One of my favorite year-end traditions over the past 5 years or so has been reviewing all of the books I read in a year and giving out awards to some of my favorites. To be perfectly honest, 2023 wasn’t a great year for me, all things considered. In fact, one book I read used the phrase “circus of disasters,” which I joked was a great description for this year as a whole. Because of the hard circumstances, I read fewer books this year than the past couple, and not as many books stuck in my mind or stayed with me as in years past. So it’s been a fun reminder to go back over the books I read and remember how much I enjoyed many of them!

Below are my various Book Awards categories, in which I allow myself to name up to 3 books (generally listed in order of my liking), instead of choosing just 1 favorite.

If you are someone who loves books and would like to hear about some of the 88 books I read this year, please enjoy this year-end recap. As always, feel free to share your favorite books from this year with me in the comments, either here on the blog or on social media!

Steph’s 2023 Book Awards

Top 5 favorite books I read this year:

• Babel: An Arcane History  (R.F. Kuang)
• The Last Binding trilogy (Freya Marske)
• The Dutch House  (Ann Patchett)
• Iron Widow  (Xiran Jay Zhao)
• Age of Madness trilogy  (Joe Abercrombie)

Favorite nonfiction book:

• Ten Steps to Nanette  (Hannah Gadsby)
• All My Knotted-Up Life  (Beth Moore)
• Killers of the Flower Moon  (David Grann)

Favorite romance:

• The Emma Project  (Sonali Dev)
• A Very Merry Bromance  (Lyssa Kay Adams)
• Romantic Comedy  (Curtis Sittenfeld)

Most surprising:

• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy  (Megan Bannen)
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built  (Becky Chambers)
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter  (Brandon Sanderson)

Made me laugh the most:

• The Blacktongue Thief  (Christopher Buehlman)
• Tress of the Emerald Sea  (Brandon Sanderson)
• Beyond the Wand  (Tom Felton)

Most disappointing:

• the entire Stay a Spell series  (Juliette Cross)
• A Promise of Fire  (Amanda Bouchet)
• A Million to One  (Adiba Jaigirdar)

Most Thought-Provoking:

• Chain Gang All Stars  (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah)
• All My Knotted-Up Life  (Beth Moore)
• Beartown trilogy  (Fredrik Backman)

Classic I read this year:

• Northanger Abbey  (Jane Austen)

Favorite Re-Read:

• Red White and Royal Blue  (Casey McQuiston)
• Percy Jackson  (Rick Riordan) – I’m enjoying reading this series to my sons!

“Everyone shut up, I’m reading!” award:

[books I binge-read and perhaps ignored other responsibilities in favor of]

• Ninth House and Hell Bent  (Leigh Bardugo)
• Truly Devious series  (Maureen Johnson)
• The Stolen Heir  (Holly Black)

5 Books that are living rent-free in my head:

[Five books that I haven’t already mentioned that still cross my mind often – for better or worse]

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies  (John Boyne)
• The World We Make  (N.K. Jemison)
• Tom Lake  (Ann Patchett)
• Cloud Cuckoo Land  (Anthony Doerr)
• Migrations  (Charlotte McConaghy)

Book I’m most excited to read in 2024:

• The Pairing  (Casey McQuiston)
• Heavenly Tyrant  (Xiran Jay Zhao)
• The Prisoner’s Throne  (Holly Black)

Let me know your favorite books of 2023! Maybe they’ll appear in my 2024 favorites 😉