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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,667 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 Under a Darkening Moon

Caroline McCullagh Why did I love this book?

This is one heck of a good book. 

A mysterious “explosion” on the moon may herald the end of the world, but don’t expect a lot of heavy action. This book is character driven. No cardboard cutouts here. Get ready to meet real people, complicated and contradictory as real people are—my favorite thing in a novel. 

The book’s pace is slow as menace builds. It allows you to revel in the quality of the writing. As I read, I knew I was going to read this book a second time to enjoy the gracefulness of its language.

My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of 20 Years of Reward from 365 Days of Thanks

Caroline McCullagh Why did I love this book?

This is a short memoir about a challenge the author set for himself. In 2001, he decided to see if he could write 365 thank you notes and letters. 

Well, yes, he could and he did. 

Blair writes that he learned a whole new way of looking at life. “[It] caused me to look at the world for positives When you focus on positive actions, events, and people, it has an overall positive effect on you.” This has been a tough few years for all of us, and I needed some attitude adjustment. This book was it. 

It’s amazing what he’s managed to pack into 92 pages. You know this man by the time you finish reading. This is a terrific book. 

My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Crushed: How a Changing Climate Is Altering the Way We Drink

Caroline McCullagh Why did I love this book?

I love memoirs written by farmers and gardeners. This book is nonfiction, but it reads like a well-written book of short stories. 

Growers of the grapes, grains, and agave used in the wines and spirits we enjoy face a new challenge. A vintner has maybe 30 to 40 harvests in a career. Even one year of crop failure due to too much or not enough rainfall, temperatures too high or too low, or destructive fires can be disastrous. Farming has always been like that but not to the degree it is now. 

This book has it all. It’s a travelogue, it’s short stories, it’s science, it’s suspense. I don’t drink, but I loved this fascinating read.

By Brian Freedman,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Take a tour of wine and spirit production around the world and how climate change is affecting it at every stage - from cultivation to consumption.

Climate change is altering the very nature of wine and spirit production around the world. From the unimaginably destructive fires that rip through California's wine country with terrifying frequency to the floods and hail storms that threaten grape and grain harvests from Bordeaux to Kentucky and beyond, no one involved in the world of beverage production is immune. Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom: The rising temperatures brought on by climate change have…


Plus, check out my book…

Quest For The Ivory Caribou

By Caroline McCullagh,

Book cover of Quest For The Ivory Caribou

What is my book about?

Quest for the Ivory Caribou, the first of a series of six books, features sixty-year-old Anne O’Malley, who is recently widowed, lonely, and deeply depressed. 

Her best friend convinces her to travel from San Diego to Ottawa, Canada, to complete genealogical research about a family mystery. There, she learns that she’s related to a family of Inuit in Northern Quebec. 

She travels north to learn more, and her life takes a sharp turn as she finds a welcoming family and Jack, an Inuit man she comes to love as they solve the mystery of her late husband’s father together.