5 Award Winning Books of 2023 That You Should Read

Now that 2023 is behind us, it is a great time to look at the award winners from last year. Keep reading to find out the 5 award winning books of 2023 that you should read!

Hugo Awards Controversy

Before we dive into the 5 award winning books, we have to talk about the recent controversy surrounding the Hugo awards and some books not being eligible without any reason given. It is a bad look and takes away the Hugo awards’ credibility first and foremost. Babel by R. F. Huang is an amazing novel and deserves to be nominated.

But that is the thing with awards and who determines what novels deserve them. It always has been a biased process and there are always inside and outside influences. Always take these awards with a grain of salt.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read any of them but at the end of the day, all the matters is if you enjoyed the novel or not and would recommend them to a friend. Now, let’s look at some of the award winning books of 2023.

Award Winning Books of 2023

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
• Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
• We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
• Stay True by Hua Hsu

Demon Copperhead

With a title like Demon Copperhead, you can’t help but want to read Barbara’ Kingslover’s novel. It is inspired by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Andrew Carnegie Medal Longlist.

The novel tells the story of Damon Fields, better known as Demon, and his single mother. They live in a trailer home in Lee, County, located in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Demon’s life is difficult takes a turn for the worse when his mom starts dating a guy who abuses Demon. 

Things go from bad to worse as Demon navigates through his teenage years and into adulthood. He faces issues such as poverty, addiction, adoption. The system in place constanly fails to protect Demon and others in his situation.

The novel is a retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens in the 21^st century. This was an amazing novel and I think it is a must read for anyone that enjoyed the original classic novel.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

If you haven’t read a novel by James McBride, then you are missing out on one of the most gifted writers out there. His story telling, character building, and plot have made him one of my favorite authors. His novel The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store won the Kirkus Award, and was Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s book of the year.

Moshe and Chona Ludlow live in Pottstown in the 1920s and the 1930s. They own the local theater that has a dance hall and a grocery store named The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

One day, The Ludlows are asked to hide a young Black deaf boy named Dodo from authorities by Nate Timblin. Timblin works at the grocery store and is a trusted friend of Moshe.

The Ludlows shelter Dodo from the town physician who is a part of theKu Klux Klan and is avoided by the Black residents of Pottstown. The novel follows the relationships between the Ludlows and the Black residents as they try to protect Dodo from the racist policies and people living in Pottstown.

Stay True

It isn’t often that I come across a nonfiction book that I enjoy as much as a fiction novel. That should let you know how good Stay True by Hua Hsu truly is. It is a memoir about Hsu’s life and his friend Ken who was killed in college.

The book is tale of friendship, grief, and learning to live with something that nobody should experience. Hsu beautifully writes a becoming of age book as well as sharing memories that haunt him to this day. The memoir went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography and National Book Critics Circle Award.

Conclusion

These are the 5 award winning books released in 2023 that you should read. They are all great books that deserved to win. Even the runner ups are a great read and if it wasn’t for the stiff competition, they might have won.

I think award winning books are worth checking out because they have been selected by a panel. The process is rigorous and multiple people vote on the winners. That means that the winning book has met a high standard. You won’t like every award winning book. But from my experience, most have been great.

How many of these books have you read or plan to read? What other award winning books should people read? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time happy reading!