The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,708 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Small Mercies

Peter David Shapiro I this book because...

What stands out for me in Small Mercies is the intensity of Lehane’s writing.

Like his earlier masterpiece, Mystic River, it is a tragic story of working-class people in South Boston, propelled by the loss of a protagonist’s beloved daughter. The added twist in Small Mercies is that it ties into the real-life history of court-imposed school busing in Boston to desegregate Boston schools.

We see this happening through the eyes of Mary Pat Fennessy, a fierce busing opponent, while also sharing the experiences of Black participants in those events, and while Mary Pat also goes to war against South Boston criminals who are ruining the lives of people around her.

I heard Lehane say at a book signing that working-class stories are inevitably tragic. As an exploration of rage, revenge, and grief, Small Mercies provides a memorable example.

By Dennis Lehane,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Small Mercies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Instant New York Times Bestseller

“Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can’t-put-it-down entertainment.” — Stephen King

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River—an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

Peter David Shapiro I this book because...

As expected from this author, this book is very funny in parts, but it’s also alarming as commentary on decline in our political leadership.

Borowitz chronicles the emergence of ignorance and stupidity as political credentials rather than disqualifiers, starting with Reagan, flowering with Dan Quayle and GWBush and Sarah Palin, and surpassing absurdity with the multiply-impeached and indicted former president and his imitators and sycophants.

Borowitz makes the point that public ignorance is no longer the embarrassment that it once was, but the opposite, becoming a criterion for electability that shows commonality with an electorate for whom knowing what you are talking about is seen as elitist. There’s a lot of blame to go around for this, but whatever the reasons, Borowitz is depressingly convincing that it doesn’t bode well for US democracy.

By Andy Borowitz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Profiles in Ignorance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER *WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER *

Andy Borowitz, "one of the funniest people in America" (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly "chronicles our embrace of anti-intellectualism" (Walter Isaacson) in American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump.

Andy Borowitz has been called a "Swiftian satirist" (The Wall Street Journal) and "one of the country's finest satirists" (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column "The Borowitz Report." Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of December 6

Peter David Shapiro I this book because...

Also known as Tokyo Station (in the UK), December 6 by Martin Cruz Smith introduces us to Japan prior to its attack on Pearl Harbor. While Cruz Smith is a reliably excellent writer, he outdoes himself with this novel which builds slowly and powerfully to its conclusion.

He introduces us to movers and shakers in pre-war Japan in the overlapping worlds of night club entertainers, criminals, political and military leaders, and journalists and diplomats, all through the eyes of an American who grew up in Japan and understands and lives as Japanese while also remaining, unavoidably, a foreigner in a country that is increasingly isolated, paranoid, and militaristic, and that is on what seems an unalterable path towards total war.

The story held my attention to its concluding sentence that wonderfully echoes the last sentence in The Great Gatsby. Truly a great read!

By Martin Cruz Smith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked December 6 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and Havana Bay, comes another audacious novel of exotic locales, intimate intrigues and the mysteries of the human heart: December 6. Set in the crazed, nationalistic Tokyo of late 1941, December 6 explores the coming world war through the other end of history's prism -- a prism held here by an unforgettable rogue and lover, Harry Niles. In many ways, Niles should be as American as apple pie: raised by missionary parents, taught to respect his elders and be an honorable and upright Christian citizen dreaming of the good life on the…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Teacher's Pet

By Peter David Shapiro,

Book cover of Teacher's Pet

What is my book about?

High school teacher, her student, their affair. 

Esme Linde, 23, a new teacher in a small-town high school in Vermont, is accused of having an affair with one of her students, Noah Beemer, 17. The accusation ends Esme's nascent career as a teacher. Plus it could lead to her being prosecuted for statutory rape. Noah's parents have big ambitions for their talented son. Fearing that the controversy will damage his prospects, they pressure Esme to remove herself from his life. Noah has other ideas.