10 Best Books of 2023

<p>Literature isn’t a horse race. Taste is subjective, and artistic value can’t be measured in terms of “winners" and “losers.”</p><p>That doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try.</p><p>The book world’s awards season officially kicked off on Oct. 9, when the Hungarian novelist Laszlo Kr ... Show More

<p>Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation of Baldwin’s work, filled with astute literary analysis of his books and prose. And, most pressingly, it’s an argument for a new critical ... Show More

<p>On Nov. 10, 1975, during a calamitous storm, the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk below the waves of Lake Superior. All 29 men aboard went down with the vessel. With no survivors and no eyewitnesses, there’s always been a sense of mystery to what is arguably the most famous shipwreck in ... Show More

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1749254/open_sms">Send us a text</a></p><p>In Episode 131 of Book Talk, Etc. Tina and Renee share their top 10 books of 2023. They also share what they&apos;ve been loving lately, their latest reads, and ... Show More

<p><strong>In Episode 131, Catherine (@gilmoreguide) and I share the best backlist books we read in 2022. We each share our top 5 backlist books from 2022, some underrated backlist gems, and our backlist reading stats. Catherine and I both had a successful year of backlist readin ... Show More

On our first Best Books episode, Lily King discusses Five Tuesdays in Winter (Grove, Nov. 9), one of Kirkus’ Best Books in fiction for 2021. Kirkus: “The first collection of stories from an acclaimed novelist…. Full of insights and pleasures” (starred review). Then fiction editor ... Show More

On our final Best Books episode, Cynthia Barnett discusses The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans (Norton, July). This “absolutely captivating nature book” is one of Kirkus’ Best Books in young readers’ literature for 2021 (starred review). Then nonfiction edi ... Show More

What should you read on the beach this summer? What about if you’re stuck indoors, or if you need a break from kids? Each June, our literary editor Fred Studemann and deputy books editor Laura Battle put together the FT’s summer books special, and today they give us their recomme ... Show More

<p><strong>Catherine (Gilmore Guide to Books) and I revisit the 12 books released in April and May featured in the <a href= "https://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/podcast-episode-137-spring-2023-book-preview-with-catherine-gilmoreguide/">Spring 2023 Book Preview</a>.  We give updates ... Show More

<p><strong>In today's episode, Deborah Goodrich Royce joins me to talk about her latest book, <a href= "https://amzn.to/3jV6naQ">Reef Road</a>. We discuss the personal story behind her book and the role of generational trauma in her writing niche, which she calls "Identity Thrill ... Show More

On this week's episode Reggie, Kennedy, and Mikayla recommend books for their listeners. They put up a question box on instagram and the listeners put what kind of books they wanted the Ill read what she's reading girls to recommend for them! Books talked about in this episode: T ... Show More

<p dir="ltr">Show notes:</p> <p dir="ltr">We’re both very different readers, but it seems like lately, there’s more of a middle ground between Team Sarah and Team Mia. Here are some books that we both love and it was easier than we thought to come up with this list.</p> <p><stron ... Show More

On today's episode, Emma and Joe share some tips and tricks to completing your 2024 Pro Book Nerds Reading Challenge. They also discuss the prompts they've completed and what books they read. Finally, they offer some suggestions for, perhaps, some harder to complete prompts. Let ... Show More