The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,707 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of We All Want Impossible Things

Bev Katz Rosenbaum Why did I love this book?

The book is set during Ash's best friend Edi's hospice stay. Far from being maudlin or cliched, the book is hilarious as well as tragic.

Ash is so incredibly real and flawed, as is the cast of rotating visitors and hospital staffers. Reading it makes you feel okay about your own questionable life decisions, if you've been reflecting on your choices, as I was when I read it, LOL! I didn't want this book to end as much as I didn't want Edi's life to end.

By Catherine Newman,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked We All Want Impossible Things as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She’s a writer’s writer—and a human’s human.”—New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center

“A riotously funny and fiercely loyal love letter to female friendship. The story of Edi and Ash proves that a best friend is a gift from the gods. Newman turns her prodigious talents toward finding joy even in the friendship’s final days. I laughed while crying, and was left revived. Newman is a comic masterhand and a dazzling philosopher…


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

My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Yellowface

Bev Katz Rosenbaum Why did I love this book?

This is a book about shenanigans within the publishing industry, and every industry insider, myself included, has been passing it around, loving the super sharp, super-cutting satire.

It takes on issues of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as social media. It's the most incisive critique of the industry I've ever read. R.F. Kuang has created a fantastically un-self-aware narrator, and the book is as hilarious as it is smart.

As well, the tension is impeccably built; I was on edge all the way through to see just how far the narrator would go to keep what she thought she deserved and then what would happen when it inevitably all came crashing down...

By R. F. Kuang,

Why should I read it?

27 authors picked Yellowface as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller from literary sensation R.F. Kuang

*A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick*

'Propulsive' SUNDAY TIMES

'Razor-sharp' TIME

'A wild ride' STYLIST

'Darkly comic' GQ

'A riot' PANDORA SYKES

'Hard to put down, harder to forget' STEPHEN KING

Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

Dark humour
But as evidence threatens June's stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she…


Want my future book recommendations?

My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Coq

Bev Katz Rosenbaum Why did I love this book?

This is a sequel to a book I loved very much, Rooster.

This one is about a memorial trip taken to Paris by the family featured in Rooster, now grieving its matriarch, who never got to the city of light. As you probably sussed out in my bit about We All Want Impossible Things, I adore books about questioning main characters and chosen families and love and identity.

I'm a YA author who writes about those things, and in the adult books I read for pleasure, I look for those same elements. In Coq, characters once again question their decisions, and also, nothing goes as planned, which I love. (Because really, when does it ever?)

Finally, tone-wise, it has the mix of serious and funny I adore, evident in all my choices.  

By Ali Bryan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Coq as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Leacock finalist Ali Bryan, a witty and immensely fun dramedy about a family's memorial trip to the City of Love, where chaos ensues at every turn.

It's been ten years since Claudia's mother died after a tragic collision with a banana boat. Her kids are now teenagers, her brother's wife has left him, and her ex has had a spiritual awakening that has him hinting at reconciliation -- all things she can handle.

But when her septuagenarian father decides to remarry after a brief courtship with a woman who is decidedly different than their mother, the entire family is…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

I'm Good and Other Lies

By Bev Katz Rosenbaum,

Book cover of I'm Good and Other Lies

What is my book about?

Tragic and slyly funny in turn, I'm Good and Other Lies is about a teen's struggles with her dysfunctional family, amplified during Toronto's first COVID-19 lockdown.