The Best Books of 2023
As yet another year crumbles into dust behind us it’s time to look back and pick the best books I read in 2023. As usual I’ll split them between Fiction and Non-Fiction and highlight the best of the best in BOLD. I reviewed 102 books this year with the maximum TWO DNF’s. So, lets jump right in!
Fiction:
*Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier* (The BEST of the best of the best).Pompeii by Robert Harris
Havanna Bay by Martin Cruz Smith
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Passage to Mutiny by Alexander Kent
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
The Midnight Watch by David Dyer
Amistad by David Pesci
The Poison Belt by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan
Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin
The End of the World and Other Catastrophes edited by Mike Ashley
Circe by Madeline Miller
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Sword of Bone by Anthony Rhodes
The Real-Town Murders by Adam Roberts
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon
Neuromancer by William Gibson
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Storm Force to Narvik by Alexander Fullerton
Non-Fiction:
Tamed – Ten Species that Changed Our World by Alice RobertsBread For All – The Origins of the Welfare State by Chris Renwick
The Rules of Contagion – Why Things Spread and Why They Stop by Adam Kucharski
The Nanny State Made me – In Search of a Better Britain/A Story of Britain and How to Save It by Stuart Maconie
The Stone Mason – A History of Building Britain by Andrew Ziminski
The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy – What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens and Ourselves by Dr Arik Kershenbaum
Pursuit – The Sinking of the Bismarck by Ludovic Kennedy
The Nocturnal Brain – Nightmares, Neuroscience and the Secret World of Sleep by Guy Leschziner
The End is Always Near – Apocalyptic Moments from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses by Dan Carlin
Pandora’s Jar – Women in Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes
Twelve Days on the Somme – A Memoir of the Trenches, 1916 by Sidney Rogerson
Footprints – In Search of Future Fossils by David Farrier
Heart Beguiling Araby – The English Romance with Arabia by Kathryn Tidrick
In the Shadows of the American Century – The Rise and Decline of US Global Power by Alfred W McCoy
War by Sebastian Junger
D-Day Through German Eyes – How the Wehrmacht Lost France by Jonathan Trigg
Dark and Magical Places – The Neuroscience of How We Navigate by Christopher Kemp
Napoleon and the Hundred Days by Stephen Coote
Weaponized Lies – How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era by Daniel Levitin
How Iceland Changed the World – The Big History of a Small Island by Egill Bjarnason
Narconomics – How to Run a Drug Cartel by Tom Wainwright
As you can probably tell from the length of both lists, this was a GOOD year for reading and containing some of the best books I’ve read in years – if not ever. I’m SO pleased that, even after decades of reading hundreds of books there’s still the possibility that a new book (both fiction and non-fiction) can completely blow me away with its quality. I’m also pleased with the age spread this year: from 2022 to 1887, that’s 135 years! I’m pleased also that it wasn’t just a bunch of books huddled in the first quarter of the 21st century with a few scattered in the late 19th. There were LOTS scattered throughout the timeline. I’m already looking forward to next year's reading (with 6 books already in my review pile) and will be posting my ‘plans’ next Saturday.
7 comments:
That does look like a great year of reading! I also enjoyed Circe and A Pocket Full of Rye and have a copy of Pompeii which I hope to get to in 2024.
Your reading this year was prolific! I really have enjoyed the diverse range of reviews you've shared, from history to Greek myths and current events/topics. Even if I don't end up reading the books myself, I feel like I learn a bit from your reviews!
@ Helen: Yes, it was. Some *great* books. More in '24 I hope!
@ Marian: It wasn't bad, but these days I usually hit 100 books at least! I've been a diverse reader for a long time now & see no prospect of being anything different. I'm just interested in SO much. I couldn't really focus on one or two subjects. I'd just feel like I was missing out. It's probably the only example of FOMO I can claim! [lol] I'm glad you pick up a bit of knowledge here from time to time. MUCH more to come no doubt. There's still HUGE areas of my ignorance to be explored!!
Lots of bold there! Your hear added a few to my list, and in the case of "The Stone Mason", one to my pile. Will probably save it for April.
It was a GOOD year - both for fiction & non-fiction! I'm sure that I'll provide you with a few more to add to any TBR you're working on... [grin]
Ughg. I made the mistake of looking at this list, thinking I knew about all of them already and wouldn't be tempted by any since I already saw your reviews.
But still, a good year for books, friend.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Sarah. Let it be another good year for reading for both of us!
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