The Best Books of The Year

There have been countless end of year awards by various publications. This year, we decided to create our first (of many) list of the best books released in 2023. Keep reading to find out our picks of the best of the year!

Comparing this year to last year, I can honestly say that this has been an amazing year for books. Every year has some standouts but 2023 has too many to count. This is a year that I will be revisiting often to read the hundreds of amazing books published this year.

But there are standout books that should be read first. We have selected the best books of the year and highlight the best books we came across. My favorite thing about this year is that unlike previous years, end of year lists don’t all look the same.

Every publication has their own picks as the best and it is incredible how different their selections are. A great example of this is that the novel that won the Booker Prize, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, isn’t on many end of year lists.

That may be more so that they didn’t come across it in time but I imagine many of them will be reading that soon and may sneak it in as they update their list. There are so many books and some do go under the radar. You can see our picks below!

The Best Books of The Year

• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
• Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
• Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
• King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
• Light Bringer by Pierce Brown
• The Wager by David Grann
• Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang
• Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
• The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
• Happy Place by Emily Henry
• The Ferryman: A Novel Hardcover by Justin Cronin
• Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

When you need a feel-good book about community, James McBride is who you should turn to. His latest novel The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store tells the story of a Jewish couple that hide a young black boy from social services and try protect him from being a victim of the system. Find out for yourself why this novel mad many end of year lists and was one of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2023.

Fourth Wing

Possibiliy one of, if not the biggest novel of 2023 has to be Fourth Wing. The novel followsViolet, a 20-year-girl, who is forced to enter the Rider Quadrant even though she was supposed to become a scribe. Now, she has to survive against all odds in the war college and become a dragon rider as other contestants try to kill her.

Yellowface

A novel that had many people talking was R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface. It follows two friends, one white named June, one Asian named Athena, and plagiarism. When Athena passes away one night, June steals her manuscript and edits and publishes the novel as her own. What follows is the aftermath as June tries to hide her secret as she navigates the publishing world.

Conclusion

These are our selections for the best books of the year. It will be interesting to see which of these novels will win awards in a few months. How many of these books have you read or plan to read? What books should we have included on our list? Let us know in the comments below!

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