Author Life-long learner History addict Storyteller Rabbit hole digger Art lover
The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,633 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Whisper of the River

Rona Simmons Why did I love this book?

The book is a treasure of rich prose, as well as a rollicking read with a whisper of an undercurrent of what it means to be raised right and to do the right thing.

Porter J. Osborne, Jr., the protagonist, is unforgettable in his journey to learn who he is. We tag along through Osborne’s immature pranks and awkwardness in his college years. A professor advises: “You are so young and, to be perfectly honest, you are so callow, so unformed. And yet there is something about you, a drive, a spark, a toughness of spirit, a completely unpredictable gift for doing the most outrageously unexpected things.”

Sams keeps us glued to the page until Osborne makes decisions that right his course and redeem him by graduation day. 

By Ferrol Sams,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Whisper of the River as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The bittersweet and very funny story of a young man’s journey to adulthood that the Nashville Banner called "Americana at its best."
 
Young for his class and small for his age, Porter Osborne, Jr., leaves his rural Georgia home in 1938 to meet the world at Willingham University, armed with the knowledge that he has been "Raised Right" in the best Baptist tradition. What happens over the next four years will challenge the things he holds infallible: his faith, his heritage, and his parents’ omniscience. As we follow Porter’s college career, full of outrageous pranks and ribald humor, we sense…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Rona Simmons Why did I love this book?

As close as anyone can come to describing how it was to be in London during the Blitz without actually being there. That, together with both the anguish and the satisfaction that Churchill must have felt.

Halfway through, the title explains the contrast between the vileness of the firebombing of London and the beauty of the world. Bits of his oratory sprinkle the pages, as do a few of Churchill’s quirks.

The image of Roosevelt entering Churchill's room at the White House and then spending the next hour strategizing over the war while a completely naked Churchill walked about with a whiskey and a cigar will never leave me.

By Erik Larson,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Splendid and the Vile as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis
 
“One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR 
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe &…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Rona Simmons Why did I love this book?

One of the most incredible tales of survival.

The trials the men of the Wager went through were so extreme they bordered on incredulity. Starvation, injury, disease, murder, and cannibalism plague the survivors who live for months on a small deserted island near the Straits of Magellan.

And then, they set out for home and the adventure continues.

By David Grann,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Wager as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read' Guardian

'The greatest sea story ever told' Spectator

'A cracking yarn... Grann's taste for desperate predicaments finds its fullest expression here' Observer

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER

From the international bestselling author of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and THE LOST CITY OF Z, a mesmerising story of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.

On 28th January 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the…


Plus, check out my book…

Book cover of A Gathering of Men

What is my book about?

A moving tale based on a true story about shattered dreams and enduring friendship, duty, and honor.

The town barber in Canton, North Carolina, brandishes a copy of the May 1927 Charlotte Observer. On the front page is Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis on its cross-country flight. On the outskirts of town, best friends Lake, Roger, and Jim imagine their future alongside Lindy. The boys will have their chance to fly, not over North Carolina farm fields, but across Germany on bombing runs. The odds of completing their tours of duty are slim.

My book is the account of the boys who board their aircraft for the first time and the men they become in the blink of an eye.