1. “The Best Book I Read in 2023.” “Honoring a single title from a year’s worth of reading is virtually impossible for serious bookworms — and sadistic, judging by some of our contributors’ private laments — but we made them do it anyway…”


2. “The 23 and Me” by Alice Stephens. “This year saw the publication of a rich trove of adoptee-authored books, marking what I hope will be an industry trend of authentic narratives about adoption from those who are most qualified to write about it. Below are the 23 books that represent the best of what I read this year, starting with those by adoptees, listed in the order I read them.”


3. “Our 51 Favorite Books of 2023.” “Declare certain books ‘the best’? Such hubris! But there’s something special about these, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did.”


4. Michael Causey’s review of George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle by Philip Norman (Scribner). “I don’t know how many Beatles books should exist in a perfect world, but I’d argue we don’t particularly need this one from longtime journalist and Fab chronicler Philip Norman. His offering on the (despite the book’s subtitle) not-all-that-hesitant Beatle is short on fresh insights and reads like a steady — if flawed and uninspired — collection of events stitched together by a competent writer.”


5. Peggy Kurkowski’s review of The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium by Anthony Kaldellis (Oxford University Press). “Through a combination of narrative and analysis, Kaldellis examines ‘one of the most durable states the world has ever seen’ and investigates the reasons for the longevity of an empire whose existence spanned a fifth of recorded human history. This fact alone explains the daunting length of the book, which comes in at well over 1,000 pages. But don’t be frightened off: Kaldellis is an engaging writer who ably synthesizes mountains of information for the general reader.”

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