Zibby’s Picks of 2023
By Zibby Owens
Now’s the time of the year for all those “best of” lists. I always read those big, important lists with interest. Really? I think. What makes them the best? According to who?
There are some elements that I’m sure all outlets would agree with. The best books of the year must be well-written. Full stop. But beyond that, isn’t it all a bit subjective? Can we really measure how great someone’s craft of writing is? How we all feel about books comes from a deeply personal place. What we’re going through, right now. What we’re in the mood for. What we need.
I’ve analyzed the books that stood out to me this year and here’s where I stand. If a book is masterfully written but didn’t strike an emotional chord, it isn’t one of my “best.” I’ve decided the best books of the year have to make me feel.
If a book is masterfully written but didn’t strike an emotional chord, it isn’t one of my “best.”
They have to make me laugh, cry, put my hand over my heart, cover my mouth, gasp, get goosebumps. My body must be involved. I have to, quite literally, be moved. They must work their alchemy to change something in me. Temporarily. Permanently. They make a difference. They connect to my soul and tickle my brain like a feather in my ear.
And so, here’s my top 10 list, followed by 25 other categories designed to showcase other books I’ve enjoyed that came out in 2023.
Your homework? When you evaluate the best books of your 2023 reading year, don’t only pick big, important books that you think you should love. Think about what really made you feel. I’m all ears.
Glimmer: A Story of Hope, Survival and Healing by Kimberly Shannon Murphy, podcast coming soon!
Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k-Up: A Novel by Alexandra Potter, listen here for the Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books podcast!
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith, listen here
How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key, listen here
Everything All at Once: A Memoir by Steph Catudal, listen here
Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir by Alice Carrière, listen here
The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays by Kelly McMasters ** Favorite book of the year, listen here
Turning Pages: The Adventures and Misadventures of a Publisher by John Sargent, podcast coming soon!
The Last Love Note: A Novel by Emma Grey, listen here
Hell if We Don’t Change Our Ways: A Memoir by Brittany Means, listen here
The Rye Bread Marriage: How I Found Happiness with a Partner I’ll Never Understand by Michaele Weissman, listen here
Little Earthquakes: A Memoir by Sarah Mandel, listen here
Stash: My Life in Hiding by Laura Cathcart Robbins, listen here
Foolish: Tales of Assimilation, Determination, and Humiliation by Sarah Cooper, listen here
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin, listen here
My What If Year: A Memoir by Alisha Fernandez Miranda, listen here
End of the Hour: A Therapist’s Memoir by Meghan Riordan Jarvis, listen here
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge by Helen Ellis, listen here
Zig-Zag Boy by Tanya Frank, listen here
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair, listen here
Save What’s Left: A Novel by Elizabeth Castellano, listen here
Paper Names: A Novel by Susie Luo, listen here
A Likely Story: A Novel by Leigh McMullan Abramson, listen here
Pineapple Street: A Novel by Jenny Jackson, listen here
Welcome Home, Stranger: A Novel by Kate Christensen, podcast coming soon!
Main Character Energy: A Novel by Jamie Varon, podcast coming soon!
Hello Stranger: A Novel by Katherine Center, listen here
The Wake-Up Call: A Novel by Beth O’Leary, podcast coming soon!
Bad Summer People: A Novel by Emma Rosenblum, listen here
Community Board: A Novel by Tara Conklin, listen here
Go as a River: A Novel by Shelley Read, listen here
My Husband: A Novel by Maud Ventura, listen here
Recipe for Second Chances: A Novel by Ali Rosen, listen here
Pete and Alice in Maine: A Novel by Caitlin Shetterly, podcast coming soon!
The Midnight Garden by Elaine Roth, podcast coming soon!
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey, listen here
Hedge by Jane Delury, listen here
Blue Hour: A Novel by Tiffany Clarke-Harrison, listen here
Tom Lake: A Novel by Ann Patchett
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, listen here
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, listen here
The Whispers by Ashely Audrain, listen here
Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur, listen here
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls, listen here
Class by Stephanie Land, listen here
Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes, listen here
Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan, listen here
On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen, listen here
What You Do To Me by Rochelle Weinstein, listen here
What Wild Women Do by Karma Brown, listen here
The Way Life Should Be by William Dameron, listen here
American Girl by Wendy Walker, listen here
The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak, listen here
Reef Road by Deborah Goodrich Royce, listen here
Summer of Songbirds by Kristy Woodson Harvey, listen here
The Spectacular by Fiona Davis, listen here
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune, listen here
I Could Live Here Forever by Hanna Halperin, listen here
The Critic’s Daughter by Priscilla Gilman, listen here
Games & Rituals: Stories by Katherine Heiny, listen here
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker, listen here
There’s No Coming Back from This by Ann Garvin, listen here
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley, listen here
Life B by Bethanne Patrick, listen here
Whatever After Series by Sarah Mlynowski, listen here
Life Council by Laura Tremaine, listen here
This House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland, listen here
The Friendship Breakup By Annie Cathryn, listen here
Lies and Other Love Languages by Sonali Dev, listen here
What We Kept to Ourselves by Nancy Jooyoun Kim, listen here
After the Funeral and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley, listen here
It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway by Elizabeth Passarella, listen here
The Daydreams by Laura Hankin, listen here
The Marriage Box by Corie Adjmi, listen here
Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin, listen here
Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine, listen here
Enchantment by Katherine May, listen here
Life and Other Love Songs by Anissa Gray, listen here
Stars in an Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo, listen here
Glow in the F*cking Dark by Tara Schuster, listen here
Wedding of the Season by Lauren Edmondson, listen here
The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange, listen here
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal, listen here
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth, listen here
My Magnolia Summer by Victoria Benton-Frank, listen here
Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey, listen here
Embracing the Calm in the Chaos by Stacy Igel, listen here
The Favor by Adele Griffin, listen here
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson, listen here
The Better Half by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, listen here
You Were Always Mine by Jo Piazza and Christine Pride, listen here
Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding, listen here
Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, listen here
One Woman Show: A Novel by Christine Coulson, podcast coming soon!
Spine Poems by Annette Dauphin Simon, listen here
The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams, listen here
You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg, listen here
The Society of Shame by Jane Roper, listen here
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin, listen here
The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel, listen here
Unearthing by Kyo Maclear, listen here
The Dream Builders: A Novel by Oindrila Mukherjee, listen here
Bright Young Women: A Novel by Jessica Knoll, listen here
Happiness Falls: A Novel by Angie Kim, listen here
When I Grow Up I Want to Be A Chair by Ryan Rae Harbuck, listen here
The Leftover Woman: A Novel by Jean Kwok, listen here
Hello Beautiful: A Novel by Ann Napolitano, listen here
We Need to Talk About Antisemitism by Rabbi Diana Fersko, listen here
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom, listen here
Live Through This: A Novel by Kristen McGuiness, podcast coming soon!
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt, listen here
Genealogy of a Murder by Lisa Belkin, listen here
The Mystery Guest: A Novel by Nita Prose, podcast coming soon!
Obvious in Hindsight by Bradley Tusk, podcast coming soon!
Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen: A Novel by Geri Halliwell-Horner, listen here
The Umbrella Maker’s Son by Katrina Leno, podcast coming soon!
The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler, listen here
Write the Damn Book Already by Elizabeth Lyons, listen here
I’m Wearing Tunics Now by Wendi Aarons, listen here
Hot and Bothered by Jancee Dunn, listen here
Menopause Boot Camp by Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, listen here
Yellowface: A Novel by R.F. Kong
Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing by Charles Scribner, podcast coming soon!
Turning Pages: The Adventures and Misadventures of a Publisher by John Sargent, podcast coming soon!
Strip Tees by Kate Flannery, listen here
End Credits by Patty Lin, listen here
Going Infinite by Michael Lewis, listen here
Unscripted by James B. Stewart, listen here
All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley, listen here
Luck of the Draw by Chloe Melas, listen here
Garden of the Righteous by Richard Hurowitz, podcast coming soon!
Slow Cooked by Marion Nestle, listen here
The Future is Analog by David Sax, listen here
Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust, listen here
Look For Me There by Luke Russert, listen here
The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop, listen here
You Can’t Stay Here Forever by Katherine Lin, listen here
Will to Wild by Shelby Stranger, listen here
Call You When I Land by Nikki Vargas, podcast coming soon!
B.F.F. by Christie Tate, listen here
We Should Not Be Friends by Will Schwalbe, listen here
Super Bloom by Megan Tady, listen here
Women Are the Fiercest Creatures by Andrea Dunlop, listen here
This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs, listen here
Wine People by Michelle Wildgen, listen here
Wednesdays at One by Sandra A. Miller, listen here
Don’t Think, Dear by Alice Robb, listen here
Burst by Mary Otis, listen here
Lauren in the Limelight by Miriam Landis, podcast coming soon!
We Waited for You by Cindy Chupack, listen here