It's early days for making a call on the best books of 2023, but advance reader copies can give a bit of a heads-up of what's coming up. As we go through the year, we'll have regular roundups from our editors about both the best fiction of 2023 and the best nonfiction of 2023. We'll also be including the shortlists of prestigious prizes in 2023 as they're announced and we get a chance to interview the judges about the books they've picked out. Towards the end of the year, we'll be looking to experts in a variety of fields for their assessment of the best books of the past 12 months.
We've been doing best-of-the-year lists for the past decade now, and we look forward to finding you the best fiction—including mysteries, sci-fi and historical fiction—the best biographies and history books, as well as more specialist best-of-the-year lists on subjects like economics, philosophy and business books. If you know anyone who needs books for kids, we also have a dedicated children's editor, who'll be picking out quality books for both kids and young adults throughout 2023.
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1
A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War
by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad -
2
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
by Sarah Bakewell -
3
Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America
by Jeremy Jennings -
4
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
by Peter Frankopan -
5
The Wife of Bath: A Biography
by Marion Turner
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
As 2023 gets underway, Five Books editor Sophie Roell looks at some of the interesting nonfiction books coming out in the early months of the year (January-March).
The Notable Novels of Spring 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Spring is always an excellent time for literary fiction releases, and 2023 is no exception. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of the season, from buzzy debuts to hotly anticipated new releases from internationally acclaimed authors like Eleanor Catton, Han Kang, and Salman Rushdie.