Cross
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas-Boyne
About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known: Ruminations and Revelations from a Desperate Mother to Her Dirty Son-Rowe

Least favorite:
Nonfiction
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir
Fiction
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold-Lewis

[Anita]

The Book of Goose - Li
The Bee Sting - Murray
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Lewis
The Imposters - Rachman
Juno Loves Legs - Geary OR Elon Musk - Isaacson (tbd)
King: A Life - Eig
Prophet Song - Lynch
The Boy Between: A Mother and Son's Journey from a World Gone Grey - Hartley
Where the Dead Sit Talking - Hobson

Least Favorite:
This Other Eden - Harding

[Nicole D.]

Surprised I had 7 favorites this year .... In no order

Pearl - Hughes
The Other Valley - Howard
Pet - Chidgey
I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home - Moore
Big Swiss - Beagin
Fight Night - Toews
Catch 22 - Heller

Least favorite(s):

Study for Obedience
The Covenant of Water
The Future

[Joanne]

I have Fight Night on my 2024 TBR! I loved Women Talking and wanted to read another book from her.

[Sallys]

Sea of Tranquility- Mandel
The Glass Hotel- Mandel
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow- Gabrielle Zevin
Signal Fires - Dani Shapiro
The Covenant of Water- Abraham Verghese
Neopolitan novels- Elena Ferrante
Remarkably Bright Creatures- Shelby Van Pelt
Hello Beautiful- Ann Neapolitan
Station 11- Mandel

A Home The End of the World Michael Cunningham

[Anita]

Nicole D. wrote: "Surprised I had 7 favorites this year .... In no order

Pearl - Hughes
The Other Valley - Howard
Pet - Chidgey
I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home - Moore
Big Swiss - Beagin
Fight Night - Toews ..."

I liked Pet a lot! Didn't make my top 10, but I thought it was a great read.

[Kelly]

Hello Beautiful - Napolitano
The Last Mrs. Parrish - Constantine
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Zevin
Lightning Strike - Krueger
A Long Walk to Water - Park
We Were Never Here - Bartz
The Good Life - Waldinger
The Club - Lloyd
Lessons in Chemistry - Garmus
Lucy by the Sea - Strout

[Lyn]

Indian Horse - Wagamese
Ordinary Grace - Krueger
The Invisible Hour – Hoffman
The Huntress – Quinn
The Journey of Crazy Horse – Marshall
A Woman of No Importance – Purnell
The Women of the Copper Country – Russell
Being Mortal – Gawande
Still Alice – Genova
Daisy Jones & the Six - Jenkins Reid

[KateNZ]

Shuggie Bain - Stuart
The Woman Who Smashed Codes - Fagone
The Galaxy and the Ground Within - Chambers
The Thursday Murder Club - Osman
Paladin of Souls - Bujold
Troubled Blood - Galbraith
City of Thieves - Benioff
Seabiscuit: an American Legend - Hillenbrand
Bruno, Chief of Police - Walker
The Huntress - Quinn


Lots of close runners-up. It was a good year for reading, driven largely by Subdue and Birthday. And guess how most of those great books got on the TBR in the first place …

[Amy]

If its not too late, I edited my Top Ten in message #32

[Anita]

Amy wrote: "If its not too late, I edited my Top Ten in message #32"

It's definitely not. Thanks for the heads up!

[Amy]

I forgot to note, I exchanged Fourth Wing with Weyward.

[Anita]

Amy wrote: "I forgot to note, I exchanged Fourth Wing with Weyward."

Thank you for providing the specifics!

[Rachel N.]

Project Hail Mary - Weir
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Zevin
Cold Storage - Koepp
This Tender Land - Krueger
President Without a Party: the Life of John Tyler - Leahy
Dead Beat - Butcher
Uprooted - Novik
In a Holidaze - Lauren
If We Were Villains - Rio
No Exit - Adams

In no particular order except the first two are my only 5 star reads of the year. Worst book of the year "The History of Mankind" by vanLoon, how this ever won the first newbery award I'll never understand.

[Kimber]

Hamnet - O'Farrell
Demon Copperhead - Kingsolver
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Zevin
Parable of the Sower - Butler
Small Things Like These - Keegan
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - Berendt
The Maidens - Michaelides
The Anubis Gates - Powers
A Psalm for the Wild Built - Chambers
The Golem and the Jinni - Wecker

Lovely to see everyone's favorites for the year and share some as well.

[John]

Kimber wrote: "Hamnet - O'Farrell
Demon Copperhead - Kingsolver
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Zevin
Parable of the Sower - Butler
Small Things Like These - Keegan
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ..."

Living only a couple hours north of Savannah and it being the birthplace of my mother, I have a certain fondness for the "Hostess City of the South" and this book.

[Kimber]

"Living only a couple hours north of Savannah and it being the birthplace of my mother, I have a certain fondness for the "Hostess City of the South" and this book..."

When reading this, I imagined I was breathing in the atmosphere of Savannah. I'd love to visit someday. I visited my brother in McDonough when he lived there and we did a side trip to Senoia, but I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Savannah yet.

If you like how the author shared the details of a true event, along with an in-depth description of the place, culture, people (and gossip) in this one, you might like his book The City of Falling Angels, which does the same for the city of Venice.

[Linda C]

Anita, FYI - just edited msg #40

[Pam]

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Bechdel
A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Chambers
Romantic Comedy - Sittenfeld
Frederica - Heyer
The Siren Depths - Wells
In Other Lands - Brennan
System Collapse - Wells
The Sleeping Soldier - Gray
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations - Jacob
The Sealark - Rolf and Ranger


Honorable mentions:
Coming in First Place - Fitzpatrick
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood - Satrapi
His Majesty's Dragon - Novik
Strange Weather in Tokyo - Kawakami

[Book Concierge]

Tessa's Top 10 of 2023


The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo
The Code Breaker - Isaacson
Hamnet - O'Farrell
Horse - Brooks
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Doerr
The Devil's Highway - Urrea
Project Hail Mary - Weir
Foster - Keegan
Push - Sapphire
The Garden of Evening Mists - Eng

[Jgrace]

The Running Grave - Galbraith
Tom Lake - Patchett
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store -McBride
The Night Watchman - Erdrich
The Island of Missing Trees - Shafak
Babel - Kuang
The Covenant of Water -Verghese
The Nature of the Beast - Penny
Mornings in the Burned House: Poems - Attwood
Euphoria - Lily King



The Louise Penny book is included mostly as a placeholder for all of the Three Pine books that I tore through this year. I've only the last book of that series to go now. I'm holding off because I don't want it to end!

I didn't read any books that I actually hated, but I was disappointed with more books that usual. I don't think I've ever given 3 stars to so many books. Often I don't expect to give a book more than 3 stars which is good, but not spectacular. I'll deliberately choose a book that's predictable and easy because I need something that doesn't demand a lot of me.
But there are authors that I go to expecting to be challenged and amazed. A few of those authors disappointed me this year. Specifically: Ishiguro - The Buried Giant and
Alice Hoffman - The Invisible Hour. If I'd never read other books by these authors, I would probably given a higher rating. But these titles didn't compare well with their other titles.

[LibraryCin]

I'm glad I waited on this (I'll probably actually put my list together on the 2nd). I think the audio book I just finished today will make my list.

[annapi]

Making It So: A Memoir - Stewart
Desert Star - Connelly
The House in the Cerulean Sea - Klune
Spare - Prince Harry
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission - Sides
102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers - Dwyer & Flynn
The Running Grave - Galbraith
An Evil Heart - Castillo
Fourth Wing - Yarros
Firekeeper's Daughter - Boulley

This year I had exactly 10 4.5 or 5-star new reads. The first 6 are the 5-stars, 4 of which are non-fiction, and the last 4 are 4.5 rounded up.

Worst reads, all bad romances rated 2 stars (I rarely give 1 star, I usually DNF and those I don't rate):
Foolish Puckboy - Eden Finley & Saxon James
Let it Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle
One Night with Him - Eden Finley

[Hannah]

Black Cake - Wilkerson
Rogue Heroes - Macintyre
The Winners - Backman
The Splendid and the Vile - Larson
Lady Clementine - Benedict
Black Butterflies - Morris
Rogue Justice - Abrams
The Bombay Prince - Massey
I'm Not Done With You Yet - Sutanto
Evil Eye - Rum

Least Favourite:

Desperate Characters - Fox

[Booknblues]

Hannah wrote: "Black Cake - Wilkerson
Rogue Heroes - Macintyre
The Winners - Backman
The Splendid and the Evil - Larson
Lady Clementine - Benedict
Black Butterflies - Morris
Rogue Justice - Abrams
The Bombay Prin..."

Did you mean The Splendid and the Vile?

[Hannah]

Booknblues wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Black Cake - Wilkerson
Rogue Heroes - Macintyre
The Winners - Backman
The Splendid and the Evil - Larson
Lady Clementine - Benedict
Black Butterflies - Morris
Rogue Justice - Abrams
..."

Sorry, yes I did. I’ve changed it now.

[LibraryCin]

Finally looking at this now. I have two 5 star books, and nine 4.5 stars! So, I need to figure out which one I'm cutting out!

[LibraryCin]

My top 10 (4.5+ stars):

How I’ll Kill You - DeStefano
Dead of Winter - Coates
The Other Family Doctor - Fine
A Death at the Party - Stuart
Seven Fallen Feathers - Talaga
An Unwanted Guest - Lapena
The Quiet Tenant - Michellon
The Rose Code - Quinn
A Time for Mercy - Grisham
The Only Plane in the Sky - Graff

Honourable mentions (4.5, 4.25 stars):

Wolvercraft Manor / Cas E. Crowe
The Broken Girls / Simone St. James
Tell It to the Trees / Anita Rau Badami

Dishonourable mentions (2 stars):

The Fountainhead / Ayn Rand
Beneath the Faceless Mountain / Roberta Rees
Reconstructions: America’s Unfinished Revolution / Eric Foner
The Big Book of Irony / Jon Winokur
Paper and Fire / Rachel Caine
The Magician King / Lev Grossman

[LibraryCin]

LibraryCin wrote: "My top 10 (4.5+ stars):

How I’ll Kill You - DeStefano
Dead of Winter - Coates..."

These first two were 5 stars and the rest of my top 10 was 4.5 (in order by date read). I had to cut out one 4.5 star book from the top ten.

Since the bulk of mine (though not all) are mystery/thriller or horror, I don't expect mine will overlap much with others. Oh, well.

[Anita]

Linda C wrote: "Anita, FYI - just edited msg #40"

Thank you, Linda.

[NancyJ]

My Final Top Ten

Light from Uncommon Stars - Aoki
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk - Rooney
Abigail - Szabó
The Reading List - Adams
Tom Lake - Patchett
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - McBride
Demon Copperhead - Kingsolver
Hello Beautiful - Napolitano
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Van Pelt
Babel - Kuang

Honorable mentions
Heart Berries - Mailhot
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World - Klein
How High We Go In the Dark - Nagamatsu
Humankind: A Hopeful History - Bregman
A Girl Called Samson - Harmon
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us - Yong
Unlikely Animals - Hartnett
The Door - Szabo
Five Little Indians - Good
The Word for World is Forest -Le Guin
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Marra
Fall of Giants  - Follett
Too Loud a Solitude - Hrabal
My Puny Sorrows - toews

[NancyJ]

Anita, I got error messages when attempting to edit my original post, so my final list is just above this post.

[Nicole R]

The Love Songs of W.E.B. du Bois- Jeffers
A Long Time Coming - Quinn
The Island of Missing Trees - Shafak
Pachinko - Lee
Stone Blind - Haynes
The Covenant of Water - Verghese
American Prometheus - Bird
The Right Move - Tomforde
Wellness - Hill
Fourth Wing - Yarros

And three honorable mentions that made the original list and then were cut for space:

Evil Eye - Rum
Tom Lake - Patchett
Meet Me at the Lake - Fortune

I read a TON of romance novels this year, several of which made my top 10, but the long, multigenerational family novels also dominated my list!

[Anita]

NancyJ wrote: "Anita, I got error messages when attempting to edit my original post, so my final list is just above this post."

Got it! Thanks for the heads up.

[NancyJ]

Is the list of winners posted ?

[Anita]

NancyJ wrote: "Is the list of winners posted ?"

OMG, thanks for the reminder. This definitely fell off my plate. It won't take me long to compile the results as I've been putting everything in a spreadsheet all along. We've been having some more health-related stress over here, so please forgive me. I'll get them up in the next day or two.

[LibraryCin]

Anita wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Is the list of winners posted ?"

OMG, thanks for the reminder. This definitely fell off my plate. It won't take me long to compile the results as I've been putting everything in a s..."

I've been thinking about this for a few days, Anita. I wanted to wait until after the month tag was announced before reminding you. I know, it's been a couple of days now, but Nancy beat me to it, anyway!

[LibraryCin]

... and I'm sorry for the continued health issues. :-(

[NancyJ]

No problem Anita. I only thought of it because of the space I landed on in steeplechase calls for a book on a best of 2023 list.