The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,624 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

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My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

Gregg Easterbrook Why did I love this book?

I grew up near Seneca land in western New York and have always felt we’re only told half the story of European and then United States interactions with Native Americans. This book tells the missing half.

It’s certainly not the only history written from the Indian point of view, but it is the most rigorous I have come across; Blackhawk is a Yale historian and has won the Turner Award, the top distinction among professional historians. 

This book is not balanced but does not claim to be, it recounts the sins of Europeans, and (post-1789) Americans against Indians, including sins by the Spanish and the French before English speakers took charge.

I hope Blackhawk’s next book assesses Native American life today.

By Ned Blackhawk,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America

* Longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction

* A National Bestseller

"Eloquent and comprehensive. . . . In the book's sweeping synthesis, standard flashpoints of U.S. history take on new meaning."-Kathleen DuVal, Wall Street Journal

"In accounts of American history, Indigenous peoples are often treated as largely incidental-either obstacles to be overcome or part of a narrative separate from the arc of nation-building. Blackhawk . . . [shows] that Native communities have, instead, been inseparable…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Tom Lake

Gregg Easterbrook Why did I love this book?

This is the prototypical midlist novel, neither high-literature nor trashy. A middle-aged mother tells her life’s story to her daughters – no tragedies but plenty of what Grace Paley called “the little disturbances of man.”

The settings are a lake house and a summer-stock theater, two fundamentally pleasant topics. The book does not exactly build to a Hollywood ending, but the protagonist overcomes disappointment to find happiness in life, and that’s not common to contemporary novels. 

By Ann Patchett,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Tom Lake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 'A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration ... and Tom Lake is one of her best' i 'This comforting summer read has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships' REESE WITHERSPOON 'Filled with the moments I live for in a story' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'One of the most beloved authors of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES ----------------------------- This is a story about Peter Duke who went on…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Stilwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945

Gregg Easterbrook Why did I love this book?

Current tensions with China show few in the United States are aware of the prewar period when the United States was closely involved in freeing China from Japanese oppression. My ancestor, Maj. Gen. Earnest Easterbrook, was in China during this period as adjutant to Vinegar Joe Stillwell, the topic of Tuchman’s book.

Though Americans have forgotten this period, China has not. Earnest Easterbrook’s descendants, John Easterbrook and Nancy Millward, recently were in China being feted by Xi Jinping at a remembrance ceremony for American sacrifices made to assist China during the war.

It made me think there is a path to better Washington-Beijing relations if only we are willing to walk it. 

By Barbara W. Tuchman,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Stilwell and the American Experience in China as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell, the general who was the American commander in the China-Burma-India theatre of World War II, had a deep love of China. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman, combines a fascinating narrative of America's relationship with China from the fall of the Manchu Dynasty through to the rise of Mao Tse-Tung with an intimate biography of Vinegar Joe. Stilwell loved China deeply, spoke its languages and understood its people as few Westerners have. Tuchman traces his life from his first visit during the 1911 Revolution through the Second World War to his confrontation with…


Plus, check out my book…

It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear

By Gregg Easterbrook,

Book cover of It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear

What is my book about?

Is civilization teetering on the edge of a cliff? Or are we just climbing higher than ever?

Data, interviews, and analysis show that although problems are many, the condition of the United States and most of the world is much better than generally perceived. 

It's not a coincidence that we're confused -- our perspectives on the world are blurred by the rise of social media, the machinations of politicians, and our own biases. Meanwhile, political reforms like the Clean Air Act and technological innovations like the hybridization of wheat have saved huge numbers of lives. In that optimistic spirit, Easterbrook offers specific policy reforms to address climate change, inequality, and other problems and reminds us that there is real hope in conquering such challenges. 

My book recommendation list