As the year comes to a close, it’s time once again for my yearly roundup of my favorite reads this year. A few might look familiar as I have recommended them throughout the year. Below are my favorites in four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and backlist books (published prior to 2023). 

Fiction

• Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
• Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut

Nonfiction

• Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant
• King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
• Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
• We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian
• How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair

Poetry

• Grand Tour: Poems by Elisa Gonzalez
• The Lights: Poems by Ben Lerner
• April by Sara Nicholson
• School of Instructions: A Poem by Ishion Hutchinson
• Hydra Medusa by Brandon Shimoda

Backlist

• G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage
• Shakespeare’s Kitchen by Lore Segal
• A Street in Bronzeville by Gwendolyn Brooks
• Erasure by Percival Everett
• Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones

Hearing from our readers about their favorite books of the year has fast become one of the pleasures of my December. Please feel free to communicate with me about yours, and I will share a few of them in my January column. 

Happy Reading and Happy Holidays!