2023 has flown by SO FAST – and we have SO many books that we enjoyed reading this year! Read on to learn which ‘Worthwhile Reads’ were 2023 award winners. We have all of them at WPL and you can find out about each of them by looking back on the ‘Worthwhile Reads’ page on our website. I’ll also tell you our ‘staff favorite’ books for the year. (Those are also all at our library, but not necessarily on our Worthwhile Reads blog.)
“The Wager” is the only non-fiction book that tops our list, and it was brilliant! It has spent 32 weeks on the NY Times Best Sellers list so far and was a top book on Amazon, Bookpage, Apple Books, Time and Penguin/Random House. It was a Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist and David Grann won B & N’s Author of the Year award. “The Wager” was also voted Goodreads BEST History/Biography Selection.
“Hello Beautiful” and “Pineapple Street” were contemporary fiction novels that topped the list at Barnes & Noble, Harper’s Bazaar, Time and Goodreads. “Hello Beautiful” also made Amazon’s Top 20 list. Another contemporary novel, “Someone Else’s Shoes” was a Goodreads Top 10 Fiction nominee.
“Tom Lake” was a beautiful book about family, memories, growing up and love. It was a Top 10 pick on Bookpage, Goodreads and Amazon and a Top 100 Must-Read on Time. The audiobook made many top lists in fiction – it is read by the wonderful Meryl Streep.
“The Wishing Game” was a novel about the magic of books and was a Goodreads Top 10 Fiction as well as a Top 10 Debut Novel.
“Hang the Moon,” set during Prohibition, was a Barnes & Noble Favorite Historical Fiction nominee and on Amazon’s Top 20 Fiction of 2023 list. “The Secret Book of Flora Lea,” set during WWII, was a Top 10 Fiction choice for Book Riot.
In the Murder Mystery category, “Mother-Daughter Murder Night” made Amazon’s Top 20 list. “None of This is True” was a Goodreads Top 10 Mystery/Thriller choice.
“The Light Pirate” was a Goodreads Top 10 Science Fiction novel. (I wouldn’t really classify it as science fiction – it is set in the future, but not that distant of a future.)
“Being Henry” (Henry Winkler’s memoir) was just released a month and a half ago, but readers voted it the BEST Humor book for 2023 on Goodreads.
Now for our ‘Desk Staff Favorites’ . . .
Our Director, Darcy, loved “Under the Whispering Door,” “The Secret Book of Flora Lea” and “Looking for Jane.”
Dave’s favorites were “The Light Pirate,” “Pineapple Street,” “The Wager,” “Tom Lake” and “Crook Manifesto.”
Chris loved “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” “The Last Mrs. Parish” and “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.”
Marilyn liked “The Beach at Summerly,” “Only the Beautiful” and “Mad Honey.”
Robin enjoyed “Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story,” “Hang the Moon” and “Two Wars and a Wedding.”
Velanne liked “Tom Lake,” “The Light Pirate,” “The Twyford Code” and “The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre.”
Maddie’s favorites were “Throne of Glass,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “Isn’t It Bromantic.”
Kellie’s picks were “All the Lonely People,” “Anxious People” and The Graveyard Book.”
We are a really diverse group in what we “like” to read!! Let us know what your favorites were this year and feel free to ask our staff for suggestions in a certain genre if you need help finding a new book to read! Check back on our Worthwhile Reads blog in January for some new book reviews!