https://www.bookbub.com/blog/best-books-2023-bookbub
These Are the Best 17 Books of 2023, According to BookBub Editors
By BookBub
December 22, 2023
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It’s hard to narrow down the best books of the year, but these titles all astonished us — in the best way possible. From award finalists like The Bee Sting by Paul Marray and Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, to new releases from favorites like Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and Zadie Smith’s The Fraud, this list is filled with books that deserve to be on every reader’s list.
Fire Weather
How did the concept of “fire weather” or “fire season” come to be, and how is it related to our ongoing climate crisis? This book examines that question and more, starting with the human relationship to fire and expanding to take in the oil industry, forest fires, and one particularly devastating Canadian wildfire that drove over 80,000 people from their homes. Booklist says that this finalist for the National Book Award has “robust and vivid writing, detailed reporting, and urgent concern for the environment make for sizzling reading.”
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All the Sinners Bleed
The Washington Post calls New York Times bestselling author Cosby “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction.” Former FBI agent Titus Crown has returned to his southern hometown to become the first Black sheriff in Charon County. One year after his election, Titus’s deputies shoot and kill a young Black man, leading Titus on a quest for the truth — no matter where it takes him. But he never expected his investigation to lead to a serial killer in his small, tight-knit community.
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Absolution
In Saigon in 1963, two American women’s lives intersect due to their husbands’ high-powered jobs. Tricia and Charlene will reconnect 60 years later, comparing notes on their time in Saigon and the consequences of the Vietnam War. Ann Patchett says, “Absolution is one of the finest contemporary novels I’ve read. It is a moral masterpiece.”
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How to Say Babylon
As a child in Jamaica, Safiya Sinclair struggled in her Rastafarian father’s increasingly patriarchal household, where she was forbidden from wearing pants, jewelry, or makeup, and discouraged from befriending peers from the outside world. Freedom came from the books her mother brought her, which opened Safiya’s eyes and shaped her into a poet. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls the memoir “a tour de force,” saying, “Readers will be drawn to Sinclair’s strength and swept away by her tale of triumph over oppression.”
Liliana’s Invincible Summer
Cristina Rivera Garza has won some of Mexico’s highest literary honors, and she’s known for books like The Iliac Crest and The Taiga Syndrome. In her new memoir, she tells the powerful story of her search for justice decades after her sister’s murder at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend. The Economist calls this lyrical National Book Award finalist “absorbing and poetic,” while the Boston Globe hails it as “a searing account of grief.”
The Fraud
In 1873 England, the “Tichborne Trial” stirs controversy and captures the attention of the entire country. Sir Roger Tichborne claims to be the rightful heir to a title and large estate — but is he telling the truth? The star witness in the case is Andrew Bogle, a man who grew up enslaved on a Jamaican plantation and recognizes that his future now hangs in the balance. Scottish housekeeper Eliza Touchet is a well-read woman who questions everything — and she is intrigued by the case that has divided Victorian England. The Fraud is a fascinating story about the meaning of authenticity and the people who get to determine what is true.
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home
When Finn visits the grave of his ex-girlfriend, who died by suicide, he’s shocked to discover that she is alive but in the early stages of decomposition. Journey through time with a teacher uncovering his brother’s mysteries, a stolen 19th-century journal, and characters who blur the line between life and death. Moore’s wit and wisdom illuminate this profoundly meditative portrait of love, reincarnation, and life’s unyielding pull. Publishers Weekly says, “The author’s fans will love it, and those new to Moore will want to see what else they’ve been missing.”
The Unsettled
From the author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie comes a sweeping multigenerational saga about a Black mother’s fight for survival against all odds. Ava Carson is desperate to protect her young son from life in a family shelter — and from the turbulent past that landed them there. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says, “Mathis ratchets up the tension all the way to a stunning reveal, which reunites the family members for a reckoning with the truth.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
In James McBride’s riveting novel, small-town secrets unravel in 1972 Pottstown, Pennsylvania. When a skeleton surfaces from a well, local figures like Chona Ludlow, who runs the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, and Nate Timblin, the unofficial leader of the town’s Black community, face their pasts. This profound exploration of survival, community, and love on the fringes of society is from the author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong. Kirkus Reviews says, “If it’s possible for America to have a poet laureate, why can’t James McBride be its storyteller-in-chief?”
Chain-Gang All-Stars
In this finalist for the National Book Award, the near-future US pits people convicted of murder against each other in deadly, televised gladiatorial games that earn huge ratings. Fighters who survive the system for three years earn clemency. Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are two of the best fighters — but they’re also lovers, and Loretta’s approaching clemency date is causing stress between them as Staxxx contemplates life without her. As Thurwar fights against steepening odds and works to help her fellow gladiators, a movement calling for an end to this brutal, corrupt system collides against the greed and power of corporate America. Jessamine Chan says, “Readers will be forever changed by this book.”
Tom Lake
Returning to their childhood home, three sisters prompt their mother, Lara, to divulge her past romance with a famed actor. As Lara recounts her tale, her daughters reassess their own lives. Celebrated author Ann Patchett masterfully weaves an evocative story of love, hope, and familial bonds, offering a profound meditation on finding happiness amid life’s uncertainties.
The Centre: A Novel
The New York Times calls The Centre “ingenious” and Gillian Flynn says it’s “absolutely stunning.” Pakistani translator Anisa Ellahi is barely making a living subtitling Bollywood movies. When her boyfriend is able to learn languages seemingly instantly, she’s demands to know how — and he reluctantly reveals he attended a place called the Centre, an expensive, mysterious program promising to teach any language in just 10 days. But when Anisa heads to the Centre herself, she discovers dark and horrifying costs at the heart of it.
A Council of Dolls
This heart-wrenching tale sheds light on the historical massacres of Indigenous people and the damage caused by Indian boarding schools. The lives of three Yanktonai Dakhóta women — Cora, Lillian, and Sissy — are woven together by their ancestral heritage and told through the dolls they carried. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says, “This story of survival shines brightly.”
Let Us Descend
Two-time National Book Award–winning author Jesmyn Ward delivers the riveting tale of Annis, an enslaved girl sent south by the white enslaver who fathered her. In the years leading up to the Civil War, Annis finds comfort in her memories of her mother and the stories of her African heritage. Kirkus Reviews says Ward’s “language is saturated with terror and enchantment.”
King: A Life
This highly engaging biography of Martin Luther King Jr. delves into both King’s public face as an activist and preacher and his complex personal life. The first biography of the civil rights leader in decades, it also includes new details about his family’s origins and information from declassified FBI files. The Chicago Sun-Times hails it as “groundbreaking… King is such a nuanced, detailed biography, it’s like having Martin Luther King sitting in your living room.”
Birnam Wood
Stephen King says this new book from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries “is terrific. As a multilayered, character-driven thriller, it’s as good as it gets,” while The New York Times notes that “Greta Gerwig could film this novel, but so could Quentin Tarantino.” When a landslide cuts off a New Zealand town, the Birnam Wood gardening group sees it as an opportunity to occupy a local farm. Unfortunately, an American billionaire also wants to build a bunker on the land. As the billionaire, Robert, and Birnam Wood’s founder, Mira, find their lives intertwined, they’ll have to decide if they can trust one another…
The Bee Sting
Of this novel shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize —The Guardian says, “You won’t read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year.” The Barnes family is undeniably falling apart. With a failing business, an underachieving daughter, and a son about to run away, Dickie Barnes finds himself questioning where everything first began to crumble. Is there one moment of bad luck that can be held responsible, or was this conclusion inevitable — and is there any way the Barnes family can find their own happy ending?
Abycats' Thoughts 