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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,633 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 Demon Copperhead

Susan E. Wadds Why did I love this book?

I loved the voice of this narrator. I was stunned by the skill Kingsolver has in creating a vivid, believable, unique character. Despite Demon continuously getting kicked in the head – actually and figuratively – I rooted for him and believed him capable of rising above his circumstances.

How she is able to seamlessly capture social injustice, environmental issues, and political nonsense without ever hitting the reader over the head is nothing short of genius.

By Barbara Kingsolver,

Why should I read it?

55 authors picked Demon Copperhead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of A Gentleman in Moscow

Susan E. Wadds Why did I love this book?

I loved A Gentleman in Moscow because I learned so much about Russian history while enjoying a remarkable story told from the perspective of one sequestered man. I loved his equanimous response to the many upheavals he endured.

The tone of the story and the way it builds steadily to its revelations is brilliant. I love that the main character knows so much—as a gentleman—about wine, food, politics, literature, and music and so informs the reader in a delightfully smooth manner.

By Amor Towles,

Why should I read it?

31 authors picked A Gentleman in Moscow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers, soon to be a major television series

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Tom Lake

Susan E. Wadds Why did I love this book?

I think I loved this, especially because it was a calm, interior-focussed book. I felt I was sitting with the mother and listening to her tell the story of her life. No violence was a nice relief as well. I liked that it takes place within the confines of the Covid lockdown because it gave a container in which to tell an important story that might never have been told in another situation.

How rare to find a book with so much love in it – past love, family love, romantic love…

By Ann Patchett,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Tom Lake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 'A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration ... and Tom Lake is one of her best' i 'This comforting summer read has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships' REESE WITHERSPOON 'Filled with the moments I live for in a story' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'One of the most beloved authors of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES ----------------------------- This is a story about Peter Duke who went on…


Plus, check out my book…

What the Living Do

By Susan E. Wadds,

Book cover of What the Living Do

What is my book about?

Sex and death consume much of thirty-seven-year-old Brett Catlin’s life. Cole, ten years her junior, takes care of the former while her job disposing of roadkill addresses the latter. When a cancer diagnosis makes her question her worth, suspecting the illness is payback for the deaths of her father and baby sister, she begins a challenging journey of healing and self-discovery. Encounters with animals, both living and dead, help her answer the question, who is worth saving?