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 Hours Before Dawn

Lucienne Boyce Why did I love this book?

Celia Fremlin has been my discovery of the year. Her books have been described as “domestic noir” – and The Hours Before Dawn is nothing if not “noir” as the heroine, sleep-deprived mother Louise, is forced to confront the terrible danger that has infiltrated her home.

Fremlin’s writing is elegant, witty, and perceptive, and the book is a real page-turner that kept me reading long into the night.

But what really drew me in was Fremlin’s exposure of the dark side of the domestic with her dissection of the gendered family dynamic – the pressure on Louise to be a good wife and mother, to take on the entire burden, emotional and physical, of running the home. At the same time, no one takes her or her concerns seriously. That’s almost the most terrifying thing – that this is how it was for women – and to a large extent, still is.

Fremlin wrote sixteen novels, and I’ve binge-read every one of them, as well as three short story collections.

By Celia Fremlin,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Edgar Award Winner for Best Novel

One of CrimeRead's 10 Best Reissued Mysteries of 2018

In this Edgar Award–winning thriller, a young housewife with two lively daughters and an endlessly crying baby battles domestic chaos as well as growing suspicions of the household's new lodger. Are Louise's fears the product of sleep deprivation, as her unsympathetic husband suggests, or is there really something sinister about the respectable-seeming schoolmistress?
During the hours before dawn, Louise suspects, people with a precarious grip on sanity are likeliest to slip over the edge into madness — especially if there's someone ready to give them…


Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Faith, Hope and Carnage

Lucienne Boyce Why did I love this book?

I love reading books about creativity and learning from other writers and artists how they approach their work. I didn’t know much about Cave or his music, and I came across this book after reading a newspaper interview he gave to Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

I was impressed by the intelligence, passion, and honesty of Cave’s conversation. A man willing to talk about Jesus, the Bible, faith, religion, grace, the sacred, and defy the dreadful silence surrounding bereavement, loss, and grief was someone who was surely worth finding out more about.

He was. Faith, Hope and Carnage is about all those things: about creativity, faith, hope, and love. And I loved it. 

By Nick Cave, Sean O'Hagan,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Faith, Hope and Carnage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A BOOK OF THE YEAR, ROLLING STONE, NPR, PITCHFORK, THE TIMES (LONDON), TELEGRAPH

“An astoundingly intimate book-length conversation on art and grief spanning the duration of the pandemic years . . . As with Cave’s music, you might flinch, but you will feel alive.”
― Pitchfork

Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave’s inner life.

Created from more than forty hours of intimate conversations with the journalist Seán O’Hagan, this is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave’s own words, of what really drives his life and creativity.

The book examines questions of belief, art, music, freedom, grief…


Want my future book recommendations?

My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Art of Prophecy

Lucienne Boyce Why did I love this book?

Wuxia. Need I say more? Wesley Chu’s The Art of Prophecy has it all: an intriguing fantasy world, epic struggles between empires, battles, thwarted destinies – and martial arts.

It poses the fascinating question: what happens to the prophesied hero when it turns out the prophecy is wrong, and he isn’t a hero after all?

What I loved most about this book are the female characters: warrior Sali, assassin Qisami, and Taishi. The scene-stealer for me is Taishi. She’s a master of martial arts, she can travel on the wind, she’s harsh, bad-tempered, an exacting teacher to the unfortunate-prophesied-hero-who isn’t (Wen Jiang, a spoiled young man who has to learn the painful lesson that he isn’t the marvel he thought he was), and she’s old.

The story unfolds from their conflicting points of view, and an exciting story it is. I can’t wait to see how it continues in the second in the series, The Art of Destiny. 

By Wesley Chu,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'In this superb fantasy saga of tough, old martial-arts masters and inexperienced young heroes, Wesley Chu has given us a richly inventive page-turner that delights on every page.' - Helene Wecker, author of The Golem and the Jinni

An epic fantasy ode to martial arts and magic about what happens when a prophesied hero is not the chosen one after all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lives of Tao.

So many stories begin the same way: With a prophecy. A Chosen One. And the inevitable quest to slay a villain, save the kingdom, and fulfil…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Bloodie Bones

By Lucienne Boyce,

Book cover of Bloodie Bones

What is my book about?

When Lord Oldfield encloses Barcombe Wood, depriving the people of their ancient rights to gather food and fuel, the villagers retaliate with vandalism, arson, and riot. Then Lord Oldfield's gamekeeper, Josh Castle, is murdered during a poaching raid. Dan Foster, Bow Street Runner and amateur pugilist, is sent to investigate.

Dan's job is to infiltrate the poaching gang and bring the killers to justice. But there's more to Castle's death than at first sight appears.

What is the secret of the gamekeeper's past, and does it have any connection with his murder? What is Lord Oldfield concealing? And did someone besides the poachers have a reason to want Josh Castle dead?