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Book Reviews
In a year of book bans, maureen corrigan's top 10 affirm the joy of reading widely.
Maureen Corrigan
If you were to judge a year solely by its books, you'd have to say 2023 was outstanding; but, in a different sense, book banning effort s have also been outstanding this year. This year's 10 best books list is an affirmation of the pleasures of reading widely and freely:
How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair
In her charged memoir, How to Say Babylon, Safiya Sinclair evokes her childhood in Jamaica and charts her gradual revolt against her strict Rastafarian upbringing. Sinclair's father, a celebrated reggae musician, dictated his daughters' diet, education and appearance: dreadlocks, no jewelry and figure obliterating clothing. The pull of poetry along with Sinclair's own innate resolve not to become a subordinate wife — someone, as she says, "Ordinary and unselfed," — carried her into a wider world. Find Sinclair's Fresh Air interview here.
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
Monsters, by Claire Dederer, is cultural criticism at its most incisive and wry. In this slim book, Dederer, who started out as a film critic, dives into the vexed issue of whether art created by men (and some women) who've done "monstrous" things can still be considered great. Should geniuses like Picasso, Dederer asks, get a "hall pass" for their behavior? Read my full review here.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
David Grann's latest work of narrative nonfiction, The Wager, is part Robinson Crusoe , part Lord of the Flies. The Wager tells the gripping tale of a British ship of that name that broke apart off the coast of Patagonia in 1741. "As the waves thumped the ship, ... ," Grann writes of the ship's final death blow, "it lunged forward and struck more rocks. The rudder shattered and an anchor weighing more than two tons crashed through the ship's hull, leaving a gaping hole in the Wager." Some of the stranded sailors patched together a rickety vessel and sailed 2,500 miles to Brazil. But, then, a second group of sailors from The Wager miraculously surfaced and the official survival story became much more complicated. Find Grann's Fresh Air interview here.
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home: A Novel by Lorrie Moore
Just the title of Lorrie Moore's latest novel tells you how singular and strange her vision is. I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home intertwines a Civil War story with a contemporary tale in which a man takes the body of his deceased beloved on a road trip. Moore, here, movingly literalizes the desire to have some more time with a loved one who's died. Read my full review here.
Up With the Sun by Thomas Mallon
Up With the Sun, by Thomas Mallon, is a novel about showbiz strivers in mid-to-late 20th-century America. It zeroes in on the "aggressively ingratiating" real-life actor Dick Kallman, who, for a time, was a protégé of Lucille Ball's. Kallman was murdered by robbers in his Manhattan home in 1980 — a townhouse that doubled as a showroom for his antiques business grandly called: "Possessions of Prominence." Mallon, whose novel, Fellow Travelers, about closeted gay men during the McCarthy era is now a miniseries , is one of our most evocative and drollest novelists. Read my full review here , and find Mallon's Fresh Air interview here .
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride, is mostly set in the historically Black and immigrant Jewish neighborhood of Chicken Hill in Pottstown, Pa., in 1925. When the state decides to institutionalize a 12-year-old Black boy — who's been branded, "deaf and dumb" — a group of characters violate boundaries of color and class to save him. If you think that premise sounds sentimental, you haven't read McBride, who contains the chaos of the world in his sentences. Read my full review here.
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
Talk about contained chaos: Catherine Lacey's novel, Biography of X, is the story of a widow during what she calls the "boneless days" of her grief, trying to piece together the truth about her wife, an artist who called herself "X." Lacey's edgy and unexpectedly moving novel is filled with photographs, footnotes and guest appearances by real-life figures, like Patti Smith and the New York School poet Frank O'Hara. Read my full review here.
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Paul Harding's This Other Eden is inspired by true events on Malaga Island, Maine , which was once home to an interracial fishing community. After government officials under the sway of the pseudoscience of eugenics inspected the island in 1911, Malaga's 47 residents, including children, were forcibly removed, some of them rehoused in institutions for the "feeble-minded." In 2010, the state of Maine offered an official apology for the incident. Harding's novel about this horror is infused with dynamism, bravado and melancholy. Read my full review here .
Absolution by Alice McDermott
Absolution, by Alice McDermott, tells the story of Tricia, a shy newlywed in 1963, who arrives in Vietnam with her husband, an engineer "on loan" to Navy Intelligence. There, she meets Charlene, a strawberry blonde dynamo, who conscripts Tricia into her army of do-gooders. McDermott, one of our most nuanced novelists, suggests parallels between the women's insistent charity and the growing American military intervention in Vietnam. Decades later, Tricia will look back on that time and recall that: "the cocoon in which American dependents dwelled was still polished to a high shine by our sense of ourselves and our great, good nation." Read my full review here.
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Justin Torres' Blackouts won this year's National Book Award for Fiction . At its center is an extended deathbed conversation between two gay men about sex, family ostracism, Puerto Rican identity and the films they love, like Kiss of the Spider Woman (an inspiration for this novel). Torres' title, Blackouts, refers to the blacking out of pre-Stonewall accounts of queer lives, what the younger of the two characters here describes as stories of "something grand: a subversive, variant culture; an inheritance." Read my full review here.
Books We Love includes 380+ recommended titles from 2023 year. Click here to check out this year's titles, or browse over 3,600 books from the last 11 years.
The 45 Best New Books of 2023 You Won’t Put Down
Add them to your reading list ASAP
Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.
From fizzy summer beach reads to highbrow literary fiction, 2023’s most noteworthy releases so far are highly personal and deeply memorable. At the start of the year, readers were treated to heartfelt debut novels by Jessica George and Delia Cai. Throughout the spring and summer, modern literary forces like Brandon Taylor, Ann Patchett, and Zadie Smith returned with highly anticipated novels that were worth the wait. The momentum isn’t ending with the calendar year, either. Books arriving in fall and winter include Elizabeth Hand’s bone-chilling A Haunting on the Hill and Class , Stephanie Land’s follow-up to her best-selling memoir Maid . From a study of Brooklyn’s gilded upper class in Pineapple Street to a scammer’s anxiety-inducing lurch through the Hamptons in Emma Cline’s The Guest , this year’s best new books hook you from the first scene. Their characters are so memorable, you’ll want to revisit them again in the not-too-distant future. (Even the antiheroes.)
Read on for the best books of 2023 to add to your reading list now—and read a second time later—organized by release date. From the moment you pick them up, you won’t want to put them down. And if there’s a book lover in your life, any one of these titles would fit their definition of a luxury gift for the holiday season.
The Survivalists: A Novel
The Survivalists is one of the year’s most noteworthy new books on premise alone . Aretha, a partner-track lawyer who thrives on corporate success, descends into the world of Armageddon bunkers and doomsday arms dealing after she begins dating a coffee entrepreneur whose roommates are preparing for all sorts of unknown catastrophes while managing the roastery in their shared brownstone. On execution, The Survivalists delivers with a portrait of an underground corner of Brooklyn that’s so vividly captured, you may question what’s going on behind your favorite coffee shop.
Maame: A Novel
Maddie, the narrator of Jessica George’s stirring debut novel, has spent most of her 20s caring for her father, who has Parkinson’s disease. Her mother is in Ghana; her brother is on the road with a musician; neither offer much in terms of money or help. But a moment for Maddie to finally figure out what she wants from life, independent of her family, is on the horizon—just not in the way she initially expects. This is a coming-of-age novel that finds beauty in the messiness and complexity of growing up, with a narrator whose singular voice instantly captivated readers and reviewers.
There’s more where Maame came from: The novel has already been picked up for a TV adaptation.
Central Places: A Novel
Heroines who travel from a bustling city to their flyover-state hometown for the holidays often find trouble and maybe a new love interest in their old zip code. But Audrey Zhou, the narrator of Central Plac es, isn’t on the Hallmark trajectory when she books a Christmas trip back to Hickory Grove, Illinois, for her first visit since high school. Audrey intends to spend the week introducing her Chinese immigrant parents to her white fiancé and helping them feel like one family—a tough order, considering Audrey and her mother aren’t on the best terms. Instead, after run-ins with a past crush and old acquaintances, Audrey embarks on a self-reckoning that’s hilarious at some times, heartfelt at others, and impossible to put down the whole way through.
Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear
Wolfish ’s explorations of predators and prey in both the natural and man-made worlds defies easy categorization. The way Berry weaves an ecological adventure story about OR-7 , a wolf who makes a record-breaking journey away from an Oregon pack, with tales from her own coming-of-age, asks readers to reconsider their relationships with fear and the creatures who induce it.
I Have Some Questions for You: A Novel
Is I Have Some Questions for You a campus novel, a noir murder mystery, or a literary dissection of #MeToo social dynamics? With literary sensation Rebecca Makkai steering journalist Bodie Kane back to her high school alma mater to teach a workshop and, eventually, sift through the files on a former classmate’s death to potentially exonerate a wrongly accused killer, the answer is all of the above.
Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
In 2019, Jenny Odell drew our collective attention to the attention economy’s downsides with her book How to Do Nothing . Saving Time offers another chance to shift our perspective on the systems we accept as the standard—specifically time, and how we structure and spend it. You might just put this book down with a whole new outlook on how you measure your days.
Pineapple Street: A Novel
Comedies skewering the 1 percent have borderline overstayed their welcome in film, but this novel’s take on the subgenre in fiction is laugh-out-loud good. It follows three women connected to the wealthier-than-wealthy Stockton family and their Brooklyn Heights brownstone: two Stockton siblings, Darley and Georgiana, and their sister-in-law with a middle-class background, Sasha. Love and money have always mixed like oil and water (not well), but Jackson finds new humor and warmth in her particularly witty debut.
Brother & Sister Enter the Forest: A Novel
Richard Mirabella braids two timelines into one propulsive narrative about survival. In the first: Justin, a queer teen, sets off on a catastrophic road trip with his first boyfriend after his love interest gets into violent trouble. In the second: It’s several years later, and Justin has arrived on his sister Willa’s doorstep, desperate for refuge but at risk of damaging them both with the aftereffects of his trauma.
Hello Beautiful: A Novel
Little Women fans will be endeared by Hello Beautiful ’s homage to the March siblings, in the form of the four Padavano sisters. Any lover of a sweeping family saga will be moved by the Padavanos’ unraveling after eldest daughter Julia meets Will, a man whose tragic past comes back to disrupt the entire family.
Romantic Comedy: A Novel
The title doesn’t lie: Curtis Sittenfeld sets up her latest novel with a plot that demands a fizzy on-creen adaptation, ASAP. Sally Milz, a writer on a fictional SNL twin, The Night Owls , has more or less given up on romance when pop star Noah Brewster signs on to host the show. Over a week of writing jokes and rehearsing the week’s lineup, Sally feels something that’s a lot like love—but you’ll have to read to see if their connection is real or just another sketch.
A Living Remedy: A Memoir
On one level, Nicole Chung’s second memoir is an elegy for her adoptive parents. On another, it’s an indictment of the broken health care systems that prevent a disappearing middle class from receiving the affordable care it desperately needs. Chung writes about and through her grief with clarity and wisdom. Her reflection on her early life and her parents’ last days is a salve for any reader who has experienced the specific devastation that is losing a parent.
Happy Place: A Novel
Happy Place is a different kind of Emily Henry romance. Harriet and Wyn, its leading duo, aren't a couple in the making. They're partners since college who quietly broke up months ago—and didn’t tell any of their friends before an annual group trip to Maine. Back at their usual summer escape, Harriet and Wyn have to fake that they’re still together for the friends they haven’t clued in to the truth, and maybe come to a new understanding with one another in the process. Don’t be surprised if you’re weeping through the last few chapters (in a cathartic way, we promise).
Homebodies: A Novel
Tembe Denton-Hurst’s debut novel astutely captures what it’s like to fight for yourself in a world that’s stacked against you. Unfairly ousted from her job, Mickey Hayward puts her experiences as a Black woman in media to paper in the hopes it’ll wake up the industry to the racism and sexism she endured. Instead, it hardly makes a ripple—until Mickey has left New York for her Maryland hometown and her letter reappears amid a larger scandal involving her old workplace.
Wildflower: A Memoir
How did Aurora James found her CFDA award–winning label Brother Vellies and galvanize retailers to take a stand for Black-owned brands through the Fifteen Percent Pledge? James’s forthcoming memoir recounts the peaks and valleys from childhood to adulthood that led her to the fashion industry—where she changed things for the better.
The Guest: A Novel
Emma Cline’s best-selling novel became the book of the summer for a reason. The Guest invites you to follow a down-on-her-luck scammer through one chaotic week in the Hamptons—where each day bring her to more desperate means of survival and manipulation than the one before.
Yellowface: A Novel
The unexpected death of acclaimed author Athena Liu presents (what looks like) an opportunity for struggling writer June Hayward to finally break through—by stealing Liu’s last manuscript and inventing an Asian-American identity to pass off Liu’s masterwork as her own. Posing as “Juniper Song,” June gets a taste of the literary success she stole and definitely doesn’t deserve. As she soon learns, she can’t keep up the lie forever—can she?
R.F. Kuang’s satirical thriller covers everything from white privilege to internet culture with increasingly eviscerating precision, the further June/Juniper spirals away from the truth.
The Late Americans: A Novel
Brandon Taylor’s third book is the most dazzling example of his sharp pen and keen observations of human nature yet. The Late Americans assembles a troupe of Iowa City student-artists and their lovers, friends, and neighbors in a novel that tracks their shifting relationships over the course of a single year. Taylor develops his characters so precisely, they feel like close friends: recognizable, sometimes infuriating, and always worth following to the book’s last page.
(Bonus recommendation: Check out Taylor’s literary newsletter while you wait for The Late Americans to arrive.)
Girls and Their Horses: A Novel
Tensions have always run high in the elite (and usually, rich) equestrian world. Girls and Their Horses dials up the intrigue by several degrees, embedding a new-money family into an insular and highly competitive horseback riding community—where deceit, romance, and even murder aren’t out of the question in pursuit of a blue ribbon.
The Mythmakers: A Novel
Keziah Weir’s debut novel takes an age-old literary question—“Is this fiction actually based on reality?”—and twists it into a compelling story about art, perspective, and the line between inspiration and transgression. The Mythmakers isn’t from the perspective of a novelist, though: It begins with a down-on-her-luck journalist who recognizes herself in a short story by an acclaimed—and recently deceased—author.
Adult Drama and Other Essays
Three years after an essay about her (unhealthy) friendship with influencer Caroline Calloway went viral, Natalie Beach is delving into other can’t-look-away dramas—in her relationships, in her work, and in the world at large—with the same captivating voice that landed her on so many readers’ radar. This is a debut essay collection not to miss.
Halie LeSavage is the fashion commerce editor at Harper's BAZAAR . Her style reporting covers everything from reviewing the best designer products to profiling emerging brands and designers. Previously, she was the founding retail writer at Morning Brew and a fashion associate at Glamour .
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Amazon reveals the best books of 2023
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Every year the Amazon Editors read more than 1,000 books, sharing our favorites so that customers can find their next great read. Along the way, we search for the one special title that will emerge as the Best Book of the Year. This year, the Amazon Editors chose James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store . In a world that is sometimes so divisive and isolating, stories can connect us and create community. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store not only captures that sentiment, it celebrates the power of goodness and looking out for one another—even people who are (seemingly) different from us.
McBride’s novel joins prior Best Book of the Year selections from the Amazon Editors, including Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ; Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway ; Brittany K. Barnett’s A Knock at Midnight ; Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments ; Tara Westover’s Educated ; and David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon .
Besides featuring formidable casts of female protagonists, many of our favorites this year share a common theme—they highlight the importance of found family and community. And these books also accomplish what the best ones do: Put us in other people’s shoes and expand our empathy.
Learn more about our Top 10 picks below. To view the full list, visit the Best Books of 2023 . There you’ll find the titles that round-out our overall top 20, along with picks in popular categories, like debut authors, biographies, literary fiction, history, mystery, romance, sci-fi, and everything in between.
by James McBride
"Featuring a cacophonous cast of characters you will adore and a story chock full of the social, racial, and ethnic politics of the small town in which they live, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is an irresistible novel—profound as it is ingeniously entertaining, making it one of the great American novels of our time, and why we named it the best book of 2023." —Al Woodworth, Amazon senior editor
by Amanda Peters
"Debut novelist Amanda Peters explores the lengths we go to for love, the cancerous impact of lies, and the unbreakable bonds of family. For fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett , this quietly beautiful book will break, then mend, your heart." —Sarah Gelman, Amazon editorial director
by Michael Finkel
"What a romp! You’ll fly through this true story of an idealistic maniac on a mission to filch priceless treasures —upping the ante with each outrageous crime. A blast to read—but also horrifying when you consider what happened to $2 billion worth of invaluable art." —Lindsay Powers, Amazon senior editor
by Rebecca Yarros
"An epic of world-building, this tale of a kingdom under duress, a deadly competition to become an elite dragon rider, and the young woman who bucks the odds to become powerful in her own right, is a thrilling, not-to-be-missed romantic fantasy." —Seira Wilson, Amazon senior editor
by Jonathan Eig
"Eig’s definitive and engrossing portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. is a remarkable feat of writing and research, revealing the gutting hardships and heroics of a man who changed the world. This is biography at its absolute finest." —Al Woodworth, Amazon senior editor
by Nathan Hill
"With the vibes of Jonathan Franzen novels mixed with the panache of (500) Days of Summer — Wellness is a love story, a marriage story, and a contemporary critique on our world that’s captivated (and maybe even controlled) by social media and the pursuit of domestic bliss. Utterly absorbing, funny, and familiar, Hill captures how life can be hopeful and hurtful, idiosyncratic and robotic, fated and chaotic." —Al Woodworth, Amazon senior editor
by Abraham Verghese
"We didn’t want this book to end—told over the course of three generations, Abraham Verghese weaves a magnetic story of how cultural, social, and racial politics play out in the lives of wives, doctors, and artists who strive to find a home and purpose in a world that is ever-shifting and ever-dangerous. Filled with characters who love deeply and dream big, this novel will sweep you off your feet." —Al Woodworth, Amazon senior editor
by Stephen King
"Holly is retro-King horror at its best in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse between an unassuming couple committing unspeakable crimes and Private Investigator Holly Gibney. With tension that coils tighter with every chapter, this unforgettable novel will thrill longtime King fans and newcomers alike." —Seira Wilson, Amazon senior editor
by Walter Isaacson
"You probably have strong opinions about Elon Musk. Walter Isaacson’s page-turning biography perfectly captures the troubled, brilliant, pugnacious billionaire—and how his growing power circles the globe. Packed with oh-my-God moments big and small, I couldn’t put this book down." —Lindsay Powers, Amazon senior editor
by Dennis Lehane
"Unflinching, unsparing, and unsentimental, Lehane's incendiary story is a freeway pileup of racism, mob rule, and a desperate mother pushed beyond her last limit. This moving and darkly hilarious vengeance novel was the mystery we kept returning to this year." —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon senior editor
To read more reviews and author interviews, check out Amazon Book Review .
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The Best Books We Read This Week
Our editors and critics choose the most captivating, notable, brilliant, surprising, absorbing, weird, thought-provoking, and talked-about reads. Check back every Wednesday for new fiction and nonfiction recommendations.
Fiction & Poetry
For Buruma, a writer and historian, and a former editor of The New York Review of Books , the seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s dedication to freedom of thought makes him a thinker for our moment. In this short biography, he highlights how Spinoza’s radical conjectures repeatedly put him at odds with religious and secular authorities. As a young man, he was expelled from Amsterdam’s Jewish community for his heretical views on God and the Bible. When his book “Tractatus Theologico-Politicus” was published, in 1670, its views on religion—specifically, the benefits of “allowing every man to think what he likes, and say what he thinks”—were so uncompromising that both author and publisher had to remain anonymous. Buruma observes that “intellectual freedom has once again become an important issue, even in countries, such as the United States, that pride themselves on being uniquely free.” In calling Spinoza a “messiah,” Buruma follows Heinrich Heine, the nineteenth-century German Jewish poet, who compared the philosopher to “his divine cousin, Jesus Christ. Like him, he suffered for his teachings. Like him, he wore the crown of thorns.”
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If Love Could Kill
From the Furies to “Kill Bill,” the figure of the avenging woman, evening the scales, has long entranced the public. But, as Anna Motz shows in this wrenching study, many women who turn to violence are not hurting their abusers, though often they have endured terrible abuse. They tend to hurt the people closest to them: their partners, their children, or themselves. Motz, a forensic psychotherapist, presents the stories of ten patients, managing the conflict between her feminist beliefs and the ghastly facts of the women’s crimes. Although she’s interested in the lore of female vengeance, she punctures its appeal. Such violence may look like an expression of agency, but it is the opposite, a reaction and a repetition.
Books & Fiction
Book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature, twice a week.
Last Week’s Picks
Filterworld
The New Yorker staff writer Kyle Chayka chronicles the homogenization of digital culture and the quest to cultivate one’s own taste in an increasingly automated online world. An excerpt from the book appeared on newyorker.com, in the form of an essay on coming of age at the dawn of the social Internet.
Melancholy Wedgwood
In this unorthodox history, Moon, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, casts aside the traditional, heroic portrait of the English ceramicist and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and envisions the potter as a symbol of Britain’s post-colonial melancholia. Touching lightly on the well-trodden terrain of Wedgwood’s biography, Moon focusses on the story’s “leftovers,” among them the amputation of Wedgwood’s leg; his wayward son, Tom; the figure of the Black man in his famous antislavery medallion; and the overworked laborers in his factory. Moon’s overarching thesis—that destructiveness is inherent in colonialism, industrialization, and capitalism—is nothing groundbreaking, but her mode of attack, at once bold and surreptitious, succeeds in challenging the established, too-cozy narrative about her subject.
The Taft Court
“Taft’s presidential perspective forever changed both the role of the chief justice and the institution of the Court,” Post argues in his landmark two-volume study. The book is an attempt to rescue the Taft years from oblivion, since, as Post points out, most of its jurisprudence had been “utterly effaced” within a decade of Taft’s death. But, if John Marshall’s Chief Justiceship established what the Court would be in the nineteenth century, Taft’s established what it would be in the twentieth, and even the twenty-first. Post, a professor of constitutional law who has a Ph.D. in American Civilization, searches for the origins of the Court’s current divisions. His book is rich with close readings of cases that rely on sources scarcely ever used before and benefits from deep and fruitful quantitative analysis absent in most studies of the Court. It restores the nineteen-twenties as a turning point in the Court’s history.
The key insight, or provocation, of “Slow Down” is to give the lie to we-can-have-it-all green capitalism. Saito highlights the Netherlands Fallacy, named for that country’s illusory attainment of both high living standards and low levels of pollution—a reality achieved by displacing externalities. It’s foolish to believe that “the Global North has solved its environmental problems simply through technological advancements and economic growth,” Saito writes. What the North actually did was off-load the “negative by-products of economic development—resource extraction, waste disposal, and the like” onto the Global South. If we’re serious about surviving our planetary crisis, Saito argues, then we must reject the ever-upward logic of gross domestic product, or G.D.P. (a combination of government spending, imports and exports, investments, and personal consumption). We will not be saved by a “green” economy of electric cars or geo-engineered skies. Slowing down—to a carbon footprint on the level of Europe and the U.S. in the nineteen-seventies—would mean less work and less clutter, he writes. Our kids may not make it, otherwise.
Wrong Norma
In a new collection of poems, short prose pieces, and even visual art, Carson explores various ideas and subjects, including Joseph Conrad, the act of swimming, foxes, Roget’s Thesaurus, the New Testament, and white bread. No matter the form, her language is what Alice Munro called “marvellously disturbing”—elliptical, evocative, electric with meaning. Several pieces, including “ 1 = 1 ,” appeared first in The New Yorker .
You Dreamed of Empires
This incantatory novel takes place in 1519, on the day when Hernán Cortés and his conquistadors arrived at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. As they await an audience with the mercurial, mushroom-addled emperor, Moctezuma, the conquistadors navigate his labyrinthine palace, stumble upon sacrificial temples, and tend to their horses, all the while wondering if they are truly guests or, in fact, prisoners. Enrigue conjures both court intrigue and city life with grace. In metafictional flashes to present-day Mexico City, which sits atop Tenochtitlan’s ruins, and a startling counter-historical turn, the novel becomes a meditation on the early colonizers, their legacy, and the culture that they subsumed.
You Glow in the Dark
The short stories of Colanzi, a Bolivian writer, blend horror, fantasy, reporting, and history. One of the stories, “The Narrow Way,” first appeared in the magazine.
Why We Read
In this charming collection of essays, Reed digs into the many pleasures of reading, interweaving poignant and amusing stories from her life as a bibliophile and teacher to advocate for the many joys of a life spent between the pages. This piece was excerpted on newyorker.com.
Previous Picks
Come and Get It
Agatha Paul, the narrator of this fizzy campus novel, is the acclaimed author of a book on “physical mourning.” During a visiting professorship at the University of Arkansas, she intends to conduct research on weddings. Yet the subject prickles—she is still reeling from a painful separation—and she soon pivots to a new topic: “How students navigate money.” Paul herself quickly becomes an object of fascination for many of the students, and the stakes are raised when one of them offers Paul the use of her room to eavesdrop on conversations between the undergraduates. Almost on a whim, Paul accepts, and small transgressions soon give way to larger ones.
This handsomely produced anthology of twin representations depicts vaudeville performers, subjects of torture, and the blue dresses with the puffed sleeves worn by the “Shining” twins. Viney collaborates with his identical twin, who contributes a foreword. Many of the book’s images of twins tend to show them shoulder to shoulder, facing the viewer, presenting themselves for our inspection. Only a handful show twins looking at each other. And how different those tender images of mutual regard feel—they lack the charge of the conventional twin pose, underscoring the tension Viney remarks between the actual “mundane” nature of being a twin and the titillated fascination it inspires. He invites readers to contemplate, and to learn from, the fractal nature of twin identity.
This novel follows a sixteen-year-old-girl named Margaret and her attempts to reckon with the death of her best friend in childhood, for which she was partly responsible. In time, Margaret’s role in the tragedy was relegated to rumor; when she confessed, her mother told her, “Never repeat that awful lie again.” Now, in adolescence, Margaret attempts to document the incident honestly, accompanied by Poor Deer, the physical embodiment of her guilt, who intervenes whenever Margaret begins to gloss over the truth. The author renders the four-year-old Margaret’s inner life with sensitive complexity, depicting an alert child logic that defies adults’ view of her as slow and unfeeling. In the present day, the novel considers whether its narrator’s tendency to reimagine the past might be repurposed to envision her future.
Disillusioned
This intrepid inquiry into the unfulfilled promise of America’s suburbs posits that a “deep-seated history of white control, racial exclusion, and systematic forgetting” has poisoned the great postwar residential experiment. It anatomizes a geographically scattered handful of failing public schools, incorporating the author’s conversations with five affected families. Herold, a white journalist raised in Penn Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb, peels back layers of structural racism, granting that “the abundant opportunities my family extracted from Penn Hills a generation earlier were linked to the cratering fortunes of the families who lived there now.”
The narrator of this raw-nerved and plangent novel, a fiction writer who goes unnamed, addresses much of the book to her drug-addicted and intermittently violent adolescent daughter. Woven throughout her ruminations on her daughter’s struggles are the writer’s cascading reminiscences of her own fragmented childhood and the romance she rekindled with a married ex-lover when her daughter was young. Set in and around a muted London, the novel is a sustained meditation on the trials of family, marriage, and creativity. Writing is an act “of insane self-belief,” the narrator says. “The moment you listen to the opinions of others . . . you risk breaking the spell and, if you’re not careful, sanity creeps in.”
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
Blitzer weaves together a series of deeply personal portraits to trace the history of the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s a complicated tale, spanning the lives of multiple generations of migrants and lawmakers, in both Central America and Washington, D.C. Blitzer doesn’t pretend to offer easy policy solutions; instead, he devotedly and eloquently documents the undeniable cause of what has become a regional quagmire: the individual right and unfailing will to survive. The book was excerpted on newyorker.com.
Tripping on Utopia
One evening in September of 1957, viewers across America could turn on their television sets and tune in to a CBS broadcast during which a young woman dropped acid. One of the feats that the historian Benjamin Breen pulls off in his lively and engrossing new book is to make a cultural moment like the anonymous woman’s televised trip seem less incongruous than it might have been, if no less fascinating. He has an eye for the telling detail, and a gift for introducing even walk-on characters with brio. In Breen’s telling, the buttoned-down nineteen-fifties, not the freewheeling nineteen-sixties, brought together the ingredients for the first large-scale cultural experiment with consciousness-expanding substances. He depicts a rich and partly forgotten chapter before the hippie movement and before the war on drugs, encompassing not only the now notorious C.I.A. research into mind-altering drugs but also a lighter, brighter, more public dimension of better living through chemistry. “Timothy Leary and the Baby Boomers did not usher in the first psychedelic era,” Breen writes. “They ended it.”
Gibson, a professor of Renaissance and magical literature at the University of Exeter, has written eight books on the subject of witches. In her latest, she traverses seven centuries and several continents. There’s the trial of a Sámi woman, Kari, in seventeenth-century Finnmark; of a young religious zealot named Marie-Catherine Cadière, in eighteenth-century France; and of a twentieth-century politician, Bereng Lerotholi, in Basutoland, in present-day Lesotho. The experiences of the accused women (and a few accused men) are foregrounded, through novelistic descriptions of their lives before and after their persecution. The inevitable charisma of villainy makes the accusers vivid as well. But the most interesting character in the book is also its through line: the trial. Depicting a wide variety of legal codes and procedures, from poisonings and drownings to modern imprisonment, Gibson provides a robust examination of the judicial systems in which witch-hunting has thrived—and those in which, bit by bit, it has been stopped.
Forgottenness
This thoughtful novel connects two characters separated by a century: a present-day Ukrainian writer and the twentieth-century Polish Ukrainian nationalist Viacheslav Lypynskyi. In one thread, Maljartschuk plumbs Lypynskyi’s incendiary biography: born a Polish aristocrat, he served as a diplomat for the nascent Ukrainian state before living in exile when the Soviets took over. In another, the contemporary writer revisits her failed love affairs, and her grandparents’ experiences in the famine of 1932-33. As Maljartschuk makes the characters’ common history apparent, she compares it to a blue whale consuming plankton, “milling and chewing it into a homogenous mass, so that one life disappears without a trace, giving another, the next life, a chance.”
Behind You Is the Sea
Composed of linked stories, this novel explores the lives of Palestinian Americans in Baltimore. At a young man’s wedding to a white woman, his father agonizes over the gradual loss of the family’s cultural identity. A student finds that her objections to her high school’s production of “Aladdin” fall on willfully deaf ears. Elsewhere, girls and women are shunned for getting pregnant, or for being unable to bear children. Darraj writes with great emotional resonance about hope and disappointment. “His mouth opens in an O, like America has shocked him at last,” a girl says of her Palestinian-born father’s dying breath. “It’s like he finally understood he was never meant to win here.”
This hypnotic novella, written in the nineteen-sixties but appearing only now in the U.S., takes place after a nuclear cataclysm, and is narrated by a man living in a luxury resort that has been converted into a sanctuary for the rich. “We bought the commodity called survival,” he dryly notes, but, as the story unfolds and refugees stricken by radiation sickness pour in, the delusional nature of that notion becomes clear. Despite its brevity, the book is richly textured with insights about how money shapes one’s conception of safety, and how grasping the interconnectedness of the physical world is also to grasp one’s mortality. A resort guest imagines the radiation as light that “streamed out of every object; it shone through robes and skin and the flesh on the bones . . . suddenly to reveal the innermost, vulnerable marrow.”
Who Owns This Sentence?
Virtually every song that Bruce Springsteen has ever written is now owned by Sony, which is reported to have paid five hundred and fifty million dollars for the catalogue. For Bellos, a comparative-literature professor at Princeton, and Montagu, an intellectual-property lawyer, the story of Sony’s big Springsteen buy epitomizes a troubling trend: the rights to a vast amount of created material—music, movies, books, art, games, computer software, scholarly articles, just about any cultural product people will pay to consume—are increasingly owned by a small number of large corporations and are not due to expire for a long time. The problem, they write, is that corporate control of cultural capital robs the commons. While warning against the overreach of contemporary copyright law, this lively, opinionated, and ultra-timely book also raises the alarm about the increasing dominance of artificial intelligence, a technology that threatens to bring the whole legal structure of copyright down.
American Zion
Park, a historian, traces Mormonism from its inception in New York, in 1830, to its struggle amid persecution in the mid-nineteenth century, to its present status as a global empire of more than seventeen million adherents. He posits that changes in the decade of Mormonism’s emergence—such as the vibrant growth of the American marketplace—eliminated élite education as a requirement for divine calling, creating an opportunity for a man like Joseph Smith, Jr., to found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Throughout, Park delves into Mormon history and lore to produce a picture of the institution as one that is both marginalized and marginalizing.
In April of 1984, a demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in St. James’s Square, in London, brought supporters of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and his “popular revolution” up against protesters in opposition. The demonstration had barely begun when shots were fired from the Embassy’s windows. Eleven protesters were injured, and a policewoman was killed: all the spokes of Matar’s lingering, melancholy new novel connect to this transforming event. “My Friends” is narrated by a Libyan exile named Khaled Abd al Hady, who has lived in London for thirty-two years. One evening, in 2016, Khaled decides to walk home from St. Pancras station, where he has seen off an old friend who is heading for Paris, and he is drawn to return to the square because he was one of the demonstrators outside the Embassy back in 1984, alongside two Libyan men who would become his closest friends. As he walks, Khaled reprises the history of their intense triangular friendship, the undulations of their lives, and the shape and weight of their exile. Khaled himself maintains a mysterious inertia that turns Matar’s narrative into a deep and detailed exploration not so much of abandonment as of self-abandonment: the story of a man split in two, one who cannot quite tell the story that would make the parts cohere again.
Unshrinking
Fatphobia, as defined by the author of this polemic, a Cornell philosophy professor, is a “set of false beliefs and inflated theories” about fat people which inform both health care and culture at large. Manne’s argument draws on personal experiences—she relates having gone on drastic diets and engaging in “dangerous, exploitative” relationships as a teen-ager—and on trenchant analyses of the ways in which fatness has been regarded throughout history. She proposes, for instance, that hatred of fatness is a consequence of racist ideas embedded in American culture in the era of slavery. Manne identifies “beauty and diet culture” as an additional culprit, and argues, “We are wronged bodies, not wrong ones.”
The Rebel’s Clinic
Frantz Fanon, the biographical subject of Shatz’s striking new book, saw the end of empire as a wrenching psychological event. Looking back on his Francophilic upbringing in Martinique, Fanon recognized an inferiority complex induced by empire. He saw worse when he took a post in a hospital in Algeria, in 1953. Unlike Martinique, Algeria had recently been scarred by violence, most notably in 1945, when, after a clash with nationalists, the French massacred thousands of Algerians. Individual traumas could be handled clinically, but what about societal ones? Fanon believed that the act of defying empire could cure Algerian neuroses. Shatz describes Fanon’s extremism as the “zeal of a convert”—just as Fanon spoke better French than the French, he became, as a revolutionary, “more Algerian than the Algerians.”
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By Andy Kravis
By Will Nediger
By Natan Last
The best books of 2023
From Paul Murray’s brilliant tragicomedy to Barbra Streisand’s epic memoir, Guardian critics pick the year’s best fiction, politics, science, children’s books and more. Tell us about your favourite books in the comments
Zadie Smith’s first foray into historical fiction, medieval magical realism from Salman Rushdie and Paul Murray’s Booker-shortlisted tragicomedy – Justine Jordan looks back on the year in fiction.
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Children’s books
From poignant stories of love and grief to picture books about rockets and ogres, Imogen Russell Williams picks the best books for children, including titles by Carnegie-winning Katya Balen and children’s laureate Joseph Coelho.
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Young adult books
Imogen Russell Williams highlights five of the best books for teenagers, including a superb graphic memoir, a poignant family saga and a chilling murder mystery.
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Crime and thrillers
Laura Wilson ’s pick of the year’s page-turners, from cosy crime by Richard Osman and Janice Hallett to spy novels, historical crime and psychological thrillers.
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Science fiction and fantasy
A Booker-longlisted story of cosmic exploration, a historical multiverse novel and a military tale in space – Adam Roberts chooses five of the best science fiction and fantasy books.
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Translated fiction
John Self ’s top five novels in translation, including a colourful and eccentric South Korean tale and the late Spanish author Javier Marías’s final page-turner.
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Jilly Cooper’s take on the world of football, a film tie-in edition of Red, White & Royal Blue, and Rebecca Yarros’s romantasy bestseller – Jenny Colgan showcases five of the best novels about love and romance.
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Biography and memoir
From vivid accounts of siblings and grief to Barbra Streisand’s doorstopper, Fiona Sturges selects the best books about people’s lives.
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Gaby Hinsliff on memoirs and biographies across the political spectrum, an insider account of Trump’s White House and a humorous take on the tumultuous last two years in No 10.
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Emma John picks five of the year’s best sport books, including the story of how Graham Taylor and Elton John turned Watford Football Club around, a biography of tennis heroine Althea Gibson and an oral history about the brutality of horse racing.
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Feminism, the climate crisis, artificial intelligence and vaccines are just some of the topics explored in Steven Poole ’s roundup of books that take on the world’s big questions.
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Rishi Dastidar chooses the year’s best collections, from a new translation of The Iliad to Forward prize winners that examine race and identity.
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Graphic novels
A new memoir from Pulitzer winner Darrin Bell, a story about an imagined world in which wishes can be granted and an affecting collection of manga – James Smart picks out the finest comics and graphic books.
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Alexis Petridis chooses his five favourite music books of the year, from homages to dance music and 90s/00s pop to a look at the role LGBTQ people played in the early days of blues.
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Rachel Roddy on five of the best food books of the year, which include a study of food’s role in national identity, a brilliant vegetarian cookbook and an engrossing history of rice.
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18 best new books to read in 2024, from historical fiction to romance novels
Discover debut novelists and immersive page-turners from acclaimed authors this season, article bookmarked.
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You won’t want to put down these tomes
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The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to refresh your reading pile. Whether you have a penchant for a crime caper or love reading a romantic romp, there’s no better way to cure any January blues than with a good book (or two).
While we eagerly await stretching out on a sun lounger with a book in the summer, the colder months offer ample opportunity to cosy up and dive into a new tome. From immersive historical epics to novels that transport you to warmer climes, the main criteria for a good winter book is simple: you won’t want to put it down.
Luckily, last year’s titles and this year’s early releases leave you spoiled for choice. From romance novels to Booker Prize-nominated tomes and laugh-out-loud stories, the mix is as eclectic as ever.
This year’s reading pile sees plenty of acclaimed debuts from the likes of Yomi Adegoke, Maud Ventura and Alice Winn, as well as eagerly anticipated titles from acclaimed authors such as Kiley Reid, Paul Murray, Dolly Alderton, Zadie Smith , Colson Whitehead and Jen Beagin.
The varied authorship is reflected in the diverse themes addressed, ranging from an Irish family in turmoil and love in the trenches of the First World War to slavery in the Caribbean, and dating across the political spectrum and dark domestic dramas.
Related stories
How we tested.
To narrow down our list of the best books to read this winter, we looked for original page-turners with superb quality prose and a captivating story that stayed with us after we’d reached the end. From books for history-lovers to romance novels, witty romantic comedies and acclaimed prize-winners, there’s something for every type of reader.
The best new books to read in winter 2024 are:
- Best new release – The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton: £17.49, Amazon.co.uk
- Best literary thriller – Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang, published by The Borough Press: £13.39, Amazon.co.uk
- Best war novel – In Memoriam by Alice Winn, published by Viking: £11.72, Amazon.co.uk
- Best buzzy book – The List by Yomi Adegoke, published by Fourth Estate: £8, Amazon.co.uk
- Best subversive romance novel – Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess: £12.99, Amazon.co.uk
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‘The Bee Sting’ by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton
- Best : Overall new release
- Genre : Comedy drama
- Release date : 8 June 2023
Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is a tour de force of fiction. The Barnes, a once-well-off Irish family, are in the midst of emotional and financial strain. Set during turbulent months in their claustrophobic town (think floods, droughts and the aftermath of recession), Murray expertly gives us each family member’s perspective of the same events – with flashbacks unravelling an intricate story of betrayal, crime and lust.
Profound on the human condition, utterly gripping and peppered with comedy, Murray’s novel is a must-read this year.
- Apple Books: £9.99, Apple.com
- Kindle: £9.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Audible: £14.87, Amazon.co.uk
‘Good Material’ by Dolly Alderton, published by Fig Tree
- Best : Comedy novel
- Genre : Comedy
- Release date : 9 November 2023
Some writers suffer from second-novel syndrome, but not Dolly Alderton. The author and columinist’s second book Good Material is a cliché-avoiding break-up novel, in the vein of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity .
Told through the eyes of recently dumped Andy, we follow him as he grapples with single life after his girlfriend realised she wanted to be alone. This in itself is a powerful narrative, with Alderton making a case for the happy and single 30-something woman.
Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny – with characters straight out of a Richard Curtis film (the elderly lodger who’s prepping for doomsday is a highlight) – whipsmart dialogue and relatable millennial themes (Alderton’s forte) mean there’s never a dull moment. Despite it being a pleasingly easy read (we tore through it in a single day), Good Material still manages to be thought-provoking and wise.
- Audible: £11.37, Amazon.co.uk
‘Yellowface’ by Rebecca F Kuang, published by The Borough Press
- Best : Literary thriller
- Genre : Thriller
- Release date : 25 May 2023
A satire of the publishing industry and brazen exploration of cancel culture, Rebecca F Kuang’s literary heist Yellowface is one the most gripping books of the year. It begins with the freak accident death of young, famed writer Athena Liu (she chokes on pancake mixture, setting the preposterous tone for the rest of the book), witnessed by her sometimes-friend and aspiring (currently failing) novelist June Hayward.
After June steals Athena’s unfinished manuscript and publishes it under her own name to acclaim, she is thrown into the fame, money and relevance she’s always desired. But when her secret threatens to become known, June must decide how far she will go to maintain her reputation. Addictive and uncomfortable, with plenty of savagely funny moments, Kuang’s novel is a must-read this autumn.
- Apple Books: £4.99, Apple.com
- Kindle: £7.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Audible: £11.38, Amazon.co.uk
‘In Memoriam’ by Alice Winn, published by Viking
- Best : War novel
- Genre : Historical fiction
- Release date : 9 March 2023
Beginning in a private boarding school for boys, before taking us to the horror of the trenches during World War One, Alice Winn’s blistering debut is an unforgettable read. We’re first introduced to the book’s central figures – Gaunt and Ellwood – in 1914, when both schoolboys are secretly in love with each other. When half-German Gaunt is pressured by his mother to enlist in the British army, he is relieved to run away from his forbidden feelings for his best friend. But when the true terror of the war is revealed to him, he is soon devastated when Ellwood and other classmates follow him to the Western Front.
A love story set against the tragedies of war, Winn’s rousing writing transports you to the trenches, where an entire generation of lost men are brought to vivid life – the characters will stick with you, long after the final page.
- Apple Books: £7.99, Apple.com
‘The Fraud’ by Zadie Smith, published by Hamish Hamilton
- Best : Novel about real people
- Genre : Historical
- Release date : 7 September 2023
Zadie Smith’s first foray into historical fiction, The Fraud is based on true events and juxtaposes a portrait of Victorian life and slavery in the Caribbean. The titular fraud in question is the Tichborne Claimant – a butcher who claimed to be an aristocratic heir in an 1873 trial that gripped the country. Real-life cousin and housekeeper to the largely forgotten novelist William Ainsworth, Smith reimagines Eliza Touchet’s mostly unknown life and her fascination with the case and its prime witness, an ageing Black man named Andrew Bogle.
The author’s version of Bogle’s backstory provides most of the second half of the book, beginning with his father’s abduction in the 1770s to the Hope Plantation in Jamaica. Affecting and devastating, it’s in stark contrast to the humdrum domestic middle-class Victorian life also explored. In typical Zadie style, the narrative structure and decade leaping require you to pay attention – but you’re heavily rewarded with the sheer breadth of the novel and its vividly painted characters.
‘The List’ by Yomi Adegoke, published by Fourth Estate
- Best : Buzzy summer book
- Genre : Relationships, social media
- Release date : 20 July 2023
The book that everyone’s talking about, Slay In Your Lane writerYomi Adegoke’s debut novel is so buzzy that an HBO TV adaptation is already in the works. Podcaster Michael and journalist Ola are a young couple on the cusp of marriage when their world is blown apart by allegations of abuse made against Michael online in “The List”.
Having made a career of exposing such men, Ola is torn between believing Michael’s innocence or supporting the women who anonymously submitted their stories to the list. Thought-provoking and topical in its exploration of life both online and offline, and the fallout of cancel culture, it’s written with sharp insight and is impossible to put down. The hype is real.
- Kindle: £4.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Apple Books: £11.99, Apple.com
‘Big Swiss’ by Jen Beagin
- Best : Sex comedy
- Genre : Dark comedy
- Release date : 18 May 2023
A sex comedy with darkness at its centre, Jen Beagin’s latest novel is narrated by Greta, a 45-year-old who lives in a decrepit Dutch farmhouse and transcribes for a sex therapist. Knowing everyone’s secrets in the small town of Hudson is no problem when you’re a relative recluse – that is until she bumps into Flavia, aka Big Swiss, her nickname for the 28-year-old married Swiss woman who suffered a terrible beating that she regularly transcribes (and is infatuated with).
Their dog park meeting leads to a passionate relationship with both women trying to escape their own traumas. Greta’s mother committed suicide when she was 13 years old while Flavia’s attacker has just been released from prison. An off-kilter romance with lashings of psychological thriller, darker moments are balanced with Beagin’s witty writing, idiosyncratic characters and laugh-out-loud passages. Naturally, there’s already an HBO adaptation starring Jodie Comer in the works.
- Apple Books: £8.99, Apple.com
‘Everything’s Fine’ by Cecilia Rabess, published by Simon & Schuster
- Best : Subversive romance novel
- Genre : Romance
A subversive love story set against the political polarisation of America, Cecilia Rabess’s Everything’s Fine is a funny and punchy debut. Jess – Black and liberal – immediately dislikes her Ivy League college classmate Josh – white and conservative – but when they find themselves working in the same company after graduating, a cantankerous friendship turns into a passionate relationship.
Set against the backdrop of Trump’s presidential campaign, the novel explores if ideological opposites can be together – with its most heated moments taking place over arguments about Maga hats, wealth inequality and wokeism. Commenting perceptively on politics and economics, Rabess’s writing is just as enthralling on lust and sex. Concluding on the eve of the 2016 election, the novel questions whether love really can conquer all. We tore through it in two sittings.
- Apple Books: £0.99, Apple.com
‘Crook Manifesto’ by Colson Whitehead, published by Fleet
- Best : Best crime novel
- Genre : Crime, historical
- Release date : 18 July 2023
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead is back with the second instalment to his New York crime trilogy. First introduced in 2021’s Harlem Shuffle , furniture salesman and ex-fence Ray Carney returns to the criminal underbelly of the city in Crook Manifesto , in a bid to secure Jackson 5 tickets (which were like gold dust in 1971) for his daughter.
Jumping through the years up to 1976, Whitehead casts a satirical eye on New York during the tumultuous decade, touching on everything from police corruption and the Black Liberation Army to Blaxploitation. Blending family drama with history and culture, the sequel has the feel of a Quentin Tarantino movie and we were hooked.
‘Romantic Comedy' by Curtis Sittenfeld, published by Doubleday
- Best : Rom-com
- Genre : Romantic comedy
- Release date : 6 April 2023
Having previously given voice to President’s wives in the acclaimed American Wife and Rodham , Curtis Sittenfeld has set her sights on the comedy world in her latest novel – aptly named Romantic Comedy . Protagonist Sally is a successful writer at a Saturday Night Live -inspired sketch show, and has, thus far, been unlucky in love. When she meets pop idol Noah Brewster on the show in 2018, she develops a school-girl crush that challenges her cynicism about love.
Picking up the story two years later, in 2020, during the pandemic, the two reconnect over email (this section is stellar) and meet up in LA.
Sittenfeld explores the world of celebrity, modern dating, lockdown and Covid-19 with wit, humour and often profundity. A light-hearted page-turner that’s funny, romantic and heartwarming.
- Kindle: £8.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Apple Books: £7.99, Apple.com
- Audible: £11,37, Amazon.co.uk
‘Ordinary Human Failings’ by Megan Nolan, published by Vintage
- Best : Best family drama
- Genre : Crime
- Release date : 13 July 2023
Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation was one of our favourite reads last year and we loved the writer’s second novel just as much. A unique take on the crime genre, Ordinary Human Failings marks a dramatic departure from the tone and plot in Nolan’s debut. Set in the 1990s in London, tabloid journalist Tom Hargreaves believes he’s stumbled upon a career-making scoop when a child is murdered on a housing estate.
As fingers start pointing towards a family of Irish immigrants, the Greens family, Tom hunkers down with them to drive into their history. At the centre of the family is Carmel, a beautiful yet mysterious young mother, who is forced to reckon with how her 10-year-old daughter is implicated in a murder investigation. Tom’s probing soon reveals the regrets, secrets and silences that have trapped the Greens for decades. Intriguing and vast in scope, it’s an old-fashioned page-turner.
‘The Happy Couple’ by Naoise Dolan, published by Orion Publishing
- Best : Anti-romance novel
- Genre : Comedy/satire
Naoise Dolan’s follow-up to 2020’s Exciting Times, this book is infused with the same biting social commentary and humour. A satirical spin on the marriage genre, it follows late-20-somethings Luke and Celine – both of whom think the other is out of love with them – on the cusp of their wedding day. Whether they’ll make it to the end of the aisle or not forms the tension of the novel.
Switching perspectives between their nearest and dearest, from best man Archie (Luke’s ex and sometimes-lover) to Celine’s sister (suspicious of Luke’s frequent disappearances), Dolan explores the anxieties of modern love. A wedding novel permeated by emotional turmoil rather than romance, its self-aware characters and comedic-timing cement Dolan as one of the sharpest writers around.
‘Penance’ by Eliza Clark, published by Faber & Faber
- Best : Fictional non-fiction book
- Release date : 6 July 2023
A fictional story told in the manner of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Eliza Clark’s Penance delves into the grisly torture and murder of 16-year-old Joan Wilson on the eve of the Brexit referendum in the seaside town of Crow. Three years after the murder, obsession with true crime is at an all-time high and an American podcast draws awareness to the case.
Ex-tabloid hack Alec Z Carelli sets out to write the “definitive account” of the murder – which was committed by three school girls – through eyewitness accounts, interviews and correspondence. Living in the town, exploring its history and its people, Carelli recounts the lives of the teenage murderers and the sinister world of online true-crime fandoms. As well as questioning Carelli’s morality in exploiting a horrific murder for his own career, Clark questions society’s preoccupation with gruesome true crime. Unnerving, superbly written and engrossing, the ending is pitch perfect.
- Apple Books: £12.99, Apple.com
‘The Only One Left’ by Riley Sager, published by Hodder & Stoughton
- Best : Gothic thriller
- Genre : Crime, mystery
- Release date : 4 July 2023
In 1929, three members of the Hope family were murdered in their clifftop mansion. Decades later, the book’s protagonist Kit McDeere takes on a job caring for Lenora Hope who has been in the house ever since and is the only remaining member of the Hope family. She also happens to be the one accused of carrying out the murders.
This book is breathtakingly twisty and while the mystery unravels, the claustrophobia becomes almost unbearable as the Hope’s End mansion itself begins succumbing to the sea and crumbling like the cliffs. We found ourselves literally gasping out loud as secrets were revealed. The Only One Left is a Gothic thriller, with horror elements and is perfect for cosying up with as autumn turns to winter.
- Apple Books: £4.99, Apple.com
- Kindle: £4.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Apple Books: £9.99, Apple.com
- Audible: £11.37, Amazon.co.uk
‘My Husband’ by Maud Ventura, published by Hutchinson Heinemann
- Best : Domestic thriller
- Genre : Domestic noir, thriller
- Release date : 27 July 2023
Obsessed with her husband, the main character of this dark domestic drama spends her days over-analysing her husband’s words, agonising over perceived slights and fantasising about imagined scenarios that send her swirling into flights of jealousy and passion. Her deep obsession eclipses everything else in her life including her relationship with her children, her work and her friendships.
Her roller-coaster of emotions and unhinged antics are fascinating to follow and we found ourselves devouring this darkly humorous work in less than two days. This fresh and easy-to-read book is translated from French by Emma Ramadan.
‘Kala’ by Colin Walsh, published by Atlantic Books
- Best : Coming of age thriller
- Genre : Drama, crime
A group of six friends living in a small Irish seaside town are inseparable until one day, Kala goes missing. Fifteen years later, three of the friends are back in Kinlough and human remains are found in the woods nearby, bringing the past screaming back.
Jumping between the time when the group was in secondary school and the present day, the mystery slowly unravels as we explore the heavy family traumas and broken friendships from the past. A complicated small-town community is the claustrophobic backdrop to the story which creates a refreshing mixture of family drama and crime thriller.
The story is told from the point of view of three of Kala’s friends who come back together and delve into the past to try and make sense of Kala’s death. There’s the loyal Mush who has always been in Kinlough, working in his mother’s cafe, hiding his mysterious facial scars from the world. Helen is the hard-headed former best friend of Kala who is now a journalist and is in town for her father’s impending wedding. And Joe, who is now a world-famous musician, has a hometown residency in a local bar, and is trying to reconnect to his old friends.
The use of three distinct narrative voices is well executed with clues cleverly revealed via the three protagonists and concludes with a major twist that you won’t see coming.
- Apple Books: £5.99, Apple.com
- Kindle: £4.68, Amazon.co.uk
- Audible: £15.74, Amazon.co.uk
‘The Guest’ by Emma Cline, published by Vintage Publishing
- Best : Stylish novel
- Release date : 18 May 2013
A follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Girls , Emma Cline’s The Guest follows 22-year-old escort Alex as she drifts from pool to beach during a chaotic week in sun-drenched Long Island. Cast out by the older man she was staying with, instead of returning to the city, she stays on the island and adapts to survive – believing they can be romantically reunited five days later at his Labor Day party.
In each encounter with individuals, groups at parties or old acquaintances, she leaves disaster in her wake. Though the story is a simple premise, each page is loaded with tension and risk, thanks to Cline’s stylistic writing. The poetic form and metaphorical use of water (swimming is survival) adds to the novel’s hazy feel. The Guest is also a deft exploration of social mobility, as Alex navigates the class system of Long Island.
‘Come and Get It’ by Kiley Reid, published by Bloomsbury publishing
- Best : Society satire
- Release date : 30 January 2024
Kiley Reid’s debut Such a Fun Age was a runaway success in 2020. Now she’s back with Come and Get It , a page-turning take on money and power dynamics. Desperate to get on the property ladder, graduate and land a good job, Millie is working as a student advisor and living in dorms. Meanwhile, visiting professor and writer Agatha is doing research for a new book and wants to interview some of the students in Millie’s dorm.
Jumping at the chance to increase her income, Millie agrees, and the two women become embroiled in a world of student angst, pranks, and theatrics. Despite the story rarely leaving campus grounds, the novel has a gripping wide scope that explores society’s obsession with money, desire, and consumption.
Pre-order this new book now, ahead of its 30 January release date.
- Apple Books: £10.99, Apple.com
- Kindle: £7.97, Amazon.co.uk
The verdict: Best novels to read 2024
Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is storytelling at its best. Moving, witty and funny, the fast-paced tome will keep you gripped until the very last page. Zeitgeist-y and engrossing, Rebecca K Kuang’s Yellowface is the perfect literary thriller for cosying up with this autumn, while the topical and thought-provoking The List by Yomi Adegoke deserves the hype.
For a funny yet wise novel, pick up Dolly Alderton’s Good Material , while historical tome In Memoriam by Alice Winn will linger long in your mind, thanks to its emotional heft.
Discover more great authors and books you’ll love in our fiction review section
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Sarah J. Maas’ Blockbuster Series ‘Crescent City,’ ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ and More: What’s the Best Order to Read Them?
By William Earl
William Earl
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- Vince Staples on Why He Doesn’t Mind His New Rap Sitcom Being Compared to ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Dave,’ and His Hopes for a Second Season 41 mins ago
- Tom Cruise’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Director Reflects on Box Office Bomb: ‘I Certainly Don’t Blame Tom for Not Being 6’2″‘ 2 days ago
- Sarah J. Maas’ Blockbuster Series ‘Crescent City,’ ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ and More: What’s the Best Order to Read Them? 2 days ago
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.
Sarah J. Maas ‘ romantasy series “ Crescent City ” and “ A Court of Thorns and Roses ” are certified sensations, with chart-topping sales and endless discussion on TikTok and Reddit forums. The just-released third book in the “Crescent City” series — “House of Flame and Shadow” — has officially topped The New York Times Best Sellers List , and the fandom is growing beyond genre enthusiasts.
Interested in figuring out what all of the hype is about but unsure where to start? Variety has a primer for fans to get the most out of Maas’ interconnected series, which are best read in a different order than how they were first released.
Starting point: The “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” (2015) “A Court of Mist and Fury” (2016) “A Court of Wings and Ruin” (2017) The holiday novella “A Court of Frost and Starlight” (2018) “A Court of Silver Flames” (2021) For completists with a sense of whimsey, there is also 2017’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Book.”
Next step: The “Crescent City” series
The third book in the “Crescent City” series is currently taking the literary world by storm, but the series’ twists are much more impactful if read after ACOTAR. In this series, half-human half-fae Bryce opens up a world of danger when she starts investigating the death of her best friend. In order, the “Crescent City” series is:
“House of Earth and Blood” (2020) “House of Sky and Breath” (2022) “House of Flame and Shadow” (2024)
Further reading: The “Throne of Glass” series
Still can’t get enough of Maas’ writing? Try her YA series “Throne of Glass,” which only has one confirmed tie to ACOTAR but is packed nonetheless with what many fans think are essential easter eggs. While the books don’t have as much spice as her other adult series, the death-defying adventures of teen assassin Celaena Sardothien a.k.a. Aelin Galathynius are a favorite among Maas’ fans. The best order to read them is chronologically through the series:
“Throne of Glass” (2012) “Crown of Midnight” (2013) “Heir of Fire” (2014) “Queen of Shadows” (2015) “Empire of Storms” (2016) “Tower of Dawn” (2017) “Kingdom of Ash” (2018)
For superfans: “The Assassin’s Blade”
This “Throne of Glass” prequel is a collection of five stories set before the events of the series, chronicling Aelin’s early adventures and travels.
“The Assassin’s Blade” (2014)
GraphicAudio makes nifty enhanced audiobooks that move far beyond the traditional constraints of the format, and include a complete cast of actors, sound effects and music. Try the format out with “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” and if you have a good time, run the whole series again! You can access GraphicAudio’s audiobook on Audible, currently offering a 3-month free trial.
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Four things a doctor who's written best-selling books about aging does daily in the hope of living longer
- Our lifestyle choices are the biggest indicator of how long we will live, a doctor said.
- Dr. Michael Greger shared the four things he does daily in to boost his longevity.
- Greger mostly eats plant-based whole foods and exercises daily.
Dr. Michael Greger has written four New York Times bestsellers on the subject of longevity and healthy living.
He’s dedicated his career to studying how nutrition and lifestyle factors can increase lifespan and shares his findings in his books and charity, Nutritionfacts.org
Greger then applies his findings to his own life, he told Business Insider, and is a huge advocate of life-lengthening habits, such as eating a healthy diet and staying active .
Greger shared four things he tries to do daily to live the longest, healthiest life possible.
Eat berries, cruciferous vegetables, and flax seeds
“The most important thing we can do is we can follow the Blue Zones example and center our diets around whole plant foods,” Greger said.
Blue Zones are small regions — such as Loma Linda, California — where the population lives around 10 years longer than the country’s average.
People in Blue Zones tend to eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds and low in refined sugar, animal products, and ultra-processed foods . The Blue Zone diet is similar to the Mediterranean diet, which is widely considered the healthiest way to eat .
“Basically real food that grows out of the ground,” Greger said.
Greger primarily, but not exclusively, eats plants. “I certainly try not to be a hypocrite and try to eat the diet that I recommend to everybody,” he said.
More specifically, he tries to eat berries and cruciferous vegetables daily. He often blends these into a smoothie that he sips throughout the day.
Breakfast, meanwhile, will typically be oats with cherries, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and cocoa powder.
“For kind of a morning-time chocolate-covered cherry sensation,” he joked.
Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, contain nutrients such as sulforaphane, a compound that can neutralize toxins and reduce inflammation, while berries are rich in antioxidants, which help fight cell damage, Greger said on his YouTube channel.
Greger also eats one tablespoon of ground flax seeds every day because they contain high quantities of lignans, which are linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. He sprinkles this on his oats or adds it to a smoothie.
Use a treadmill desk
Being sedentary, or sitting 10 or more hours a day, is linked to a higher risk of dying early, while an active lifestyle is known to have a huge range of health benefits, from improving heart health to reducing the risk of cancer .
Whenever Greger works from home, he walks all day on a treadmill desk set to two to three miles per hour. He estimated that he walks around 14 miles a day.
“That keeps me from being sedentary, but it doesn't really give me exercise per se,” he said.
Get his heart rate up
Greger makes sure that he gets his heart rate up every day in some way, aiming to do 90 minutes of moderate or 40 minutes of vigorous exercise.
But he was on the road for a speaking tour when he spoke to BI and is the first to admit that maintaining healthy habits can be tough when you’re traveling. So he works with what he has available.
“This new apartment I have by the airport is on the 18th floor, so I try to jog up 18 floors every day,” he said.
He also packs a resistance band and does burpees if the place where he’s staying doesn’t have enough stairs.
Eat calories earlier in the day
Eating earlier rather than later is thought to be beneficial for health and longevity because of how our circadian rhythm works, Greger said.
The exact same number of calories eaten in the evening causes less of a blood sugar spike in the morning, and we absorb fewer triglycerides, the fat the body converts unused calories into, he said.
In a 2022 review of studies involving 485 adults, researchers found that participants who consumed most of their calories earlier in the day lost more weight than those who did the opposite despite eating a similar amount overall.
They also saw bigger improvements in their blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
“If you're going to eat any kind of junk, you eat it in the morning because the body's better able to handle it,” he said.
Watch: Here are heart healthy foods to help you live a longer life — and which ones to dial back on
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The Barefoot Memoirist: Ina Garten Takes Her Story to a New Publisher
Garten, the Food Network star and best-selling cookbook author, has moved her highly anticipated fall autobiography from Celadon to Crown.
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By Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris
In 2019, the celebrity chef Ina Garten set off a flurry of excitement among her millions of fans: Garten, a Food Network star, best-selling cookbook author and social media sensation, was writing a memoir.
The publisher behind the book, Celadon, celebrated the acquisition of what was sure to be a best seller in a news release. “Ina Garten is beloved by all, a national treasure who has become iconic beyond the food world,” Deb Futter, now the president and publisher of Celadon Books, an imprint of Macmillan, said in the release. “Her memoir will cement her legacy in the cultural landscape.”
When Garten recently updated her Instagram bio to note the book’s October release date, the revelation once again led to online chatter and a cascade of news articles.
One crucial detail was missing: The book was no longer coming from Macmillan. Instead, it will be published by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
There’s little information about the memoir online, and the change in publisher — which has not been publicly announced — will likely make little difference to readers and fans of Garten, whose cookbooks have more than 14 million copies in print. But for Macmillan, losing a blockbuster fall book — the season when most publishers release their big name authors — to a rival could be a blow.
It’s unusual, though not unheard-of, for a major author to change publishers after a contract is signed. Typically such breakups happen when a writer and publisher have irreconcilable creative differences, or sometimes when an author gets poached with a more enticing advance from a rival company. Authors usually return their advance to sever a contract.
In an interview, Futter said that there hadn’t been any disagreement about the direction of the book, but that Garten had a long history with Crown, which released 13 of her cookbooks through their Clarkson Potter imprint.
“Ina and I worked really well together, and I’m really proud of the work I did on the book,” Futter said. “I want it to get a great reception.”
In a statement, David Drake, the president of Crown Publishing Group, declined to comment on the memoir moving from Celadon to Crown, but said the company was “thrilled to be reunited with her for the publication of her entertaining and revealing memoir,” which he described as her “inspiring and instructive life story.”
Garten did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The market for celebrity memoirs — which have long been reliable best sellers for publishers — has gotten even more heated in recent years, with publishers offering multimillion dollar advances. Some of last year’s top-selling books were tell-alls by big names like Prince Harry and Britney Spears.
Garten, one of the food world’s biggest stars, has built a massive social media following. She has 4.3 million followers on Instagram, where she endears herself to fans with her down-to-earth demeanor, forgiving attitude toward novice home cooks (“store bought is fine!” is one of her catchphrases) and her love of indulgences like giant daytime cocktails.
She also had an unusual path to stardom. She worked for Presidents Ford and Carter as a budget analyst for nuclear policy at the Office of Management and Budget before pivoting to food and opening her store in the Hamptons, Barefoot Contessa. From there, she created a food empire, with best-selling cookbooks that she released at a steady clip, and a popular, long-running show on the Food Network.
So far, she has revealed little about the content of her memoir, but that hasn’t stopped her passionate followers from speculating that it will be dishy: “Spill the tea, Ina!” one of her fans wrote on Instagram.
Julia Moskin contributed reporting.
Alexandra Alter writes about books, publishing and the literary world for The Times. More about Alexandra Alter
More about Elizabeth A. Harris
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