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 The Razor's Edge

Daniel Damiano Why did I love this book?

By the end, The Razor’s Edge had become one of my favorite novels.

Maugham weaves a truly engaging and deeply thought-provoking tale, centered around the nonconforming life and journey of Larry Darrell, and how the choices he makes affect those around him in profound ways. The book ultimately makes a larger statement on what society can impose on those born into certain circumstances and the power within to change course. A wonderful book.

By W. Somerset Maugham,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Razor's Edge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brillant characters - his fiancee Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob. The most ambitious of Maugham's novels, this is also one in which Maugham himself plays a considerable part as he wanders in and out of the story, to observe his characters struggling with their fates.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Good Earth

Daniel Damiano Why did I love this book?

A fascinating journey. The Good Earth is a richly told tale of Wang Lung, from his beginnings as a soon-to-be marrIed young man through the utter poverty he and his growing family endure, to his eventual wealth and the complexities that arise thereafter.

The novel is a detailed depiction of Chinese tradition pre-revolution, the likes of which probably was never revealed to Western culture before in such detail and likely has not been done in such an engaging way since. A must-read.

By Pearl S. Buck,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Good Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Chinese peasant overcomes the forces of nature and the frailties of human nature to become a wealthy landowner.


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Easter Parade

Daniel Damiano Why did I love this book?

Richard Yates' richly nuanced novel from 1976 also became one of my favorite novels upon reading it this year. 

Depicting the early childhood-through-midlife of Emily Grimes, Yates takes us on an uncompromising, unsettling, and moving journey, from Emily's imbalanced upbringing to the challenging relationships between her mother and older sister, as well as the men that enter in and out of her life, and how her search for self becomes somewhat obscured as a result of all, despite her obvious intelligence.

While Yates was primarily known for his first novel, Revolutionary Road, this is very much a work that should be required reading for any reader who truly appreciates mature literature and complex heroines. Rarely have I read such a work set in a domestic setting depicted so honestly. 

By Richard Yates,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In The Easter Parade, first published in 1976, we meet sisters Sarah and Emily Grimes when they are still the children of divorced parents. We observe the sisters over four decades, watching them grow into two very different women. Sarah is stable and stalwart, settling into an unhappy marriage. Emily is precocious and independent, struggling with one unsatisfactory love affair after another. Richard Yates's classic novel is about how both women struggle to overcome their tarnished family's past, and how both finally reach for some semblance of renewal.


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

The Woman in the Sun Hat

By Daniel Damiano,

Book cover of The Woman in the Sun Hat

What is my book about?

Peggy Bubone is the envy of the Cold River, Long Island social scene: wife to a respected dermatologist, mother to two handsome children, and newly hired Literature teacher at a prestigious local high school...before a knock on her classroom door turns her world upside down with the shocking news of her husband's arrest.

With her and her children soon ostracized and homeless, she embarks on a humorous yet harrowing journey, which ultimately leads her back to her undesirable roots and, eventually, a deep dive into her own psyche.