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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 Tao Te Ching

Sandra Yuen Why did I love this book?

I love the simplicity of the words and the inherent wisdom expressed in this book! I found it to be so interesting, and it gave me an alternative perspective on the philosophy of life.

I live a complicated life, always in a rush and never resting for long. This book shows that my chosen path may not be the most healthy or necessary way to approach life. Through balance and calmness, looking at life from the opposite direction really floored me to see how out of balance I was.

Listening to this recording and reading the words, I felt release and meditated on appreciating the world around me–not the hustle and bustle– but the value in being.

By Lao Tzu, Sam Torode (translator), Dwight Goddard (translator)

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Tao Te Ching as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Path to Peace

The Tao Te Ching is a series of meditations on the mysterious nature of the Tao—the Way, the Light, the very Source of all existence. According to Lao Tzu (a name meaning "the old master"), the Tao is found where we would least expect it—not in the strong but in the weak; not in speech but in silence; not in doing but in "not-doing."

Compiled in China around 2,500 years ago, the Tao Te Ching is beloved by seekers all the world over. This edition is rendered in poetic language by Sam Torode, based on the…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Siddhartha

Sandra Yuen Why did I love this book?

I fell in love with the characters, their foibles, and their search for answers. I feel lost at times, not seeing the forest for the trees, but this book showed the path of the protagonist who goes through many phases in his life, coming out the other end renewed, content, and with a revealing of his own spirit and accumulation of experience and knowledge which I found to be profound.

He deals with contemporary issues in a myth-like setting. I do not know much about Buddhism, but this book has those elements. It’s a wonderful read. Something I would pick up again.

By Hermann Hesse,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Here the spirituality of the East and the West have met in a novel that enfigures deep human wisdom with a rich and colorful imagination.

Written in a prose of almost biblical simplicity and beauty, it is the story of a soul's long quest in search of he ultimate answer to the enigma of man's role on this earth. As a youth, the young Indian Siddhartha meets the Buddha but cannot be content with a disciple's role: he must work out his own destiny and solve his own doubt-a tortuous road that carries him through the sensuality of a love…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Man’s Search for Meaning

Sandra Yuen Why did I love this book?

Through the eyes of the writer, I saw compassion, understanding, and a strong spirit of survival as he endures life in a concentration camp.

Living in the twenty-first century, I cannot fathom how people survived and made their way through the holocaust. Today, I deal with what car to buy, what type of mayonnaise is best, or how much time I have to wait for the bus. I think I take a lot for granted because I have never experienced the fears and life-and-death nightmare of war firsthand.

I hope I can say, I might understand a bit about transcendence or rising above one’s physical situation into a realm beyond the obvious. If I could live my life over, I would support so many more causes, and give more to others. But because of a selfish nature, I may never achieve the heroism of Franki and countless others who have done amazing things.

By Viktor Frankl,

Why should I read it?

41 authors picked Man’s Search for Meaning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.


Plus, check out my book…

Chop Shtick

By Sandra Yuen MacKay,

Book cover of Chop Shtick

What is my book about?

This story is about an Asian schizophrenic female artist named Cathy who navigates her way through life with self-deprecation and skepticism.

Told with humour and heartache, her group, The Big Six, earns a commission for an upcycled outdoor sculpture in downtown Vancouver. As they explore the creative process, the relationship dynamics surface between them. Their lives go sideways through a series of strange events, a disappearance, mystery, intrigue, a Molotov cocktail, and mayhem. Cathy grows as an artist in fits and starts, moving toward new insights into herself and the reality of life.