The Best Books I Read in 2023
If you’d like a printable copy of this list of the best books I read in 2023 so you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
I LOVE doing this annual list of my favorite books of the previous year!
Looking back at what I read in 2023, each book takes me back to the moment I read it, whether it was reading aloud in the playroom to my kids, blazing through a book in a single Sunday afternoon, or reading a specific title on a trip.
It’s like a little memory book of my year! (If you’re curious, you can see all my top 10 lists for each year since 2010 here!)
Here are the best books I read in 2023:
The Best Books I Read in 2023
Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware was SUCH a fun addition to my reading life this year. I’d heard about her for years but never picked up one of her books until this summer and then I blazed through four or five of her books this year. I don’t typically read a lot of mystery/thrillers but this one, about a husband and wife team who test digital and physical security for companies and then have a job go VERY wrong, was so fun. Zero Days is her newest books and the first one I read and it’s still my favorite (although The It Girl is a close second).
Glitch by Laura Martin
I read this one aloud to my girls, which was absolute fun – time travel, history, and mystery. What could be better? I included this one on the Summer Reading Guide because we all enjoyed it so much.
Healing Hearts by Sarah Eden
I go to very few book events but I was invited to a historical romance writers dinner this year and on a whim I decided to go, even though it’s not my normal wheelhouse. I heard Sarah Eden speak and she was SO delightful that I came home and blew through several of her books immediately! This has been my favorite of hers so far – she nails the witty banter and the buzz of attraction without any sex scenes (on or off screen). Definitely planning to read more of her books this year. (This book is part of a series but it stands alone just fine and I read it without having read the first, although I went back and read it after the fact).
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong
My father-in-law loves Shackleton and I’ve been meaning to read this book at his recommendation for more than a decade. I finally read it aloud to my girls this year and it was SO excellent. (So much so that I put it on the Summer Reading Guide this year!). This is one of those true stories that just leaves you with your jaw hanging open that this actually happened.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
This is one of those books like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow that is very divisive. Some people LOVE it and other people cannot stand it. I loved them both! Romantic Comedy is actually one of the few books I read TWICE this year – during a busy week this fall, I opened it to read my favorite scenes again and ended up re-reading the whole thing. I love this smart, thoughtful book about a writer for a SNL-type show and her relationship with the heartthrob musician who is the guest host.
How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis, LPC
This book is very short – you can read the whole thing in an hour or two – but I’ve been thinking about it endlessly since I read it. If you feel overwhelmed by keeping up your house for whatever reason, this book is for you. I’ve never read a cleaning/organizing/housework book like this one.
Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin
This book reminded me how MUCH I love Gretchen Rubin – her writing is just so fun and engaging and this one made me think so much about how I engage with the world around me through my senses. This would make a TERRIFIC book club pick and I can’t wait to do it this coming year for Everyday Reading Book Club!
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
This was maybe my favorite book club book of the year for Everyday Reading Book Club. I’d meant to read it for several years and this was the push I needed to finally pick it up. And once I did, I couldn’t put it down – it was SO absorbing and also so infuriating. (Now I need to read Demon Copperhead!)
The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
Our therapist recommended this book to us (with so many disclaimers about how it might be a helpful tool or might not be and if not, just move along) and after literal years of ignoring the enneagram, this was SO helpful for me to recognize things about myself and how I interact with other people in my life (in both good and bad ways!). Bart and I talked about this for months afterward.
MexiKid by Pedro Martin
My goal was to read 60 graphic novels this year and while I didn’t hit that, I did read some really excellent ones and MexiKid was top of the list! This graphic memoir about a family road trip (in an RV) from California to Mexico to bring his grandfather back to live with them in the US was so well done and I blew through it!
And if you’d like a printable copy of this list of my favorite books from 2023 so you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!
I’d love to hear what were the best books you read in 2023!
I just finished reading Mexikid a few days ago! It’s so good, although I don’t think I’ve ever had a book trigger my gag reflex before—that pop rocks scene sure did it! 😅
I listened to Zero Days after you recommended it on your IG. I thought it was great and the perfect audiobook to listen too on my commute to/from work. Been looking for something new to start since.
Love the choice of Gretchen Rubin! ❤️her upbeat way of looking at life and her insights!
Yay – I added most of these to my TBR.
My top 5:
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow”
“Remarkably Bright Creatures”
“These Silent Woods”
“The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise”
“Untangled” (highly recommend for parents of teen/preteen girls!)
Life in Five Senses also made my best of 2023 books list! I think that was about the only one of yours that I read, adding some others to my list!
I would love a full graphic novel list recommendation!! I got into them last year.
https://everyday-reading.com/best-graphic-novels-for-kids/
Some basic content considerations would be super helpful in these book recommendation posts. Love that you mention Sarah Eden writes without sex scenes, but readers might also want to know that Zero Days is rife with foul language.
Thank you for sharing this