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 Rosie Project

Mary Miley Why did I love this book?

I’ve never encountered any characters like these, so authentic and yet so different from myself.

This is the most off-beat romantic comedy imaginable, featuring an oddly charming, socially challenged (Aspergers) brilliant scientist searching scientifically for the perfect woman to marry. And of course, Rosie is an unsuitable match in every way but one—love.

I opened this book for the third time last month, intending to read just a chapter or two to put me in a good humor before going to bed, but I couldn’t stop until I’d finished the entire thing once again.

By Graeme Simsion,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Rosie Project as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The international bestselling romantic comedy “bursting with warmth, emotional depth, and…humor,” (Entertainment Weekly) featuring the oddly charming, socially challenged genetics professor, Don, as he seeks true love.

The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.

Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Mary Miley Why did I love this book?

As a historian, my reading leans heavily toward the historical, whether fiction or non. Seldom does a book grab me like Sapiens did.

It changed my perspective of human evolution with its basic premise that what was good for the human race (homo sapiens) has not necessarily been good for the individual human. A fascinating, smoothly written history of humankind that is hard to put down—honest! Even if you’re not a historian! (This would make an excellent book club book.) 

By Yuval Noah Harari,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Bruno, Chief of Police

Mary Miley Why did I love this book?

I went to school in France twice and have visited that country ten times, I think, so reading the first of this series was like being back in the Dordogne region that I love so much.

The pace is gentle, the characters glow, the story transports to one of the most beautiful and historic parts of France... After reading Bruno, Chief of Police, I plowed on through all the subsequent novels in this series—I think there are 17 last time I checked. All fun, relaxing reads with good police plots.

It’s fun to compare French policing with what we know of American cops and courts—a very different system, sometimes better than ours, sometimes not. I recommend this book because, if you enjoy it, you’ll have lots more pleasure ahead with the whole series!! 

By Martin Walker,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The first Dordogne Mystery starring Bruno, Chief of Police, France's favourite cop. EU inspectors are causing havoc in the little town of St Denis and local tempers are running high, but is it really cause for murder?

Market day in the ancient town of St Denis in south-west France. EU hygiene inspectors have been swooping on France's markets, while the locals hide contraband cheese in their houses and call the Brussels bureaucrats 'Gestapo'. Local police chief Bruno supports their resistance. Although, here in what was once Vichy France, words like 'Gestapo' and 'resistance' still carry a profound resonance.

When an…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Murder Off Stage

By Mary Miley,

Book cover of Murder Off Stage

What is my book about?

New York, 1926. It’s not like Jessie Beckett goes around looking for murders to solve, but the former vaudeville performer has a natural talent for sleuthing. So when leading man Allen Crenshaw is shot live on the Broadway stage, Jessie has to act fast before Allen’s co-star, the beautiful Norah Rose, goes down for murder. Investigating those closest to Allen – the presence of her old vaudeville companion, superstar Adele Astaire, opening doors wherever they go – she finds only enemies. Can she uncover the truth in time to save Norah, or will the killer silence her too? Packed with real-life stars of the stage and screen, this page-turning romp through Broadway is a perfect pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with intrepid female sleuths.

My book recommendation list