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

Drowning by T.J. Newman, 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!

Big Tree by Brian Selznick, listen here

 
 
 

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!

Maame by Jessica George, listen here

 
 
 

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!

 
 
 

Hope by Andrew Ridker, listen here

 
 
 

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

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