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 Bhutan to Blacktown: Losing everything and finding Australia

Jessica Mudditt Why did I love this book?

There are precious few books on Bhutan, which adds to its allure in my eyes. I loved reading about the author’s childhood in a village near India, where he didn’t see a car until he was eight.

Om Dhungel’s smarts took him further from home, including to nearby Bangladesh. He rose to become a senior member of the government's telecoms service — when phones were so scarce that phone numbers were only four digits long and even the king of Bhutan needed help making a call sometimes!

But in the 1980s, Bhutan began an ethnic-cleansing campaign against citizens of Nepali ancestry. Om fled to Australia and contributed enormously to helping thousands of other Bhutanese refugees. I love reading books about good people—and Om is certainly one of them: a true gentleman and sensitive soul.

By Om Dhungel, James Button,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country. And in that fall, I gained everything.

Bhutan is known as the land of Gross National Happiness, a Buddhist Shangri-La hidden in the Himalayas. But in the late 1980s, Bhutan waged a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign against its citizens of Nepali ancestry. Forced to flee Bhutan, Om Dhungel spent six years as a refugee in Nepal before he arrived in Australia. Today Om is a respected community leader in western Sydney, consulted frequently by government and settlement organisations on refugee policy.

Written with Walkley Award-winning journalist James Button, Bhutan…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East

Jessica Mudditt Why did I love this book?

As someone who hasn't owned a bicycle since I was 12 and never rode it further than the local shops, I am in awe of Rebecca Lowe. Not only did she travel a vast distance, but she travelled through some hairy spots on her own, carrying her "home as a tortoise hauls its shell."

I loved her description of why she loves to travel. For me, too, it is all these things. "Ask any traveller, and their answer will most likely be infuriatingly vague: both everything and nothing; to go mad and stay sane. It's a black hole of obfuscation where some see eternity and others a dead star. In this way, travellers are the ultimate paradox. They crave knowledge and secrets, enlightenment and bewilderment." Lowe is witty, and her descriptions of places are evocative and fascinating.

By Rebecca Lowe,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Slow Road to Tehran as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One woman, one bike and one richly entertaining, perception-altering journey of discovery.

In 2015, as the Syrian War raged and the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West, Lowe's 11,000-kilometre journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran.

It was an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Travels on my Elephant

Jessica Mudditt Why did I love this book?

On a whim, Mark Shand bought an elephant called Tara and rode 600 miles across India. He describes parts of the country in the east that tourists do not frequently visit, and the small team are around him are colourful characters. He is a witty storyteller.

Shand falls in love with Tara and is effusive in her praise throughout the book—occasionally, it feels a little over the top. It did not surprise me to learn that he spent the rest of his life campaigning to provide vital migratory corridors for elephants. In 2004 he established a charity called The Elephant Family, which still exists today.

What did surprise me was discovering that this wild and free author is the brother of Queen Camilla – he certainly does not have the typical tastes of an aristocrat. Mark Shand died in a tragic accident at a party in 2014. 

By Mark Shand,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Travels on my Elephant as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With the help of a Maratha nobleman, Mark Shand buys an elephant named Tara and rides her over six hundred miles across India to the Sonepur Mela, the world's oldest elephant market. From Bhim, a drink-racked mahout, Shand learned to ride and care for her. From his friend Aditya Patankar he learned Indian ways. And with Tara, his new companion, he fell in love. "Travels on my Elephant" is the story of their epic journey across India, from packed highways to dusty back roads where communities were unchanged for millennia. It is also a memorable, touching account of Tara's transformation…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Once Around the Sun: From Cambodia to Tibet

By Jessica Mudditt,

Book cover of Once Around the Sun: From Cambodia to Tibet

What is my book about?

"Jessica Mudditt's love letter to backpacking has every classic backpacker experience. On the banana pancake trail there are fried tarantulas in Cambodia and bia hoi (fresh beer) in Vietnam, followed by linguistic confusion in China, the odd stomach upset, a touch of altitude sickness and if it gets cold – well, there’s always some hunk to share your sleeping bag with. In fact, as every backpacker is likely to confirm, the kindness of strangers is generally on call.”
– Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet

My book recommendation list

Book cover of Bhutan to Blacktown: Losing everything and finding Australia
Book cover of The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East
Book cover of Travels on my Elephant

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