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 Beautiful Ruins

Rob Shapiro Why did I love this book?

I decided to read this book as research for my latest YA novel. I was curious how Walter managed different timelines. Little did I know how engrossed I would become by this sweeping story of love and old Hollywood?

I was gripped by the characters and surprised by the turns in the plot. I found myself hoping for a very specific ending, which I usually try not to do as that’s the author’s job.

One storyline takes place during the production of the ill-fated Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton epic Cleopatra, and that’s all I needed to keep reading. Yet, it was the relationship between the two main characters that hooked me and made me restless, thinking about when I could continue reading.  

By Jess Walter,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Beautiful Ruins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The #1 New York Times bestseller—Jess Walter’s “absolute masterpiece” (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author): the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces fifty years later in contemporary Hollywood.

The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet. Hailed by critics and loved by readers of literary and historical fiction, Beautiful Ruins is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962...and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later. 


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Rob Shapiro Why did I love this book?

I always avoided reading Patricia Highsmith because I thought her writing would be too smart for me. Frankly, I was intimidated. I was right about the level of intelligence she employs to confidently tell a story and unravel her characters, but her writing is accessible. It’s not heavy prose—in fact, she has a light touch while building the layers of a character study.

This is a book with a lot to say about its characters, and I was dragged into their worlds and misdeeds and dreams. It was a weird sensation to root for Ripley since he’s a sociopath, but I did.

When he gets away with one crime only to start planning the next, I practically yelled at the page, “Tom, you already won! Walk away!”. But that’s the thing with Highsmith: you can never walk away. 

By Patricia Highsmith,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked The Talented Mr. Ripley as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith's five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a "sissy." Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley's fascination with Dickie's debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie's ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. "Sinister and strangely alluring"…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Recipe for a Perfect Wife

Rob Shapiro Why did I love this book?

Recipe for a Perfect Wife is elegant and intriguing and hits on many of the character and thematic notes that I look for. The relationship between the main character, Alice, and the house that she moves to and comes to resent is palpable and relatable.

I was all in from the moment Alice finds a mysterious cookbook in the house, waiting for her next move and for Brown to reveal more about Alice and what makes her tick.

The best compliment I can pay to any novel is that I was sad when it ended. I don’t know how to explain that feeling, but I know it when I feel it. 

By Karma Brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Recipe for a Perfect Wife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*LJ-"Brown kills it, a captivating winner" BL-"The pacing is brisk, the characters are appealing, and both time lines are equally well realized. Thoughtful, clever" Kirkus-"engaging and suspenseful."


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

The Book of Sam

By Rob Shapiro,

Book cover of The Book of Sam

What is my book about?

Sixteen-year-old Sam Sullinger lives in the shadow of adolescence. He's lost among his overachieving siblings, constantly knocked down by his harsh father, and bullied daily. His only solace is his best friend and crush, Harper. 

In a grand plan designed to help him confess his love to Harper, Sam accidentally sets off a series of events that lead to her being kidnapped and taken to Hell. Racked with guilt, Sam makes a bold decision for the first time: he will rescue his only friend.

Sam is thrust into a vivid world fraught with demons, vicious beasts, and a falling city. And every leg of his journey reminds him that he isn't some brave knight on a quest.