Author Historian 1960s generation Historic sites fan Feminist Avid reader
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.

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

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Paris Librarian: A Hugo Marston Novel

Nancy A. Hewitt Why did I love this book?

This beautifully written historical novel is based on the life of American librarian, Dorothy Reeder. It intertwines two stories—that of Lily, a lonely teenager in 1980s Montana, and Odile Souchet (Reeder), who worked as Director of the American Library in Paris through World War II. 

Having married and returned to Montana after the war, Souchet is widowed and lonely when Lily knocks on her door. In their conversations, Souchet reveals her extraordinary part in the efforts of staff at the American Library to deliver books first to soldiers and then, against Nazi orders, to Jewish Parisians during World War II. 

This is a cross-generational love story about the power of books and of friendships.

By Mark Pryor,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Hugo Marston’s friend Paul Rogers dies unexpectedly in a locked room at the American Library in Paris. The police conclude that Rogers died of natural causes, but Hugo is certain mischief is afoot. As he pokes around the library, Hugo discovers that rumors are swirling around some recently donated letters from American actress Isabelle Severin. The reason: they may indicate that the actress had aided the Resistance in frequent trips to France toward the end of World War II. Even more dramatic is the legend that the Severin collection also contains a dagger, one she used to kill an SS…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Deep Sky

Nancy A. Hewitt Why did I love this book?

Kitasei combines a science fiction thriller with a searing exploration of women’s friendships across time, race, ethnicity, and politics.

With Earth increasingly uninhabitable, a group of 80 women of childbearing age are sent into space with vials of semen to recreate human life on a distant planet.

Kitasei reveals the growing conflicts among the women, which intensify when one of them dies while trying to repair the ship. Asuka, the beautifully drawn central character, feels insecure about her place among the women and worries that, as their anxieties intensify, she might be targeted as the traitor in their midst.

By Yume Kitasei,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew.

They left Earth to save humanity. They'll have to save themselves first.

It is the eve of Earth's environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity's last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement

Nancy A. Hewitt Why did I love this book?

As a professional historian for 40 years, I enjoy books that transform my understanding of our nation’s past. I also love strong female characters who are not well known but who contributed powerfully to social and political change.

Cahill provides a lively and beautifully crafted story of six women of color who fought for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and then continued their efforts as federal and state governments sought to exclude women of color from the ballot box after 1920.

Although these Native American, Spanish American, African American, and Chinese American suffragists embraced common goals, they employed distinct arguments and strategies. Their complex relationships are revealed here by placing them in conversation not only with white suffragists but also with each other.

By Cathleen D. Cahill,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Recasting the Vote as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We think we know the story of women's suffrage in the United States: women met at Seneca Falls, marched in Washington, D.C., and demanded the vote until they won it with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. But the fight for women's voting rights extended far beyond these familiar scenes. From social clubs in New York's Chinatown to conferences for Native American rights, and in African American newspapers and pamphlets demanding equality for Spanish-speaking New Mexicans, a diverse cadre of extraordinary women struggled to build a movement that would truly include all women, regardless of race or national origin. In…


Plus, check out my book…

Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds

By Nancy A. Hewitt,

Book cover of Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds

What is my book about?

The 100th anniversary of US women’s suffrage in 2020 commemorated the work of national leaders and inspired many cities and towns to recognize local women central to that fight. Thus, Rochester, New York celebrated not only Susan B. Anthony but also Amy Kirby Post.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Post, a radical Quaker and mother of six, hosted Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and other leading activists at her home. For half a century, she campaigned for women’s rights, abolition, racial justice, health reform, religious liberty, and suffrage within interracial and mixed-sex networks.

Inspired by books on local activists’ critical roles in civil rights campaigns, I wrote Post’s biography to honor the work of an earlier generation of grassroots activists.