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 Golden Enclaves

Marika McCoola Why did I love this book?

As an adult, I find there are fewer and fewer books that allow me to access the sheer amazement I felt as a kid toward books (and why I devoted over a dozen years to them as an adult). The Scholomance series re-immersed me in this feeling as I surrendered to the world, narrative, and characters of the Scholomance.

I stayed up all night, the plot tugging me on, leaving me ambivalent about anything outside the world of the book. I laughed with delight and pure, writerly awe at how skillfully Novak wove every thread of the plot together.

And I’m a little envious that you may get to read this series for the first time and experience the incredible mix of nostalgia, originality, fear, hope, and flawed love in the pages.

By Naomi Novik,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Golden Enclaves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the triumphant conclusion to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Paste, Publishers Weekly

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

Marika McCoola Why did I love this book?

As with May’s first book, Wintering, Enchantment is powerfully resonated.

Poetic language captures the feeling of falling out of wonder with the world—from reading to walks—during the pandemic. May’s quest to rediscover enchantment is both memoir and lesson, both quiet and dazzling, utterly ordinary and exquisite.

To be sat with, mulled over, and returned to, this a book to keep on your shelf.

By Katherine May,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'It will do your soul good to read this.' NIGELLA LAWSON

A balm for our times from the internationally bestselling author of Wintering.

Our sense of enchantment is not only sparked by grand things. The awe-inspiring, the numinous, is all around us, all the time. It is transformed by our deliberate attention. The magic is of our own conjuring.

'A total joy . . . Thoughtful, patient and beautifully written, like walking with a friend as dusk settles, this is the book your soul needs right now.'
CARIAD LLOYD

'Beautifully written.'
PHILIPPA PERRY

Feeling bone-tired, anxious…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Siren Queen

Marika McCoola Why did I love this book?

It is a brilliant weaving of multiple mythologies that manages to be both timeless and fresh. Vo’s characters glimmer, sparkling off the page, somehow having nuanced depth while critiquing stereotypes. 

The language, the complexity of plot… this novel doesn’t want to be put down, and even if you do, it continues to haunt you. 


By Nghi Vo,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

"Lyrical, mesmerizing, and otherworldly. . . stunning proof that Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today. A beautiful, brutal, monstrous Hollywood fantasy.”―Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Immortality is just a casting call away.

World Fantasy Award Finalist
Locus Award Finalist
Ignyte Award Finalist
An Amazon Best Book of 2022
One of NPR’s Best Books of 2022
Vulture’s #1 Fantasy Novel of 2022
Indie Next List Reading Group Book of 2023

Best of Year Selections at Apple Books | B&N Booksellers | LibraryReads | TIME Magazine…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Book cover of Slip

What is my book about?

An emotional coming-of-age graphic novel for fans of Bloom and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me.

Right before Jade is about to leave for a summer art intensive, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. How is Jade supposed to focus on herself right now? But at the Art Farm, Jade has artistic opportunities she's been waiting for her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary.

Jade pours herself into making ceramic monsters that vent her stress and insecurities, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens: they come to life.