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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,639 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Tania Bayard Why did I love this book?

In this extraordinary book, Yong introduces us to the sensory systems of animals, describing the many astonishing ways in which they smell, taste, see, hear, and feel the world using physical sensations very different from ours.

He challenges us to go beyond our human “sensory bubble,” which perceives only a small fraction of what happens around us, and try to understand the immense world of animals’ sensory abilities.

His elegant prose transforms scientific writing into something close to storytelling; even his footnotes are captivating. This is one of the best nonfiction books I have read this or any other year.

By Ed Yong,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked An Immense World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Wonderful, mind-broadening... a journey to alternative realities as extraordinary as any you'll find in science fiction' The Times, Book of the Week

'Magnificent' Guardian

Enter a new dimension - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

We encounter beetles that are…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Solito: A Memoir

Tania Bayard Why did I love this book?

Zamora recounts in vivid detail the harrowing three-thousand-mile journey he made in 1999, when he was nine years old, from El Salvador to the US, where he crossed the border illegally to join his parents in California.

The two-month journey, described through the eyes of the author as a child, was fraught with unimaginable hardships, a perilous boat trip, days of hunger and thirst in the desert, arrests, and betrayals; but there were moments of joy as well, for although he traveled with strangers, some in the group helped him survive the ordeal with their kindness and compassion.

Zamora’s poignant memoir is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

By Javier Zamora,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Solito as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller • Read With Jenna Book Club Pick as seen on Today • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiography • Winner of the American Library Association Alex Award

A young poet tells the inspiring story of his migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this “gripping memoir” (NPR) of bravery, hope, and finding family.  

Finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction • One of the New York Public Library’s Ten Best Books of the Year

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions: A charming detective takes on Sicily's underworld in the perfect summer read

Tania Bayard Why did I love this book?

As a writer of mystery novels, I know that a story needs a lot more than a good plot, and this delightful tale of an eccentric Bavarian woman who moves to Sicily to drink herself to death and instead finds herself investigating the murder of her handsome young handyman fulfills that requirement in spades with colorful characters; vivid descriptions of her adopted country’s culture, history, and cuisine; and a powerful sense of place.

The solution to the mystery is somewhat obvious, but what really mattered to me was the fact that after reading the book, I felt that I had actually been on a trip to Sicily.

By Mario Giordano,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Alive with a tang of lemons to set the senses zinging' The SpectatorTranslated fiction at its most charming - A Man Called Ove meets Andrea Camilleri, Auntie Poldi is this summer's most unlikely hero.Auntie Poldi can think of no finer place to wait for death than Sicily. All she asks is a sea view, fine wine (and plenty of it), and her family close around.When death instead takes her handsome young friend Valentino - and under mysterious circumstances at that - Poldi will not take it lying down.Perhaps it's in her blood (her father was a detective chief inspector); perhaps…


Plus, check out my book…

Murder in the Cloister

By Tania Bayard,

Book cover of Murder in the Cloister

What is my book about?

In this vividly imagined historical mystery set in fourteenth-century France, the queen sends scribe Christine de Pizan to the Priory of Poissy to copy a manuscript for the prioress. But there are already many copyists at the priory, and Christine senses that something is amiss.

Her suspicions are confirmed when the prioress reveals that one of the sisters has been found murdered in the cloister. Fearing for the welfare of the queen's young daughter, who resides at the abbey, the prioress asks Christine to find out who killed the young nun and why.

As Christine investigates, she uncovers dark mischief and closely guarded secrets, but can she unmask a killer?