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 Project Hail Mary

David Kruh Why did I love this book?

Talk about a book I could not put it down. In Project Hail Mary, Weir starts with his main character waking up without any memory of who or where he is.

As he slowly regains knowledge of the who, where, and why, Weir takes us on a journey which (as he did in The Martian) requires his main character to muster all his ingenuity and fortitude (along with a lot of cool science) to survive and... well, I don't want to spoil it. Pick this up. You won't be able to put it down.

By Andy Weir,

Why should I read it?

43 authors picked Project Hail Mary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

David Kruh Why did I love this book?

In The Big Bam Montville peels back the onion of legend and apocryphal stories to tell us the story – warts and booze and babes and all – of one of the most important figures of the 20th century... not just in sports, but in America.

This book is more than just the stories or the anecdotes. This book is a joy because of the way Montville writes. He is lyrical and poetic without being syrupy. Honest and probing without being cruel. When I grow up, I want to write like Leigh Montville.

By Leigh Montville,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

National Bestseller

He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. 

Babe Ruth was more than baseball’s original superstar. For eighty-five years, he has remained the sport’s reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville, whose recent New York Times bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

David Kruh Why did I love this book?

This is an absolutely unique take on Harry Truman. And Bess, too! Matthew Algeo (oh, forgive me for the following cliche) brings history alive in his telling of an automobile trip from Missouri to New York City taken in 1953 by the former first couple.

It's about the Trumans, yes, but it's also about an America when a former president could actually get behind the wheel of a car and drive thousands of miles without a convoy of Secret Service tagging behind. Algeo describes the country as it was, and then brings us up to the current time explaining how that America became this America, for good and ill. It's a fun read.

By Matthew Algeo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he'd just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito. In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman's plan to blend in went wonderfully awry. Fellow…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Inseparable: An Alcatraz Escape Adventure

By David Kruh,

Book cover of Inseparable: An Alcatraz Escape Adventure

What is my book about?

Inseparable is a historical novel based on the infamous 1962 Alcatraz escape by three inmates, in a raft they made inside the prison. When an independent-minded 13-year-old boy finds two of the escapees near death on a Sausalito beach, he decides (for reasons explained in the book) to help them to freedom. To acheive their goal, the three must evade the police, the FBI, a determined reporter, the boy's mother, and the third escapee, whom they thought had died in the attempt.

Book cover of Project Hail Mary
Book cover of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
Book cover of Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

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