As the year ends, book lovers look forward to preparing their lists of books to read in the coming year, just like they began their year with a list of good books to read in 2023. It does make sense to get some idea about the good books to read in the days ahead, but it takes work to predict their popularity. Instead, it is far easier to look back at the year gone by and discuss some of the most-read books that figure in the lists of best books of the year. Remember that books have a timeless appeal. And it will not be right to confine these within any timeframe based on publication date. Therefore, the books discussed here combine old and new because they focus on the pleasure of reading them.
Looking Back at the List of Good books to Read
As you go through this article, you will get a fair idea about the books that left a deep impression on readers and critics alike during the year and would continue to attract more book lovers. These books belong to various categories, from memoirs to fiction, and even include those translated from other languages and multiple subjects. Since readers have varied tastes and expectations, the books discussed here would appeal differently to all kinds of readers.
1. Biography of X (2023)
The novel by Catherine Lacey is a crafty blend of emotion, spirituality, and literary excellence that captures every known shade of humanity. The story revolves around a woman who married a little-known artist she loved and lost. The story is told as a biography of artist and musician X through her widow, who struggles to learn and grieve about her wife, a complex and complicated character. Although it might look like a story of a relationship, the reach is far beyond that. Regardless of the extent of stretch the story undergoes, the portrayal of X is genuine while navigating the sharp turns. The book remains firmly rooted in the elegy at its center, the never-ending quest about whether it is possible to know anyone ever.
2. The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight (2023)
An investigative memoir by Andrew Leland, The Country of the Blind earned broad recommendations soon after its publication and found a place in several lists of good books to read 2023. As a teenager, Leland suffered from impaired vision due to a rare eye disease and, through the years, had to bear the pain of gradual loss of vision, agonizingly waiting for the day when he would become officially blind. However, he realizes that the fine line that separates sightedness from blindness is more blurred.
On reaching middle age, he is determined to learn as much as possible about his changing condition. And a community that appears to welcome him and, simultaneously, makes him feel estranged. He enrolls at the Colorado Center of the Blind and attends a convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Florida. Then he learns to read Braille, and explores the activism and art of blind activists and artists. He engages in witty conversations with his wife and son about their experiences. Moreover, he also uses his reading abilities to take a dip into the life of Borges and other literary predecessors. Leland becomes a prolific podcaster who takes his audience on a profoundly informative journey.
3. Our Share of Night (2022)
Our Share of Night is Mariana Enriquez’s first novel translated into English and can compel readers to love it. The novel is an epic about growing up in Argentina, Argentinian politics, family and gender, and above all, utterly glorious and human in extreme darkness. Readers would become so involved in the book that they might start living and dreaming inside it. With some touchy narration, the book conjures several images that leave a deep and lasting impression in the readers’ minds. For example, the picture of a father-son duo driving down the dusty back roads, golden nails on a blackened clawed hand, a boy watching two men embrace, and the intense togetherness of young lovers sitting by the lake.
The list of good books to read in 2023 is much longer. It could run into several pages, but only the topmost ones have been in focus for this article.
