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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 Animal Farm

Jonathan R.P. Taylor Why did I love this book?

I return to this book again and again – and I do so as a Socialist. It is storytelling at its very best; the analogy of the farm animal's revolt is brilliance. If ever a book predicted the reality of history and humanity through their failings, it is Animal Farm.

You immediately bond with the animals and their struggles, but the insidious nature of the pig's totalitarian regime as later created, soon returns the reader to reality. One is left to understand that Karl Marx hit the nail on the head; Socialism cannot exist without being born of a democracy. A fact that the Soviets, through the crimes of its Red Terror, missed.

Orwell has always been presented as anti-communist, but in reality, he was anything but, he was a realist, a pragmatist, and an anti-totalitarian who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

By George Orwell,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Animal Farm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The perfect edition for any Orwell enthusiasts' collection, discover Orwell's classic dystopian masterpiece beautifully reimagined by renowned street artist Shepard Fairey

'All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.'

Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of 1984

Jonathan R.P. Taylor Why did I love this book?

1984 is the better-known political work of Orwell. This was the author’s ninth and final book, and what a legacy it left for us.

Thematically, it presents its reader with the consequences of totalitarianism, repression, and mass surveillance of one’s citizens. The story is modeled on the brutal regime of the Soviet Union, but equally Nazi Germany, who, with such ease, manipulated truth and fact within a perpetual war.

By George Orwell,

Why should I read it?

42 authors picked 1984 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU . . .

1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three superstates. In Oceania, the Party's power is absolute. Every action, word, gesture and thought is monitored under the watchful eye of Big Brother and the Thought Police. In the Ministry of Truth, the Party's department for propaganda, Winston Smith's job is to edit the past. Over time, the impulse to escape the machine and live independently takes hold of him and he embarks on a secret and forbidden love affair. As he writes the words 'DOWN WITH BIG…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Futility, Or The Wreck Of The Titan

Jonathan R.P. Taylor Why did I love this book?

This book was a delightful find. I had long heard of a book that had been marketed as "predicting the sinking" of the Titanic," and I was curious if that was true. Scrutiny led me to discover it did nothing of the sort. It was republished with its new name, The Wreck of The Titan, after the Titanic sank. The dimensions were also changed to fit that of the Titanic.

Nevertheless, it is a wonderful read that I enjoyed. 

By Morgan Robertson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Futility, Or The Wreck Of The Titan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Formatted for e-reader Illustrated About Futility, Or The Wreck Of The Titan by Morgan Robertson Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan is an 1898 novella written by Morgan Robertson. The story features the fictional ocean liner Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. The Titan and its sinking have been noted to be very similar to the real-life passenger ship RMS Titanic, which sank fourteen years later. Following the wreck, the novel was reissued with some changes, particularly in the ship's…


Plus, check out my book…

Soviet Propaganda & The Classroom

By Jonathan R.P. Taylor,

Book cover of Soviet Propaganda & The Classroom

What is my book about?

Soviet Propaganda & The Classroom is a unique, rare, and never-before-published collection of Bulgarian socialist-era educational resources.

The photographs contained here were all taken by the author as found over many, many years (this while sharing his wife's passion for urban exploring).

While she had a penchant for decaying buildings and architecture, mine was for bygone history and storytelling. What you see here was all discovered in place within Bulgaria's abandoned school buildings".