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 Invention Of Women: Making An African Sense Of Western Gender Discourses

Erika Erickson Malinoski Why did I love this book?

I love, love, love fictional worlds that reimagine gender, but nothing can beat real life!

The Invention of Women is an accessible and riveting description of how the Yoruba people in West Africa organize a culture based on seniority rather than Western binary genders. This is a mind-blowing book for anyone who is interested in gender and how human beings don’t have to be trapped in one way of doing things. 

By Oyeronke Oyewumi,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The "woman question", this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western contruction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures.
Oyewumi traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Fine: A Comic About Gender

Erika Erickson Malinoski Why did I love this book?

Rhea Ewing’s Fine is a must read for anyone interested in gender.

It’s a compassionate and nuanced compilation of interviews with people across the gender spectrum about their experience with gender and how they make sense of it. There’s no agenda, and there’s no simple takeaway, just a glimpse into real people’s lived experiences.

The comic/graphic novel format adds brilliantly to the reader’s exploration of what gender is and how it works.

By Rhea Ewing,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

For fans of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Meg-John Barker's Queer, Fine is an essential graphic memoir about the intricacies of gender identity and expression. As Rhea Ewing neared university graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender?

This obsession sparked a quest in their quiet Midwest town, where they anxiously approached both friends and strangers for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, their project has exploded into a fantastical and informative portrait of a surprisingly vast community spread across the America. Questions such as How do you identify? invited deep and honest accounts…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Light From Uncommon Stars

Erika Erickson Malinoski Why did I love this book?

Light From Uncommon Stars is a ray of sunshine when times are tough and the news is depressing.

It’s a yummy and affirming sci-fi book where marginalized people, particularly trans women, get to thrive. Instead of solving problems by killing people, small and affirming acts of allyship, friendship, and love add up to a better world. The story is beautifully done, nonviolent, and hopeful.

By Ryka Aoki,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Light From Uncommon Stars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Pledging Season

By Erika Erickson Malinoski,

Book cover of Pledging Season

What is my book about?

I wrote Pledging Season because I love playing with gender and imagining new worlds. Often science fiction about gender starts by positing some change in biology, but there’s really no need! Come explore a world where humans are the same, but gender is just… different.

I also wanted to write a book that doesn’t use violence to solve its problems. I grew up on stories where the solution to bad things happening was to find and kill a bad guy – but that’s just not going to work for big problems like climate change that are shaping my kids’ lives. I hope this book helps carve out a little more imaginative space for how we can do things differently.

My 6-year-old's favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

Erika Erickson Malinoski Why did they love this book?

There are dragons. And chocolate. What more could anyone want?

My son loves this book because the main character, Aventurine, gets to resolve big, scary things without hurting anyone. Even giant, fire-breathing dragons can be talked out of destroying the city once you understand what they want.

Also, his mother tends to make more desserts when this book is in the bedtime reading rotation. Yum!

By Stephanie Burgis,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Aventurine is the fiercest, bravest kind of dragon, and she's ready to prove it to her family by leaving the safety of their mountain cave and capturing the most dangerous prey of all: a human.

But when the human she captures tricks her into drinking enchanted hot chocolate, she finds herself transformed into a puny human girl with tiny blunt teeth, no fire, and not one single claw. She's still the fiercest creature in these mountains though - and now she's found her true passion: chocolate! All she has to do is walk on two feet to the human city,…


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