Shepherd: Best Books of 2023

Thanks to Ben Fox and his team for their tireless zeal to get books into the hands of readers. When they asked me to pick three favourite books for last year, I demurred at first—what? Only three?

And then I didn't want to rank order them, because I don’t like comparing the apples and oranges of my disorderly and whimsical reading selections.

But I caved, because I think Ben and Co. are doing such a great job. I love the indirect way in which they tackle the task of connecting books to readers. Plus they asked a whopping 1,496 authors for their three favorite reads of 2023 and when anyone does work on that scale they’ve earned my admiration.

So here are the 100 best books of 2023, gleaned, don’t ask me how, from those 1,496 suggestions.

And here’s my awesome threesome. Mind you, I could have picked more. Another dozen or so more.