The 10 Best Books I Read in 2023

Something I’m Learning

Continuing my tradition of sharing quick reviews of my favorite books of the year, here are the 10 best books I read in 2023 (out of 27 in all, split evenly between fiction and non-fiction):

10. Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (fiction)

Where the worst impulses of both capitalism and environmentalism collide. Fast-paced, satirical of all sides, and set in New Zealand all make more enjoyable than many other books on this theme (and we’re going to see a lot more books like this as climate change becomes more everything-everywhere-all-at-once).

9. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed and Happiness by Morgan Housel (non-fiction)

Samuel Johnson famously said we need to be reminded much more than we need to be instructed. Housel frames his financial common sense reminders very nicely. The most helpful one was it’s all right to make financial decisions that help you sleep better at night even if they don’t bring the highest return.

8. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (fiction)

In which social media celebrity and influencer culture confront sci-fi happenings. It’s hard to reveal more without giving too much away so I’ll just say it was the most fun book I read all year.

7. Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion: A Cricket Odyssey through Latin America by James Coyne & Timothy Abraham (non-fiction)

The Venn Diagram overlap between people who love cricket and people who know Latin America is undoubtedly tiny, which gives this book a very niche audience. Since almost none of you are going to read it, here is what even I - as a lifelong cricket tragic who’s traveled through a lot of Latin America – had no idea about: 1) how widespread and influential the British colonial presence in Latin America was, 2) how much cricket they played in every single country in Central and South America, 3) how immigrant communities from South Asia and leftover Brits and Aussies are keeping the game going in local communities across the region, and 4) most dramatically, how if the Argentinian cricket authorities hadn’t got on the wrong side of Eva Peron, it’s possible that Argentina might today be as much of a force in cricket as they are in soccer football.

6. Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America by Cody Keenan (non-fiction)

The backstory to Barack Obama’s unforgettable “Amazing Grace speech” (and song) after the church shooting in Charleston, written by a grad-school classmate with whom I hardly exchanged two words in the two years we were in school together. Which was clearly my loss, as the whole book reads like an episode of my favorite TV show, The West Wing – complete with partisan politics, inter-office romance, the craft of writing, and a President worthy of the title.   

5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (fiction)

On wrestling 1950s middle-class gender norms to the mat and coming up triumphantly – and humorously. The much-hyped TV show was sadly a letdown because it skimmed over what made the book so good: namely the lead character Elizabeth Zott’s dog and her daughter. The book is worth reading for them alone – though Zott is badass too.

4. Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And how anyone can harness it. Even you.) by Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas (non-fiction)

On how valuable it is to leverage humor in the workplace. And while there’s a craft and structure to comedy, the key to everyday humor is simply being open to connection and on the lookout for reasons to be delighted rather than disappointed. “Navigate your life on the precipice of a smile”, the authors write, which is a great reminder as we head into a new year.

3. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (non-fiction)

In the quest to prolong life, doctors often end up prolonging suffering. This is a plea – from one of the most famous doctors in the world – to re-think how we approach the end of life. For ourselves and our loved ones, but even more as a society. It’ll make you think – and cry.

2. The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America by Saket Soni (non-fiction)

Who comes to mind when you hear the words ‘human trafficking’ or ‘modern-day slavery’? I’ll wager it’s not technically-skilled men from India. In order to rebuild the Gulf Coast economy after Hurricane Katrina, a crooked web of characters lured an army of Indian men to America through false advertising, crippling debt, and visa fraud, and then placed them in labor camps with horrific living conditions. This is the true story of how those men escaped, marched on Washington, and fought for their rights against a rigged immigration system.

1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (fiction)

All the good things you’ve heard about Amazon’s “Best Book of 2022” are true. Read it. But what made it my personal favorite of the year was how it captured the beautiful-fraught-infuriating-fulfilling relationship between co-founders building a company from scratch. It also gave me an appreciation for video games, a world I knew nothing about, which is perhaps not surprising since here I am writing about books!

Want more book recommendations? Here are my 'best books' reviews from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, all posted on LinkedIn.

I'm always looking for new book recommendations, so do suggest them in the Comments, and shape my reading in 2024!

Something to Consider

Not much into books? Here’s a TED Talk about one of the above: Why Great Leaders Take Humor Seriously.

Something to Quote

Reading kept him alive…right till the end.

-       Robert MacFarlane, The Gifts of Reading