The Best Books of 2023
Here’s to a fab 2023. It’s been kinda stressful which is why you have been inundated with romance fiction. 2024 is going to be a little more… sensible? informative? Who the heck knows - we’ll see. Come back here in 2024 and the proof will be in the pudding.
This year I aimed to read 25 books and smashed it by reading 35 (go me!) So I had a lot of books to choose from when picking my favourites! This year I decided to break it down: the overall favourite books, favourite classics and favourite romance books (because the majority of them are romance books sorry not sorry). So thank you 2023, here’s to a wonderful 2024!
Top 5 books of 2023
Lonely Castle in The Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura
This book is beautiful and had me bawling my eyes out at the end. Honestly, it was perfect. A beautiful representation of childhood, grief, pain and learning to be strong.
Buy the book here, you will not regret it.
2. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy
Good grief this was a hard book to read. But oddly funny? Who knew you could make trauma hilarious. McCurdy is a fabulous writer and finds solace in being glad her mom died.
3. Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
The most charming book I’ve read. A wonderful representation of childhood and the protection of precious innocence. A lovely book by my favourite author.
4. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Again, another book that had me crying my eyes out. Deeply moving, you cannot change the past but you can change the future. you cannot help the future but you can glimpse it. Queue tears - there are not enough tissues in the world for this book.
5. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
President Snow in his early days. So much hubris, so much at stake. you see how high he climbs and how hard he falls. Damn
The Top 5 Romance Books of 2023
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
hehe. Damn good fun and really sweet. I read it before I watched the film. not as steamy as some of the other books I read. but still good fun :)
2. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Adorable STEMinist book. Bit of an age gap, I mean what do you expect? Its a professor x Ph.D. student romance, with a hint of grumpy x sunshine. Love it! But have a scientific dictionary ready.
3. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
LORD. Beautifully written. Probably the best written out of all the books here on this list. It’s about second chances at love, hopes and dreams. But warning, I was not mentally prepared for the ending.
4. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas
A spin-off from the Spanish Love Deception - it’s a slow burn, but 100% worth it.
5. Twisted Games by Ana Huang
Okay. Ana Huang knows how to write a romance book. especially steamy once. this is a forbidden romance between a princess and her bodyguard. this book will make you swoon. READ IT!
The Top 5 Classics of 2023
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Holly Golightly is far more complex, more of an enigma and utterly more delightful than any film could capture. A true wonder of a book.
2. The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
Anyone fancy a good old-fashioned ghost story? Set in the shadowy halls and canals of Venice - its perfect!
3. The Peony Pavillion by Tang Xianzu translated by Cyril Birch
A wonderful Chinese fairytale, later turned into one of the most iconic Chinese operas ever made. It is still performed today and reinvented by one of the best contemporary composers of our time: Tan Dun.
4. The Changeling by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
Who doesn’t love a tragedy? Honour and duty rule the day in this bloody murder!
5. Three Letters from the Andes by Patrick Leigh Fermor
This book made me want to travel to the Andes, climb great heights and run around Machu Pichu with some llamas.