My Top 50 Books of 2023

As we step into 2024, I would like to say one thing - I have had a great time reading over the course of 2023 and though I have only been back here since around July, I would still like to share all of the great books I have been reading over the course of the entire year. It has been a tough year for me and the following year is not about to get any easier. Stressful, upsetting in some cases and horrific in others - I often escape into books because well, let's just say I'm not a people person, or a reality person, in fact by this point I'm not even sure I'm a person. 2023 has given me some really good books to get me through some really horrid times and here are the 50 that I think have been the best this year.

In each of the sections there will be a couple of picks that I talk about and honestly, out of the 50, I urge you to read as many of them as you can.

P.S: Prepare for links to random reviews of mine throughout this article.

My Top 50 Books of 2023

50 to 41

50. The Lessons by Ian McEwan

49. The Artful Dickens by John Mullan

I honestly thought I knew Dickens and I thought I had read a lot of what there was to read about him. John Mullan's The Artful Dickens proved me wrong in the best way. With an analysis of common themes, ideas around language and context of Dickens' own beliefs, John Mullan gives us a grand critique of one of history's most incredible writers.

48. The Pallbearer's Club by Paul Tremblay

47. Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

46. Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain

45. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

44. The True Deciever by Tove Jansson

43. Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim

42. Woman Running in the Mountains by Yuko Tshushima

41. Paris by Paris Hilton

40 to 31

40. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

39. Folk by Zoe Gilbert

38. Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

37. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

36. Normal Women by Philippa Gregory

35. Lord Jim at Home by Dinah Brooke

This is probably one of the most darkly funny books I have read this year. About the growth of a privileged 'prince' named Giles who then goes to serve in the army, this book entails all of the prejudices many people have of the upper class and why the children from there are so dysfunctional.

34. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee

33. Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

32. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

31. The Gifts of Reading by Various Authors

30 to 21

30. A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm

Many people described this as another Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell and as that is my personal favourite Orwell novel, I honestly did not believe it to begin with. But when I read it, my god was it good. It was one of the most beautifully and honestly descriptive books I had read of the year and bar its length, it proves that even through adversity and challenge: what a time it is to be alive.

29. True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik

28. Water by John Boyne

A brilliant novel about recreating yourself only for your past to eventually catch up with you, John Boyne writes one of the most perfect books of the year yet again. Vanessa Carvin changes her name to Willow Hale as she moves to a faraway island to escape the past she know to be true. As John Boyne intertwines her past with her present, it is not just reuniting with her daughter that will be difficult, it will be reuniting with herself.

27. The Secret Diaries of Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph

26. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

A scolding gaze into the beating heart and dead weight of the opioid crisis in America, Barbara Kinsolver pulls out all the stops she did once before in The Poisonwood Bible and makes a great case for being one of her generation's greatest writers. A take on Dickens' David Copperfield, she paints an American Gothic of the modernist nihilism of overdosing and addiction. It is honestly one of the greatest novels I have read in the decade of the 2020s.

25. The Dark Half by Stephen King

24. Stargazer by Laurie Petrou

This one may seem a bit weird for someone like me to read but honestly it is written brilliantly. A toxic female friendship built on envy creates a psychodrama of tragedy and lies around a university setting which moves and shifts into their personal lives, making their very family units shake in their foundations. Two young women become friends and envies the life the other has. It ensues tragedy after tragedy in a wild ride of temptation.

23. Time to Think by Hannah Barnes

22. The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan McGowan

21. The Strange Adventures of H by Sarah Burton

20 to 11

20. The Spirit Engineer by A.J West

19. South and West by Joan Didion

18. Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart

A dark comedic look into the world of intimidating British politics, Rory Stewart - the former Minister of Prisons gives us a keen behind-the-scenes glimpse into the horrifying world of the Tory Government. Devilishly funny, obscure in experience and an instant classic, I never thought I'd read a political biography after Churchill but here we are.

17. A History of Loneliness by John Boyne

16. All the Murmuring Bones by A.G Slatter

15. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone was a brilliant novel and his second The Covenant of Water is no different. He makes a brilliant argument for the modern epic novel as he covers 70 years of history in a single 'curse', exploring how one member of every generation of a family will die from drowning. When it comes to the main character, well she is married off young and must come to terms with her new life. It is one of tragedy that she should become accustomed to as she will experience it often.

14. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

13. Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens

12. The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing

11. The Illusions by Liz Hyder

It Would've Made the List, But...

• Paul by Daisy LaFarge
• The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin

10 to 1

10. The Grass Arena by John Healy

With an introduction by Sir Daniel Day-Lewis you can't lose. This book explores the rough and tumble of a man who drinks his way in and out of trouble. He skips the army and various small-time jobs and thrills, there are bar fights and fun around each corner. John Healy writes a book for the ages with this one.

9. The Most of Nora Ephron by Nora Ephron

8. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Dame Judi Dench

7. The Lodger by Helen Scarlett

6. Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

5. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

4. Mrs March by Virginia Feito

A disgruntled housewife isn't the only thing she is. As cockroaches encircle her bathtub and her husband pays no attention to her, she seems to not be able to visit the same pastry shop ever again due to a social faux-pas. As the book progresses, you see what happens as the casual housewife begins to collapse in on herself. In my opinion, one of the greatest books of the last ten years. Feito writes a modern classic.

3. Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

A bunch of siblings have grown apart due to strange circumstances, this book explores just that. Why did they grow apart? What happened? Who did it happen to? Did anyone face consequences? Well, as the answers unfold it would be wise to pay close attention to Rebecca Kaufmann's blunt but poetic prose in this instantaneous modern class worthy of a Penguin Turquoise Spine. A beautifully shocking novel which I personally devoured in a few hours and was unable to put down even when cooking dinner - this book makes a great case about why not everything has to be verbose and difficult all the time.

2. The Trees by Percival Everett

1. Violeta by Isabel Allende

Conclusion:

I hope you have enjoyed reading this list and, if it has inspired to to read something then I feel so much better about spending time on it. My favourite book of the year has been Violeta by Isabel Allende and you can read my review of this brilliant piece of literature here.