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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,686 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

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My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Once We Were Home

Ellen Schwartz Why did I love this book?

Once We Were Home tells the stories of Jewish children who were taken from their families during World War II and placed into hiding with Christian families and institutions.

Their stories were both heartbreaking and heartwarming. I cried, I laughed, and I worried. I grieved as they discovered their lost connections and mourned the death of their families, and I celebrated as they grew into their adult lives with greater self-understanding and compassion.

By Jennifer Rosner,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Once We Were Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ana will never forget her mother's face when she and her baby brother, Oskar, were sent out of their Polish ghetto and into the arms of a Christian friend. For Oskar, though, their new family is the only one he remembers. When a woman from a Jewish reclamation organisation seizes them, believing she has their best interest at heart, Ana sees an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, while Oskar sees only the loss of the home he loves. Roger grows up in a monastery in France, inventing stories and trading riddles with his best friend in a life of…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Indians on Vacation

Ellen Schwartz Why did I love this book?

Indians on Vacation follows husband and wife Bird and Mimi, a First Nations couple, as they travel from Canada to Europe following the discovery of a trove of old postcards from Mimi's late uncle Leroy, who absconded with a valuable family heirloom 100 years earlier but never returned.

This book was laugh-out-loud funny, leavened by King’s sly wit. But as Bird and Mimi traverse Budapest, Prague, and other capitals, encountering refugees and failed political systems, it forced me to think about the political world we have created and what compassion really means. 

By Thomas King,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A #1 Indie bestseller and a Canadian bestseller for 22 weeks, the brilliant latest novel from one of Canada’s foremost authors

Inspired by a handful of postcards sent nearly a hundred years ago, Bird and Mimi attempt to trace long-lost uncle Leroy and the family medicine bundle he took with him to Europe.

“I’m sweaty and sticky. My ears are still popping from the descent into Vaclav Havel. My sinuses ache. My stomach is upset. My mouth is a sewer. I roll over and bury my face in a pillow. Mimi snuggles down beside me with no regard for my…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of What Strange Paradise

Ellen Schwartz Why did I love this book?

Bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island.

Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. Only nine-year-old Amir has survived the passage.

He is rescued by Vanna, a teenage island resident who is determined to do whatever it takes to save Amir. At times I recoiled in horror at humanity’s cruelty and indifference. At other times I rejoiced in an example of empathy and hope.

By Omar El Akkad,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'Deserves to be an instant classic. I haven't loved a book this much in a long time . . . What Strange Paradise . . . reads as a parable for our times . . . Such beautiful writing . . . This is an extraordinary book.' - New York Times

From the widely acclaimed author of American War, Omar El Akkad, a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic and profoundly moving novel that brings the global refugee crisis down to the level of a child's eyes.

More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another over-filled, ill-equipped,…


Plus, check out my book…

Galena Bay Odyssey: Reflections of a Hippie Homesteader

By Ellen Schwartz,

Book cover of Galena Bay Odyssey: Reflections of a Hippie Homesteader

What is my book about?

In 1972, as part of a hippie commune, I left the United States and moved to Canada.

What was I, a nice Jewish girl who had grown up in an affluent family in the suburbs of New York, thinking?

This memoir answers that question. It chronicles my adventures going back to the land in the British Columbia wilderness, from building a cabin to slaughtering chickens to cooking “carbon cakes” on the wood stove. And—oh, yeah—the time a bear climbed through an open window into our cabin. It turned out to be the adventure of a lifetime.

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