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 A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Melissa Washburn Why did I love this book?

I found this book incredibly touching. It’s science fiction of the “Soft Apocalypse” genre - looking at humanity after environmental ruin, with society rebuilt into a kinder, healthier version of itself.

The main character, a monk named Dex, confronts deep questions about finding meaning in life through their developing relationship with Mosscap, a robot they encounter when they head off into the forest.

Part of the premise of the book is that at some time in the past, robots developed consciousness and chose to separate themselves from humanity and live in the wilderness.

After years of science fiction that deals with malevolent sentient AI, like Terminator and The Matrix, it was refreshing to imagine a benevolent version that is just as interested in meaning and inner life as humanity.

By Becky Chambers,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked A Psalm for the Wild-Built as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honour the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of 'what do people need?' is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Children of Memory

Melissa Washburn Why did I love this book?

As someone who is a bit of a naturalist/nature nerd, this book (the third in a series) explored some absolutely fascinating imaginations of evolution in non-human species.

The series looks at a group of characters and their descendants over thousands of years, after mankind has abandoned Earth and seeded and terraformed, then abandoned, different extraterrestrial planets.

What would consciousness and related society and technology look like for spiders? Octopuses? Corvids? And what would happen if humans then encountered these evolved species again after that evolution? 

By Adrian Tchaikovsky,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From the award-winning master of sci-fi Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Memory is the unmissable follow-up space opera to the highly acclaimed Children of Time and Children of Ruin.

When Earth failed, it sent out arkships to establish new outposts. So the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive on Imir, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost.

Then strangers appear, on a world where everyone knows their neighbour. They possess unparalleled knowledge…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Left Hand of Darkness

Melissa Washburn Why did I love this book?

I loved this book because it was something I read a long time ago but returned to at a different time in my life with a fresh perspective.

A science fiction classic first published in 1969, so many of the themes in this book feel especially relevant today. It involves political intrigue, gender politics, and learning a new culture, but through the lens of a relationship between two people from entirely different planets.

LeGuin manages to create an alien world that is very, very human. N. K. Jemisin, in her introduction to the 2018 volume of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, says, “The purpose of science fiction, as Ursula K. Leguin intimated in her introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness, is not to predict the future but to describe the world as it presently is,” and I think that is a very powerful notion.

By Ursula K. Le Guin,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Left Hand of Darkness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION-WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE JANE ANDERS

Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction-winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants' gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants: Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing

By Melissa Washburn,

Book cover of Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants: Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing

What is my book about?

Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants is a must-have visual reference for student artists, botanical illustrators, urban sketchers, and anyone seeking to improve their realistic drawing skills.

This comprehensive book features 600-plus step-by-step sketches depicting many beautiful botanicalsfloralsplant structures, and more. Each begins with simple shapes and lines and builds on those forms, adding details like flower centers, leaf veins, and petal shading and ending with a finished drawing. Helpful drawing tips are also included.

Designed as a contemporary guidebook for artists who want to draw botanical forms, Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants shows various perspectives of flower blossoms, leaves, and plants. Following the guides will make artists more skilled and confident in drawing any flower or greenery.

My book recommendation list